I agree. Like I said above, it’s a matter of game interaction mechanics and it doesn’t necessarily define the atmosphere or tone.
-dZ.
That’s true, but it’s also true that cutscenes and characters seen during dialogues are non-interactive moments, while a figure that moves according to the commands of the player becomes the player’s avatar in the simulated world. This cause-effect relationship between the movements of the player and the movements of a character shown on video might help some people to identify with the character.
I tend to believe that the fact that the playable character moves on the screen can make a difference for some players.
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Well, with millions of people playing games, anything is possible when it comes down to raw numbers. 
I can say that the fact that the playable character moves on the screen can…
* trigger epilepsy in some players
* suggest suicidal thoughts in some players
* incite violence in some players
* make some players hungry
* frustrate some players
* cause some players despair
It doesn’t say much.
In seriousness, I do agree that it make a difference to some players, but this is a matter of personal preference and taste – not something necessarily controlled or influenced by the designer. It is also a matter of execution, in my opinion: in the same way that a very good first-person perspective can make a game feel more immersive, a mediocre one can feel a lot less.
In any case, and more on topic, it seems that you are in the “special charm for you” camp for third-person PnC adventure games. Personally, I’m on the “it depends on the execution of the game’s mechanics, story, and other elements” camp. 
-dZ.
I love archive.org but it’s a terrible way to play, I can’t even use verbs there and there’s no way to save a game. However somebody remade Gateway 1 on AGS using original graphics, just the GUI was changed to more modern, so that’s an interesting option.
What kind of game is Gateway?
Gameplay in Gateway is just like any other adventure. The tone is serious kind of sci-fi, something like 2001 Space Odyssey. You may stumble somewhere but the the difficulty is ok, nothing hardcore.
Very serious, as in dry and stuffy? Or just serious as in “not goofy Space Quest”?
But it’s a good way to find out if you like the game or not. If it’s looking interesting to you, you can download the game from archive.org and run it in DOXBox.
Like in The Martian Chronicles from Ray Bradbury.
I would highly recommend to read the Gateway books, they are very good.
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Clicking on verbs doesn’t work (at least for me) so it may be misleading, but usually, yeah, I agree. It’s only for streaming but I’m sure it can be found somewhere easily.
Yup, Bradbury, that’s the vibe. The first book is pretty dark and adult, it had a huge impact on me. The premise is brutal and frightening. I also read part 2 and 3 and it’s more like a space opera / Star Wars kind of thing. The game Gateway II inherited that too sadly.
I wouldn’t really recommend a game I found to be dry and stuffy : ). I didn’t play much of The Dig as I hated the “logic” puzzles but that would be the closest game reference I can think of in terms of tone.
I wonder: is the shadowgate remake better than the original? I mean puzzle-wise, not graphic-wise, because I happen to prefer the original graphics 
I gather they added quite a few puzzles in the remake.
Why should they be different (resp. better or worse)? I haven’t played the remake but the interface looks very similar. And if they used the original puzzles they should be the same.
I hadn’t seen the new UI (or UIs, as it seems you can choose more than one) and I was afraid it could ruin the puzzles.
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