Hamburg  - PC gamers tend to be a tradition-bound bunch: If there's a title in the stores from a known-and-loved series, a purchase is likely to follow.

The month of May will require a bit of an open mind, however, as there are no major sequels on the horizon. Instead a number of completely new items are ready for take-off, including Goin' Downtown, an adventure game, and the ambitious Windchaser. Even the online role playing game Age of Conan, lauded in advance, dares to tread new ground, since it is aimed exclusively at adults.

If developmental history is the benchmark, then Windchaser is the most notable of the new titles. That's because it started out as a student project. In November 2006, Christian Kluckner and Alexander Kehr, two graduates of a media design school, founded the development studio Chimera Entertainment. The fruit of their work should be in stores in mid-May.

The game itself is also quite unusual. The central point of the plot is the Windchaser sky sailboat, whose crew the player controls across 15 missions and a two-part campaign. Tactical issues are often in the foreground, yet there are also elements of role playing games. The back story comes through recurrent flashbacks that guide the gamer through the action. Windchaser will be available in stores for around 30 dollars.

Goin' Downtown is less a mixture of various game styles and more a modernization of the principle of puzzle-based adventures. Those old enough to associate adventure with the humour of Monkey Island or haunted fantasy worlds like Myst will be surprised when they see this game: its maker Silver Style has gone with a modern comic book style set exploring scenarios based in a corrupt nation in the year 2072.

The goal is to help an over-the-hill policeman clear up the murder of a prostitute. The first early reviews note that some of the language is less than child-friendly.

The swearing in the Silver Style adventure may be indicative of a bigger trend: an awareness of the fact that many gamers have grown into adults. This has led developers to plan their creations to address a more mature audience.

One of the most important examples of this is Age of Conan from Eidos. While the character is the same barbarian once embodied by Arnold Schwarzenegger, the online game is based more closely on the original novels by Robert E. Howard. The darker elements of the world in which Conan lives in particular are drawn much more from the literary than the Hollywood ancestry.

This means that Age of Conan presents itself far less artificially and comic-esque than games like World of Warcraft. The action is conducted in a much more realistic manner. It is a violent, barbaric world that the game explores, lacking trolls and elves but rich with a variety of brutal scenes.

Even so, Age of Conan does draw on the typical components of online role playing games: The goal is to develop one's character, complete challenges, and join groups and guilds. The game is expected on May 23 for around 50 dollars. As with other online games monthly fees will also be required. It's not yet clear how high those will be, but based on the competition they will probably amount to 10 to 15 dollars monthly. (dpa)