Yeah I know these types of games, even though I am not too familiar with them.
I LOVE that you mention this 'the type of game you were thinking about at school'.
I agree. Generally with many games back then there was this mythical factor to games when nobody knew the solution, and all kind of rumours as to possible solution ways spread. There were simply no walkthroughs, hence more secrets. These days, the secrets are already uncovered the day of game release, with everyone getting them out on the internet.

I stay away from these kind of learning as much as possible. The type of game you talk about here definitely belongs to those mythical secret treasure trove era! :)