With the look of a Pixar film and the wit of Monkey Island, SOPA: Tale of the Stolen Potato is a creative combination of heart, charm, and genuine laughs that is sure to satisfy the whole family.

A Highland Song is a beautifully frustrating journey into the Highlands, Scottish history, and the life of a troubled teenager. Showcasing both the marvels and the menace of that rugged land, it offers a powerful sense of place, memorable tales, and a big heart.

Skunkape’s remaster of Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse completes the entire Telltale trilogy, and its technical improvements make it sparkle that much more while retaining its classic comedy content.

Helping a little stop-motion mouse escape its hand-crafted maze prison in Éalú will warm your heart like a cheese fondue on a cold winter evening.

If you can get on its distinctively weird, oppressive wavelength and stay there, you’ll find Mateusz Skutnik’s Daymare Town second to none in terms of atmosphere, aesthetics, and ability to keep you clicking just to find out what the impossibly imaginative setting will show you next.

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical is a dazzlingly executed take on familiar stories that breathes new life into old legends. There’s very little gameplay to speak of, but it’s an emotional story and a must-play for musical theater fans and those who are invested in Greek mythology.

Dordogne takes you on a stunning watercolor journey through the past and present of rural southern France. There isn’t anything much in the way of challenge, but it’s a charming interactive storybook that will remind you of the really important things in life.

The House of Tesla’s biographical elements are very well integrated into the numerous puzzles in this beautifully designed mechanical puzzle lover's bonanza.

The Phantom Fellows marches to the beat of its own ghostly drum. Its zany yet fair puzzles may require a little too much pixel hunting, but it grounds its surreal world in quirkily relatable stories packed with wildly creative dialogue and comically empathetic characters.

If a bedtime story and a classic point-and-click adventure game had a child, it would be Stories of Blossom. If you have kids you can play together with, or even to give them to play on their own, it is well worthwhile. It’s highly accessible for all, and even with a few noticeable cost-cutting measures, it’s a heart-warming and simple trio of fairy tales that any young child (and parents) should enjoy.

Thrilling, darkly funny, and full to the brim with brainteasing goodness, The Sins of New Wells DLC gives players more of the same outstanding gameplay loop that made the Golden Idol series so addictive in the first place... and sets the stage for a promising future with the three upcoming chapters.

Pentiment is a captivating Renaissance adventure that challenges players to unravel both a murder mystery and the many enigmas of history.

Leila is not a conventional graphic adventure but is quite polished in its narrative approach, as well as in its diverse puzzles, fostering real emotion and connection to its character.

It’s fun to exercise one’s brain cells in Scene Investigators’ assorted collection of engaging mysteries that pull no punches when it comes to challenge and are immensely rewarding as a result.

A worthy detective game in the vein of Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot (but with animals), Last Train to Clawville is a compelling murder mystery visual novel that is easy to grasp and will keep you wanting to know more.

This expansion to our 2022 Game of the Year proves that The Case of the Golden Idol was no fluke, making an undeniable argument for even further explorations into its addicting, vocabulary-themed approach to detective gameplay.

You’ll certainly speed through the experience with no real gameplay slowing you down, but it's more than just a compelling survival tale. The live-action presentation is highly immersive and the game’s killers provide a tense creep factor without going full-on slasher flick frightening. While the instant do-or-die decisions could provide more clues as to what the right option is, it’s in the choices about who Zanna is as a person that the game finds its most meaningful moments, culminating in a heartfelt outcome that is both surprising and satisfying. It’s not much of a gaming workout, but The Run is at times poignant, at times metaphorical, and at times an experience sure to get the blood pumping.

The otherwise moving narrative of Under the Waves misses out on some lost opportunities, but if you have an affinity for collecting, exploration and ocean preservation, you’ll effortlessly immerse yourself for hours in this enchanting, beautiful underwater adventure.

Move over, Phoenix Wright! Murders on the Yangtze River takes us on a compelling trip to late-nineteenth-century China, where tradition and progress clash in almost every facet of life and an embattled detective chases down the ghosts of his brother’s enigmatic murder in this satisfying courtroom drama.

If you can withstand a slow and meandering beginning, A Space for the Unbound will reward you with one of the more emotionally earnest and moving stories to be found in an adventure game.

Herald is light on gameplay but tells a complex, well-written adventure story that takes players on a journey both literal and emotional, through themes which, though based on historical events, are still incredibly resonant today.

Among the Whispers: Provocation took the issues of its predecessor and improved on all of them to deliver a lengthy, scary and highly realistic ghost-hunting simulator with more active gameplay in solving puzzles and figuring out the spirits’ identities.

It’s not always the smoothest ride, but at its best, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a cracking good time that arguably ranks as the second best game in franchise history.

Aspyr has done an excellent job preserving three of the most important, and timeless, examples of early 3D gaming. Tomb Raider I-III Remastered may largely be a greatest hits set for existing fans, but it’s a comprehensive bundle whose new visuals and updated control schemes are nice options to introduce the original series to the uninitiated.

Packed with many hours’ worth of puzzles to solve, secrets to uncover, and plenty of jokes, Bilkins' Folly finds the sweet spot that combines a light and humorous presentation with a compelling gameplay loop of tricky treasure hunting that has deeper layers than you might expect.

It’s a shame there isn’t more opportunity to explore the world at large, but Gamedec is a rewarding and immersive role-playing adventure that offers a satisfying amount of player agency in the direction of this cyberpunk detective mystery.

The Jester and the Madman is a wonderful homage to 1990s-era slideshow adventure games. The script can be a little stilted and the plot a bit too convenient, but the overarching story and breadth of clever puzzles and challenges make it engaging from start to finish.

Afterdream is a chilling side-scrolling adventure that combines a variety of rather easy, engaging puzzles with a creepy yet surprisingly poignant story about loss, all wrapped up in the developer’s distinctive art style.