Skeler Boy is a beautiful micro-sized horror adventure filled to the brim with scares and quirky challenges throughout its short runtime, though it ultimately feels like a compilation of homages that never manages to find a voice of its own.

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.

If you’re used to a simple point-and-click interface, Tachyon Dreams Anthology might take some getting used to, but its humor-filled sci-fi story is a wonderful homage to the text parser adventures of the 1980s.

Once a Tale more than compensates for some rough edges with gorgeous stop-motion animation, solid puzzle-platforming gameplay, and a strong finish.

Bent Oak Island’s budget limitations and lack of polish certainly hold it back, but you can get some good fun out of its twin protagonists’ sibling banter while trying to prevent a summer vacation from ending in disaster.

Looking Up I See Only a Ceiling is an extremely short but nightmarishly eerie micro-experience. Its manga stylings and sensible puzzle design make it enjoyable to play, though even with its post-game replay options, it feels like a ton of potential for expansion was simply left unexplored.

Puzzles for Clef endearingly blends plentiful puzzles with an intricate fairytale world and quirky characters. Like its teenage heroine, it's a little gawky and awkward in places, but it's also charming and full of heart.

Cosmic Void succeeds in delivering another compelling mystery, as the frights in Devil’s Hideout challenge your courage and puzzle-solving skills in this short but spooky point-and-click occult adventure.

Clearly meant as a love letter to VGA space adventures of yesteryear, the very short and simple Orbital Cargo Division may succeed more in making you fondly recall your time with those titles rather than giving you a new favorite to reminisce about.

Echoes presents an intriguing mystery through a gorgeous progression of graphical styles, albeit with little to do besides clicking through dialogues and finding the occasional hidden piece of information and making subtly impactful choices.

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.

Shapik: The Quest is a short but delightfully cozy fantasy forest odyssey. What it lacks in challenge and story depth, it more than makes up in its charming presentation and varied, well-choreographed gameplay.

Sailing through the Slavic- and Icelandic-influenced world of Selfloss is often a breathtaking sensory experience, but unengaging puzzles, buggy features and an ill-conceived final twist mean its pleasures are largely limited.

Murder on Space Station 52 combines a fun but fairly traditional detective noir story with an intriguing sci-fi setting that’s totally out of this world.

It’s come a long way since its schlocky early days, as Midnight Scenes’ fifth and best installment so far invites players to find a safe place to curl up and experience an absorbing dive into the human psyche’s darkest depths.

Bigger but not necessarily better, the unapologetically old-school Beyond Shadowgate plays virtually the same as the original, and fans should enjoy it just as much as its iconic predecessor from way back when.

Arsene Lupin: Once a Thief doesn’t pose much challenge or risk, but the chance to play both as the criminal AND the police in this fun cat-and-mouse-style detective game makes it quite a catch.

Bugs and translation issues stop this adventure from reaching the stars, but with its wonderful hand-painted graphics, quirky characters and delightful puzzles, it is difficult not to have a good time with The Journey of AutUmn.

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.

Shines Over: The Damned is immersive, and even a bit scary, for the very brief time it lasts. However, its underdeveloped gameplay and narrative will leave players with more a sense of bewilderment than awe.

The Abandoned Planet sends you on a not-too-strenuous journey through a visually enticing world full of mystery and menace, even if the protagonist’s hint-laden narration and surface-level characterization mean you shouldn’t expect too much more than that.

Looking and sounding perhaps better than ever, Murder Malady is everything players expect from a Carol Reed mystery, refined to focus on what the series does best. For a 20th anniversary release, it's not a grand and unforgettable outing, but certainly a welcome and enjoyable one.

Three Minutes to Eight is a fun game to look at with all kinds of style, though the inherent repetition of time loops is not helped by unfortunate design choices that make it likely this cool experience will wear out its welcome long before you uncover all its mysteries.

Using multiple personalities to examine everything can be entertaining until it becomes tiresome, so you’ll need to take your time if you hope to succeed in the Spanish point-and-click comic adventure Ramas’ Call: Twisted Timing.

The Last Shot is a brilliant and wickedly funny war critique that immerses players in a fascinating dieselpunk world filled with engaging platforming challenges and continually creative puzzles, effectively communicating its message without uttering a single word.

While its colourful graphics and lure of a good mystery may be enticing, Arthur & Susan: Almost Detectives falls short of its promise in most important ways.

NoseBound starts off as a graphically intriguing, gritty detective noir investigation, but quickly leads you by the hand on a linear and (currently) unpolished path towards a bewilderingly strange conclusion.

10 Dead Doves is a fascinating horror adventure with janky PSX-era controls that takes too long to start unfolding, but once you start diving down the rabbit hole you’ll find a wonderfully weird journey that gets more and more compelling the longer you play.