Delivering everything series fans should expect by this point, Dead Drop is another soothing romp with Carol Reed through Swedish countrysides and dilapidated buildings, elevated by a fun hook and some decades-old KGB intrigue that helps to make up for the more humdrum moments.

Other than the odd puzzle frustration, The Will of Arthur Flabbington offers plenty of nostalgia, laughs and a gauntlet of inventory-based brainteasers that is sure to stretch your creative thinking when glued to your screen and keep you thoughtfully pondering when away from it.

Cute characters, great story, beautiful soundtrack, STAT! Fall of Porcupine may lack in the gameplay department, but it’s impossible to not fall in love with this charming character-driven tribute to our underappreciated health care workers.

While Slay the Princess comes in a deceptively simple package, it contains what feels like a whole universe of horror, humor and humanity; it takes the visual novel format and pushes it as far as it will go, with a story that changes and adapts to every decision you make without ever forsaking its central themes of identity, eternity, and the nature of life and death.

Hill Agency is a stylistically gorgeous game and a refreshing futuristic representation of Indigenous people, but otherwise this detective noir game is too hampered by bugs and a lack of real investigative work to make the experience worthwhile.

Experienced adventurers can probably cruise through Enypnion ReDreamed in their sleep, though some of the logic puzzles might be responsible for a few nightmares. Overall, though, it’s a short but charming little journey through the subconscious that may just remind you of your own childhood nighttime fantasies.

Superfluous Returnz isn’t superfluous at all, as its not-so-super hero’s bumbling (and occasionally credibility-defying) antics offer an all-too-brief breath of fresh country air.

With its beautiful scenery, heartfelt characters, and the weirdest wolves you’ve ever seen, The Night Is Grey is as close to a psychological thriller as an adventure game can get, worthy to be called an interactive cinematic experience.

This Bed We Made sacrifices some snooping freedom and player challenge for a more linear narrative, but there are plenty of thrilling discoveries to unpack in this compelling Hitchcockian mystery.

OU deserves enormous credit for its superb art and its distinct, ambitious style of storytelling, providing a memorable high-concept experience only slightly hampered by questionable design choices.

Time loop mysteries require a delicate balance of challenge while rewarding players for both their successes and mistakes. In Orten Was the Case, the play control and action elements can upset that balance at times, but the twelve-minute puzzle itself hits all the right beats and proves to be quite satisfying.

The Season’s Greetings DLC views Lake‘s world through very different eyes, offering reassuring familiarity while shaking things up just enough to make them fresh again. Retaining the same slow, puzzle-free style and relatable characters, it’s not for everyone but will surely feel like the perfect gift for fans of the original game.

Don’t let the cute cartoon style and adventure game humour fool you: in its brief play time, Last Christmas deals with some of the darker elements of the season in a horrifying yet compelling way.

Golden Idol Mysteries: The Lemurian Vampire serves up a fitting conclusion to the elaborate and electrifying mystery started in The Spider of Lanka, making that game’s satisfying story feel even more complete. Rarely do mystery games make observational deduction this much fun.

Desolatium is an unapologetically old-school node-based adventure in the vein of turn-of-the-millennium cult classics like Dracula. Its mix of wildly different art styles doesn’t work as well as it could, but those who don’t mind a bit of pixel hunting will likely enjoy its budget presentation, generally solid puzzle design and atmospheric story.

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.

If an hour-plus playing politics with The Expanse’s Chrisjen Avasarala sounds like your idea of a good time, “Archangel” is a match made in heaven. For all others, it’s merely an undercooked diversion that adds nothing new to the main storyline.

Vlad Circus is fun and scary in all the right ways. With locked doors, monsters, a mysterious circus director and a hallucinating main character, it may not be the greatest show on earth but has plenty to entertain unsuspecting visitors.

Based on the 1964 hard sci-fi novel of the same name, The Invincible tells a mature, thought-provoking story about a research team’s discoveries on a distant planet. While the gameplay isn’t much to write home about, the smartly presented experience is nevertheless out of this world.

A strong contender for champion of League of Legends spinoffs, Song of Nunu is fairly lightweight but presents a charming, beautiful 3D platforming adventure for franchise veterans and newcomers alike.

Windy Meadow uses the visual novel format to tell a moving, thoughtful story about growth, decisions and community in a gorgeously realized setting. While not a modern classic on the scale of the original Roadwarden, those who go in with the proper expectations will find it a solid, rewarding narrative adventure.

A rare sequel that fully capitalizes on the potential of where its predecessor left off, The Talos Principle 2 elegantly makes space for genius puzzle design and captivating characterization to tell an extraordinarily unique, gripping, moving, and surprisingly funny story. A masterpiece for the ages.

Midnight Girl looks and sounds like a slice of ’60s cool, drawing you into its atmospheric world and keeping you moving. Your life as a burglar doesn’t always match the glamour of the movies, but it’s still a lively if all too brief escape.

While there are certainly aspects that work in Hauma’s graphic novel-styled exploration through Munich to unearth a mystery about an ancient relic spanning the ages, the game’s pacing and finicky inventory puzzles demand some patience to get to its best stuff.

Though it doesn’t quite reach the heights it aspires to, Jusant is a lovely mountaineering adventure that makes for a refreshing change from the norm in both axis and pace.

It might feel bewildering at first, but deciphering glyphs to discover more about the vibrant and mysterious tower with its culturally divided people makes Chants of Sennaar a highly engaging and ultimately rewarding framing for the inventive language-based puzzles.

Monolith earns science fiction cred with a witty sidekick robot, a beautifully drawn alien world and many clever puzzles relevant to the genre, though an uneven story, shaky dialogue, and poor characterizations may turn off players less willing to endure them to get to the good parts.

It certainly doesn’t take a great detective to solve this rather easy adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express, but there’s just something about stepping into the shoes of Hercule Poirot to snoop around the most beautiful and famous train in history in an intricately plotted whodunit that makes it immensely satisfying. If you like playing detective, this interactive version of the most famous case in literary fiction will certainly tickle your own little grey cells.