More personal family drama than superhero extravaganza, The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit packs most of its punch in the quiet emotional moments that make it well worth a couple hours to play.

More choice-driven visual novel than pure adventure, the first half Herald‘s four parts is admirable in many ways, with memorable characters and a slow-burning story that sucks you in and successfully tackles heavy topics without losing its charm.

Very self-aware of being a prequel to a bestseller, Before the Storm puts fan service and farfetched melodrama above cohesive storytelling, resulting in a superficial and disappointing experience.

Done Running is a strong opener for Clementine’s final story, successfully exploring the theme of motherhood while providing the usual dose of zombies and human drama.

Unless you're already a die-hard fan of Myst clones, RHEM 2 is probably not the game for you.

Despite a promising hook and a convincing immersion into 1940s Italy, Martha Is Dead caters to a tiny audience willing to put up with disturbing themes, game-crashing bugs, and little sense of adventure.

More an incoherent collection of jump scares than a horror game, Layers of Fear occasionally spooks but doesn’t make much of a lasting impression.

The Detail sets out to provide a memorable police thriller with visual flair, but can’t quite seal the deal in either storytelling or gameplay across its three-part narrative arc.

Everything just falls all to pieces in the execution, specifically every element of character interaction (which is 80% of the game). It's frustrating to the point of bafflement at times, to want to care so much about the story, but feel so stifled by the atrocious dialogue and unfriendly interaction system.

Similarly to its predecessor, a striking presentation is not enough for Layers of Fear 2 to overcome a jumbled menagerie of cliches, jump scares, and overwrought writing.

If you're looking for a really great graphic adventure game, give "Circle of Blood" a try, but resist the temptation to pick up its sequel. Like the game's title implies, it’s all smoke and mirrors, and very little substance.

The production values place Erica in good company as an FMV psychological thriller, but with a near total absence of gameplay and a plot that struggles to consistently thrill, what’s left is an underwhelming choose-your-own-adventure tale that leaves a poor lingering impression.

Regardless, the gorgeous look and feel of the game is poorly served by bad design decisions and ultimately fails as an enjoyable experience.

Fans of CSI-type games may find it makes the grade, but for everyone else, there’s just not enough here to warrant much of a look.

With its five episodes now complete, Song of Horror’s obtuse puzzles, meandering story and frustratingly unintuitive gameplay result in an experience that’s rarely scary but often exasperating.

Twin Mirror is DONTNOD’s attempt to do something outside of their usual wheelhouse, but its poorly executed story, tedious investigation process and excruciatingly uninteresting main character prevent the game from meeting the standard of quality audiences have come to expect from the studio.

As the first commercial installment in on ongoing series, Rusty Lake Hotel comes with both story and gameplay reservations for newcomers, and only escape-the-room fans should bother checking it out.

Perhaps best left locked in the past, The Silver Case is not worth looking into unless you REALLY like visual novels and Suda51 and have a lot of patience.

The many Nancy Drew fans and DS adventure gamers may be interested in this title, but I can’t really recommend it to any audience. Even for a younger gamer, the repetitive gameplay will likely get boring before the end, and the tedium will quickly be felt by a more seasoned adventure gamer.

Mysterious Cities of Gold faithfully recreates the look of the television show, but its shallow, repetitive, and unimaginative gameplay should have you prospecting somewhere else.

Releasing for a budget price doesn't excuse mediocre puzzle design, heavy repetition and a story with so little coherence.

Vane manages to successfully present an intriguingly surreal world, but its aimless story and execution keep players from deriving much satisfaction from visiting it.

Unless you're a glutton for punishment, avoid 15 Days. There are much better adventure games-or interactive stories, for that matter-to be played.

Perhaps devoted casual game fans will have some tolerance for this type of hollow experience, but ultimately The Tiny Bang Story's pieces just don't add up to a fulfilling adventure in the end.

The Sundew is very nice to look at and attempts to use its cyberpunk setting to cover intriguing thematic ground, but its story, gameplay and presentation come up short in just about every other way that matters.

A positive late-game change in design ethos and cute atmospheric graphics can’t save Tales of the Neon Sea from a lack of story coherency, tedious gameplay, and poor writing.

Fans of the show will enjoy it as a quick diversion; hardcore adventure fans will definitely not get their money's worth.

Play this game if you enjoy feeling hopeless and frustrated or are just plain curious as to how a game would specifically seek to bring about such a feeling. Otherwise, you'd be wise not to bother.