GYLT is an atmospheric, beginner-friendly horror experience that channels classic tropes of the genre, but experienced players might need more to sink their teeth into.

STASIS: BONE TOTEM is a frightfully entertaining adventure with a story that carefully blends sacred elements with a dreadful atmosphere while drawing the player into challenges that are not overly difficult. If you are a horror fan or an open-minded gamer curious about the game’s unusual themes, this is an easy recommendation.

My Friendly Neighborhood is an old-school survival horror throwback with a delightfully refreshing premise and plenty of fun to be had.

Dordogne has a heartwarming story and stunning visuals. However, the mini-games may pose a challenge for players with tardy reflexes.

Oxenfree II: Lost Signals is another spooky island adventure, and while there are aspects to be enjoyed, it ends up feeling a bit too much like its predecessor.

Repella Fella is entertaining, with well-designed graphics, music, and voice acting that create an exciting storyline. Casual players will find it provides an amusing experience, but hardcore players may find the limited interactivity unsatisfying.

Vertical Reach’s foray into horror is a successful merging of PS1-era classics and its own unique DNA, with engaging puzzles and a lovely cast of characters.

Marlon’s Mystery: The Dark Side of Crime is a captivating cozy mystery that delves into the aftermath of injustice and exploitation.

As you wander Firmament’s splendid landscapes, the narrative builds to a heartening finale—but be prepared to strenuously exercise your brain along the way.

Star Trek: Resurgence is a brilliant game that successfully recaptures the spirit of the classic shows. The former Telltale developers, Dramatic Labs, effectively update the formula to bring variety and ensure that adventurers are consistently engrossed. If you are a Trekkie or have enjoyed games made by Telltale, definitely put this on your gaming to-do list.

Amnesia: The Bunker is another Frictional Games classic, pitting players against a truly terrifying foe while providing immersive elements that are constantly engaging. While the AI can leave a bit to be desired, the atmosphere and story will keep players on their toes.

Superfluous Returnz is a game that combines stunning graphics and immersive sound to present a hilarious and captivating parody of the superhero genre.

Wales Interactive has its fans (rightfully so), and they will know what they’re in for here. But for the uninitiated or those looking for a cheesy, goofy adventure story that satisfies, Mia and the Dragon Princess ultimately fails to deliver the goods.

Triomatica Games’ Boxville feels like a return to traditional adventure form with classic pros and cons. It has an exciting world but can create frustration due to its mechanics and puzzle-solving. Impatient players will not appreciate how little the game guides them, but persistent and adaptable gamers will find a challenging and stimulating experience.

Paws of Coal is a delight, with charming visuals and an accessible interface that takes only a few hours to complete. The different endings invite playing again. For some gamers, the absence of voice acting and sparse animation may diminish the overall experience.

Last Christmas boasts well-crafted graphics, music, and voice acting that enhance its bite-sized story. Casual players will have fun, but hardcore players may not feel completely fulfilled.

Sherlock Holmes The Awakened (2023) is a phenomenal remake and addition to Frogwares’ long list of adventures, leaning more towards the supernatural but still fitting snuggly into the Arthur Conan Doyle-style of the mystery genre. While there are minor issues with presentation and gameplay, those who are Sherlock Holmes fans (or H.P. Lovecraft fans) should definitely experience this—even those who have played the 2006 original or the 2008 remaster.

Summer Daze at Hero-U: Tilly’s Tale is an enjoyable game that boasts expert voice-overs, colorfully stylized visuals, and rollicking background melodies, all complemented by a humorous, pun-filled narrative. Fans of Lori and Corey Cole will surely be delighted, but it may be a tougher sell for those new to their previous work.

Frog Detective 3: Corruption at Cowboy County will appeal to both series veterans and those looking to try out the mystery genre experience. The characters are quirky enough to be funny, and the lively changes in the environments and soundtrack are welcome. However, certain gameplay loops and drawn-out dialogues may drive impatient players away.

Like No Other: The Legend Of The Twin Books delights players with its stunning hand-drawn art and engaging puzzles, showcasing a world full of untapped narrative potential. Further exploration of its story and characters could make it an even more memorable gaming experience for fans of point-and-click adventures.

The Safe Place is a compelling, expressive interactive tragedy. It contains an engrossing story brought to life by well-executed writing, graphics, music, and puzzles that will arouse the emotions of its players.

Tails: The Backbone Preludes is a riveting adventure with characters that encounter relatable, sympathetic scenarios while also presenting an intriguing and unique world. The choice system and well-written dialogue serve to elevate these elements, as does the overall presentation. With no voice-overs, however, reading lengthy text may eventually become tedious to some, with the game taking over seven hours to complete. Nevertheless, this is an adventure worth playing, especially for those who have enjoyed choice-driven games in the past.

Stellar Mess: The Princess Conundrum (Chapter 1) is a delightful and nostalgic adventure game that successfully blends an exciting story with visually appealing graphics, captivating music, a user-friendly interface, and mostly well-constructed puzzles.

In The Case of the Golden Idol, the mystery-solving is quite engaging up to a point. But overall, the narrative is frustratingly executed and the presentation is unremarkable.

Figment 2: Creed Valley is a wonderfully designed game, combining plot and music in such a harmonious way and featuring creative puzzle-solving and combat. It is an absolute gem that every action-adventure gamer should try.

Despite some maddening mini-games and a finicky autosave feature, Loretta delivers a gripping tale and chilling atmosphere with stunning graphics and music. Horror fans should check it out, but be prepared for some frustration along the way.

As a relatively short and very quirky journey into the minds of a distinctly unique development team—who are improving with each new release—Magnus Positive Phototaxis has many elements to recommend it. Its lack of a logical gaming structure with no really challenging puzzles means that it might not suit those looking for a more complete adventure gaming experience.

Roadwarden takes a page out of the choose-your-own-adventure playbook, incorporating combat, role-playing, and diplomacy into its visual novel trappings. Although surviving its world can be stressful, there is plenty of worthwhile adventuring to be had.

Dreams in the Witch House is an engrossing experience. It uses well-executed visuals, music, and writing to seamlessly place the player in the center of H.P. Lovecraft’s story. The role-playing elements work seamlessly with the narrative to heighten empathy for the protagonist.

If you’re looking for a creepy mystery adventure game with less emphasis on traditional point-and-click mechanics, Children of Silentown could be for you. However, some bland characters hinder it, and most of the storyline is confined too long in one play area.

Lost in Play is an appealing, even mesmerizing adventure game with one of the best settings ever conceived and some very amusing puzzles. There are certain plot threads that are lacking, and the challenges can be arduous, even with the hint system. Still, this is an adventure game that is well worth experiencing.

GrandMa Badass - a crazy point-and-click adventure is an amusing tale brought to life by well-executed graphics, music, and interface. However, the lack of dialog prevents the narrative from reaching its full potential.

Wayward Strand is an intriguing game; a gripping story brought to life by well-executed graphics, music, interface, and voice acting.

NightCry is confusing mess of a game that nevertheless manages to provide a bit of schlocky B movie horror fun, particularly for those with fond memories of Clock Tower.

Sunday Gold is a bold, flashy experiment, merging a point-and-click adventure game with heavy tactical RPG elements. Kinetic, beautiful, and bursting with character, it serves up a brand new way to look at the adventure game genre.

Despite a lovingly crafted 3D reimagining, Colossal Cave recreates the original too closely to appeal to much more than game history buffs and nostalgia seekers – or very patient players who don’t mind repetitive, arduous gameplay.

The Castle is a wonderful game; an engrossing story brought to life by well-executed graphics, music, sound effects, interface, and puzzles.

A hybrid role-playing adventure game with high replayability and stunning 3D environments. In Betrayal At Club Low, players can customize their character and approach missions differently, using a dice mechanic that adds (not always welcome) randomness.

Overall, Pentiment is a fantastic game with minor flaws that still impresses, even if the twist at the end of the second act is very difficult to accept. Despite being developed by a small team, Obsidian has demonstrated its ability to create an immersive and demanding game that blurs the line between art and gameplay.

Nine Noir Lives is a splendid game. It showcases lovely graphics, music, sound design, and voice acting. It tells a story worthy of the Noir genre while retaining a great sense of humor.

Although the game’s relative brevity and linearity mean Wippra is not a town to explore and become fully involved in, The Plague Doctor of Wippra is still a fun adventure with effective use of historical and medical detail in its puzzles.

Plot of the Druid boasts impressive graphics, music, voice acting, and puzzles that combine to enhance its intriguing story.

Explore the enchanting world of Lucy Dreaming; with an impressive storyline, beautiful graphics, and excellent voice acting, it’s a game worth checking out!

Jennifer Wilde: Unlikely Revolutionaries is a remarkable game that tackles themes rarely seen in commercial adventures. The writing is superb, with rich and complex characters and interactions. While the pacing feels rushed toward the end, this does not detract from the game’s overall excellence.

Unusual Findings is a clever tribute to ‘80s pop culture; a fun, creative story brought to life by well-executed graphics, interface, and voice acting.

Of Bird and Cage is an experimental music album that pairs interactive elements with the songs to create a unique experience. However, the game is plagued by bad mechanics and a story that is uninteresting and devoid of nuance.

Aspire: Ina’s Tale is a short but varied experience blending puzzle-solving, action-platforming, and mystical metaphors. Beautiful and charming but not overly challenging, its emotional impact and memorable moments make it an escape worth taking.

Return to Monkey Island is a fantastic addition to the series and a great game in its own right. If you’re a Guybrush Threepwood fan or want to revisit the high point of adventures past and present, you owe it to yourself to come back to Monkey Island.

The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow is an outstanding horror game, a spine-tingling story brought to life by well-executed graphics, music, interface, and voice acting.

Beacon Pines is utterly charming yet wonderfully creepy, with a surprisingly thoughtful narrative despite its cute characters and storybook aesthetic.

Although it gives the false impression of being a “choices matter” game, South of the Circle is still an excellent narrative experience for those who enjoy games without puzzles. Even if the ending might be disappointing, the stunning graphics and fantastic soundtrack make it a game worth playing.

Justin Wack and the Big Time Hack is a must-play for any fan of adventure games. An engaging story brought to life by beautiful graphics, sound, and animation, it immerses the player in a world of humor and fun.

While the art and music tug at your LucasArts-loving heartstrings, The Dark Prophecy is primarily a letdown. Its lacklustre puzzles, writing, and game design quickly overwhelm the majesty of its appearance.

IMMORTALITY is a complex and fascinating story that draws inspiration from many different film genres. It’s a fantastic game with a lot to offer, even if the limited influence over the story and the random order in which the game’s events are experienced could reduce the story’s impact.

Overall, The Silent Sky Part 1 is a decent game with a compelling story. However, some elements could frustrate players, such as the lack of a hotspot indicator and the timed puzzles.

BROK the InvestiGator is a bold and explosive burst of 90s nostalgia that plumb the depths of the adventure game genre for its best ideas and piles them, one on top of the other, for an unforgettable thrill ride. While it may slightly disappoint as an action game or a playable cartoon, it may just earn a place in the graphic adventure game canon.

FixFox is a fun romp through an alien planet as a furry MacGyver, although the long playtime does make proceedings repetitive.

Although rough around the edges in the story department, The Last Cube hits where it counts: fun powers used to solve clever logic puzzles in intriguing sci-fi environments.

The Mooseman is a beautiful and moving art game that tells the story of a shaman’s journey to bring light to the world. It’s short but well worth playing for the atmosphere and creativity on display.

Dungeons of Dreadrock is a great puzzle adventure game with solid gameplay mechanics, well-balanced difficulty levels, an exciting narrative, and a beautiful art style.

Though its puzzles are not quite as sharp as its predecessors’, We Were Here Forever provides plenty of co-op fun and finally delves into what’s happening in the world.

Voodoo Detective is a heartfelt homage to the classics that fuses a little of everything you loved about its inspirations. While it doesn’t quite reach those heights, it’s still a fun and engaging title that’s worth checking out and a promising debut from Short Sleeve Studio.

Stray manages to straddle the glee of playing a roguish feline with an absorbing sci-fi story and gorgeously detailed landscapes.

The developers of Intruder in Antiquonia looked to craft a compelling mystery with an offline twist. However, a story that struggles to connect and lukewarm puzzle-solving make this game about an amnesiac one that’s all too easy to forget.

A short, creepy, yet silly little adventure, Dad’s Monster House has plenty of styles, challenges, and atmospheres that create a rewarding puzzle experience and an emotional yet subdued narrative experience even if the two rarely merge.

An emotionally powerful and unconventional tale for the history books, Attentat 1942 weaves a satisfying, intimate mystery with its compelling cast of live actors.

You shouldn’t play with your food, but it’s necessary when dealing with the creatures of Snaktooth Island. While the creative design and catchy music are tasty side dishes, Bugsnax‘s main course of monster-catching gets a tad stale before the end.

In Rays of the Light offers a solitary experience, letting you explore some ruins after a catastrophe cleared them of any human inhabitants. Unfortunately, the lack of any actual substance makes the gameplay feel as gloomy as the setting is.

Nightmare Frames is a solid investigative adventure game with an original voice and familiar design. It does what it aims to do reasonably well and will probably keep you engaged for a couple of hours, but its story and puzzles could’ve used a bit more depth.

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.

Born Punk is an outstanding game; an engrossing story brought to life by well-executed graphics, music, interface, and voice acting.

Ghost on the Shore is a quiet exploration game that gets progressively more intense as the plot unravels. With a focus on storytelling, players who enjoy supernatural mystery and period drama will find this to be an intriguing journey.

Insomnis on the PlayStation 5 isn’t quite a next-generation experience but is nonetheless a thrilling haunted house adventure worth playing should you have missed out on the original release.

The puzzles make an effort to redeem Last Labyrinth, but with its already unsatisfying narrative stretched even thinner by tedious pacing and unnecessary repetition, it’s best to avoid the trap of playing this one.

Although a bit repetitive and not very challenging, Catie in MeowmeowLand serves up a delightful and whimsical game experience which gives you a well-deserved escape from reality.

Magnus Failure has an interesting setting with a fairly decent little set of partly illogical puzzles to solve, but really not much more than that.

Freud’s Bones is a decent game: a unique premise brought to life by well-executed graphics, music, and interface. However, the monotonous puzzles could frustrate players.

Inked: A Tale of Love is an excellent adventure game. The compelling story and the concept behind it should appeal to most adventure game fans, and especially to lovers of physics-based puzzles.

Dexter Stardust is a gloriously over-the-top, Latin-themed homage to pulp sci-fi and classic adventures. The story takes a backseat to the puzzles for a while, but it has attitude and good vibes to spare.

NORCO is a one-of-a-kind adventure, expertly written with (almost) perfect artistic direction. The lack of frequent puzzles is made up for by their unusual quality and variety. A must-play for narrative adventure fans.

If you’re into style over substance and looking for a fun, low-key adventure, Growbot is the one for you.

Perfect Tides is a triumph of good writing, combining raw teenage emotions with humor and simple but abundant puzzles, only slightly spoiled at times by some minor narrative vagaries.

While it has a few design decisions holding it back, the time-traveling joys of Wanderer promise a bright future for adventure games within the VR space.

A touch of noir to Leprechaun Shadow breathes fresh life into Sir Typhil’s fantasy adventure series, though a long, unpolished RPG portion can be a bit hard to swallow.

With its interesting rural Ukrainian setting, beautiful graphics and engaging Narrator, Highly Likely could have been an enjoyable interactive folk tale, if only the interaction wasn’t so painstakingly tedious and dull so as to make the entire thing feel like a frustrating waste of time.

Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit is an excellent game with an engrossing story brought to life by well-executed graphics, music, interface, and voice acting.

NeonLore’s overall quality is inconsistent, and for every beautiful vista there’s an equally awkward graphical anomaly. Yet, for all it lacks, the game’s thesis does come through, and it will undoubtedly appeal to cyberpunk fans interested in exploring a frozen moment in the terrifying world of tomorrow.

The Works of Mercy is an initially promising thriller about the morality of our choices that promptly dies thrashing and gurgling. Post-mortem reveals the cause of death to be flimsy writing and bare-bones gameplay.

With clumsy controls and a focus on codes and combinations, Catsperience leaves little room for life as a feline.

Half Past Fate is a bundle of joy not only for fans of rom-coms, but for those who enjoy character-driven adventures and are looking to immerse themselves in a slow-paced, feel-good collection of human stories.

The lack of puzzles and other challenges lets the gaming experience fall short, but the beautiful graphics, gripping story and wonderful music still make The Shattering a worthwhile experience, even if it’s an emotionally difficult one.

Bloodshore delivers what it advertises: as a true interactive movie, it provides some decent schlock here and there, but ultimately its narrative and characters come up lacking.

Lost At Sea takes on a bold concept, and does a serviceable job of telling its story through well-designed puzzles. That said, many other parts of the game feel underdeveloped, and while still a memorable experience, a bit more expansion could have made it unforgettable.

The presence of a few decent adventure environments and puzzles can’t save the weak stealth game that is Sir Typhil’s second medieval fantasy outing, Poltergeist Treasure.

Sir Typhil’s short introduction in Unicorn Dungeon would have been far sweeter without the tacked-on dungeon crawling that detracts from what’s otherwise a solid if unspectacular fantasy adventure debut.

With classic zaniness and puzzle solving and updated production values, Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space marries the best of the old with the new in this modern remaster.

The Plane Effect is a well-crafted surreal and atmospheric experience with philosophical undertones. While not perfect (though not too far from it), it is heartily recommended.

A good game with beautiful graphics, well animated characters that puts a unique spin on a mysterious American legend. A humorous story that’s occasionally slowed down by its minigames.