More than a little buggy, easy to finish, and short on characterization, The Way of Love: Sub Zero is a rather empty-feeling adventure offset just enough by its premise and backdrop to give it a quaint bit of charm.

Short and sweet, Abha: Light on the Path is a visual treat, though some more narrative depth would have been highly beneficial.

Stylish to look at but short on substance, Lovecraft Quest: A Comix Game has a few fun puzzles to beef up its brief story, but too much repetition stops it from becoming a Great One.

CINERIS SOMNIA‘s dated controls and punishingly slow pace often make it a very difficult adventure to enjoy as much its memorable story and atmosphere deserve.

A fantasy tale with charming artwork, music and a wide spectrum of adorable characters, NAIRI combines a visual novel and point-and-click puzzle elements into a heartwarming adventure that isn’t fully finished just yet.

With its brain-bending puzzles, delightful story, and all around impressive fairy-tale-ness, Beyond the Sky is a point-and-click adventure not to be missed.

Although light in puzzle complexity and narrative depth, the side-scrolling Lupus in Fabula delivers a memorable experience that has much to delight. Its characters, panoramas and irreverent, absurdist comedy come together to create a farcical adventure that is quite distinct and helps it stand apart from other offerings in the marketplace.

Though it suffers somewhat from a lack of polish, Nelson and the Magic Cauldron is a fun, if not necessarily funny, inventory-filled point-and-click experience.

The shine of Moon Castle’s complex and challenging puzzles is tarnished by its glitchiness and lack of polish.

The mystery takes a while to catch up to the intrigue of its captivating Swedish locales, but once The Fall of April rises to the occasion it provides another highly entertaining entry in the Carol Reed series.

The second Initiate outing replicates much of what made the first game so enjoyable, this time with three playable protagonists sharing the spotlight. But the vague nuggets of narrative still fail to deliver, and are once again easily eclipsed by the satisfaction you’ll get instead from cracking the many puzzles.

The best game yet in the series, The Room Three is the first to really qualify as a full-fledged puzzle-adventure game, with varied areas to explore, an assortment of new challenges to overcome, and a continuation of the intriguing storyline established in earlier games.

Easy and colourful, She and the Light Bearer should appeal mostly to younger children, although the drawn-out nature of the dialog may strain their patience.

Though it doesn’t quite disguise the lack of variety in puzzles and locales, Tick Tock: A Tale for Two offers a fairly novel collaborative two-player approach to problem solving.

If a unique and lengthy visual novel is what you’re craving, WILL: A Wonderful World could fill that particular void. So long as you can accept its rapid tonal shifts, constant despair, and uneven writing, the fate-shaping wordplay delivers something fresh and enticing.

Yorkshire Gubbins is a short and easy but hilarious escapade through a small town filled with memorable characters and quirky puzzles. It won’t pose much in the way of difficulty, but its biting British humour makes it hard not to keep playing, just to see how it all turns out.

A loving homage to the Myst series, Myha: Return to the Lost Island has everything that characterized its iconic inspiration: lovely locales, a world of depth and complexity, and puzzles that will tax the little grey cells.

Short but surreal, 103 presents an intriguing exploration of a dreamlike series of corridors that you can practically complete with both hands tied behind your back.

Essentially five short games in one, Photographs presents a series of dark, disturbing, and above all compelling tales of woe interspersed with their own diverting puzzle minigames ranging from easy to challenging.

The Mystery of Woolley Mountain is a heaping helping of quirky farce, whose occasional foibles are easily atoned for by the eccentric puzzles and general good humour.

3 GEEKS had the potential to be a fun comical romp, but with its near-incomprehensible English translation, clashing art styles, occasional technical hiccup, and patience-testing gameplay, the end result falls far short of its promise.

While The Fall of Lazarus is light on puzzles and blandly produced, its story packs a punch in dealing with relevant real-world issues that will leave you thinking about the game long after you have finished.

Like a trip through a prop-filled haunted attraction, The Witch’s House MV captivates with preset scares and gory imagery, an onslaught of retro-imbued horror, inventive puzzles and a surprisingly whimsical attitude toward the protagonist’s frequent death.

Along with a number of rough edges, Elea’s attempts at surrealism on a spaceship prevent this first-person explorer from delivering a compelling narrative experience in its episodic debut.

It’s a little rougher around the edges than Michalski’s previous masterpiece, but if you’re looking for a coming-of-age story with an edge that laces the banalities of a troubled life with pure elements of horror, then don’t be afraid to enter Lorelai’s nightmare.

An attempt to right the wrongs of a terrible second game goes wayward, as Lucius III misses the mark in nearly every way.

Evoking the feel of classic Sierra games but without their sudden deaths and dead ends, Sumatra: Fate of Yandi is a fun, enjoyable tale of survival in a lush rainforest, only marginally brought down by a weak ending.

STARDROP is a nice little sci-fi adventure for those who prefer story and solitary exploration over gameplay.