A polished, immersive trek through a world so alluring it’s a shame it doesn’t actually exist, Eastshade is a must-play for anyone with the heart and mind to devote to this art- and craft-themed adventure.

An ethereal, innovative, emotional cooperative experience, thatgamecompany’s Journey is one that any PlayStation 3 owner should take.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale is like a warm hug from a wise old aunt, simultaneously bursting with creativity and offering an unblinking but hopeful look at humanity.

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

With a great cast of characters, Unavowed is a stylish urban supernatural fantasy that is touching, funny, endearing, replayable and above all, fun.

It’s hard to find much fault with Spirit of Justice. Dramatically improving upon its predecessors’ storytelling and varying the familiar gameplay elements, this game gives the trilogy – and series, for now – a more-than-polished conclusion that engages the brain as well as the heart.

Insane, mutant tentacles. A frozen hamster. Three distinct playable characters. Time travel. Fake barf. Truly, this game has it all. One other thing Day of the Tentacle has in no short supply is charm. It's got that in spades. Everything about this game just comes together beautifully.

In Grim Fandango Remastered, one of the best games of all time has been resurrected for modern audiences. It’s still a classic, and it absolutely belongs on every gamer’s (digital) shelf.

A murder mystery set in a rich, fictional setting, Disco Elysium is told with sweeping profundity and hilarious absurdity. With no combat to impede story progression, this is a choice-driven role-playing adventure that deftly raises the bar of quality for the medium.

Goetia is a beautifully crafted and intricately complex game set in a fantastically spooky world. It’s a must-play for horror and supernatural mystery enthusiasts, though not for those afraid of a little challenge.

Jusant is a thoughtful climbing puzzler with exceptional storytelling that makes for an understated triumph in a year full of high-profile game releases.

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is two deduction-based adventure games in one, set over a hundred years prior to the original Phoenix Wright trilogy. With improved graphics, fun new characters and enthralling cases to solve, it more than lives up to the legacy of its classic predecessors.

Uniformly excellent writing, acting, and audio-visual presentation of an ancient Roman city and its imminently doomed citizens make The Forgotten City a mystery well worth solving—and the clever time-looping mechanics make your investigation a lot of fun.

Rosewater is a modern classic, a story of how one may find and form a family through road trip exploits. Great graphics and sound design, multiple-solution puzzles, and creative accessibility options make this adventure an experience that players will remember long after the game is over.

Minute of Islands is a beautiful, unflinching game about the power to save what you hold dear and the responsibility that comes with it. Its breathtaking visual style, moving story and intensely affecting presentation add up to a one-of-a-kind puzzle-platforming experience.

Paradigm is a uniquely creative blend of art, music and consistently humorous gameplay. It’s an absurdist adventure like no other, and one that’s earned its place among the classics.

Like its predecessor, Portal 2 is not an adventure game in the traditional sense, but genre fans will find plenty to appreciate in this story-driven obstacle course, because puzzle games don't get any better than this.

American Arcadia features a refreshing tale that shows how to “subvert expectations,” making the plot a standout hit when compared to more mainstream narratives. On top of that, the variance in gameplay and the exceptional presentation act as extensions and support for an already excellent narrative.

Who would expect a previously unknown Norwegian developer to create such an absorbing and compelling adventure game? The Longest Journey is, quite simply, one of the best adventures ever made.

The gripping science-fiction narrative in Three Minutes To Eight features an ingenious use of random elements that, combined with well-executed pixel art graphics and accomplished voice acting, ensure that each experience is unique.

A masterly remastering of the LucasArts classic. If you haven’t yet contended with Earth’s vilest extremity, it’s time to finally embrace the Day of the Tentacle.

Chariots of the Dogs sucked me in and completely immersed me with the joy that comes from playing a special adventure game.

There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension takes the rulebook for what a game can and should do and sets it on fire, practically reinventing the entire medium in the process. Unceasingly hilarious, ludicrously entertaining, and utterly unique, it will remind you why you play games while forcing you to reconsider every aspect of what that means.

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.

This isn’t a situation where one forces oneself to slog through Moby Dick because it’s a “classic”; The Secret of Monkey Island is still as fun as any other game you’ll play this year, and probably significantly more so, and everyone who loves adventure games should experience it at least once.

An incredible game that takes all the best parts of how classic adventures used to be made and then adds so much more to ensure it stands up to today’s standards. Thimbleweed Park is a gem that will be remembered for at least another 30 years.

Syberia: The World Before is a wonderful return to form for Benoît Sokal’s venerable series. Beautiful, engaging, and moving, it’s the strongest chapter in Kate Walker’s journey yet.

Chants of Sennaar meets the highest standards due to its finely crafted, original and addictive language-learning gameplay, and also its beautifully honed graphics and sonics. It’s a distinctively French feast for the eyes, ears and brain.