The most enjoyable adventure games
To construct a list of the best adventure games for PC, we delved into the archives in search of the funniest narratives, most memorable characters, and most satisfying puzzles. Although we haven’t defined the genre precisely—we’ve included both standard point-and-click games and others—these are generally exploration, puzzle, and story-driven games that place a premium on ambience, dialogue, and discovery above action and stats.
The majority of these choices came from Richard Cobbett, a long-time adventure game fan, but we’ve continued to add new adventure games as they gain popularity.
Most of these selections came from Richard Cobbett, a seasoned adventure game fan, but we’ve continued to add additional adventure games as they rise to prominence.
Among the modern-style adventure games on this list are Gone Home and Telltale’s The Walking Dead, two of the most engaging adventure games ever made. Go to page two for the best point-and-click experiences.
For anyone who appreciates the pleasant click of mechanical keyboards, the magnetic hum, and whirls of a CRT, or the hot breath of a stranger standing just behind you in an empty house, Stories Untold is a must-have. It consists of four episodes of sci-fi horror in which the central conflict revolves around an out-of-date piece of technology. In the first episode, you sit at a desk and play an archaic horror text adventure. However, it’s not difficult to figure out why you can see the space surrounding you and how the text adventure relates to it. Each level adds a new twist to the surroundings and outdated electronics, resulting in some of the most unusual and spooky adventure games currently accessible.
It’s a strange existence.
Life is Strange was one of the year’s most delightful surprises—a standalone Telltale-style episodic game with a brilliant concept and a lot of core content. It’s the Story of a nervous young woman who discovers she can turn back time just as a disaster is about to strike her city. On the other hand, the drama comes from her relationships, the very difficult decisions she must make, and the badly written but effective coming-of-age Story at its core.
Soma is a fictional character that Soma invented.
There’s always the issue of “OK, but what else do you have?” when you produce a game as well-known as Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Frictional’s reaction was Soma, built on its horror roots while immersing the scares in an infinitely more complex, beautiful, and claustrophobic setting. Unlike a lot of modern horrors, it stays away from jump scares and recurrent gimmicks as much as possible, and it rapidly establishes that it’s about more than just horrors. Of course, this assumes that your sofa and computer are in the same room, which isn’t.
Her Personal Experience
Her Story has racked up enough awards for creator Sam Barlow to melt them all down and produce some giant super-award, and rightfully so. Even though Her Story isn’t the only successful FMV game ever developed, it is a brilliant attempt to use the format for the experiences it was designed to deliver, rather than bending over backward to make it accomplish things it was never meant to do in the first place. It’s a shame that what begins as a murder investigation gradually devolves into a more imaginative character study and that your participation in the game isn’t as simple as it seems. Even still, digging through the Story for keywords and snippets and putting together the Story’s order for oneself is as fascinating as reading detective fiction.
In the direction of the Moon
More than any other genre, Adventures excel at the more contemplative Story, with no need to be interrupted every five minutes to punch a demon or race a car. Built-in RPG Maker but still an adventure at heart, it’s a wonderful mystery, a sad tale, and a truly affecting experience.
