With an amazing 164 games on offer, an illustrious panel of judges comprising Natalia Figueroa of Fran Bow fame, inkle’s Joseph Humphrey, Patrick Ewing of Campo Santo, and the creator of Dropsy Jay Tholen, a wonderful community, an excellent selection of resources for would-be creators, and a lovely voting system, one simply has to at least check the Adventure Jam 2016 out. And one has to thank organizers Cassie Benter and Stacy Davidson, as well as the legion of artists and developers who just provided us with a wondrous menagerie of free games.

What follows are a few suggestions to get you started; some of the best #AdvJam2016 entries I’ve played so far. Keep in mind though that I have so far merely scratched the surface of this rich and impressively varied selection of games.



Stair Quest (No More For Today)

Coming complete with manual and soundtrack, Stair Quest offers a digital package as lush as a classic Sierra box of yore. The game will, of course, be adored by fans of classic parser-driven adventures, as they get to face the most terrifying of enemies: stairs. It is all very clever.

Nothing Can Stop Us (Daniele Giardini)

A beautifully illustrated, dialog-based game that offers a novel take at the CYOA formula. It’s a simultaneously touching, funny, thought-provoking, beautiful, and brilliantly written attempt at excavating the future in the past.

Four Last Things (Joe Richardson)

Who said you cannot have a playable point-and-clickable collage of Renaissance art (mostly by Bosch and Bruegel) and classical music? Nobody. And that’s why this demented thing that’s allegedly all about Sin exists.

Lucerne (Tom Sykes)

Text adventures are adventures, and thus an integral part of any jam involving digital adventuring. What’s more, text adventures built on inkle’s Ink engine are both sleek, and suitable stages for the exploration of harbours during nights that are both dark and stormy.

Ghostly Desires (ReVenture Games)

Sporting ReVenture’s trademark and uniquely beautiful 16-colour graphics, Ghostly Desires is a whimsical and utterly lovely fairy tale complete with haunted castles and unicorns. Expect to point-and-click in an almost traditional fashion, and help a Queen get a decent night’s sleep.

The Shortest Journey (Matt Frith)

Wonderful music, elegant controls, and fluid game design aside, The Shortest Journey is a short adventure that looks absolutely fantastic. Distractingly so even, though chances are that gawking at the pixel art will not really get in the way of helping Manu get the treasure.