Adventure games have been around for over thirty years! Hard to believe, isn’t it? We’ve seen plenty of classics over the decades, and new gems are still being produced today. With such a rich history, just how many deserve to make a list of all-time greats? Our previous compilation of top adventures had 20 games listed, but that was nearly ten years old itself. So what would it be this time? 25? You’d be amazed how quickly those slots filled. 50? That leaves far fewer casualties, but some series alone can easily stake a claim to three or four slots.

Why not 100?

While much of the world probably couldn’t even name 100 adventure games, those of us who cut our teeth on the groundbreaking early text titles, basked in the Golden Age of graphic adventures, suffered through the dark times and lived to see the modern-day (relative) renaissance know better. It’s not only possible to think of 100 quality adventures, it still leaves some painful omissions.


With a number in mind, that left one important consideration. What constitutes “the best”? How do you compare games spanning decades of styles and technology? Is a now-antiquated genre pioneer from 1985 still a classic today? Does it need to be? Do new games have any right to stand alongside their forebears that paved the way and have stood the test of time? What’s really important? Longevity, innovation, production values, historical relevance? What’s more crucial? Story, exploration, puzzles?

The answer is: all of the above – or none! There’s no scientific formula. It’s a combination of factors that depends entirely on the context for each individual game. You can debate each choice, each placement, and we hope you will! The beauty of opinion lists is that there’s no right or wrong, and we argued long and hard among ourselves just to arrive at ours. Sometimes we even contradicted the site's own reviews. But we’re completely confident that our final selections are deserving candidates and a wonderfully diverse representation of the genre’s best to date. Not every game will suit every taste, but there’s plenty of must-play gaming for all in our top 100 all-time adventure games.

Can’t be bothered reading the whole article? Or just can’t handle the suspense? Click here for the complete, full-spoiler list. (But you don’t know what you’re missing!)

Agree with our choices? Disagree? A little of both, somewhere in between? Have your say in the reader comments below.

And now, let's get started!





The top 100 Adventure Games!

First up: #100 - 96...



If you could go back to 1912, the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic would surely be among the last destinations you’d choose. Unless you’re a former British spy, magically given a second chance to relive the terrifying night of April 15th in order to successfully fulfill the mission you failed the first time around, possibly preventing both World Wars in the process. Or if you’re an adventure gamer looking to live vicariously through the ordeal yourself – if you manage to survive, that is. In Titanic: Adventure Out of Time, CyberFlix’s 1996 alternate reality tale lets you do just that. You can admire the meticulously researched, faithfully recreated luxury liner with all the other passengers, but you do have an important task to accomplish before the night is out, some of which will be spent in a race against time as the ship begins its inevitable descent into the icy Atlantic waters. Given the tragic outcome of the journey for its 1500-plus victims, this game isn’t the next-best-thing to really being there… it is much, much better.

Digitally rendered from real historical documents and photos, the setting here is the real star of the game, offering a free-roaming virtual tour of the ship’s sights. Puzzles are fairly sparse, but you will need to perform such tasks as disarming bombs, repairing mechanical malfunctions and sending telegraphs using Morse Code. As you begin to interact with numerous other characters, each with their own stories to tell and secrets to hide, it’s important to say and do the right things at the right time. Often there are second chances to correct mistakes, but there are branching paths and multiple endings, not all of them ideal. The stakes really soar after colliding with the iceberg, as the lower levels are cut off by rising water levels and the ship begins to visibly list. Between impressive cutscenes showing the disaster from afar, you must hurry to complete your tasks before all is lost. The timed element makes the tension palpable, which is a must under the circumstances and results in a thoroughly immersive endgame. Will you sink or swim, succeed or fail? It’s entirely up to you, and if you don’t like how it turns out, there’s plenty of genuine replay value to reward going back and trying all over again. You sure wouldn’t want to live (or die) there, but this is one Titanic voyage that sure is fun to visit.

You might also like: Lost in Time, Mission Critical



Really we could just as easily have picked any other Nancy Drew adventure to include in this list. The mind-boggling 25 game series (and counting) has achieved an unprecedented level of success that deserves to be acknowledged, though the formula has remained virtually identical through them all. So why the 11th game of Her Interactive’s longrunning franchise? Because Curse of Blackmoor Manor most consistently nails all the elements that go into a great Nancy Drew game: tough, multi-layered puzzles that are well integrated into a story about ancient family bloodlines perhaps mixed with a bit of lycanthropy, a mysterious setting full of visual Easter eggs, lots of information to glean about a fascinating topic (in this case 17th century England), terrific voice acting for all major characters, a surprisingly non-linear pathway to the end, and quite a few scares to boot.

As always, players directly guide Nancy in interviewing a colourful cast of characters, including a wealthy second wife who fears she’s been cursed by the beast of Blackmoor manor, an oddly precocious stepdaughter, and a priggish spinster aunt who tends carnivorous plants, among others. You’ll explore the richly detailed mansion, finding clues everywhere you look, from messages hidden in a family coat of arms to sumptuous wall tapestries depicting scenes from mythology. For this outing, dynamic cutscenes and a smart phone with web search ability were added to the mix. Some enhancements, such as a task list for Junior level detectives, were so successful that they’ve remained in the games ever since. Thankfully, the make-work tasks that bog down many Nancy Drew games are largely forsaken here. Proving that this series isn't just for girls, by 2004 Her Interactive clearly had its teen detective series down to a science, though in the many new adventures since Curse of Blackmoor Manor, none have surpassed it.

You might also like: Nancy Drew series (24 more to choose from!)



How does one spice up the classic mystery genre? Easy: set it on the distant planet of Armpit VI and get the same genius who designed the aliens of Mos Eisley’s famous cantina to draw the cast of characters. Directed by Steve Meretzky, Boffo Games’ 1997 The Space Bar casts players as Alias Node, one of the few humans on the planet working as a police officer tracking a shape-shifting criminal who captured your partner. In addition to the usual forensic equipment, your biggest tool is the ability to “mind-meld” with some of the dozens of aliens you encounter; living out a past event in their lives through their perspective.

It is this ability that gives the game so many memorable moments. One minute you’re a business tycoon negotiating a ridiculously complicated deal; the next you’re a highly intelligent alien confined to a jar, whose only method of interacting with the world is getting through to your dim-witted alien partner. Later you’re a drug-running alien trying to escape the authorities and get off planet despite your laryngitis, and THEN you’re a robotic sports star trying to get over last night’s hangover in time for the big game. All this comes in between solving the mystery of which of the many aliens surrounding you is the shape-shifter in disguise. The game features a fairly unforgiving time limit combined with puzzles that require a good amount of trial and error, but those who are up to the challenge will be rewarded with a hilarious array of characters and a truly unique adventure. The Space Bar isn’t as famous as most of the games on our list, but it deserves to be remembered as the true classic it is.

You might also like: Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2



The first two Runaway installments earned many fans due to their slick cartoon art, comedic road-trip storylines, and catchy techno/pop soundtracks, but niggling gameplay issues prevented them from realizing their true potential. Not so with 2009’s A Twist of Fate, which closed out the trilogy with equally high production values and improved gameplay to match. With striking hand-painted artwork, Pendulo Studios delivered a host of colourful, stylized locations, distinct character designs, and TV-quality cinematics. The finale’s in media res storyline is creatively told, and with chapters alternating between the past and the present, has strong momentum and narrative flow.

In a series first, control alternates between feisty ex-stripper Gina Timmins and her boyfriend Brian Basco, who has apparently gone off the deep end thanks to the increasingly ridiculous events he endured in the previous games. The tongue-in-cheek, fourth-wall-breaking humour afforded by this premise makes Runaway’s often unbelievable scenarios much easier to swallow, while its sardonic tone pokes fun at many genre conventions we’ve come to accept but (let’s face it) don’t make a whole lot of sense. Brian’s incarceration in a mental institution, along with the series’ inherent wackiness, combine to make for unusual, outside-the-box puzzles, and the welcome additions of a hint system and hotspot finder mean you’re less likely to be stumped by pixel hunts or nonsensical puzzles. Overall, Runaway: A Twist of Fate is a solidly entertaining experience that puts its own spin on traditional adventure gameplay, and it wraps up a popular but uneven trilogy on a high note.

You might also like: Runaway: A Road Adventure and Runaway: Dream of the Turtle



Usually we play adventures because they have a great story or offer challenging puzzles – preferably a combination of both. But some we play as much for their appealing interactive settings and detailed research that can teach us about a certain period, a particular event, or a distinctive culture more than any dry history book ever could, all the while entertaining us as the lead character in our own adventure. “Edutainment” may be a dirty word these days, but that wasn’t always the case, as Sierra’s 1988 Gold Rush! is just such a game. Sure, like many games of its day it's full of dead-ends and the gameplay can be incredibly unforgiving, but as you follow the heartwarming journey of Brooklyn newspaperman Jerrod Wilson in his cross-country trip across America, you can't help but have a good time discovering a mine full of secrets and interesting facts about the real California Gold Rush of 1848.

From the moment the game starts, virtually everything you see can lead to a comprehensive description about nineteenth century customs, and when given the choice of three distinct paths to reach California (in-land stagecoach, ship through Panama or ship around Cape Horn), the amount of evident research that went into detailing the life conditions of the time is simply staggering. It certainly helps that, if you're willing to forgive its now-antiquated graphics and some repetitive gold-panning sequences to reach the grand finale, it’s also a lot of fun to play. Especially when creative use of the text parser is involved, like when Jerrod has to figure out a way to prevent a carriage from tumbling down a slope. It's this ability to strike just the right balance between learning and enjoyment that earns Gold Rush! its place among the all-time genre gems.

You might also like: Dr. Brain series, Cryo historical adventures (Jerusalem, Versailles, Crusaders, etc.)



Next up: #95-91...



Before there was Indiana Jones, there was Robert Ripley. Believe it or not, there might not even be an Indy if not for Ripley, a real-world cartoonist and explorer who travelled the world in the 1930s to report incredible feats on his radio show and collect unique antiquities for his Odditorium museums. The whip- and fedora-clad one may be better known today, even in adventure gaming circles, but Sanctuary Woods’ 1995 Ripley's Believe it or Not!: The Riddle of Master Lu gave the bow-tied, pith-helmeted hero his own chance to shine, and he didn’t disappoint. Although based on the real man, Ripley’s interactive adventure is entirely fictional, sending him around the world in pursuit of information about the tomb of the First Emperor of China, which was built and protected with traps by the ingenious architect Master Lu. Ripley’s not the only one seeking the tomb, however, as it’s said to house the legendary Imperial Seal, an emerald that can bestow mystical powers on whomever possesses it. With enemies ever nipping at his heels, along the way Ripley must also gather oddities to send back home to keep his ailing American museum afloat.

Your travels take you to such exotic locations as China, India, Peru, and Easter Island, which can be visited in any order, even coming and going as you please. Blending live-action characters and nicely pre-rendered backgrounds, each scene is jam-packed with detailed hotspot descriptions, many of them purely optional. The non-linearity and high degree of interactivity make this a fairly difficult game, and there’s some pixel hunting involved in overcoming the many inventory obstacles. Puzzles are cleverly integrated, however, including three timed challenges, such as rescuing Ripley’s friend Feng Li from a king cobra. You can die in this game, as befits the sometimes deadly nature of the opposition, but an auto-save wisely restores to a point just before your demise to try again. All told, The Riddle of Master Lu is a game with everything: diverse locations, engaging characters, and substantial gameplay. But don’t take our word for it: playing is believing.

You might also like: Secret Files series, Flight of the Amazon Queen



Suicide... Sexuality... Child slavery... Abuse... These aren’t your normal adventure game themes. Then again, Arxel Tribe’s Faust (or Seven Games of the Soul in North America) is anything but your normal adventure game. Exploring many mature, complex psychological themes, the game is loosely based on the 19th century poem by Goethe about a man who sold his soul to the devil. Here Marcellus Faust, an elderly black man, arrives at an abandoned amusement park called Dreamland, where a suave demon named Mephisto tasks him with helping settle a dispute with God. By travelling back in time through seven overlapping episodes, you must investigate the troubled lives of Dreamland’s bizarre inhabitants through their eyes to determine the fate of their souls and unravel the macabre history of the park. From the freakshow exhibits like the Siamese sisters and 550-pound woman to employees like the costume seamstress and tiger tamer, each harbours dark and painful secrets, and it’s up to you to find material evidence that will either implicate or absolve them of complicity with the devil.

Sound deep? It is, and its relentlessly disturbing focus on the seven deadly sins is only scratching the surface. The fragmented storyline is intrinsically multi-layered, offering mystery within mystery, puzzle within puzzle, and subplot within plot as each carnie’s intertwining history slowly weaves together to form a larger picture. The gameplay can be as challenging as the narrative, making this a true thinking gamer's adventure in every respect. The artwork is merely average, but musically the game is a triumph, with a wonderful blend of old jazz, blues, and classical vocals and instrumentals alike, and Mephisto is perfectly voiced as the debonair tempter who genuinely believes in his cause. The bulk of the game is spent raising more questions than it answers, which is what makes it partly intriguing, partly frustrating, but exploring the complexities of the human soul and the ambiguities of good and evil are what give the game its value. It is easily one of the more original adventures available, so play it for yourself if you won't take our word for it, oh ye of little faith.

You might also like: Of Light and Darkness: The Prophecy, Salammbô: Peril in Carthage



It may well be remembered as one of the straws that broke the back of the genre's Golden Age, but the commercial failure of Toonstruck has unfairly followed the game around for too long. Burst’s 1996 adventure features Christopher Lloyd as a depressed cartoonist who finds himself sucked into the cartoon world he created. The game, unfortunately, could never recoup its huge budget, but it deserves to be admired on its own merits, not its retail failings. The production values from film industry professionals are incredibly high, displaying quality drawings and animation, and there’s a huge cast of famous voice actors, including Dan Castellaneta of Homer Simpson fame. Compared to other titles at the time, the graphics were top-notch, and sound production was way above the average – no expenses were spared, whether that was a wise move or not.

Although the game makes use of a live-action protagonist inserted into an animated world – an obvious stylistic clash – the writing is so good that you really feel like you have entered a Looney Tunes cartoon, where bizarre logic rules and you have to be aware of comic conventions to solve some of the complex puzzles. The adventure is substantial, too. You complete your main objective halfway through the game, only for the plot to skew off in another direction and unlock a whole new series of locations and characters to find. The story, which plays on the stereotypes created by popular cartoons, is genuinely funny and cleverly combines the sarcastic wit of Lloyd's Drew Blanc (an outsider looking in) with the wacky sense of humour of the toons. The balancing act it walks is very fine, but the script manages to take knowing pot-shots at its influences while still paying homage to the medium that inspired it. A sequel was planned, but the numbers just never added up, leaving only this final reminder of a time when Hollywood, big budgets, and adventure games were once a reality.

You might also like: The Next BIG Thing, Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World



The Dig is often regarded as the runt of the LucasArts litter, never quite resonating the same way as its more famous brethren. Perhaps that’s because it’s a purely dramatic sci-fi adventure and people didn’t know what to make of it back in 1995. And while it’s a traditional point-and-click adventure similar to its comic contemporaries, the game’s puzzle design has more in common with the likes of Myst than any of LucasArts’ other franchises – something that didn’t sit well with all players. Strip away the preconceptions, however, and what’s left is a very good game in its own right, with a mature storyline based on an idea by Steven Spielberg and written by author Orson Scott Card, boasting a stellar production crew with contributions from Industrial Light & Magic.

The story focuses on a group of astronauts tasked with destroying an asteroid, only to be helplessly transported to an alien world in the process. It’s a serious affair that should appeal to sci-fi aficionados thanks to its otherworldly setting and excellent soundtrack, and it wisely (if unexpectedly) avoids any attempts at the developer’s trademark humour. Given its pedigree, it’s no surprise the CGI is flawless, and while the puzzle design is markedly different from the usual zany inventory fare, there are plenty who embrace such mysterious conundrums with open arms. It may never measure up to the widespread appeal of its comedic LucasArts counterparts, but it’s a compelling standalone adventure and a great addition to any serious gamer’s collection.

You might also like: The Immortals of Terra: A Perry Rhodan Adventure, Frederik Pohl's Gateway series



Hell hath no fury like the puzzle designers of The Feeble Files. This offbeat sci-fi adventure should have come with a warning about possible injuries from fist/screen incidents when it was released by AdventureSoft back in 1997. Whether that’s a good thing is for you to decide. Following hot on the heels of Simon the Sorcerer II, this game introduced us to a whole new world of memorable characters. Headlining the case was Feeble, the titular mild-mannered alien lovingly voiced by Red Dwarf’s Robert Llewelyn, who unwittingly embroils himself in corporate espionage and anti-governmental shenanigans after a bad day at the office. An eclectic, entirely non-human cast was a novel take on the point-and-click adventure, and the game represented a step forward in presentation for the acclaimed British developer, while still managing to carry over the humour from the Simon series.

The Feeble Files is a treat for the eyes and ears. Its brilliant mix of pre-rendered backdrops and animated characters look great, it's skillfully acted by some stand-up British comedy talent, and Feeble proves to be a lovable loser-turned-hero that is easy to embrace. However, to truly enjoy this game you’ll need a masochistic bent, as the puzzles have few rivals in their difficulty. They vary from obscure inventory-based tasks to outright horrific minigames and math problems. The Arcade section in particular was so cruel it forced AdventureSoft to release a save file set right after the event so some players could carry on the story. For those who lament the loss of complex, challenging puzzles in the genre, it’s a dream come true. For everyone else… well, there’s always a walkthrough. It’s absolutely worth it, but you’ve been warned. Enjoy immensely at your peril.

You might also like: Rex Nebular and the Comic Gender Bender, The Bizarre Adventures of Woodruff and the Schnibble



Next up: #90-86...



In a medium where spy stories are mostly inspired by the adventures of James Bond, Activision’s Spycraft: The Great Game offers a more traditional take on the espionage genre, where agents do more thinking than shooting and spend more time at a computer than flirting with femme fatales. As a CIA case officer, your mission is to track down a terrorist organization made up of former spies who are planning to assassinate the US president. The result is one of the few games in which FMV really, really works, featuring well-written dialogue performed by professional actors. The authenticity of the story is further enhanced by the input of a former CIA member and former KGB operative, both of whom make cameo appearances in the game.

Despite not being a 007 game there is a gunfight or two, but the somewhat simplistic fights take a back seat to the puzzles, which are in a category all their own. Trace a bullet trajectory back to its origin to catch a glimpse of an assassin’s face. Doctor a fake photograph to convince a prisoner you’ve captured her boyfriend. Isolate ambient sound effects in the background of a phone conversation to pinpoint where the caller was phoning from. The list goes on. Almost every puzzle is unique; completely different from the challenges of most other adventure games made before or since. And because most of the puzzles take place on your avatar’s computer interface, it’s easy to feel fully immersed in the game, as if YOU are the CIA agent sitting in an office at Langley trying to research and track down enemy spies. While other games simply recycle formulas from the past, this 1996 spy thriller stands on its own as an adventure completely unlike any other.

You might also like: Traitors Gate, The Messenger



A man being accused of a crime he didn’t commit and trying to prove his innocence is a staple of thriller fiction. Far less common in Presto Studio’s 1995 The Journeyman Project: Buried in Time, the accused man and the one trying to prove his innocence are separate versions of the same man, as time agent Gage Blackwood enlists his younger self to investigate. As in the first game of the series, players end up time-hopping, though now you can travel into our own history as well as the future history of the 2318 setting. Hunting around the lovingly rendered historical settings, from a Mayan pyramid to a besieged castle in medieval France to a studio of Leonardo da Vinci, adds to the fun of time travel, even if direct contact with the inhabitants is still forbidden. The truth behind the events leading to Gage’s arrest build into a solid story with a dramatic conclusion.

For all that, there is one thing that everyone who has played this game will remember most: the artificial intelligence known as Arthur. Once you have found him, Arthur integrates himself into your suit and serves as a companion for your journey. It would have been all too easy to become irritating, but a combination of good casting and well-written, witty dialogue make him a joy to have around. With a love of 20th century culture, his banter is full of clever references and parodies of the player’s own era. Arthur is also much more than a comedy sidekick. His complex computer brain and database storage help him serve as both a hint system and a reference for your historical adventures. Add in a slick soundtrack, and this is one adventure that definitely shouldn’t stay buried in the past.

You might also like: The Journeyman Project Turbo, The Arrival



After the success of Simon the Sorcerer, it was only a matter of time before AdventureSoft took us on another trip in the magic closet. Sure enough, two years later we were treated to The Lion, the Wizard and the Wardrobe. In a lot of ways, Simon the Sorcerer II is a far more accomplished game than its predecessor. The setting was drastically expanded, as Simon’s adventure branches to all sorts of locations: cities, dungeons and steampunk castles are all there to be explored. A wider cast of characters was incorporated, like Goldilocks, Um Bongo and the three witches, plus many returning favourites like the swampling. The humour is even sharper as well, worked into a story that flows far better than the original – Simon has much clearer directives than stumbling from one scenario to another on his quest to rid the world of the evil Sordid again.

For all its enhancements, the sequel wisely didn’t reinvent what had been so successful the first time, retaining a similar high quality cartoon look and sound. Unfortunately, this also translated to some questionable puzzle design, which again met with mixed reactions for its obscurity. Simon himself underwent some changes – such a blatantly abrasive character took a lot of getting used to in the first game, and took even more the second time around. The dialogue is still well written, but a new voiceover gave birth to an even more snide delivery of the lines that didn’t sit well with all gamers. Thankfully, the diverse supporting characters proved more than capable of elevating the script to a more palatable level, ensuring that Simon II is generally a hoot to play through, foibles be damned.

You might also like: The Legend of Kyrandia series



In science, a penumbra refers to the softer, hazy region around the edge of a shadow. But in Penumbra: Black Plague, Swedish horror specialists Frictional Games brought their emerging formula sharply into focus. Rejoining the hero from Penumbra: Overture, the improved sequel charts Philip’s quest through an abandoned Antarctic research base in search of his father. Of course, being a horror title, he's far from being alone, but Black Plague wisely ditched the clumsy combat from the first installment in favour of a powerless Philip running away or hiding from threats. Being defenseless makes for an intensely terrifying, anxious experience that is guaranteed to raise your pulse without requiring twitch reflexes to succeed.

In the puzzle department, Black Plague didn't disappoint either, using a realistic physics engine for some ingenious but natural environmental conundrums. The game is played in first-person and controlled like a shooter, so even simply searching for items feels like a more tactile, engrossing experience than simple pixel hunting. The gameplay and story work well together, but top billing nevertheless goes to the astonishing atmosphere behind them – behind, above, around, everywhere. “Immersiveness” is an overused word when it comes to games, but here it really does apply. The you-are-there perspective, the dark, stylish graphics, and the unnerving audio help create a horror experience that's a dream – or maybe a nightmare – for fans of scary adventuring.

You might also like: Penumbra: Overture, Darkness Within series



It’s a rare designer who is instantly recognizable by name, but Jonathan Boakes is just such a man. Before 2002, he was a complete unknown in the industry, but that all changed with the release of Dark Fall. Self-financed, created largely on his own, and originally self-published, Boakes’s debut supernatural mystery sent players alone into an abandoned English hotel and train station, where people have been disappearing for decades. Except you’re not alone at all, as restless spirits of those who vanished on the premises still linger there, seeking help defeating the undefined darkness that took them. Though the ghosts themselves are benevolent, the game is still dripping with eerie atmosphere. The phone in reception rings with messages from the other side whenever you walk in. Light orbs zoom through the halls as the lights blink out. There are constant reminders that something is out there in the darkness, watching, though you may never see what it is.

The Dowerton train station and hotel are like characters of their own, reflecting the many different time periods they have seen, from WWII posters plastered in the bathrooms to high-tech ghost-hunting gadgets left behind by the most recent victims. Each room reflects the personality of its final occupant, and the events surrounding their disappearances are glimpsed through the many journals and letters lying around. The sound is superb, from the creak of stairs to the sporadic whispers around you, and the many puzzles fit well into the story, several of which require observant note-taking elsewhere to solve. It’s a little rough around the edges and clearly a low-budget endeavour, but the craftsmanship that went into this self-proclaimed “labour of love” is abundantly evident. Not long after its enthusiastic reception, it was snatched up by a publisher and subtitled The Journal, and the series has since gone on to inspire not only two sequels by Boakes, but numerous other indie horrors as well. Dark Fall is an impressive achievement for one man, and its legacy demands its inclusion on the list.

You might also like: Dark Fall: Lights Out and Dark Fall: Lost Souls, The Lost Crown: A Ghost-hunting Adventure



Next up: #85-81...



Expectations are a dangerous thing. InSCAPE’s surreal 1995 The Dark Eye was originally released to mediocre reviews and frustrated gamers who didn’t know what to make of it. It’s so much easier to appreciate now, experiencing it not so much as an adventure game as an art installation – a thoughtful fever dream that stands as an utterly unique companion to the works of Edgar Allan Poe. It’s a game about exploring (and getting chills from doing so) rather than conquering. An eerie, empty mansion sets the stage for three of Poe’s stories to come to nightmarish life, each populated by stop-motion puppets with jerky movements, ornate clothing, and cold eyes of clay. The scenery is bleak and unwelcoming, and the situations you find yourself in are equally unnerving as you ask yourself: How do I make it through this story, knowing it doesn’t have a happy ending? The vignettes can be completed twice each as both victim and perpetrator, offering a disturbing dual perspective of the same tragic scenarios.

Like the most compelling dreams, you can’t exactly trust where the game’s going, particularly if you aren’t familiar with Poe’s original works. Still, the accounts are beautifully told, the soundtrack by Thomas Dolby is richly atmospheric, and the voice acting is wonderful done (William S. Burroughs plays the house's owner, as well as providing readings of Poe's "Masque of the Red Death" and "Annabel Lee"). There are wonderful twists of narrative, portions where the standard first-person view is warped by visual oddities, and places where the standard interface is turned on its head to better serve the story. Much like the works of Edgar Allen Poe himself, the sum total is a collection of stunningly beautiful but frighteningly macabre tales. It certainly isn’t cohesive. It’s hardly even an adventure game. But for its ability to immerse you in the twisted, horrific visions of its esteemed author, The Dark Eye does just about everything right.

You might also like: Bad Day on the Midway, Gadget: Past as Future



After reinventing the interactive fairy tale with King’s Quest, legendary designer Roberta Williams turned her attention to a new type of game with Sierra’s 1989 mystery adventure The Colonel’s Bequest. The story centers around 1920s-era Louisiana and young journalism student Laura Bow, who is invited by her flapper friend Lillian to visit her family’s plantation island – but all is not well when the Colonel’s will is read, and what starts as simple family bickering soon leads to murder. Of course, Lillian’s family is a cast of scoundrels and reprobates who cheat, lie, and steal, and thankfully reveal as much in conversations that can be spied on by the intrepid Laura. Like a classic Agatha Christie whodunit, one murder leads to another and discovering secrets becomes secondary to staying alive.

The Colonel’s Bequest displays a remarkable commitment to its time period, as the art deco, flapper dialogue, and vintage wardrobes all show reverence to the Roaring ‘20s. Similarly, the deviant and nefarious behavior of the rogues’ plantation host is perfectly suited to this type of murder mystery, and Williams writes it with flair and enthusiasm. The game shows incredible attention to detail in trailing the actions of the characters, and even features remarkable replay value, as the ending gives you an indication of all the secrets you did not learn (which will be many on the first playthrough). Along with its slightly-less successful sequel, The Dagger of Amon Ra, this game established Laura Bow as an adventure heroine whose time came and went too quickly.

You might also like: The Daggor of Amon Ra, Agatha Christie series



Coming virtually out of nowhere from the aptly named (at the time) Unknown Identity, The Black Mirror became a cult hit when it arrived in 2003. With its grisly subject matter and relentlessly dark atmosphere, the game oozed tension and delivered plenty of perverse thrills, including your own death in disgusting fashion over and over again. It also ended with one of the most shocking finales of all time, which seemed to bring full closure to the saga of the Gordon family curse, though its surprise popularity ensured a pair of sequels would come nearly a decade later. Both are probably better, more polished games than the original, but for laying the bloody groundwork in such compelling fashion, the first will always be the most memorable.

With its gorgeous pre-rendered backgrounds, The Black Mirror paints a vivid, if grim, picture of the Black Mirror manor and the quaint, slightly sinister English village of Willow Creek. The game chronicles the story of Samuel Gordon, a man haunted by an evil force that has attached itself to his ancestors and has now passed down to him. The tale takes time to build up the horror and insanity that Samuel must eventually confront, during which time you’ll spend a large amount of time hunting for inventory items and speaking with distinctive characters like the sleazy pawn shop owner and the strange doctor working in the town’s morgue. Its appeal is tainted somewhat by wooden voice acting and a protagonist that can rub people the wrong way, but even with all the rough edges, this game carved out an unforgettable legacy that kept people clamouring for more even years after its release.

You might also like: Black Mirror II and III



“Welcome to my… house.” In 1993, psychopathic toymaker Henry Stauf invited players to his creepy mansion for a night of intrigue, puzzle solving, and murder in Trilobyte’s The 7th Guest. A new type of adventure at the time, the game lacked an inventory, dialogue options, or even a visible player character; its gameplay was entirely comprised of standalone logic puzzles, brainteasers, chessboards, and mazes. With one or two puzzles hidden in each of the mansion’s many rooms, the objective is simply to gradually gain access to the entire house and solve them all. Meanwhile, the grisly fates of Stauf’s other unfortunate dinner guests are revealed via full-motion video scenes that flicker in and out over the 3D environmental art.

These days the graphics are passé, the acting beyond cheesy, and the puzzles very familiar—all factors that make The 7th Guest easy to dismiss. But compared to what was on the market at the time, it was a bold vision of the future of gaming, and its many innovations helped secure its spot here. As the first computer game to ship exclusively on CDs, The 7th Guest played an important part (along with Myst) in ushering in the rapid adoption of CD-ROM drives. Its groundbreaking use of live actors, at a time when few adventure games even had voice acting, also opened the floodgates for a torrent of FMV adventure games in the years that followed. And nearly two decades later, its puzzle-based format lives on in series like Professor Layton. Its own success may have been short-lived, but it left an indelible mark on the genre all the same.

You might also like: The 11th Hour, Clandestiny



When Hero's Quest (later renamed Quest for Glory: So You Want To Be A Hero?) came out, its skillful blending of traditional adventure gameplay and RPG elements was, if not unprecedented, certainly original and refreshing in its presentation. The second game in the series, Trial by Fire, took that formula and improved it in every single respect in 1990, starting with a setting and story that moved away from the usual fantasy tropes to embrace Arabian culture and mythology. This proved to be the right choice, because even decades after the game’s release, its backdrop inspires a distinct sense of wonder and discovery. Sierra also made refinements to the combat system to make it more responsive and challenging. But fret not: even if you don't like action in your adventures, the battles are almost always optional and the game is literally packed with other features any adventurer will enjoy.

For starters, there’s the option to import your character from the previous game and see him continue to grow throughout the sequel, creating a sense of ongoing attachment few adventures have managed before or since. Dozens of little nods to the first title enhance this feeling of continuity, and by the end of the game your newly-crowned Prince of Shapeir will certainly have claimed a permanent spot in your adventurer's heart. This time around, each playable class (Fighter, Wizard and Thief) gets something special out of the adventure, whether the Wizards' Institute of Technocery, the Eternal Order of Fighters or even stealing the famous Maltese Falcon. And if that isn’t enough, there are tons of tough puzzles, optional activities that help shape your character the way you want, a cast of endearing characters, and a game world that feels vividly alive and coherent. When you add everything up, it’s not hard to see why Trial by Fire is a definite step up from its predecessor and a must-play for every would-be Hero.

You might also like: Superhero League of Hoboken, Shannara



Next up: #80-76...



With a couple Sherlock Holmes games already under its belt, Frogwares finally found the winning formula in 2006 with The Awakened. A melding of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective and H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos, the game puts Holmes and Watson on the trail of a cult who have kidnapped various people for use in one of their dark rituals. Ever the realist, Sherlock may not believe in the supernatural, but the cult poses a legitimate threat, so it’s up to him to stop them from killing more innocent people. His search leads him all across the world, from an asylum in Switzerland to a steamboat in New Orleans, giving the game a welcome scope. It's all presented in free-roaming 3D, making this one of the rare adventures of its time to modernize the genre with current technology. Ironically, a later “remastered” version offered the option to switch the game to a more traditional third-person, point-and-click adventure, making it far and away the most user-adaptable adventure of all time.

While the influence of Lovecraft is fairly minimal in anything other than name, The Awakened is nevertheless committed to its dark horror themes. With plenty of blood, dead bodies, and evidence of evil practices, the game does an excellent job of creating a creepy, ominous atmosphere. Though the animations leave something to be desired, the character designs and voice acting go a long way to bringing the iconic characters of Holmes and Watson to life. There’s lots for them to do as well, with crime scenes to investigate with Sherlock’s signature magnifying glass, lab work to perform at 221b Baker Street, and numerous puzzles to solve, including quiz questions that must be correctly answered, creating a varied and well-rounded adventure experience. There have been several cross-franchise mysteries since The Awakened, each further refining the visuals and pushing the series’ technology forward, but they all owe a great deal to the progressive design overhaul established here. It was this game that made the great detective relevant again to a new generation of gamers, and for that it earns its place among the genre’s best.

You might also like: Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis, Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper



The impressive Gemini Rue is a 2011 neo-noir science fiction tale with an incredible human element and a mind-blowing plot twist in the third act, but it’s also a stirring example of how one young game designer’s dream can find great success in reinventing the classic Golden Age adventure. UCLA Media Arts student Joshua Nuernberger likely couldn’t have imagined when he entered Gemini Rue into the 2010 Independent Games Festival that just one year later it would be recognized as one of the greatest adventures in the modern era. But that’s exactly what happened, and it’s all done in a very nostalgia-friendly retro format, complete with a classic Sierra-style interface, 320x200 backgrounds and relatively confined areas with mostly simple puzzles.

The story is the game’s most outstanding feature, telling the parallel tales of Azriel Odin, a rogue police officer with a dark past searching for a close friend who has disappeared; and Delta-Six, a resident of the mysterious Center 7 facility who, as part of a rehabilitation process, has had his memory wiped and is undergoing weapons training. While seemingly disconnected at first, their fates are destined to collide in dramatic and dark fashion in the game's final hours in one of the better story twists that any adventure game has ever featured. The game even implements some gentle action scenes to bump up the intensity of the gunfights. But it's the emotional weight in its storytelling that makes this game a must-play for any fan of neo-noir stories, or retro-style adventures, and within its bleak and impactful story, it points the way to a very bright future for independently developed adventures.

You might also like: Rise of the Dragon, Snatcher



Spoofs are always fun, especially if you're a fan of the genre they mock. And if you happen to be a Western buff who can hum the theme to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly by heart, Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist is definitely the game for you. Co-written by Josh Mandel and Al Lowe, the latter of Leisure Suit Larry fame, this little Wild West gem trades the raunchy jokes of that series for tons of tongue-in-cheek puns that satirize every major cliché of the Western genre. Midday duels with blazing guns? Check. Moustache-twirling villain who manages to make fun of Sierra's president? Check. Crowded saloon full of prospectors, gamblers, cowboys and prostitutes? Check. And the list goes on. Mel Brooks would be proud.

But there's so much more. Underneath the layers of humour is a pretty solid adventure in its own right, with inventive puzzles, entertaining characters (including Srini, Freddy's Indian helper, who is one of the greatest sidekicks ever created), outstanding production values and a script that will both amuse you and fill you with genuine appreciation for a truly fascinating period of American history. You’ll get the chance to employ your pharmaceutical skills with help from the hilarious instruction manual/reference guide. And let’s not forget the jaw-dropping final twist that you can't possibly see coming, which is absolutely guaranteed to put a large smile on your face. The game is difficult, and perhaps a bit too unforgiving at times, but Freddy Pharkas is worth the effort. It’s a fun time for all, and if you haven’t yet played it for yourself, go ahead and give it a shot. Just don’t blow your ear off.

You might also like: Wanted: A Wild Western Adventure (aka Fenimore Fillmore: The Westerner), Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman’s Mine



The original Silent Hill, released in 1999 for the PlayStation, helped cement the blueprint for the burgeoning survival horror genre – tight corridors, scarce ammo and health, pervasive darkness, and nonsensical puzzles. Each successive game hewed close to the same formula, until American developer Climax Studios decided to mix things up with a reimagining of the original game, sans combat. When Harry Mason wakes up from a car crash just outside the quiet resort town of Silent Hill, his daughter Cheryl is missing. Setting out to find her, he ends up meeting some of the town’s off-kilter residents, fending off surreal, horrific creatures, and exploring nightmarish mirror-versions of the town. It’s a less splatter-happy, quieter and more psychological adventure than the original, and the lack of combat encourages more exploration than its more frantic predecessors, making for a welcome change of pace and direction for the series.

Silent Hill’s initially mundane town locations feel all the creepier because of how familiar they seem. Who expects freakish horrors to lurk in an elementary school or mall? The town looks and feels like a real place, and the play of light and shadow makes even walking around feel tense and enjoyable. Characters feel similarly real and have complex personalities and motivations that go beyond typical NPCs, brought to life with excellent animation and voice acting. The distinct “Nightmare” sequences, during which Harry has to flee and hide from the grotesque monsters inhabiting the city, are occasionally frustrating but add a definite jolt of terrifying adrenaline to the gloriously creepy, Lynch-ian atmosphere of the rest of the game. You'll want to push beyond your fears to discover the secrets hidden both in the city and in Harry himself in this deep, intriguing character study that plumbs the effects of psychological trauma with haunting truth. There’s more action than a traditional adventure, but far less than traditional survival horrors. Whatever you call it, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories manages to be one of the best games in one of most acclaimed franchises ever, earning it a deserving spot on our list.

You might also like: Echo Night: Beyond, Inherent Evil



You may think casual games are all about crazy locking puzzles, hidden object scenes, and generic storylines, but in 2009 Big Fish Games proved that notion completely wrong by releasing Drawn: The Painted Tower. There are no hidden object scenes in this breathtaking “lite” adventure, where you attempt to save a young girl who has the ability to create living works of art. The gorgeous hand-painted fantasy backgrounds, off-kilter architecture and vibrant use of colors are inspired. The majority of the game takes place in a dusky, tarnished tower, where blue and grey hues make for a sombre and subdued atmosphere that explodes into bursts of brilliant red and luxuriant green, warm yellow and peaceful azure as soon as you step directly into a painting. These paintings create windows into picturesque worlds full of enchanted trees, talking scarecrows, quirky witch doctors, and fire-breathing dragons.

The game also takes its “Drawn” title seriously; when you pick up a piece of chalk, you’re not just acquiring a simple inventory item; you’ll use that chalk to actually draw changes in your environment, such as altering a scene to make it rain. These drawing challenges are interspersed with more traditional inventory puzzles and logic puzzles that are gloriously integrated and wonderful to look at. A mechanical clockwork, as merely one of many imaginative examples, is a highly detailed painted wood cutout where you have to match the correct weapon against the appropriate beast. All this and a powerful musical score make this game a giant artistic leap forward in the world of casual adventuring. It has since spawned two additional sequels that have arguably outshone their predecessor, but Drawn: The Painted Tower was the first to lay its bold brushstrokes to canvas.

You might also like: Drawn: Dark Flight and Drawn: Trail of Shadows



Next up: #75-71...



In the early eighties, a young company named Sierra On-Line took a chance with a brand new type of game that introduced animated “3D” graphics to the already-popular text adventure format. Created by Roberta Williams, the game was King’s Quest: Quest for the Crown, and at the time there was nothing else like it. As in a text adventure, players communicated with the game by typing in two-word commands, but King’s Quest’s 16-color graphics created a full visual world where before there had only been words. Using the arrow keys, players could move the protagonist Sir Graham across the screen, behind rocks and in front of trees. The unassuming hero with the feathered cap could jump, swim, and tumble to his death. And, with skillful input from the player, he could recover the three lost treasures of Daventry and become king.

By modern standards, the first King’s Quest is incredibly simplistic. Its storyline is little more than a mish-mash of fairy tale themes and its gameplay is riddled with dead-end scenarios and potential fatalities. But even if the pixelated graphics, finicky text parser, and often-frustrating gameplay haven’t aged gracefully, Quest for the Crown will forever be remembered as groundbreaking for its time. Its success jumpstarted the graphic adventure genre and paved the way for Sierra’s industry dominance in the eighties and nineties. Its historical importance has secured a spot on this all-time classic list, though it’s from a historical perspective that King’s Quest I is best enjoyed today – not necessarily as an adventure gaming masterpiece, but as a glimpse at how it all began.

You might also like: King’s Quest II: Romancing the Throne and King’s Quest III: To Heir is Human



The work of H.P. Lovecraft has inspired a myriad of novels, movies and games over the years. One of the most frightening, Shadow of the Comet, perhaps captures the eerie atmosphere of such tales as The Dunwich Horror and The Shadow over Innsmouth more effectively than all of them. As photographer and journalist John Parker, you are called to a secluded New England town to do a report on Halley's Comet, but you'll soon find yourself investigating the strange events that occurred there during its previous passage in 1834, when an astronomer came to the village and went mysteriously insane. The original interface of this 1993 Infogrames adventure is quite cumbersome by today’s standards (at least before being updated in a CD-ROM re-release), making segments requiring quick reflexes incredibly taxing, and some solutions like the infamous Icarus-like escape device are a bit silly, but the otherwise gripping story and fear-filled atmosphere are what make this adventure an unheralded classic that every horror fan should play.

Like any good Lovecraft adventure, when you walk through the early twentieth century streets of Illsmouth, even in the comforting light of day, the atmosphere is so thick and ominous that you constantly feel that something bad is about to happen. The unnerving, disquieting soundtrack feeds this tension beautifully, reinforcing the sense that every corner you turn may conceal one of the unspeakable horrors of the Cthulhu mythos, putting a constant strain on your nerves. The horror isn’t merely implied though, by any means. Something ancient lurks beneath the town, waiting to be reawakened, and you better hope it’s not you. Some sequences, particularly toward the end of the game, are definitely not for the faint of heart and are bound to send a thrilling shiver down your spine. If you're looking for an adventure capable of keeping you on the edge of your seat and then making you jump from it, you still can't go wrong with Shadow of the Comet, even to this day.

You might also like: Prisoner of Ice, Phantasmagoria



It may not have the most cohesive story or the best puzzles of all the adventures on this list, but boy is Discworld II fun. In 1996, Rincewind and his walking luggage trunk were back for yet another round of acerbic British humour, and the young wizard looked awfully good delivering it. A year after the original game brought Terry Pratchett’s imaginative world to PCs, the sequel arrived sporting some pretty standout cartoon graphics. It was a beast to run due to its lavish backdrops and detailed animation, but now that the hardware has caught up (and far surpassed it), the vivid art design still hold up well today. Better yet, this fantastical world is full of interesting sights to see and oddball characters to meet, from the dwarf lothario with a stepladder to Uri Djeller and his strenuous spoons. The Discworld is a fun place just to be.

In this adventure (subtitled Missing Presumed…!? or Mortality Bytes! depending on where you live), the young Rincewind has to travel the Disc in search of Death, who’s decided it’s time for a holiday. The puzzles marked a vast improvement over its predecessor’s unrelenting difficulty, making far more sense (as much as anything on this world can) in the context of the game, resulting in a much more enjoyable romp. The standout comedy cast returned, with Monty Python’s Eric Idle reprising his lead role. Discworld II is a consistently funny game that knowingly pokes fun at the genre throughout. Not a line seems to goes by without some reference to the decline of adventure games or conventional inventory puzzles. Ironically, it did nothing to remedy these criticisms itself, but its self-deprecating humour went a long way in lifting the game above its less successful contemporaries.

You might also like: Discworld, Time, Gentlemen, Please!



Before there was Monkey Island, there was Maniac Mansion. In fact, if not for the first adventure designed by Ron Gilbert (along with Gary Winnick), who knows how the adventure genre might have evolved. It’s so old now that many gamers may never have played this 1987 title, but it was that important in its day. Produced by Lucasfilm Games (now LucasArts), Maniac Mansion was the first true point-and-click adventure released, pioneering the verb-based SCUMM engine used to power so many of the company’s classic games to follow. The game was much different than its story- and character-driven successors, instead thrusting you into multiple roles on a simple rescue mission, with a choice of protagonists and an open, non-linear means of achieving your goals.

Twenty years after a large and ominous meteor crash landed on the family lawn of the Edison family, the mansion is now home to bizarre and murderous experiments. Dave Miller suspects that his cheerleader girlfriend has been kidnapped by Dr. Fred and sets out with two of his chosen friends to find her. After picking two friends to accompany Dave (from six choices), you can switch between your three playable characters at any time in order to use each person's skills to solve puzzles in a number of different ways. Some are more mechanically inclined, while others are strong, more artistic, and so on. The simple premise never involves any more than getting into the house, finding Sandy, and trying to thwart the plans of the evil scientist and his equally deranged family. As one of the earliest LucasArts adventures, Maniac Mansion includes some deaths and dead ends, but its open-ended gameplay and quirky, B-grade horror film parody humour ensure it retains much of its original entertainment value today, quite apart from its significant historical contributions to the genre.

You might also like: Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders



Leisure Suit Larry became an iconic figure in comic adventure circles in the late ‘80s and ‘90s, though the lovable-but-ever-unlucky loser didn’t truly come into his own (so to speak) for the modern era until 1997’s Love for Sail! It’s certainly debatable which game in the series was the best in its time, but the final adventure designed by Al Lowe for Sierra is the only one that really holds up well to this day. This is due mainly to its technical refinements, but its witty and somewhat bawdy humor, clever puzzle implementation, and colorful cartoon graphics have lost none of their original appeal. This time out, Larry finds himself on a luxury love boat trying to win a date with the vivacious Captain Thygh. Unfortunately for Larry, it’s a test of masculinity, a resource in very short supply, so he’ll have to use his big brain to solve tricky puzzles and cheat his way into the captain's bed.

Like its predecessors, Leisure Suit Larry 7 is an unashamedly “adult” game with a Benny Hill-style of humour full of sexual innuendo and risqué scenarios. The interface included a few enhancements over earlier iterations, however, with a fully interactive map to help you get around the PMS Bouncy and a rather distinctively-shaped smart cursor, which brought up a small verb menu that even allowed typing particular commands. Other fun gimmicks were added as well, like a Scratch-'n'-Sniff card and an ongoing “Where’s Dildo?” take on the Waldo craze. Leisure Suit Larry is never going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but putting aside any political correctness, the series remains one of the funniest ever. It’s tough to pass over the original game for its special place in history, but for ongoing accessibility and just plain fun, the seventh and final “real” Larry adventure is the most worthy representative for our top 100.

You might also like: Sierra’s Leisure Suit Larry series (especially #4!)



Next up: #70-66...



In 1996, a little independent company called Hue Forest Entertainment released an unassuming adventure game called Amber: Journeys Beyond, which remains their only published title. Amber casts players in the first-person role of an unnamed protagonist who, by means of various ghost-hunting equipment scattered throughout a haunted house in North Carolina – including the hi-tech device called the Astral Mobility By Electromagnetic Resonance – must enter the minds of three restless spirits who inhabit the mansion and help them move on. Inspired by Myst, the game was not a commercial success, unfortunately, and it took several years to garner the attention and praise it deserves, and even then its popularity was short-lived, undermined by serious compatibility issues as the years passed. But that takes nothing away from the quality of the game, which set the early standard for the many indie horror developers today.

Each story is told through a different graphic style that instantly conveys the mood related to its particular ghost, from the faded photographs that make up the memory of a woman who died during World War II to the strangely distorted perceptions of a gardener obsessed by UFOs, or the watery images that form a child's sad reminiscences of a distant, snowy winter. Despite an ending that is perhaps a bit too abrupt, Amber’s crisp graphics, polished interface and streamlined but elegant gameplay created a memorable cult classic, capable of capturing the gloomy, sorrowful ambience of the best Victorian ghost stories with rare sophistication. Years before the ghost-hunting adventure became the popular sub-genre it is now, this game showed what a small indie team could achieve in a solitary first-person horror, and to this day it remains perhaps the best of them all.

You might also like: Barrow Hill, Scratches



You can use up a lot of appendages counting the number of adventure games classified in some branch of the “horror” genre, including many that are too timid to be genuinely frightening, and others that try so hard with stereotypical “scare” clichés that they wind up as unintentional comedies. However, the number of truly scary psychological horror games can be counted on very few fingers, and one of the greatest is the uncompromising and horrifying 1995 Dreamers Guild adventure I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream. Based on a short story by Harlan Ellison (who wrote all dialogue for the game despite not owning a personal computer), the game follows the post-apocalyptic quest of five humans, imprisoned and tortured in their own private hell by a sentient super-computer named AM, as they seek to escape and defeat their captor.



If alternating between five characters described as a suicidal loner, a distorted brute, a hysterical phobic, a secretive sadist, and a cynical paranoid doesn’t sound intriguing enough, than perhaps the disturbing imagery of people impaled on meat hooks, or mutilated children in Nazi camps will do the trick. This is an unapologetically twisted game, but one that is well-constructed with an involving and complex narrative, never resorting to cheap scares or contrived horror. While gameplay is traditional, the game features a spiritual barometer that measures good and evil acts, and factors into which of the multiple endings you'll receive. The game is also visually detailed (in all the worst ways for those with weak hearts) and has outstanding voice acting. It may not be a game that anyone would consider “fun”, but if you can handle this type of relentless psychological horror, you will be hard-pressed to find many adventure games that do it as well.

You might also like: Dark Seed series, Downfall



Konami’s Shadow of Destiny opens with a violent death: your own. No, it’s not the shortest adventure game in history, but it’s surely one of the most unusual. Playing as hapless murder target Eike Kusch and armed with a pocket-sized time-travel device, you must stave off successive murder attempts by repeatedly turning back the clock – sometimes by a few minutes, sometimes by a few centuries – with the goal of changing the past in ways that impact the present and thwart the killer. Though it’s a relatively short game in a single playthrough, few adventures offer Shadow of Destiny’s replayability, due to its branching story threads and eight different endings. And even fewer games will leave you mulling over the story’s implications and questioning its true meaning long after you’ve finished, as this one surely does. With each replay you learn more about what’s going on and only after seeing all of the endings will you truly understand this intriguing narrative puzzle.

One of the very few adventures being developed and published by a mainstream game company at the time, Shadow of Destiny (or Shadow of Memories in Europe) is a multi-platform game first released in 2001 for PlayStation 2, then ported to PC, Xbox (only in Europe), and nearly a decade later to PSP. The PC version was poorly marketed and hard to find even when it first came out, which is likely the reason this game is such a little-known gem even among adventure game fans. The blocky 3D graphics are dated now and the awkward keyboard controls can make it challenging to play, but Shadow of Destiny’s unique storyline and clever time-travel gameplay more than make up for any technical shortcomings, earning it a spot on the list and hopefully some long-overdue public attention.

You might also like: Time Hollow, To the Moon



The balance between entertainment and eduboredom has always been an extremely fine line. Among the few adventure games to successfully strike the perfect balance between learning and fun is Sierra's 1993 classic Pepper’s Adventures in Time. It seems crazy Uncle Fred used his time machine to send a little dose of the 1970s to colonial times, and the result is the Liberty Bell being transported around by Hare Krishnas, and a pre-Revolution Ben Franklin telling people to “chill out” while the British governor taxes the people silly. In making sense of all this absurdity, the game features one of the most brilliant devices in modern educational gaming. History has been twisted by the mellowness, but clicking the “Truth bubble” on something tells you whether it really existed in that era. The amount of information contained in those responses is phenomenal, and will appeal to anyone with even a remote interest in American history.

All the while the game is teaching, however, it never stops being an engaging adventure with consistent story development as you attempt to restore the period to the way things were meant to be. It's certainly not difficult by any stretch of the imagination, but there are plenty of puzzles. The colonists all have a great deal of humorous dialogue brilliantly written by Lorelei Shannon, bringing plenty of local flavour to the landscape. And of course, how can you not laugh at the spectacle of a laid-back Ben Franklin? (Until you manage to send lightning through his body, that is.) A promised sequel never materialized, but Pepper’s Adventures in Time proved that when done right, there may be no better way to teach foundational concepts of history than a delightfully simple adventure game.

You might also like: EcoQuest series



In the eternal LucasArts vs. Sierra debates, Legend Entertainment is often unfairly overlooked, as their games were consistently smart, entertaining, and superbly produced. One of the best examples is 1997’s excellent Callahan's Crosstime Saloon. In this adaptation of Spider Robinson's sci-fi stories about Jake Stonebender and his friends at Callahan's bar, the universe is about to be wiped out unless something can be found that proves it deserves to survive. Naturally, only a down-and-out folk singer who can’t pay off his tab is the one to discover what that is. Before he can do so, however, he’ll need to stop an alien race from sapping the world of testosterone, save an endangered strain of orgasmic Brazilian chocolate from extinction, and rescue a lovesick Transylvanian vampire, among other tasks. They’re as daunting as they are diverse, but for Jake it’s all in a night’s work. And hey, no pressure or anything.

Between quests you return to the cozy confines of the pub to solve word riddles and chat with the witty, pun-loving locals, which adds a delightful sense of camaraderie to the game. The real delight here is the script, including constantly hilarious commentary on absolutely everything, with plenty of interactive opportunities to experience it, much of it simply for fun and flavour. And yet beneath the bizarre objectives and clever comedy, there’s a real underlying depth to Jake’s own life story that perfectly complements the otherwise whimsical tone. So forget Cheers. Callahan’s is the place to be for good friends, flowing drinks, plenty of laughs, and a whole lot of heart. Plus a darn fun adventure to boot!

You might also like: Companions of Xanth



Next up: #65-61...



Cing’s Hotel Dusk: Room 215 became one of the rare modern day adventures to capture the attention of both genre fans and mainstream gamers alike. Billed as an "interactive novel" (presumably to avoid scaring off anyone off with the unflattering term “adventure game”), this 2007 title helped establish the Nintendo DS as a viable platform for text-heavy offerings by taking typical noir themes and turning them into an intimate, personal experience. It’s a very unassuming affair, full of gentle jazz music, light puzzling, lots of low-key dialogue, and a muted graphic novel-style aesthetic, but beneath its cool, mellow tone and relaxed pace is a gripping, complex mystery tale. It’s even held sideways like a good book.

Taking place entirely over the course of one night in 1979, ex-New York cop Kyle Hyde is seeking information about the former partner who betrayed him, and his investigation curiously intersects with the secrets of his ten fellow hotel guests. It’s presented in a unique visual style, featuring expressive hand-sketched black and white characters. Some clever puzzles use the DS to mimic in-game situations, but where this game really shines is in its gradually-unfolding mystery, pieced together by wandering the lonely halls of the hotel, chatting with its eclectic guests, and casually poking about for clues at your leisure. Dialogue-heavy and light on puzzling, Hotel Dusk: Room 215 is comfort gaming for those who love story-driven mysteries, and it remains one of the most memorable examples of modern day interactive fiction, portable or otherwise.

You might also like: Jake Hunter Detective Story: Memories of the Past, 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors



We thought we’d never see an English translation of The Book of Unwritten Tales, but KING Art’s inspired homage to classic fantasy adventures and RPGs finally arrived in 2011, and lived up to every bit of its advanced hype. Its four mismatched characters – elf, gnome, human and critter – embark on an epic journey to save their realm from the clutches of a megalomaniac witch, and en route manage to return adventure gaming to its idealistic, irreverent, inventory-laden, action-packed heyday. Filled with affectionate tributes to pop culture icons like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and World of WarCraft, the game also charts its own engaging course in the eternal battle of good versus evil. While it ribs the genre and laughs at itself, it's sharp and serious about its business, treating players to a rare depth and intricacy of gameplay. The numerous quests flow seamlessly and intuitively, and even seemingly offhand comments neatly tie up sub-plots hours later.

The action is set in an exquisitely detailed, multi-dimensional world enlivened by outstanding animation, a nostalgia-inducing background score, and exemplary voice acting. The diverse, memorable supporting cast holds its own against the charismatic leads and adds considerable emotional depth to the story. Its deceptively sophisticated script is at once straightforward and wickedly clever: dialogues are crisp and witty, exposition is kept to an essential minimum, and no time is ever wasted in getting to the point. Though the unlikely swashbucklers have a grand, all-encompassing mission, the game focuses on tracing their tiny, wobbly steps as they visit places they've never heard of and collaborate with people they don't like, eventually discovering strengths of character they never imagined they had. In doing so, The Book of Unwritten Tales reveals a great heart of its own, which will most likely melt that of any adventure gamer who plays it.

You might also like: Ceville, Torin’s Passage, Rent a Hero



The real-life 1946 murder of Elizabeth Short, dubbed “Black Dahlia” for her dyed hair and all-black wardrobe, is an unsolved mystery ripe for a fictional solution. The equally unresolved Cleveland Torso Murders, a series of 12 dismemberments in the 1930s, has similar possibilities. In Black Dahlia, Take 2 took these two genuine cases and built an intriguing narrative around them that goes well beyond the basic details of the cases themselves. The tale of rookie COI (later to become the CIA) agent Jim Pearson’s investigations merge FMV and computer-generated backgrounds seamlessly, and the look of the game catches the period setting perfectly. In an especially welcome feature, Jim also takes notes of important information, saving players from having to do it themselves.

But what really makes this 1998 adventure a classic for the hardcore adventurer is its significant challenge. This is a game that rarely yields to trial-and-error solutions, and actually has Jim mock using that approach when it is possible. Instead, a keen mind is needed to make any sort of progress through its numerous puzzles, especially in the latter parts of the game where the difficulty becomes even more brutal. This can lead to frustration, but it also means that reaching the solution yourself becomes immensely satisfying. While hard, the game doesn’t resort to illogical leaps, though it is not above laying deadly traps for those who don’t think things through properly. This may not make it one for the casual adventurer’s collection, but in a genre that prides itself on requiring brainpower, this is definitely the thinking player’s must-have.

You might also like: Ripper, The X-Files



On the surface, Obsidian may resemble Myst for its first-person, puzzle-centric gameplay. But players entering this wildly imaginative 1997 adventure had best leave all such expectations at the door. As the game itself warns, “your rules do not apply”, and any preconceptions are quickly turned upside down – literally. Biochemical engineer Lilah Kerlin and her husband Max Powers invent a new satellite designed to clean the atmosphere with nanobots, but as happens all too often with advanced technology, the satellite evolves into a sentient being whose nanobots create a giant black crystalline object that sucks the scientists into a bizarre world inspired by their own nightmares. Populated by mechanical vidbots with televised faces, there are several realms to explore in sequence, each with its own unique setting and theme, most notably the memorable Escher-like bureaucratic hell that extends from floor to walls to ceiling.

Obsidian is also filled with puzzles – lots and lots of puzzles, many of them quite difficult. This seems fitting from a developer named Rocket Science Games, whose boast of 60 hours of gameplay may be an exaggeration, but probably isn’t far off. The puzzles are always creative and never unfair, but they do require diligence and careful observation to succeed. Equally challenging (if not more so) are the handful of minigames that require a fair amount of hand-eye coordination, including a randomized one right near the end, but any who persevere will be amply rewarded with a final choice leading to two different outcomes. No matter which you choose, you’ll feel both exhilarated and exhausted by the memorable journey to arrive at that point. And you won’t regret a minute of it. Despite its serious premise, it’s got a touch of subtle humour throughout, and it’s all so deliciously surreal that you’ll never forget the experience. If Terry Gilliam ever made an adventure game, this would be it, though only if he’s a big fan of puzzles.

You might also like: Morpheus, Lighthouse: The Dark Being



If you didn’t know who made it, you’d never guess that Lucasfilm Games was behind the unique Loom in 1990. Developed by Brian Moriarty of Infocom fame, this unusual fairy tale tells the story of Bobbin Threadbare, a hooded member of a guild whose members control the mysterious powers of music weaving. Bobbin is different from the other members of his guild, however, and his story begins as an outsider, forced to secretly learn a few a basic spell chords through the use of a distaff, a magical rod that reads the sounds of different objects in the physical world. With the right combination of sounds, a Weaver is able to produce spells so powerful that they can alter the fabric of the universe. In a shocking turn of events on Bobbin’s seventeenth birthday, the entire guild is cursed, starting Bobbin on an unforgettable journey that will lead him on a collision course with Chaos itself.

Loom originally appeared across several platforms, including the PC, Amiga, Atari St, TurboGrafx-16 and FM Towns. For its time it offered some incredibly polished pixel art visuals. But what makes the game so endearing is the quality of its story and detailed background; the original release even included an audio tape that recounted the rich backstory. The most memorable feature, of course, is its unique control method, which relies on learning new spells and playing their notes on the distaff to trigger different in-game reactions. With no inventory to collect, playing your staff and a single interaction button are the only controls available to the player. Despite its ease and short game length, this boldly creative approach is fondly remembered to this day, and with its haunting coming-of-age story capped off by a bittersweet ending, Loom is as much a work of art as a traditional adventure game, yet fully enjoyable as both.

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Next up: #60-56...



Another Code was the first game to illustrate the potential of the Nintendo DS as a pre-eminent adventure platform, and remains one of the best to this day. This 2005 release by Cing stands out as a true gem not only for its gentle, melancholy story and characters, but also for the ingenious ways the developer utilized the handheld device's hardware. Fourteen-year old Ashley begins the game believing her parents died when she was a young child, but a mysterious letter turns her world upside down when it reveals that her father is still alive on the remote, ominously-named Blood Edward Island. Upon arriving at the island herself, Ashley ventures out on her own to find him. Soon she runs into the ghost of a boy named D, who seems just as lost as she. Together this unlikely pair explores the island and the massive Edward Mansion to discover the fate of Ashley's family and learn more about D's history.

Throughout the game, Ashley uses a DS-analogue device called a DTS to interact with the world. By exploring every object, players can unlock not only Ashley's story but D's as well. Another Code (known as Trace Memory in North America) makes use of every mechanic and feature the DS has to offer, from a variety of touch screen-based interactions to blowing on the microphone to simulate a strong breath to closing the DS lid to trigger the handheld's sleep mode in order to advance. The game’s Japanese developer would go on to create many more innovative adventure games for the system, but Another Code was the first hint of the greatness not only for them but their chosen platform as well.

You might also like: Another Code: R – A Journey Into Lost Memories, Alpha Polaris



Any fears that the acclaimed Myst franchise would suffer in the move from Cyan Worlds to Presto Studios quickly proved unfounded when Exile was released in 2001. Taking place ten years after the events of Riven, the third installment sees the unnamed, unseen stranger arrive at Atrus's house to see a new Age he has created. However, a mysterious antagonist steals the book, seeking revenge on Atrus for crimes that his sons committed. To track down the perpetrator and recover the book, there are three new Ages to explore. Each world offers its own unique flavour, including the industrial-tinged Voltanic island, the Asian theme park-inspired world of Amateria (with its own rideable roller coaster!), and the lush garden world of Edanna. The locations are wonderfully diverse and beautifully rendered, and for the first time in the series you could sweep the camera completely around you for a full panoramic view.

Returning to the self-contained challenges of the original Myst, each Age has its own assortment of puzzle challenges. As usual, many of them are somewhat mechanical in nature, but while not always easy by any means, they are certainly easier than the puzzles in the first two games. To some this marked a regrettable simplification of the series, while to others it represented a more inviting, accessible experience while still delivering a solid challenge and remaining true to the spirit of its predecessors. Brad Dourif’s (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) over-the-top live-action portrayal of the villainous Saavedro also met with mixed reactions, but there’s no denying he threw himself into the role with gusto. In the end, Exile didn’t quite measure up to the quality of its forebears, but it was a worthy sequel in the venerable franchise that still holds up well today.

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Not only do you not have to be a Trekkie (or “Trekker” in the more acceptable parlance) to enjoy Star Trek: Judgment Rites, but this 1998 sci-fi classic may just make you one all on its own. Although 25th Anniversary was an admirable attempt to adapt the Enterprise, the Federation, and Klingons to the genre, Judgment Rites is a nearly perfect marriage of adventure convention and all the lore and excitement of the Star Trek universe. It features all the original cast members as voice actors; in fact, it would be the last time that DeForest Kelley ever performed as Dr. McCoy in a released product. Interplay was not an adventure genre heavyweight, but they adapted the Sierra-style interface well for their purposes and spared no expense in creating an excellent inter-galactic adventure.



The story of Judgment Rites is a memorable one, with eight individual scenarios that end up tying together in the philosophical tests of an incredibly memorable final chapter. The storylines include such elements as time travel, a kidnapping of a major crew member, and a return of the character Trelane from an Original Series television episode. It is incredible fan service for existing Star Trek fans, but even for the non-fans it is an exceptional science fiction adventure game that is incredibly well written and acted, feeling big-budget and important in every way. The devastating cancellation of The Secret of Vulcan Fury the following year assured its place as the last, but greatest, Original Series Star Trek adventure game.

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In 2005, Quantic Dream wowed us with the promise of Indigo Prophecy, a dramatic game with a vastly elastic storyline that would change with almost any decision the player made. While the finished product didn’t quite live up to the hype, it is nonetheless a fascinating game that explores a ritualistic murder from the opposing perspectives of the bewildered killer and the cops on his tail. Its gameplay is immersive, its art direction stylish and cinematic, and its storyline engrossing (for the first two-thirds, anyway). Long before the Wii, Xbox Kinect, and PlayStation Move, Indigo Prophecy’s tactile controls – requiring moving the mouse or gamepad analog stick in a pattern that mimics your character’s on-screen action – were one-of-a-kind. Animations and facial expressions are fluid and believable, thanks to extensive use of motion capture. And though the story is sometimes larger than life, it also touches on characters’ personal and even intimate moments, giving us an unparalleled connection to the people we’re controlling.

Set in an atmospheric New York City that’s blanketed in snow and peppered with cinematic camera angles and cuts, Indigo Prophecy (known as Fahrenheit in Europe) was the first game since the FMV era that felt like playing a movie. Its ubiquitous Simon-style Quick Time Events and nonsensical conclusion often draw criticism, but the story-focused gameplay, characters, and initial plot are so well developed and implemented that the game remains an impressive accomplishment. The story may be way more linear than it originally seemed, but tucked within this linearity are a wealth of small actions that players can experiment with to slightly change a scene. At a time when adventures were fighting for mainstream legitimacy, Indigo Prophecy proved that story-driven games can be just as compelling as action blockbusters and feel right at home on consoles as well as PC. It might be a bit too soon to truly understand its impact on the genre, but if the subsequent success of other high-profile games is any indication, the benefit is one we’ll be enjoying for years to come.

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French developer Lexis Numérique has been around since the late ‘90s, crafting dozens of licensed titles and children's games. In the English-speaking world, however, they're mostly recognized for creating experimental, high-concept adventure games. Their 2003 release In Memoriam (or MISSING: Since January in North America) isn't just a zany experiment, however – it's a dense, satisfying, well constructed adventure unlike any other. Borrowing ideas from alternate reality games, In Memoriam blends fact and fiction as the player does real internet research while solving a series of riddles and arcade-like minigames to save a journalist and his companion from a deranged killer known as The Phoenix.

The game itself is presented as a CD ROM sent out by the killer, daring you to outsmart him. As the mystery unfolds it directs you to a series of dedicated websites hidden online, which begin to unweave a historical conspiracy that suggests The Phoenix might not be quite as crazy as he seems. The story is pretty stock stuff, and will be instantly familiar to anyone brought up on a diet of Broken Sword or Gabriel Knight. But the attention to detail, the careful verisimilitude and some convincing live-action handicam clips recorded by the victims help make the secret world of In Memoriam a believable and engrossing place. The riddles and minigames are challenging and inventive, and the desperate attempt to free the captives gives even the more abstract puzzling tangible meaning. The game may be an acquired taste, but it remains one of the genre’s first (if not only) forays into the emerging ARG format, and one that may never be bettered.

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Next up: #55-51...



The direct sequel to Microïds’ acclaimed 2002 title, Syberia II came out two years after the original to continue Kate Walker's journey through the frozen Russian wilderness to discover once and for all if mammoths still exist. Now travelling alongside an eccentric aged inventor and the automaton Oscar (plus an adorably furry youki), Kate’s ongoing adventure is a direct extension of the first story, creating a seamless artistic connection between the two. Beautifully serene, hand-painted worlds remain at the forefront of the experience, paired with top-notch writing and sound to create a memorable melancholy atmosphere that few games can rival. Where the game does change things up is by taking a jumping off the wind-up train tracks for treks through the tundra, a run-in with a friendly pilot, a harrowing encounter with a bear, and crossing paths with a couple ivory poachers intent on finding Syberia and its mammoths for themselves. Time is of the essence as well, as her sickly companion may miss out on his only goal in life if Kate cannot find a way to heal him and deliver him safely to the land of his dreams.

The more adventurous storyline is matched by an increased emphasis on puzzle variety and challenge, making Syberia II a more substantial gameplay experience. This new focus does come at the expense of some character development, though having made her life-altering decision the first time around, Kate’s singleminded purpose is understandable. While its predecessor was sometimes criticized for its cliffhanger ending, Syberia II's final sequence is a moving finale, and there are several powerful emotional moments along the way, including a heart-rending sacrifice made by one character in particular. Together with its predecessor, Syberia II is half of a defining work by a true adventure game visionary. Sure, there may still be lots of scenery with little interaction, but the two parts form a classic unlike any other, and the final moments are a worthy reward for seeing the journey through to the end.

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The celebration of “Samorost Day” has been a running gag around Adventure Gamers for years, but not without cause. The original browser-based Samorost by indie Czech studio Amanita Design took the site by storm in 2004, and its successor upped the ante in every conceivable way. Yet on the surface, it would seem the sequel has no business being so good. It’s very short and has no story to speak of, as a little gnome attempts to retrieve his stolen dog from spacefaring aliens, then find his way home again from an unfamiliar planet. There is no dialogue or inventory, or even much exploration, as you’re usually confined to just a single screen at a time. So why the heck is Samorost 2 so great? Simple: its stunning artwork, enchanting levels with charm oozing out of every pore, and inventive puzzles that use the streamlined Flash interface to wonderful effect. Oh, and did we mention half of it was free?

Like its predecessor, Samorost 2 presents a fabulous game world made up of photorealistic nature images blended with hand-drawn animations. As you journey through forests, sewers, underground networks, and alien homes, you’re traversing utterly foreign lands that still manage to feel strangely familiar, as if you’re a tiny character in the wilds of Earth, now surreal and imposing in their grandeur. The background music only heightens this bizarre atmosphere with its orchestral, occasionally jazzy score. Most puzzles ultimately amount to simply clicking the right sequence of hotpots in order, but their brilliant integration makes them feel like organic environmental obstacles to overcome, whether it’s distracting a snail from fixing its shell so you can borrow its hammer or waking up a snoozing robot. You’re alone on an alien world, with no idea what anything does. What would YOU do? Experiment! As a shareware offering, some may have balked at paying for only half of a two-hour game, but others were more than happy to double the time spent in this creative, wonderful world, counting the cost as an investment in Amanita to see what they could do with a full-fledged adventure…

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Usually you can separate adventures into two camps: solitary first-person adventures with obtuse logic puzzles, and third-person adventures with a heavy emphasis on inventory puzzles. Kheops Studio’s Return to Mysterious Island pitched those distinctions out the window in 2004, with delightfully surprising results. After a shipwreck, a young woman named Mina washes up on a deserted island, where she needs to survive on whatever the island offers her before she can even begin thinking about finding a way off. While thoroughly exploring to find crucial items, you will traverse beautifully rendered coastal shorelines, tropical jungles and underground caves. You’ll also discover this island is the one Captain Nemo's submarine “The Nautilus” was stranded on ages ago. Remnants of the surviving crew’s habitation are everywhere, including equipment and notes on how to use them.

So far, so very standard first-person. Where Return to Mysterious Island really veers off the beaten path is in its brilliant inventory use. Collectable items abound, most of them needing to be combined or disassembled to create complex new objects, often with multiple solutions leading to the same goal. While most games treat combinations as simple “Use X on Y” exercises, here each construction is an actual recipe. Connect two compatible items and a formula appears telling you how many items are needed to succeed, without actually telling you exactly what those items are. It’s an inventory puzzler’s dream, and great fun to tinker with dozens of ingredients until you get it right. You’re not entirely alone, either, as you’ll nurse a cute little monkey back to health, who then pitches in as a functional inventory item himself. The endgame includes a deluge of logic puzzles and complex riddles for a little variety, but the true joy of the game is its unbridled MacGyverism, with a welcome sense of sense of realism, immediacy and tangible consequence that most adventures lack.

You might also like: Return to Mysterious Island 2, VOYAGE (aka Journey to the Center of the Moon)



It took seven years, but fans of Funcom's The Longest Journey saw their dreams of a sequel realized in Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. Yet it is a much different game than its classic predecessor, in every conceivable way. April Ryan, the intrepid ingénue from the first game, is battle-scarred and world-weary, and this time around she’s joined by the mysterious assassin Kian and the rudderless but loyal Zoë Castillo. All three are playable characters, and as you follow the metaphysical and literal journeys of each, you begin to unearth the secret world that connect dreams to reality. Ragnar Tørnquist once again proves himself a master storyteller with enough imagination to fill two worlds: the futuristic Stark and the fantastic Arcadia. As you shuttle between the two, you begin to catch glimpses of how these worlds are tied together even as you occasionally stumble upon a vague in-between realm that may hold the answers to the strange forces that threaten to unravel both worlds.

Complementing the fabulous voice acting and immersive sound work, the game’s move to a full 3D environment gives the complex story room to breathe. The world you explore is gorgeously cinematic and totally immersive, at least once you get used to the keyboard and mouse (or gamepad) to move and control camera angles. Adventure gamers may hesitate over a game that includes brief fighting and stealth sequences (none requiring fast reflexes, and many of them avoidable to begin with). However, these elements are brief and help bring tension and a sense of urgency to a story that still includes its fair share of inventory puzzles and long dialogues with a variety of characters like Wonkers the Watilla, a robotic toy gorilla that has been with Zoë since she was a child. Don’t let the less traditional adventure elements scare you away; with its complex tale of three characters struggling to find balance between loyalty and love, between honor and morality, Dreamfall achieves just the right balance between wonderful storytelling and immersive gameplay.

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If this game were simply called Nemesis, it would be widely acclaimed as one of the best puzzle-adventures ever made. It still is, of course (as evidenced by its presence here), but there are some who just can’t reconcile its dark, at times disturbing atmosphere with the wacky world of Zork. And indeed, beyond a few subtle references, Activision’s 1996 game has nothing in common with its predecessors, making it more a spin-off adventure than genuine sequel. Taken purely on its own terms, however, it’s an excellent example of what can be done by pushing the solitary, puzzle-centric Myst formula in new and interesting ways. The Great Underground Empire’s four top alchemists have all disappeared in the Forbidden Lands, and it’s your job to seek them out. Unfortunately, you soon discover that they’re dead, or at least trapped in a sort of undead captivity by an evil entity called the Nemesis. Guided by their spirits, now only you can complete their work by retrieving the items needed to resurrect them, though the more you follow in their footsteps, the more you come to question their motives as well.

Your travels take you through four distinct realms representing the natural elements, including such locations as an asylum, castle, monastery, and a musical conservatory. These aren’t whimsical fantasy settings, however. Evidence of torture and cruelty is everywhere, and you’ll be required to behead a corpse with a guillotine yourself. (But hey, is that worse than being eaten by a Grue?) All this is observed using the game’s proprietary Z-Vision Surround engine, which in its day helped pioneer the now-common 360-degree, node-based camera panning, with over an hour of full-motion video sprinkled in between. A haunting musical score rounds out the ominous mood and provides the backdrop for the many challenging puzzles that await. Some of the game’s 65 challenges are quite difficult, making for a lengthy, substantial adventure before reaching the stunning conclusion, by which point you’ll be questioning everything you thought you knew. It may not be very Zorkian, but when games are this good, does it really matter what they’re called?

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Next up: #50-46...



Okay, so we cheated. But really, how can we not? The wealth of text adventures in the genre’s early days could fill up a best-of list all on their own, many of them supplied by Infocom. The company who helped catapult the genre (and computer games in general) to the forefront with the original Zork went on to produce a prolific lineup of successful adventures for the better part of a decade. Founded in 1979 by several MIT staffers, Infocom was the name in interactive fiction until it was bought out by Activision in 1986 (though new games continued to appear under the Infocom label for some time after that). Infocom text adventures eschewed the rudimentary graphics emerging at the time to create rich virtual worlds filled in as much by the player’s imagination as the extensive descriptions offered on-screen. The text parser, while certainly limited in scope, nevertheless offered an unparalleled level of immersion in directing your own adventure. Such freedom to experiment has since been sacrificed in the name of point-and-click accessibility – a loss that many lament to this day.

But who can pick just one? Written by co-founders Dave Lebling and Marc Blank, plus other noted “Implementors” like Steve Meretzky, Brian Moriarty, and Bob Bates, the choice of favourite Infocom games ultimately came down to preferred genres. Fantasy lovers were rewarded with the Zork and Enchanter series; sci-fi fans were treated to classics like Planetfall, A Mind Forever Voyaging, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Not your cup of tea? There were mysteries like Suspect, The Witness, and Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels; and comedies such as Leather Goddesses of Phobos, Bureaucracy, and Hollywood Hijinx. Many still think that The Lurking Horror is the most terrifying adventure to date. The list goes on. Often sold in bookstores, the games even included notable “feelies” to serve as copy protection, though most were treasured as bonus extras in their own right. It was a different era then, and a magical time to live through for those who were a part of it. The text adventure lives on today in a thr