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The Aggie Awards – The Best Adventure Games of 2018

Written by AG Staff
It will take you about 42 minutes to read this feature.

Article updated Friday, February 22nd. Already read about Day One and Day Two? Skip straight ahead to the final day's presentation!
 


Adventure games are dying… Only 137 of them launched last year!

Okay, not only isn’t the genre remotely dead (as always), there’s more life in it than ever. We may not have the same number of AAA-budget, technology-pushing epics of the Golden Era, but bigger isn’t always better, and it’s amazing what small indie teams can do with a little ingenuity, freedom from publisher constraints, and of course some elbow grease and a willingness to work practically for free.

The result of so many titles being released these days is that it’s hard to know which ones are the best, and that’s where the Aggie Awards come in! Yes, it’s time once again to acknowledge the top games of the past calendar year, as decided by both the AG staff and Patreon supporters and our readers. (You DID vote in the reader poll, right?)

With so many accomplished games to choose from, there may be some disappointment as well as elation, but really this isn’t a competition so much as a celebration of gaming goodness all around! Congrats to every developer eligible, for making our choices far harder than they had any right to be.

The three-part Aggie event will run daily from Wednesday through Friday, so stay tuned each day to see who will take home the coveted hardware. Remember this is all in good fun, so enjoy the show! And we do mean "show" this time, as for the first time ever, along with our complete written presentation we are pleased to introduce our first-ever video unveiling of the winners, hosted by the talented Ivy Dupler (Lamplight City, Unavowed) and produced by Gamewalker. 

And now, the 2018 Aggie Awards...

 

Day One
 

 

Day Two
 

 

Day Three

 

 

 


Table of Contents


Day One


Page 1: You are here
Page 2: Best Story
Page 3: Best Writing – Comedy
Page 4: Best Writing – Drama
Page 5: Best Character
Page 6: Best Gameplay
Page 7: Best Concept

 

Day Two 


Page 8: Best Setting

 

Day Three


Page 14: The Silver Aggies
Page 15: Best Non-Traditional Adventure
Page 16: Best Traditional Adventure
Page 17: Best Adventure of 2018
Page 18: Final Notes
 


First up: Best Story... the envelope, please!

Best Story: Unavowed


It all begins with you – a man or woman, your choice – being struck by lightning to exorcise the demon possessing you. There’s no slow burn here, as Wadjet Eye Games’ Unavowed plunges right into its narrative about supernatural creatures and paranormal powers. Set against the backdrop of modern day New York City, this urban fantasy explores the mysteries behind visitors from the netherworlds coexisting with us in our own. When your self-named character is freed by a half-Jinn and fire mage, you’re recruited into the titular Unavowed, a secret mystical police force. There you get to decide how to approach your investigations, with a choice of three different background professions dictating the path available to you.

Following in the tragedy-laden footsteps of the one who possessed you in order to unravel their evil deeds isn’t all this stellar point-and-click title has to offer. Along the way you’ll help recruit more people into your small supernaturally-endowed team. Each of them has their own backstory, and this game takes advantage of its interactive medium to allow you to explore these tales to whatever extent you want without detracting from the main storyline. Throw in a choice of teammates to share in your missions, multiple playable backstories for your own character, and an excellent plot twist along the way that makes you reevaluate everything you thought you knew, it’s no wonder why Unavowed spirited away this year’s Aggie Award for Best Story.

Runners-Up:


Forgotton Anne

11-11: Memories Retold

Unforeseen Incidents

Detective Pikachu

(Note: As an adapted work, Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth was ineligible)
 


Readers’ Choice: Unavowed


The first reader award was a close, hotly-contested battle… for second place. Yes, despite a strong showing by many promising challengers, really the runaway winner was never in doubt. Like us, you were smitten by Unavowed’s skillful blend of supernatural thrills and often very touching human drama – and even non-human at times. Balancing such seemingly disparate elements is a significant accomplishment made all the more impressive by having alternate playable characters that bring their own unique dynamics to the team. For delivering such a thoughtful, well-rounded narrative experience, Wadjet Eye sweeps the first round of Aggies.

Runners-Up:


Unforeseen Incidents

Lamplight City

Forgotton Anne

Detroit: Become Human
 


Next up: Best Writing – Comedy... the envelope, please!

Best Writing – Comedy: Detective Gallo


The premise of Footprint Games’ Detective Gallo is so ridiculous, you know you’re in for a thoroughly offbeat adventure before you even start. The main character is a hard-boiled private eye rooster, tasked with investigating “fowl play” of epic proportions: the murder of a millionaire’s prized plants. (Maybe not so epic, then, but who’s going to trust Gallo with a really important case?) While he sleuths with the utmost seriousness, Gallo’s sardonic wit is the source of much humour. He promises to act with “the speed of the law: slow and unrelenting” and thrives on dishing out wisecracks to anyone he meets. When his doting admirer begs him to sample her sickly sweet wares, Gallo acknowledges that his job requires him to swallow some bitter things, but even that’s a step too far. He even has a seemingly never-ending list of rules for the job, which swing between earnest and outlandish illogicality with ease.

It’s not just the feathered lead who provides the laughs, however. Everyone you meet has a bit of an edge, which makes for amusing back-and-forth banter with the titular star. There’s a time and a place for comedy – in this case, it’s all the time and everywhere. You’re never far from a silly joke, pun or downright absurdity. There’s an undercover cactus convinced that the ladies love him, an intergalactic cult that is only allowed to think if their leader allows it, and a gun-wielding criminal who rediscovers himself as a meditative soul. Not all the gags land, but more than enough of them do to keep a grin on your face throughout. So with that in mind, we’ve arrived at our own Rule #2018: When awarding our Aggie for Best Comedy Writing, give it to the chicken with an attitude and six-shooter that’s permanently cocked and loaded.

Runners-Up:


Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry

Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption

Detective Case and Clown Bot in The Express Killer

Snail Trek
 


Readers’ Choice: Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry


Leisure Suit Larry has been a comedy staple in the genre for over 30 years, but for the longest time it seemed like the iconic franchise’s best days were behind it. Then along came a bunch of young German(!) upstarts, most of whom who were still in diapers when Larry first started hitting on women (and being soundly rejected), thinking they could resurrect the brand – and without series creator Al Lowe, no less. Then they had the audacity to bring Larry’s oh-so-eighties sexist mindset to modern day. How could that possibly work? Turns out, pretty darn well! From the opening gag-filled age verification test to the anything-but-subtle sexual innuendo; from a White House spoof to a skewering of today’s social media technology, there were more than enough laughs to go around. Even with such pun-loving competitors nipping at its heels, Wet Dreams Don’t Dry takes home the reader award for most amusing yuks.

Runners-Up:


Detective Gallo

Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption

Unforeseen Incidents

Detective Case and Clown Bot in The Express Killer
 


Next up: Best Writing – Drama... the envelope, please!

Best Writing – Drama: Unavowed


Clever plotting and skillful writing don’t always go hand in hand, but in the case of Wadjet Eye’s Unavowed, they most certainly do. The game is able to tackle weighty themes and troubling circumstances (morally and otherwise) by peppering its story with interesting, thought-provoking conversation that always keep the dialogue flowing naturally. Every character is portrayed in a way that is entirely believable, with distinct personal issues and endearing (or not-so-endearing) qualities. This is no small feat with such diversity in the cast – not merely different genders and cultures, but entirely different species.

You can choose to question your fellow Unavowed as much or as little as you wish, but even on their own your teammates speak frequently to each other without any prompting, affording you additional insight via their private conversations. Their personalities are so defined, however, and their backstories so rich that we couldn’t help but explore every relationship, even replaying with different partners to uncover new details. Logan’s understanding nature, along with Vicki’s down-to-earth, matter-of-fact attitude, perfectly offsets Mandana’s cold, semi-human objectivity. For its realistic conversation and elegant script throughout each branching narrative path of this ambitious dark urban fantasy tale, Unavowed pairs its Best Story award with the Aggie for best dramatic writing in 2018.

Runners-Up:


The Pillars of the Earth

Lamplight City

11-11: Memories Retold

Eselmir and the five magical gifts
 


Readers’ Choice: Unavowed


While his paranormal, dimension-crossing tale is compelling in its own right, Dave Gilbert also understands what many writers do not: character is story. So many movies and games give us riveting plots but no characters to relate to and root for. Unavowed has many, and the way in which the characters are written is expertly suited to each personality. Eli savours a bit of wisecracking, even in tense situations, but the ageless fire mage isn’t afraid of complicated words and ideas, always digging deeper. The ghostly KayKay, meanwhile, perfectly embodies the playful whimsy of a ten-year-old girl, never despairing despite her untimely demise. Each character’s background is gradually revealed, leaving you speculating about them and helping you grasp what’s behind their reactions to the suspenseful, mind-boggling crises they encounter. You sure won’t get any argument from us about your choice, as once again we agree about the superb quality of this game’s script.

Runners-Up:


Lamplight City

The Pillars of the Earth

Eselmir and the five magical gifts

Detroit: Become Human
 


Next up: Best Character... the envelope, please!

Best Character: Chuchel (CHUCHEL)


Maybe he’s a sentient piece of discarded pocket lint? A stray speck of dust perhaps? Or possibly the resurrected furball of an old cat? In truth we have no idea what the titular character of Amanita Design's CHUCHEL is, but if nothing else is certain, he IS determined. Great resolve is needed to acquire the succulent cherries he craves in such a bizarre world, and in this he is unrivaled. Whether by contesting a superior alter-ego at a snail race, wrestling a set of giant dentures, or suddenly revealing the ability to summon laser swords, cannons and dinosaurs to ward off an alien invasion, nothing gets in the way of Chuchel and the object of his desire.

Yes, when the giant monkey-like hand of fate knocks you down, locks you in a glass jar, and uses drugs to transform you into a cyclopean blob, you’ve just got to get back up and push forward. It helps that our hero is so remarkably resilient: he can be stomped on, shot at, blown up, and swallowed whole, but Chuchel always bounces right back into form – or at least a form, because he can be molded into all shapes and sizes: squares, llama, fish, and even become downright Pac-Man-esque. And he does it all so expressively for someone with only a mouth, two bulging eyes, stick arms and legs, and no intelligible language, conveying more with every over-the-top gesture and gibberish exclamation than most characters say with reams of dialogue at their disposal. Whether black or orange (perhaps you’ve heard about the decision to change Chuchel’s colour recently), we applaud the loveable, hot-tempered fuzz-wad for reminding us to never give up. And we trust that our 2018 Aggie Award for Best Character is just the cherry on top.

Runners-Up:


Eli and Logan – tie (Unavowed)

Detective Gallo (Detective Gallo)

Anne (Forgotton Anne)

Nairi (NAIRI: Tower of Shirin)
 


Readers’ Choice: Leisure Suit Larry (Wet Dreams Don’t Dry)


Larry Laffer is a brazen womanizer and shallow, self-absorbed, dim-witted loser. But boy do we love him for it (although you folks a bit more than AG staff, apparently). For all his egregious character (and physical) flaws, Larry is an endearing protagonist (from this side of the screen), partly because he’s usually the butt of all the jokes. But he’s also very much a man of his time, which makes his sudden leap into present day a particularly interesting one. And yet who better to serve as a mirror to today’s social and technological advancements than a man encountering them for the first time, while still horny as ever and hoping to score. For making such a successfully entertaining leap into the modern era, Larry takes home his second reader Aggie. Maybe that will help boost his Timber profile.

Runners-Up:


Eli Beckett (Unavowed)

Detective Gallo (Detective Gallo)

Chuchel (CHUCHEL)

Miles Fordham (Lamplight City)
 


Next up: Best Gameplay... the envelope, please!

Best Gameplay: Return of the Obra Dinn


There are hundreds of games that cast players as a homicide detective investigating a murder, but of those, only a paltry few manage to make you feel like you’re actually solving a mystery rather than watching your character put the pieces together. Many games are seemingly afraid to leave you to your own devices, instead spoon-feeding you clues and conclusions – or at the very least nudging and winking very broadly – until you arrive at the only viable decision remaining. Return of the Obra Dinn isn’t one of those games. Lucas Pope, in his own typically atypical way, has made one of the great detective games of all time, earning the year’s Best Gameplay award in the process.

Return of the Obra Dinn not only allows you to solve its central mysteries through your own cleverness, it outright refuses to lend a hand. As an insurance adjuster investigating the unexplained deaths aboard the long-lost-but-recently-found eponymous merchant vessel, you are given a ship to explore, a notebook, and… a magic stopwatch that can show you a frozen tableau of the final instant of a dead person’s life (as magic stopwatches do). With only these tools, it’s up to you to explore the boat and pick apart each blood-spattered scene of the crime, marking down your deductions about every corpse’s identity and manner of death based on the visions provided. The game’s smart distribution of clues both subtle and overt lead you on an intellectually thrilling chase after the truth, and with patience and perseverance it’s possible to correctly identify every member of the crew – and man oh man, is it ever satisfying when you do.

Runners-Up:


Unavowed

FAR: Lone Sails

The Gardens Between

Beyond the Sky
 


Readers’ Choice: Unavowed


Instead of emphasizing a series of progress-hindering obstacles, gameplay in Unavowed is highlighted by choices that actually have a tangible effect. At the beginning, you select a personal history for the main protagonist, which opens up one of three entirely different playable flashbacks. Later you’ll pick specific companions for each mission and leave others behind, thereby changing the approach to your goal. And during each quest is a moral decision that has a notable impact on the game’s ending (which itself offers several distinct variations). Of course, along the way you will still collect and use inventory items, tap into the physical and supernatural skills of your teammates, interpret clues, transport between dimensions, and come up with some creative solutions to finally get your way. It’s not a puzzle-intensive journey, but a consistently engaging one with no unwanted filler, and for that Wadjet Eye secures the reader choice for best gameplay experience.

Runners-Up:


Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry

Return of the Obra Dinn

Detective Gallo

Lamplight City
 


Next up: Best Concept... the envelope, please!

Best Concept: Call of Cthulhu, The Council (tie)


Great minds think alike! While narrative RPGs aren’t entirely new, historically they’ve been a mash-up of traditional genre conventions rather than an integration of role-playing into a proper adventure game. But this year, not one but TWO different games embraced the complex challenge of tailoring rich investigative mysteries to personal gameplay preferences. Unavowed did this as well, but to a lesser extent than Call of Cthulhu and The Council, which implemented a similar conceit in surprisingly different ways. They did so to varying degrees of success overall, but it’s the core idea driving each that has earned them the shared 2018 Aggie Award for Best Concept, along with our sincere hope that we see more hybrids of this type in future.

Cyanide Studio's Call of Cthulhu is Lovecraft done right, and in a way that we’ve really never seen in a video game before. As a P.I. visiting the island township of Darkwater in 1924, you find yourself beset on all sides by the threat of madness, with nothing but your chosen abilities to further your investigation and guard you from unspeakable cosmic entities – what little comfort that is. Whether you're the type of player who favours the more delicate solutions that persuasion and observation skills afford, or one who prefers the reliability of physical strength, there are plenty of ways to customize your gameplay experience. Each of them are equally valid but available only to those whose attributes are best suited to resolving them, making the distribution of “Character Points” a thoughtful, personal matter throughout. These role-playing elements come honestly, as the game is based on Chaosium’s pen and paper RPG, and they add a welcome strategic element to the rich Lovecraftian experience.

In a game about manipulating others into seeing things your way, two things are of great importance: a sense of agency, and conversations that flow naturally. By tapping into RPG mechanics, Big Bad Wolf’s The Council does far more with these than a more conventional point-and-click can do. Its resource management and skill point systems encourage planning and allow for many small but very tangible rewards to be earned for thoroughness and early successes. The confrontation system is far more organic and tense than the infinite retries of a traditional dialogue tree, further promoting figuring out people's strengths, weaknesses and secrets beforehand. With failure punished both statistically and story-wise, this is a game where every choice is meaningful but not equally viable. The added complexity is a refreshing change from the norm that makes it hard to go back to the same old-fashioned click-through conversations.    

Runners-Up:


Return of the Obra Dinn

STAY

The Gardens Between

We Were Here Too
 


Readers’ Choice: Return of the Obra Dinn


It’s rare, but sometimes a game comes along with an idea so simple that works so exceedingly well that you can only wonder why no one thought of it before. It took Lucas Pope to marry what amounts to a giant logic grid puzzle with outstanding environmental storytelling. It sounds so easy: discover the names and gruesome cause of death of everyone aboard a 19th century ghost ship, as well as the killer where applicable. Actually identifying 60 different corpses is delightfully challenging, however, armed only with a crew roster, a few group sketches, a glossary of nautical terms and jobs, and a map of the boat’s layout, along with a magic stopwatch that lets you view a frozen scene of the deceased’s moment of death. For our readers, this added up to an overwhelming victory for Return of the Obra Dinn for best concept.

Runners-Up:


Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry

Unavowed

The Council

Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption
 


Next up: Best Setting... the envelope, please!

Best Setting: Lamplight City


The rich Victorian steampunk setting of Grundislav Games' Lamplight City feels very much alive and lived in, not merely a prop upon which to build a story. New Bretagne is just as much an integral character as any of the individuals you encounter throughout, and often the people themselves have been influenced by their station within it. It's not very often that you find a game where the environment appears to have shaped and molded the citizens with whom you're engaging. It certainly doesn’t hurt that it looks so darn good, from the opulent homes of the upper crust elite to the poorest of neighbourhood streets and many places in between, each rendered in lush pixel art.

Beneath the obvious visual appeal, however, lies an undercurrent of heavy subject matter, including politics, spirituality, discrimination and even outright bigotry. New Bretagne might look welcoming, but it's also a place where the colour of your skin can quickly land you behind bars. The impoverished don't fare much better, living their lives as second-class citizens while the rich and powerful reap the benefits the city has to offer. The working class, meanwhile, either find themselves out of a job due to the increase in steam technology or outright wounded because of it. All this comes together to create a fascinating backdrop, and for making us feel as though we're interacting with a living, breathing world and its inhabitants, Lamplight City wins the Aggie for Best Setting in 2018.

Runners-Up:


The Gardens Between

My Memory of Us

FAR: Lone Sails

AntVentor
 


Readers’ Choice: Lamplight City


You probably wouldn’t want to live there (unless you’re one of the exceedingly wealthy and made of pixels), but there are nods all around that New Bretagne is a great place to visit. Set in an alternate Earth history in the 1800s, Lamplight City offers a rich variety of places to visit, all of them gorgeously designed. The real beauty of this setting is more than skin deep, however, as the amount of worldbuilding on display is thoroughly immersive, exploring numerous socioeconomic issues from different perspectives. This city feels real, like it existed before we got there and will continue after we’re gone. It’s so impressive, Grundislav Games sweeps the staff and reader Aggies this year.

Runners-Up:


Unavowed

Unforeseen Incidents

Forgotton Anne

The Pillars of the Earth
 


Next up: Best Graphic Design... the envelope, please!

Best Graphic Design: Detroit: Become Human


Regardless of whether you believe David Cage's latest choice-based adventure is a storytelling triumph or an exercise in heavy-handed melodrama, it’s hard to deny that Detroit: Become Human looks anything short of phenomenal. It's clear right from the beginning that Quantic Dream threw an enormous amount of effort and care – and yes, money – into the game's visual presentation, which includes both wonderfully lifelike character design and photorealistic environments that you genuinely want to explore from top to bottom. Even the game’s weather systems are incredible; when its heroes trek through the wind, rain, and snow, they look absolutely miserable and chilled to the bone. While such attention to detail might seem like a trite thing to praise, a lot of games fail to hit this mark and yet it’s imperative to get right when attempting to tell an emotionally-charged story with an emphasis on authentic interactions.

Detroit blows right past the uncanny valley with characters that look amazingly realistic, infusing the game with a nuanced believability that’s absolutely essential to the experience. The meticulously modeled city itself, meanwhile, benefits from the developer's willingness to keep one foot on the ground. It certainly feels like a futuristic metropolis, from its state-of-the-art cars and stoic android population to its sleek, modern architecture, but it's not so far removed from our own world that you can't relate to the surroundings. Tucked beneath the neon glow and electronic veneer lies a beating human heart, which you'll encounter in the surprisingly mundane (and tech-free) suburban homes and all-too-familiar neighbourhood convenience stores. The entire package is pure eye candy, and the more time you spend admiring the sights all around you, the more you’ll feel like you’re actually there. It almost seems unfair to compare games having multi-million dollar budgets with small-scale indie productions, and yet historically we’ve chosen the more stylized artistic directions over slick hyper-realism. This time, however, Detroit blew us away, earning the game our Best Graphic Design Aggie over some impressive competitors.

Runners-Up:


Unforeseen Incidents

Unavowed

My Brother Rabbit

Repentant
 


Readers’ Choice: Unavowed


For anyone unclear on why pixel art is still a thing now that technology can support so much more, the answer is simple: Unavowed. It’s not a case of lower resolutions concealing a lack of talent, it’s an art form in its own right that looks sublime in the right hands. Hands like Ivan Ulyanov and Ben Chandler’s. The former’s character models are wonderfully diverse, representing a realistic cross-section of New York City (and beyond), while the latter’s landscapes are vividly painted with bold colours to establish a supernatural flavour. There are no blue skies (or even grey clouds) here, just ominous hues of pinks, orange and red. The lighting is similarly evocative, and while there are plenty of recognizable backdrops, from back alleys covered in graffiti to the streets of Chinatown to the shoreline overlooking the Statue of Liberty, there are also troubling signs of another world creeping into our own around the edges. Rarely have pixels ever looked so good, earning Wadjet Eye another reader Aggie.

Runners-Up:


Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry

Detective Gallo

Lamplight City

Unforeseen Incidents
 


Next up: Best Animation... the envelope, please!

Best Animation: CHUCHEL


In Amanita’s charming CHUCHEL, the eponymous fuzzball with an acorn hat spends most of his time in manic pursuit of his favourite fruit, a ripe red cherry – and then working himself out of the jams he invariably lands himself in. His shenanigans are a riot, whether cracking a giant egg with an oversized spoon too heavy to balance, brawling with punch-up robots, playing whack-a-pinkish-bean-shaped-critter, being dangled upside down by a Kong-sized hand, or trying to free his tongue stuck to ice. The zany cartoon world in which he lives can be hazardous, but whether Chuchel gets squashed, blown up, stretched or morphed into something else entirely, cartoon rules apply, and he eventually returns to his original shape – usually.

Equally animated is Chuchel’s wide range of emotions when reacting to the crazy characters he meets. He might throw a temper tantrum, display frustration, cower in fear, approach calmly and politely, or jump for joy. It’s anything but subtle, so there’s never any doubt about how he feels at any given moment, which is crucial in a game with no (intelligible) words. What makes this array of activity all the more impressive is that it’s all gloriously and painstakingly hand-animated. None of that fancy 3D stuff here! CHUCHEL looks surprisingly simple in still screenshots, but in motion it’s continually a delight. Realism plays no part in this world, allowing its visual gags to draw us in and make us laugh. Call it poetry in commotion: for successfully making us care about this ever-so-human clump of fluff, the indie Czech developer claims another 2018 Aggie for Best Animation.

Runners-Up:


Detroit: Become Human

Illusion: A Tale of the Mind

The Gardens Between

Forgotton Anne
 


Readers’ Choice: Detroit: Become Human


If there’s one thing that looks better than Detroit: Become Human, it’s seeing Detroit in motion. Sometimes that newfangled “3D” thing IS all it’s cracked up to be! The game’s many stunning cutscenes are breathtaking, its characters’ gestures and emotive facial expressions incredibly lifelike, and its Quick Time Events deliciously cinematic. With the high point arguably being a daring escape across a busy freeway, often the action moves at such breakneck speeds that you’ll need to replay certain segments multiple times just to properly enjoy them in all their eye-catching glory. Hand-crafted animation put up a commendable fight even among our readers, but in the end you found that nothing could match the slick moving presentation of Quantic Dream’s latest opus.

Runners-Up:


Forgotton Anne

Unavowed

Lamplight City

CHUCHEL
 


Next up: Best Music... the envelope, please!

Best Music: The Pillars of the Earth


Daedalic’s masterful adaptation of Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth is an adventure suitably described as “epic” – and a game with such a towering story deserves an equally monumental soundtrack as a backdrop. Sparing no expense, Daedalic brought in the FILMharmonic Orchestra of Prague to provide an original composition, and listening to it while navigating the world of Shiring is truly a joy. The music is an unbroken, dynamic symphony that provides the gentle peace necessary during the quiet moments, but builds and crescendos at urgent points of decision. Whether exploring a town, communing serenely with a fellow monk, or trying to escape a deadly inferno, the score is always perfect for the circumstances.

This three-part historical adventure is a wonderful game that excels in many areas, but its standout achievement is how effective its soundtrack is throughout the entire experience. It’s not an accompishment of any individual song, but instead an ever-present framing of the sweeping dramatic narrative that hits all the right emotional beats. It’s consistently one of the most impressive things you’ll hear in a modern adventure, and certainly worthy of being recognized as the Best Music award winner for 2018.  

Runners-Up:


Return of the Obra Dinn

Forgotton Anne

Unavowed

My Memory of Us
 


Readers’ Choice: Unavowed


Sure it LOOKS good, but how does Unavowed SOUND? Well, if the reader Aggie for best music is any indication, possibly even better. Thomas Regin’s score continually evokes the reality of New York City: jazz from the clubs and bars is blithely danceable or wistfully moody, while mystic strings atop hollow gong-like vibrations complement Asian ethnic neighbourhoods. This contrasts with the game’s suspenseful fantasy, where brutal conflicts are backed by pulsing orchestral music and ghostly manifestations are embellished by eerie electronic tones and whistle-like reverberations. It’s an atmospheric delight that never overshadows the characters when then talk, which is a good thing because Wadjet Eye may just have something to say about that award as well…

Runners-Up:


Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry

Detective Gallo

Lamplight City

My Brother Rabbit
 


Next up: Best Acting (Voice or Live Action)... the envelope, please!

Best Acting (Voice or Live Action): Unavowed


With a great story full of memorable characters, there was still one ingredient left to make the cast of Unavowed a smashing success. Fortunately, Wadjet Eye is no stranger to excellent voice acting, continually casting talented actors and providing just the right direction, and this game proved no exception. Demon exorcisms, tortured dragons, and suicidal elementals could so easily have come off as hokey and forced, but here they are all colourfully and vividly brought to life. With a diverse mix of veteran performers like Shelly Shenoy, SungWon Cho and studio staple Abe Goldfarb, along with newcomers such as Julia Park and Ally Murphy, to name just a few in a uniformly remarkable cast, these actors needed to be at the top of their games to make us believe the otherwise unbelievable. To say that they managed this would be an understatement; to say that they did so at an award-winning level for Best Acting is not.

Really nothing less would have sufficed, as each character has been given a degree of humanity often lacking in pixelized avatars, with fleshed-out backstories and intense personal experiences including alcoholism, tragic self-sacrifice, and overwhelming guilt. From heartbreak to rage to hilarity, these actors had to be prepared to run the gamut of emotion, and they delivered with aplomb. Arielle Siegel’s performance as Vicki Santina, the tough-talking Staten Island detective, is both humorous and poignant, reminding us that even cops have softer sides – when they’re not standing up to monsters. As Calliope, Abigail Wahl conveys the perfect balance of spacey flower child and hyper-intelligent Muse, longing to bask in her newfound joy of living among us. They all feel like real people (or genies, or spirits, or ligamentals) with real problems, so we care about their fates and agonize deeply over the choices we must make on their behalf. And then of course there’s Ivy Dupler, who is so good in four different roles that we invited her to narrate our Aggie presentation this year!

Runners-Up:


Detroit: Become Human

Detective Gallo

Unforeseen Incidents

The Pillars of the Earth
 


Readers’ Choice: Unavowed


Every role in Unavowed, whether major or minor, is expertly performed: Mandana’s tone is matter-of-fact, with passions held carefully in check, making her intense response to over-the-top horrors even more memorable. Eli’s voice, on the other hand, is often tinged with emotion, from sarcasm to nerviness to gratitude. He comes across as a geeky Sam Spade, courageously and believably confronting the paranormal, despite his nerdy instincts. Group leader Kalash has a grizzled, gritty voice with a faint aristocratic accent, which clearly signals that he is in charge. There are too many fine actors to mention by name, but the young Violet Young deserves a special shout-out for convincingly providing entirely different voices – a notoriously difficult role even for adults to pull off. It’s ironic that the only character without a voice in Unavowed is YOU, but that’s okay when every other cast member helps contribute to another clean sweep of staff and reader Aggies alike.

Runners-Up:


Detective Gallo

Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry

Lamplight City

Detroit: Become Human
 


Next up: Best Sound Effects... the envelope, please!

Best Sound Effects: CHUCHEL


CHUCHEL contains very little background art and no conversation, but these are scarcely missed as its extraordinary soundscape more than compensates. This game buzzes with tongue-in-cheek musical notes, antic movement and a fantastically creative acoustic palette. Everyone the protagonist meets emits wacky, emotive noises. A blue alien moans tunefully, puppies chant as they drift through the sky, the fiendish snowman snores and hisses, and a muscular storm cloud blasts forth in anger. When Chuchel manipulates gizmos they jingle and jangle, a boomerang warbles in the air, the peashooter bloomps as our hero blows, and cactus spines rasp as they’re pulled from his foot. Boxing gloves pzzz and zook when landing punches, triggering descriptive speech balloons so you know for sure they are pzzzing and zooking.

Still not convinced? Well then, wayward objects add to the zany atmosphere, as blondish comets giggle, a floating heart wails siren-like, kaleidoscopic light-shows sizzle, and a piano clumps to the ground. Chuchel himself reveals an unusual range of expressive utterances. He hums as he sneaks, bleeps as he ricochets, sings snarkily, whimpers in fear, shrieks in delight, and swears nonsensically when riled. Some of his oddest actions are accompanied by memorable fanfare, like the cymbal noise when he’s squashed into a pancake, or his dinging head when ideas surface. For taking us on such a clamorous tour of gleeps, slurps and pings, immersing us with audio gags galore, CHUCHEL scores a sonorous success and a much-deserved Aggie for Best Sound Effects.

Runners-Up:


Detroit: Become Human

Return of the Obra Dinn

Shrug Island: The Meeting

My Brother Rabbit
 


Readers’ Choice: CHUCHEL


Most of the time people don’t even notice sound effects unless they’re done poorly – as evidenced by the fact that once again “no answer” is really the big winner in this reader category. But we’re in total agreement that in CHUCHEL you really can’t NOT notice them, for all the right reasons. Instead of a foley artist, Amanita must need a full orchestra to fulfill its sound design. A kettle drum tings as it scuttles by, a lightsabre buzzes, a tennis racket foops, and Chuchel snatches his hat from a giant cherry with a resounding boing. The written script must have looked like a veritable smorgasbord of onomatopoeia! Add in all the verbal performances as Chuchel blows raspberries when turned upside down or grunts and groans when exerting himself, and there could really only be one winner this year for best audio.

Runners-Up:


Lamplight City

Return of the Obra Dinn

Unavowed

Detroit: Become Human
 


Next up: The Silver Aggies... the envelope, please!

The Silver Aggies


Every year there are some excellent games that fall just a little short of reaching the podium for various awards, either finishing as a runner-up or barely missing the finals entirely. With so many awesome titles to choose from, it’s easy for these near-misses to fall through the cracks, and that would be a shame. So while our Silver Aggies may not have precisely the same lustre as our golden statuettes, these bonus categories are another chance to hand out some much-deserved hardware – impressive new releases, all, that are no less worthy of any adventure gamer’s attention.
 


Best Casual Adventure: My Brother Rabbit


Though decidedly more lightweight than traditional adventure game fare, My Brother Rabbit tells a heart-wrenching story about a young girl’s struggle with a serious illness, and her brother’s dream that his favourite toy, a stuffed rabbit, will help her recover. The quest to find healing becomes an imaginative journey through surreal, vivid environments stuffed with fantasy elements: eyeballs with antlers, bugs grilling hotdogs, a winged watering can that pours out a rainbow, to name just a few. Achingly beautiful introductory music, delightful animations, and a creative sound layer (including jigsaw-like challenges where each piece adds to a quirky rhythm ensemble) build an atmosphere of innocence and whimsy. Varied classical conundrums keep players artfully engaged, as do multi-pronged searches for numerous objects that launch new areas or trigger colourful puzzle-based gadgets. This is no run-of-the-mill hidden object game, so don’t let its “casual” label fool you – it’s a seriously charming, first-rate little adventure that everyone and their brother should try. 

 

Best Handheld Adventure: Detective Pikachu


The idea of turning such a cheery and loveable Pokémon into a gruff-sounding sleuth may seem like a strange one, but Detective Pikachu pulls it off in style. Teaming up with a boy named Tim, the P.I. is drawn into a variety of entertaining mysteries to crack, and when you do you’ll be as happy as the titular protagonist when he exclaims: “A bolt of brilliance!” The bright, colourful visuals bring the world to life, supported by plentiful cutscenes that are emotively animated and nicely acted. The star of the show, of course, is the diminutive detective, who loves coffee, sweets and flirting, and he’s a genuine joy to have around. We were skeptical about the series making such a radical leap from RPG to investigative mystery, but the end result is well-written, fun, and takes solid advantage of the 3DS format to make Detective Pikachu worthy of the distinction of 2018's Best Handheld Adventure.

 

Best Side-scrollers: FAR: Lone Sails, Forgotton Anne


For the longest time, side-scrollers belonged to the likes of Mario rather than Myst. Then along came titles such as Limbo and INSIDE to make puzzle-solving more of a focus, to go with some running and jumping. But increasingly such games are starting to phase out even death-defying acrobatics in favour of a more cerebral experience. Games like Okomotive’s FAR: Lone Sails, an atmospheric and inventive little post-apocalyptic adventure. It’s your job not to navigate the beautifully painted backgrounds yourself, but to ensure that your hybrid patchwork vehicle – part truck, trailer, train, even sailboat – is fueled and ready to meet all challenges, including physical obstacles and inclement weather. Here “inventory” means managing the resources you scavenge, maintaining your vessel as it begins to break down, quite literally putting out fires along the way. The craft soon becomes an extension of yourself, your only lifeline to exploration and even survival. Don’t let it pass you by, as FAR is a terrific little adventure that defies all preconceived notions of what a side-scroller should be.


Every now and then you run into a game that looks like it belongs to another genre but is at its core a true and proper adventure. Such is the case with Forgotton Anne from ThroughLine Games, a side-scrolling platforming journey through the land of forgotten things come to life. As you guide the eponymous “Enforcer” through this beautifully rendered world filled with fluidly animated hand-drawn characters, you’ll be able to mold her along the way, deciding how strict or compassionate she is in dealing with rebel Forgotlings bent on a path that could prevent her from returning to the real world forever. With a nicely fleshed-out supporting cast, meaningful choices to make, clever mechanical puzzles to solve, and only a little mild running and jumping in between, you’ll come to understand that side-scrollers aren’t just the domain of platformers anymore.

 

Best Comebacks: Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption, Leisure Suit Larry


Show us a classic adventure game fan, and we’ll show you someone who’s likely played (and probably loved) at least one of Lori and Corey Cole’s Quest for Glory games. Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption isn’t a continuation of Sierra’s popular series, but it’s very much a spiritual successor that once again beautifully marries adventure and traditional role-playing game elements. Released twenty years after the last QfG, it feels as if its designers haven’t missed a beat. Offering the exploration and character interactions of an epic adventure with combat and player options pulled right from the RPG genre – and of course more puns than you can shake a stick at – it’s as much a new lease on life for one of our favourite adventure franchises as it is a triumphant return for the Coles.


“Finally, the time has come... He has awakened. Everyone thought he was gone, forgotten, and many said this was a good thing. But The Chosen One from the prophecy... lives!” Perhaps this opening proclamation is a bit grandiose, but then when did Leisure Suit Larry every do anything small? (Well, except… y’know.) In any case, it’s true! After re-emerging a few years back in Reloaded, now Larry Laffer is back in Wet Dreams Don’t Dry, his first all-new adventure since 1996 (we’re all agreeing those other abominations in between don’t count, right?) This time around, he and his outdated attitudes have been abruptly thrust into modern times, so how will he fare in today’s world? Just fine, thankyouverymuch! Still looking for someone to help spruce up his non-existent love life, Larry remains the desperate, breath-spray-drenched miscreant we’ve come to know and love (from afar). But while many of his actions are predictably deplorable, in a way Larry makes the perfect protagonist to examine the cultural and technological changes that have occurred since his 1980s debut. We had our doubts about this bold premise from a new team and no Al Lowe on board, but were ultimately won over. Welcome back, Larry.

 

Best Kept Secrets: Beyond the Sky, Illusion: A Tale of the Mind


With such a long history of point-and-click adventures, it’s always enjoyable to find one that plays with the formula, does new things, and yet still feels familiar and comforting. Iperurania Arts’ Beyond the Sky delivers just such an experience, though you wouldn’t know it at a glance. Between progressively unlocking new abilities for its young, naïve protagonist Selene, and presenting a number of challenging logic statement puzzles (and then offering necessary support in solving them), this is a surprisingly rich gameplay experience that becomes increasingly delightful throughout. Add in a lovely paper cutout visual style and storybook-style prose, and the only thing preventing this charming tale from a happily-ever-after ending is enough of an audience to enjoy it.


Frima Studio’s Illusion: A Tale of the Mind is such a well-kept secret, even its publisher doesn’t want you to know about it. At least, that’s all one can assume from the near-total absence of publicity for it. But allow us to rectify that oversight by banging the drum loudly for this gorgeously surreal platforming adventure. A bittersweet, psychologically twisted story taking place in a dreamlike version of a 1920s Parisian carnival and the battlefields of World War I (along with more than a few creepy catacombs), Illusion stars a young girl named Emma and her trusty floating sidekick toy rabbit Topsy, who must navigate the tortured memories of a broken-hearted strongman, all while solving puzzles and evading the deadly grasp of a malevolent entity intent on their destruction. For all its dark subject matter, however, it’s offset by a delightfully charming sense of innocence and whimsy, brought to life with beautiful 3D artwork, fluid animation, and a wonderfully eclectic soundtrack. So now you know. Don’t let lack of marketing be the reason for missing out on this surprising little gem.

 

Best of the Rest: The Gardens Between, Unforeseen Incidents


With The Gardens Between, The Voxel Agents have successfully crafted a true slice of childhood reminiscence, a trip down memory lane to recall those valuable friendships we’ve (hopefully) all had that continue to hold in a special place in our hearts long after the people themselves have moved on from our lives. Strip away the touching emotional core, however, and you’ve still got a lovingly-crafted, exquisitely-detailed time-bending puzzle-adventure with tons of charm, wit, and creativity that we just couldn’t help but fall in love with. It may not have taken top honours in any specific category, but it more than deserves its mention as one of the Best of the Rest of 2018.


A nobody from nowhere saving the world is a well-worn path in fiction, but one that Unforeseen Incidents walks with style. It’s clear from its opening moments that Backwoods Entertainment’s 2D point-and-click adventure was a labour of love. Here we meet Harper Pendrell, college dropout and handyman slacker, who is thrust into a world of intrigue and danger as a mysterious disease sweeps the United States leaving death in its wake. Backed by one of the best voice performances ever, our unlikely hero endeavours to get to the root of the problem, making friends and allies along the way. Top that off with some wonderfully layered puzzles that have that “just right” feeling of difficulty, a gorgeous pen-and-ink visual design, and a solid soundscape across the board, what you get is an adventure that’s not to be missed, even if it didn’t walk off with a golden Aggie to call its own.
 


Next up: Best Non-Traditional Adventure... the envelope, please!

Best Non-Traditional Adventure: Return of the Obra Dinn


We’ve already established that Return of the Obra Dinn is one of the best detective games ever made, but it’s all the more impressive because it eschews nearly every element of a typical adventure game in doing so. Inventory puzzles? Nope. Environmental puzzles? Nada. Character interaction? With whom? They’re all dead! But who needs the standard genre trappings when you’ve got a ship full of horrific death and pixelized gore? With its single-minded focus on identifying the dead crew of the Obra Dinn (and the methods by which they met their ends), this is a uniquely compelling experience that takes place primarily between the player’s ears in piecing together the game’s one giant logic puzzle.

Not content merely to defy expectations about gameplay, however, indie deloper Lucas Pope has done a marvelous job bringing the ship to life (and death) in a stunning lo-fi, monochromatic style that recalls ‘80s MacVenture games like Déjà vu and Shadowgate, only thrust into the 3D era. Yet that deceptively simple visual approach belies a wealth of detail. Each frozen tableau of a character’s moment of death is deliciously complex, morbid, and often hilarious. This is a game that requires you to pay close attention to everything from the decorations on a sailor’s hammock, to the tattoos on their arms, to minor differences in accent and hairstyle. The package is topped off with a tragi-comically jaunty soundtrack, great voice acting, and atmospheric sound design. And the feeling of checking off another batch of names on your list of doom? Second to none. Return of the Obra Dinn is simply one of the most unorthodox but rewarding games of the year, and for that it’s the runaway Aggie winner for Best Non-Traditional Adventure.

Runners-Up:


FAR: Lone Sails

Forgotton Anne

Detroit: Become Human

The Gardens Between

Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption
 


Readers’ Choice: Return of the Obra Dinn


Mr. Plum with the candlestick in the library! Wait, no, that’s Clue. But when you think about it, Return of the Obra Dinn is a lot like Hasbro’s enduring board game – only instead of cards and dice, you have to really use your brain to piece together victim, cause of death, and murderer (if any). Sixty victims, that is – sixty!! There are no conventional puzzles to solve per se, because the entire mystery is one huge interwoven logic conundrum to crack, and it’ll take diligence and careful observation (and fess up – a little bit of guesswork as well) to succeed. It may look like a 1-bit game straight out of the 1980s, but it’s surprisingly effective in action, and it’s backed by a terrific soundscape throughout. Take a look at a screenshot and you might be tempted to dismiss it; take some time to play for a while and you’ll be hooked. Staff and readers are in accord: Lucas Pope has crafted a winner.

Runners-Up:


Forgotton Anne

Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption

Detroit: Become Human

Call of Cthulhu
 


Next up: Best Traditional Adventure... the envelope, please!

Best Traditional Adventure: Unavowed


Although it’s not a requirement that our Best Traditional Adventure winner feature point-and-click gameplay and retro-styled pixel art, a game certainly doesn’t get more nostalgic-feeling than that. Yet Wadjet Eye’s Unavowed is not just an ordinary old-school throwback, it’s an extraordinary modern day iteration of everything we’ve come to know and love about the genre, with an art design that would be at home alongside the LucasArts classics, an excellent musical score, superb characters and voice acting, and an in-depth, twisting story throughout. You even get to name your character like in some of the old Sierra games.

Beyond its mechanics, which are refined, and the production values, which are high, here is a game that gets all the other things right as well. This urban fantasy’s New York setting feels thoroughly authentic, which helps ground all of the supernatural events taking place within the city. Here you join a team of mystically talented misfits to police these otherworldly activities even while surrounded by familiar signs of everyday life. Through circumstances and puzzles that change depending on which partners you choose to bring along, you can learn as much or as little about your colleagues as you like, as each comes with their own background and distinct personality. Throw in a surprise twist in the narrative and Unavowed will keep you enchanted from beginning to end… and then back to the beginning to replay what you missed thanks to the inclusion of mild role-playing elements that deepen the experience even further.

Runners-Up:


The Pillars of the Earth

Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry

Unforeseen Incidents

CHUCHEL
 


Readers’ Choice: Unavowed


The community’s choice here should come as no surprise. Having captured six reader Aggies already, if you didn’t guess this one your membership in the adventure gamer’s club is hereby revoked. Instead of recapping all the things it does right, it’d be a whole lot faster to just list the things it doesn’t – if we could think of any, that is. Let’s see, there’s uhh…. well, what about, ummm… or maybe there’s, errrr… nah, we got nothin’. And you clearly agree that this modern urban fantasy is a stellar achievement in every respect. The runners-up were shown plenty of love too, but in the end there can be only one, and this year we stand united in overwhelmingly choosing Wadjet Eye’s Unavowed as the best traditional adventure.

Runners-Up:


Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry

Detective Gallo

Lamplight City

Unforeseen Incidents
 


Next up: The moment of truth… Best Adventure of 2018... the envelope, please!

Best Adventure of 2018: Unavowed


Dave Gilbert is no stranger to the Aggies, having earned top honours in 2014 for The Blackwell Epiphany. But it’s one thing to cap off a popular five-part series with a triumphant final act, and quite another to start all over again with a new story and new cast, and make it bigger and more ambitious than any game the little indie studio had ever made before. So it was no sure bet that Unavowed would be able to follow in its acclaimed predecessor’s footsteps. Fortunately, even with such big shoes to fill, the new game not only fully measured up to our expectations, but surpassed them in virtually every way.

Really we shouldn’t be THAT surprised, as Wadjet Eye has become synonymous with thoughtful, highly-polished adventures, and for everything new in Unavowed, there are more than enough familiar studio trademarks to ensure another success. The production values are all top-notch, from the gorgeous pixel art by Ben Chandler and Ivan Ulyanov, to another brilliant score by Thomas Regin, to the usual superb voice acting from the entire cast. The game’s previous Aggies speak to the quality of its story and writing, delivering a compelling modern supernatural fantasy filled with ghosts, demons, mages, mer-people and more, and infusing it with an entire team of believable, richly-developed protagonists. Those alone would put it in any game-of-the-year conversation.

The accomplishments don’t stop there, however, as Unavowed took an already winning formula and went above and beyond, with a choice of male and female lead characters, branching narrative paths, genuinely thought-provoking moral quandaries, and three entirely different backstories to choose from, providing a welcome degree of replayability. On top of an already impressive achievement, it all adds up to a thoroughly engaging adventure you can experience more than one way, each of them equally valid and every bit as rewarding. It took a lot to beat out the innovative Return of the Obra Dinn (and others) for the top award of 2018, but Unavowed shone in every respect, earning the developer its second Best Adventure Aggie to put on the mantel.

So, Wadjet Eye, no pressure or anything, but what’s next?

Runners-Up:


Return of the Obra Dinn

The Pillars of the Earth

FAR: Lone Sails

Forgotton Anne
 


Readers’ Choice: Unavowed


Best Story, Best Writing – Drama, Best Gameplay, Best Graphics, Best Music, Best Acting, and Best Traditional Adventure… nope, we had no idea where this award was going! Okay, maybe we had an inkling that Unavowed might take home your GOTY Aggie as well. And really it wasn’t close, leaving even its nearest competitor in the dust. What we didn’t expect was that each of the five reader finalists were all traditional adventures. Even in acknowledging the greatness of Return of Obra Dinn, far more voters ultimately felt more comfortable with the tried-and-true. Just an observation; no judgment here! Especially when there’s such a clear-cut favourite so far ahead of the field. Take a final bow, Wadjet Eye. You’ve earned the acclaim.

Runners-Up:


Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry

Detective Gallo

Lamplight City

Unforeseen Incidents
 


And so ends another incredibly busy, diverse year of adventuring with a little something for everyone, and more than enough to go around. Though they couldn’t all be winners, we extend our sincere thanks and admiration to ALL the developers who gave us so many great new gaming memories in 2018. We’re also grateful to our community for participating in our reader poll (and of course, for continuing to show their support for the genre here at Adventure Gamers).

If the number of upcoming releases on our calendar is any indication, we can look forward to plenty more where these came from, so at last we bid you a final adieu so we can get right back to work on 2019.

Now go forth and game, and see you all again this time next year!

Final Notes


To be eligible, a game must have been launched through digital distribution, self-published online, or commercially released for the first time in either North America or the United Kingdom in the calendar year 2018.

Any series designed to be episodic in nature that was completed in 2018 is eligible, even if the series was begun earlier. Conversely, any series that was begun in 2018 but not yet completed is ineligible. 

Ports and remakes of commercial games released in previous years are disqualified from contention, though updated re-releases of former freeware games are included.

To ensure total impartiality, no one involved in voting was permitted to nominate any game with which they were involved outside of official Adventure Gamers press coverage.
 


Complete list of eligible games

 


Contributors to the writing of this article include: Jack Allin, Harald Bastiaanse, Nathaniel Berens, Evan Dickens, Courtney Ehrenhofler, Cynthia Gary, Richard Hoover, Joe Keeley, Kevin Lynn, Aaron Ramshaw, Todd Rigney, Pascal Tekaia, and Becky Waxman

The Aggie Award was designed by Bill Tiller.