It will take you 48 minutes to read this feature.
What. A. Year.
It’s been hopeful, it’s been scary, it’s been tragic, it’s been lovely, sometimes all at once. The one constant in an otherwise crazy, turbulent year is the steady stream of great new adventures once again. This time over 200!!
That’s a whole lot of games to play, and a whole lot of decisions to make to reach a verdict on the winners of this year’s Aggie Awards. It was hard enough getting down to our top ten nominee finalists, so narrowing them down further to a top five and ultimate winner was downright painful. But you know that, as so many of you faced the same dilemma in voting in our reader poll.
So before we move on, first a round of applause for the many talented, dedicated adventure game developers who gave us so many moments of diversionary fun in an often challenging year. Well done to all of you, even if you didn’t come away with an Aggie statuette for your efforts.
And now on with the show! The champions have been chosen, the envelopes filled, and it’s time to recognize the crème de la crème of 2021.
Let the Aggie Awards commence!
Table of Contents
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
Page 8: Best Setting
Page 9: Best Graphic Design
Page 10: Best Animation
Page 11: Best Music
Page 12: Best Acting (Voice or Live Action)
Page 13: Best Sound Effects
Page 14: The Silver Aggies
Page 15: Best Non-Traditional Adventure
Page 16: Best Traditional Adventure
Page 17: Best Adventure of 2021
Page 18: Final Notes
First up: Best Story... the envelope, please!
Best Story: The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
With a fresh start in a time period set well before the rest of the series, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles sheds a lot of baggage in terms of recurring characters and other lore. But rather than stop there, it also takes the opportunity to leave behind some worn-out storytelling crutches: the judges are more competent, the arguments from the prosecution are more reasonable, and the investigative assistance from “Herlock Sholmes” feels rather more natural than any of the other things that have replaced the magatama over the years (though certainly a bit larger-than-life). These changes complement a story that would have been able to stand on its own without them: plot threads that start in the very first case won’t be fully unraveled until the end is in sight, with plenty of twists and much foul play along the way as the political interests of two empires are often at odds with the protection of the innocent. By tightening its narrative act, Capcom has given us an impressive new demonstration of what the Ace Attorney series is capable of, and for that it takes home the Aggie for Best Story.
Runners-Up:
The Forgotten City
Minute of Islands
Lacuna
Backbone
Readers’ Choice: Strangeland
Wormwood Studios’ highly anticipated follow-up to Primordia tells a strange story in a strange place, so it comes by its title honestly. Strangeland is unrelentingly dark and grim, and all the more compelling because of it. Like an interactive nightmare, you’ll find yourself stuck with no memories in a twisted carnival on a floating island filled with disturbed (and disturbing) creatures – and that’s before reality shifts to something even bleaker, more distorted and grotesque. The story involves trying to solve the mystery of a young woman you witness plunge to her death down a well, even as you're confronted with your own mortality over and over again. (Oh yes, you will die.) Everything here is connected somehow, but what it all means is never clearly spelled out, leaving the narrative open for interpretation. Many clearly love this sort of tortured ambiguity, as Strangeland becomes the first winner of the reader Aggie Awards.
Runners-Up:
The Forgotten City
Backbone
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
Life Is Strange: True Colors
Next up: Best Writing – Comedy... the envelope, please!
Best Writing – Comedy: The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark
A retirement home with a vampire caretaker, turned upside down by partying oldies. A wrestler attempting to win a championship by allying with a literal demon. A clown with a vendetta, capturing humans in an alternate dimension and subjecting them to twisted games. No, this isn’t a horror game. In The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark, these are just some of the bizarre, hilarious cases that paranormal crimefighters Detective McQueen and his dim but affable partner Officer Dooley tackle, each designed as a vehicle to make you laugh as much as possible. And boy, do they succeed. The fourth wall is frequently shattered (the developers love to poke fun at their own typos), witty references are peppered throughout (including a “choppa” to make Arnie proud), and everywhere you turn is yet another delightfully eccentric character (a squirrel on a talk show, anyone?). You’ll barely have time to register one joke before another absurdity lands; everything is thrown at the wall, and most of it sticks. There’s nothing unnatural about it: Spooky Doorway’s sequel repeats the feat of its 2017 predecessor as the deserving winner of our 2021 Best Comedy Writing Aggie.
Runners-Up:
Inspector Waffles
Overboard!
Mutropolis
Not Another Weekend
Readers’ Choice: The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark
In The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark, Detective McQueen tries to release his sidekick, Officer Dooley, from an unintentional gig in a spooky alternate reality. Soon after, strange phenomena begin leaking into the whimsical town of Twin Lakes, creating a series of situations that are disturbing, mysterious, and laced with supernatural slapstick. From a carnival with mechanical animals (the place has gone vegan) linked to clown-infested underworlds, to a demon-ridden wrestling stage, to a tentacled monster and time travel crashing McQueen and Dooley’s high school reunion, Twin Lakes is in desperate shape. And the police – with the help of other hapless oddball characters – must charge to the rescue. The writing in this paranormal comedy is often dazzlingly witty, containing groan-worthy puns, entertaining ludicrousness, kookily vivid expressions, and clever double entendres, such as giving a whole new meaning to “ghosting” a love interest, and slyly re-interpreting “Stay Off the Grass.” For all this and more, Spooky Doorway completes the staff-reader Aggie sweep for best comedic writing.
Runners-Up:
Inspector Waffles
Not Another Weekend
Overboard!
Mutropolis
Next up: Best Writing – Drama... the envelope, please!
Best Writing – Drama: Minute of Islands
Uneasy hang the arms that wield an Omni Switch, as the saying goes. (Or something like that; we might be paraphrasing.) In Studio Fizbin’s Minute of Islands you play as Mo, a young woman living with her family on an island chain devastated by deadly fungal blooms, and it’s up to you and you alone to keep the toxic spores at bay with your magical multi-tool. You’re accompanied by an omniscient narrator who shares Mo’s thoughts, fears, and memories, immersing you further and further into her exhausted, obsessed, determined headspace so that each step of the journey feels personal and suffused with immense significance. The script powerfully conveys a rich, complex story about the depths of love, the immensity of heartbreak and the staggering costs that come from protecting what one holds dear. Those who join Mo on her quest won’t soon forget the experience, thanks in no small part to the strength of dramatic writing deserving of our Aggie Award.
Runners-Up:
The Forgotten City
Strangeland
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
Impostor Factory
Readers’ Choice: Strangeland
To pull off a story as surreal as Strangeland’s, you’re going to need a top-notch script that effectively communicates its enigmatic themes, and Wormwood Studios delivers once again. There are a variety of highly distinctive characters to interact with in the twisted carnival-like environs on the floating titular island, from the old man who has no eyes and speaks in riddles while musing philosophically, to an anthropomorphic furnace, to the joke-cracking giant clown head above the main circus tent. Even the ravens here talk. Then there’s the three Valkyries wearing oversized masks who refer to themselves as a Greek-style “chorus.” Many such elements blur the line between past and present, myth and reality, as the writing cleverly presents familiar symbols as physical manifestations of something much deeper and far more abnormal. It’s deliciously mind-blowing, and for ensuring that players will still be thinking about everything they’ve seen and heard long after they’re finished playing, Strangeland pairs its Best Story reader award with another for best dramatic writing.
Runners-Up:
The Forgotten City
Backbone
Life Is Strange: True Colors
Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo
Next up: Best Character... the envelope, please!
Best Character: Howard Lotor (Backbone)
Howard Lotor is a private eye in the classic noir tradition; he's even got the trench coat, cigarette and cynical attitude. He could be Marlowe or Spade, but for one small detail: he's an anthropomorphic raccoon living in a dystopian-future Vancouver. Which means that along with dealing with deadbeat clients and dysfunctional relationships, he also has to weather the prejudice aimed at "stripers" like him and the fallout from the mysterious catastrophe that created this place. And yet Howard is more sanguine than bitter, accepting his lot in life and cherishing his few friends. He's flawed, but all the more relatable for it. Just as the world of Backbone is both very different from our own and yet painfully familiar, Howard's increasingly fantastical journey is filled with very human moments as he navigates a budding romance and befriends society's outsiders. The choices he faces can be uncomfortable at times, forcing us to confront issues ranging from racism and class to new parenthood and loneliness, but he never loses hope. Howard, the rumpled everyman, is the perfect guide to this broken world, its troubles and its dreams, and that's why he's the latest owner of our Aggie Award for Best Character.
Runners-Up:
Veronica Villensey (Overboard!)
Inspector Waffles (Inspector Waffles)
Mo (Minute of Islands)
Meredith Weiss (Lake)
Sir Typhil (Alien Function)
Readers’ Choice: Officer Dooley (The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark)
A loyal sidekick to Detective McQueen of the Twin Lakes constabulary, Officer Patrick Dooley is cheerful, cheeky, and counted on for several wisecracks per scene. Some are wise: “Even I know you can’t go around tearing off people’s arms.” And some are just cracked: “Infinity is endless. You can’t really add it to anything.” He complains that perps can’t be convinced to tie themselves up and admits he has always wanted goat legs. No virtual animals were harmed in the making of this game, yet Dooley declares that zapping a chicken with a death ray is the reason he joined the police force. He is distracted at the sight of food, no matter how rancid or disgusting, and suggests madcap uses for inventory items. Is Dooley a genius hiding behind an often-clueless façade? Or is he a numbskull with frequent flashes of brilliance? There is no task too bizarre for him to take on while solving a case, no attire too funky, no question so dense that he would hesitate to ask it. He is insanely entertaining and jaw-droppingly obtuse. He may be the junior partner in The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark, but no one is superior as the readers’ choice for 2021’s best character.
Runners-Up:
Inspector Waffles (Inspector Waffles)
Alex Chen (Life Is Strange: True Colors)
Howard Lotor (Backbone)
Veronica Villensey (Overboard!)
Next up: Best Gameplay... the envelope, please!
Best Gameplay: Chicory: A Colorful Tale
As the recent flood of adult-focused colouring books has shown, there's a simple, universal, and creative joy in bringing scenes to life with splashes of colour. The wild exuberance and purple skies of youth give way to a more thoughtful, meditative experience in later life, and it's this that Greg Lobanov’s Chicory: A Colorful Tale taps into. The residents of Picnic, you see, start out in a black-and-white line-drawn land, waiting and hoping for the wielder of a magic brush (that would be you) to put a little vibrancy back in their cheeks, both literally and metaphorically. Before long you're using that brush to swipe luminous paint across dark caves, dab plants so they’ll project you into hard-to-reach places, fill the clouds with rain to make them physically traversable, and more, leaving a trail of rainbow-hued chaos behind as you go. Chicory plays with the seemingly simple act of colouring, using it in quirky ways to both create tricky puzzles and drive a quietly affecting (and at times surprisingly dark) story about bravery in the face of self-doubt. At once imaginative and reflective, it richly deserves this year's (probably paint-spattered) Aggie for Best Gameplay.
Runners-Up:
The Forgotten City
Lacuna
Maskmaker
Gamedec
Readers’ Choice: The Forgotten City
Investigating a crime is commonplace in adventure games, but investigating a sin is far less so, let alone one that technically hasn’t been committed yet. That’s partly what makes Modern Storyteller’s The Forgotten City so much fun to play. Before you can stop a misdeed that will turn the inhabitants of an ancient Roman city to golden statues and reset the day back to the beginning, you must first figure out who and what are destined to cause it all. It’s essentially a puzzle box the size of a small town, full of a thousand intricately crafted pieces that move, react and change according to what you do. The blissfully accursed townsfolk feel authentic, and getting to know them only makes you care more about their impending doom if you’re unable to prevent it. And indeed, you won’t – time and time again. Mistakes are not only encouraged but actually required in order to finish, as utilizing the perpetual time loop whenever someone breaks the “Golden Rule” will be crucial in putting all the pieces of this puzzle box together. Throw in a bit of light action for a change of pace, and the end result is a well-deserved reader Aggie for Best Gameplay.
Runners-Up:
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
Strangeland
Life Is Strange: True Colors
The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark
Next up: Best Concept... the envelope, please!
Best Concept: Overboard!
How many games let you play the baddie? That’s why Overboard!'s brilliant twist on the whodunit – you're the murderer trying to cover up your crimes rather than the detective trying to solve them – makes for a delightfully chaotic and hilarious new game by inkle. Playing out like an interactive graphic novel, the huge number of options at your disposal as Veronica Villensey, the fabulously cold British starlet who's just pushed her husband over the rails of an ocean liner, means the story can spill out into any number of unexpected and often very funny directions. You’ll need to play it a least a few times, but no one playthrough is very long so you’ll surely want to go back for many more, all of them yielding wonderful new surprises. As suspicions about your whereabouts the night before arise, will you flirt with the boat's captain to get him on your side? Or perhaps simply go on a wild killing spree, disposing of everyone who suspects you? Getting away with murder has never been more entertaining, and for that Overboard! wins our award for Best (and surely the most nefarious) Concept in 2021.
Runners-Up:
Moncage
A Juggler’s Tale
Genesis Noir
The Forgotten City
Twelve Minutes
Readers’ Choice: Chicory: A Colorful Tale
Either we’re all a bunch of wannabe graffiti artists, or there’s something intrinsically liberating about painting the world. Greg Lobanov clearly understands this, as Chicory: A Colorful Tale lets players take a magical paintbrush to virtually anything and everything. No skill required; just swipe or dab and suddenly a black-and-white world is filled with vibrant hues. They may not match, may not make logical sense, but the choice of palette is entirely yours! Yellow skies, brown water (eww), purple trees – in the town of Picnic, anything goes. All this painting isn’t just art for art’s sake, either, as you affect what you touch. Toadstools become bouncy, geysers will burst, clouds turn solid enough to jump on, and plants can fling you to otherwise inaccessible places, among other unique results, adding a welcome layer of puzzle-solving to your environmental transformations. This is no children’s game, with a surprisingly deep and poignant story at its heart, but it’s continually a delight, and for making all of us feel like Leonardo da Vinci (or maybe Picasso), Chicory takes the reader award for Best Concept.
Runners-Up:
Overboard!
The Forgotten City
Twelve Minutes
Strangeland
Next up: Best Setting... the envelope, please!
Best Setting: The Forgotten City
Stumbling upon long-forgotten ancient underground ruins in the middle of the wilderness is intriguing enough; plunging through a breakaway floor into even older ruins below, only to then find them still populated by their original inhabitants is as impossible as it is captivating. In Modern Storyteller’s The Forgotten City, players literally plunge headfirst into a living, breathing Roman city, with authentic architecture all around. The city has a distinct layout, featuring baths, slums, a mercantile quarter and lavish manors for the upper crust nobility. And yet the whole space seems to float suspended in a massive cave, surrounded by sheer drop-offs on all sides and illuminated by shafts of sunlight breaking through the ceiling high overhead, with no discernible way back out. All is not as welcoming as initial appearances would lead you to believe, either. Golden statues that whisper cryptic warnings as their heads turn and follow your every move will make your blood run cold, and it doesn’t take long to learn that the seemingly idyllic peace here hides a bone-chilling and ruthless tyranny enacted by the gods, meting out a swift and terrible punishment on every living soul for any act of transgression. It’s a compelling setting worthy of such an epic mystery, and deserving of its very own Aggie.
Runners-Up:
Papetura
The Medium
Strangeland
Backbone
Readers’ Choice: Strangeland
Spend a bit of time in Strangeland’s titular twisted amusement park and you’ll understand why Wormwood Studios put its name on the (digital) box. The Stranger may be the game’s protagonist, but Strangeland is its star: a dark funhouse-mirror reflection of an everyday carnival. Its shadowy tents and unearthly attractions draw you in with the promise of even more strange and unexpected sights around every corner, whether a huge, rage-quivering starfish; a man who made himself into a furnace; or a shriveled, disembodied head who tells the future. It’s a place populated by nightmare beings drawn from the realms of Jungian archetype, where masks fall away to reveal faces falser still, and where death itself is no obstacle to progress – maybe even holding the key to salvation. It’s unapologetically creepy and bleak, so thank goodness it’s not a real place, but it’s so intoxicatingly macabre that it’s well worth a virtual visit for any adventure fan, and a deserving winner of the readers’ Aggie Award for Best Setting.
Runners-Up:
Backbone
The Forgotten City
Slice of Sea
Papetura
Next up: Best Graphic Design... the envelope, please!
Best Graphic Design: ENCODYA
Coming as no surprise from a game inspired by an animated short film set in the same cyberpunk universe, Chaosmonger’s ENCODYA is exceptional to look at. The character models are creative and beautiful, with SAM being particularly adorable as the large, lumbering robot companion with messy cables protruding from his head, giant mechanical claws and comically asymmetrical glowing green eyes. The background artwork gorgeously conveys both the bleakness and wonder of the futuristic Neo Berlin surroundings. In a style that’s as much cartoon as it is realistic, there’s a meticulous attention to detail. Alongside the flashy hi-tech machines and vehicles, the city’s seedy underbelly is apparent, with back alleys scattered with trash, walls covered in graffiti tags and art, derelict cars blocking roads, and bright advertising bots slowly spinning overhead. The digital world within the game, meanwhile, is a stark contrast to the dirty, massive metropolis in the real one; still stunning but filled with vibrant greens and lush organic growth. The overall feel is both atmospheric and immersive, effectively mixing impressive technology and decaying streets. You wouldn’t want to live there, but it’s definitely worth a visit and our award for Best Graphics of 2021.
Runners-Up:
Milo and the Magpies
Growbot
Minute of Islands
The Artful Escape
Readers’ Choice: Backbone
A post-noir tale of exploitation, class struggle, and corruption in the big city … starring talking animals? In the wrong hands it would seem ludicrous, but the artists at EggNut never waver in their conviction that Backbone’s dystopian-future setting and anthropomorphic characters should be taken seriously. In this alternate Vancouver, a trench-coat-clad raccoon can chat up a polar bear socialite over drinks while tracking down a philandering otter with his partner, a taxi-driving beaver, and the visuals never treat it as the least bit silly. The artwork is gorgeously atmospheric, granting each character their appropriate dignity, desperation or menace, and casting the fog- and neon-drenched sidewalks in permanent shades of derelict melancholy. The muted colour palette and sharp, semi-realistic imagery never let you forget that these are hard-worn characters striving for a better life in a world that's out to get them. It may be pixel art but the aesthetic is anything but “retro,” and you’ll want to stop and gawk at the incredible detail packed into every scene. It’s all so beautifully designed, our readers have awarded it the Best Graphics Aggie for 2021.
Runners-Up:
Strangeland
Watch Over Christmas
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
Next up: Best Animation... the envelope, please!
Best Animation: Omno
Many adventure games consist largely of clicking and waiting for their protagonists to dawdle across the screen, while perhaps a passing cloud or buzzing fly brings “life” to the environment. Not so with Jonas Manke’s Omno, which allows players to ride the silent protagonist’s magical staff like a snowboard, propel themselves upward on gushing vents and gently glide to safety, ride air currents through obstacle courses, and be whooshed to distant locations via high-speed teleportation. All around you is a menagerie of fantastical creatures, from aerial jellyfish to dinosaurs to playful penguin-like creatures that zip along beside you on their bellies. You can’t help but gape in awe as a flying whale-like creature crests a rocky outcropping and soars majestically through the sky overhead. The biggest and most imposing behemoths will even let you ride them as you transition between levels. And then there’s your hovering bushy-tailed little companion, who continually flits about, either guiding you to your next goal or increasingly responding to your shows of affection. It’s all so organic, so believable, so alive, making Omno feel like a true adventure, and there could really be no other choice for our Best Animation Aggie.
Runners-Up:
Happy Game
Minute of Islands
ENCODYA
Voyage
Readers’ Choice: Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One
As was the case in Frogwares’ previous game, The Sinking City, the setting for Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One feels like something rarely experienced in adventure games: a real place. Everywhere you go, the Mediterranean island of Cordona is bustling with people and activity: burly men busily tend the docks, shoppers browse the open-air markets, buskers of various stripes put on musical performances, and scantily clad street workers line the red-light district. Environmental animation further brings the city to life, from zeppelins cruising overhead, to British flags flapping in the breeze, to fireflies speckling the sky as day gradually gives way to dusk. Character animations are fluid and realistic, and facial gestures help convey a very personal story of wide-ranging challenges and emotions, right down to a single teardrop running down Sherlock's cheek. Optional combat sections see the younger Sherlock fighting off opponents by force or by guile, at times even slowing down time to affect a perfectly aimed shot. It takes a sizeable budget to make a world feel this dynamic, but Frogwares made good use of every penny, and for that they capture the reader Aggie for Best Animation.
Runners-Up:
Life Is Strange: True Colors
The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes
Backbone
ENCODYA
Next up: Best Music... the envelope, please!
Best Music: Road 96
What's the most important thing for any long road trip? The answer, of course, is a great soundtrack, and the multi-chapter, multi-character odyssey of DigixArt’s Road 96 provides one of the most varied and consistently compelling musical backdrops in recent adventure memory. The quiet moments of your journey to flee the strife-ridden fictional nation of Petria are framed with ambient acoustic guitar, while the more intense moments surround you with sinister, beat-heavy electronic music, with some sinister darkwave and even some balladry peppered in between. Every mood you'll experience is bolstered by the diversity, and overall the 28-song, 90-minute soundtrack is so good it’s worth streaming even when you're not journeying down the eponymous highway. And the best part, particularly for those with nostalgic feelings of being music fans in 1996, is that these songs are acquired by picking up collectible cassette tapes throughout the game. They’re well worth scouring the environment to find, and for making the trip so consistently pleasing to the ear, the many tunes of Road 96 combine to nab our 2021 Aggie for Best Music.
Runners-Up:
Life Is Strange: True Colors
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
The Artful Escape
Scarlet Hood and the Wicked Wood
Readers’ Choice: The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
Courtrooms and crime scenes aren’t as inseparably linked to great soundtracks as road trips, but that didn’t stop Capcom from providing a wonderful musical accompaniment to the latest round of legal machinations in The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. With this game taking place in the Victorian era, long before the time of Phoenix Wright, the instruments perfectly reflect the period and the vast array of moods experienced. The score ranges impressively from elegant strings to dramatic orchestral crescendos as the twisting, turning courtroom battles play out. When the action switches to London, the melody becomes suitably officious and overbearing, in stark contrast to the whimsically cheerful music accompanying ten-year-old Iris or the upbeat tune for journalist Raiten Menimemo, which sounds like a jauntier version of The X-Files theme. It’s all so diverse and brilliantly conducted that of course we have no objection to the game being named the reader winner for Best Music Aggie.
Runners-Up:
Life Is Strange: True Colors
Backbone
Strangeland
The Artful Escape
Next up: Best Acting (Voice or Live Action)... the envelope, please!
Best Acting (Voice or Live Action): Twelve Minutes
As common as voice acting is in adventures these days, it’s not every game that can boast a star-studded Hollywood cast of A-list actors. Enter Luis Antonio’s indie drama Twelve Minutes, in which big-screen talents James McAvoy and Daisy Ridley deliver believable and emotionally powerful performances as a husband and wife whose domestic bliss is shattered one fateful night when a violent impostor invades their home. Effectively portraying the transition from loving affection to mortal terror is no small feat, and the two pull it off splendidly. No less noteworthy, however, is the instantly recognizable addition of Willem Dafoe, effortlessly slipping into the role of villain and practically dripping malice with every uttered syllable. It’s a vocal tour de force that makes it all too easy to care for the plight of the young couple about to experience the worst night of their lives from the first moment you meet them. The trio may not have any Oscars or Golden Globes, but they’re now the winners of the far-more-coveted Best Acting Aggie Award for 2021.
Runners-Up:
The Forgotten City
Lake
Minute of Islands
Strangeland
Readers’ Choice: Life Is Strange: True Colors
Outstanding voice acting has been a hallmark of DONTNOD Entertainment’s Life Is Strange series from the start, a trait we were delighted to see carried over to True Colors even with Deck Nine taking over the reins this time. Nowhere is this more evident than with the game’s protagonist, Alex Chen, who goes through a wide range of emotions as she seeks to unravel the mystery behind her brother’s death while also dealing with her paranormal gift as an empath, which lets her sense other people’s thoughts and feelings. Throughout her ordeal, Alex is voiced to perfection by Erika Mori (and musically by YouTuber mxmtoon, aka Maia, who fills in as singer whenever Alex composes her private thoughts thorough melodies). But Alex is not the only standout here. Everyone in the picturesque town of Haven is brought to life by a host of talented performers, including Alex’s two friends, the goofy but earnest Ryan and the loyal but less predictable Steph, either of which you can choose to pursue as a romantic interest if you wish. Add in a great supporting cast like the forgetful florist Eleanor and town drunk Duckie and you’ve got just the right mix for our reader Aggie acting winner.
Runners-Up:
Strangeland
Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One
The Forgotten City
Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo
Next up: Best Sound Effects... the envelope, please!
Best Sound Effects: Papetura
You’d be forgiven for assuming a game crafted entirely out of paper might be full of nothing but rustling, crinkling, and tearing sounds. Paper is simple, inert, inanimate – what else would it sound like? Clearly solo developer Tomasz Ostafin never heard about his chosen medium’s limitations, probably because all the chirping, buzzing, and trilling of Papetura’s many inhabitants drowned such warnings out. Yes, this stunning world is made entirely from paper, but it’s stuffed to the brim with life that is anything but silent. Every noise perfectly fits the critter who makes it, from the grunts, grumbles and huffs of the curmudgeonly scroll-like protagonist Pape, to the happy squeaks and burbles of his larval buddy Tura, right on down to the many mutters, growls, splats, and susurrations of the beings and beasties they meet along the way – and all that’s on top of the ambient soundscape that gives each scene a depth and dimension you’d never expect from folded paper. What it all boils down to is clear as a bell: Papetura deserves our 2021 Aggie for Best Sound Effects.
Runners-Up:
Genesis Noir
Happy Game
The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes
Down in Bermuda
Readers’ Choice: Happy Game
Amanita Design knows audio. Time and time again (with many a previous Aggie Award to prove it), the indie Czech studio has dazzled us with soundscapes that defy easy description, blurring the line between foley-type effects and music so fully as to make it practically indistinguishable. While the horror-tinged Happy Game is much darker than any previous Amanita production, it continues its predecessors’ proud tradition of communicating everything it needs through sound design. The unnamed young protagonist never speaks intelligibly, of course, instead muttering, moaning and squeaking his way through the nightmare landscape of his subconscious, surrounded by growling monsters, babbling imps, and all manner of gleefully squelching, splattering atrocities. The game might not be as happy as its title winkingly claims, but it’s a sure bet that audiophiles will be, and for that Amanita picks up another Best Sound Effects statuette for its mantle, this time from AG readers.
Runners-Up:
The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes
Strangeland
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
Backbone
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 Game No One Has Played: Slice of Sea
Slice of Sea has “best kept secret” written all over it. A wordless, exposition-free sojourn through a dreamy watercolour landscape full of strange creatures, inscrutable architecture and inexplicable hints of a history that’s never spelled out, it’s as difficult to describe as it is to forget. The work of solo developer Mateusz Skutnik, Slice of Sea appeared with little fanfare and almost no marketing, and that may be for the best: this is a game that all but begs to be discovered unwittingly, a diamond in the rough waiting patiently for increasingly goggle-eyed newcomers to discover its secrets and wonder how on Earth such a singular and enchanting vision flew under their radar. It almost seems a shame to blow the lid off its obscurity by singing its praises here, but – as you’ll know once you take our advice and play it – some things you just can’t keep quiet about.
Best Multiplayer Adventure: Operation: Tango
Hard to believe this is even a category, but co-op adventuring is becoming popular fast, and there was real competition for top honours this year. Your mission in Clever Plays’ asymmetric two-player spy thriller Operation: Tango, should you choose to accept it, is to recruit a fellow operative to join you in the fun. While one of you plays an athletic operative in the field, the other assumes the role of a top hacker behind a computer desk. Together you’ll pass information back and forth, infiltrate secure locations and even more secure computer servers, and save the world as we know it from a dangerous cyber terrorist. You’ll need to keep your lines of communication open, keep your cool under pressure, and keep laughing at your shared panicked moments that lead to high-speed hilarity.
Best VR Adventure: Maskmaker
No, not those kinds of masks! The ones you’ll craft in Innerspace VR’s Maskmaker aren’t for concealment or protection, but will transport you to magical 3D realms instead. A workshop features tools for carving, painting, and bedecking these Carnival-like facial disguises. When placed on your face, they spawn adventures in locales ranging from misty beaches to icy cliffs, mountain meadows, and a giant, tangled mangrove swamp. The environs are locked in an eerie stasis, and you must explore and exploit them to gather up natural elements – coral, feathers, fangs, shells, crystals, and flora – to ornament more masks. Making your way along treetop pathways, waterways, and mine shafts, you will also repair machinery, channel streams, charm a snake, and mimic fancy VR dance movements. Gradually unearthing the conflict between the guardians of these lands and a powerful king, you will, in the end, attempt to return vigour, healing, and balance to your surroundings. For allowing us to revel in this ingenious, engaging, artful masquerade, Maskmaker snags the honour of top virtual reality adventure.
Crazy Good: NUTS
Sometimes adventure gaming takes you to the farthest reaches of the world, solving the most incredible mysteries and encountering the wackiest of characters on an epic quest of daring and intrigue. And sometimes it drops you in the middle of the woods to look at some rodents. Noodlecake Studios gave us an unexpected gem in early 2021, a quiet little surveillance-camera mystery called NUTS. You start a job in the vivid Day-Glo scenery of Melmoth Forest, setting up video tripods with one simple goal: find out what's going on with the squirrels! To learn why they’re behaving so strangely, you’ll set and reset the cameras each day, peruse the footage in the evening, and report back to your boss on what you've found. It's gentle and pretty and tells a surprisingly intriguing story. Plus, the entire thing is punctuated by immersive sound design and a brilliant soundtrack. You'll feel captivated and relaxed, and don’t be surprised if you find yourself never wanting to leave.
Sure to Love: Half Past Fate: Romantic Distancing
A spin-off of the original ensemble romantic comedy Half Past Fate, Serenity Forge’s Romantic Distancing takes players on a more intimate journey, focusing on just one couple who must adapt their dating life to accommodate a pandemic lockdown. Instead of venturing out, we’re taken inside the nooks and crannies of Robin’s and Stephen’s homes and their day-to-day routines, ranging from trying to connect to the internet just to make online calls, to using their phones to view each other’s music collection and see each other "face to face." It’s a bittersweet little love story that illustrates the pains of a long-distance relationship, and it’s entirely realistic how each of their personal choices impact their relationship when physically separated. With a colourful bird’s-eye pixel art presentation and laid-back chiptune music, it’s an incredibly charming aesthetic but you’d be surprised by how much depth and emotion is packed into a short 90-minute playthrough that makes it well worth your time.
Oh So Close: Almost My Floor
Husband-and-wife Russian team Potata Company came out swinging this year and caught us completely off guard with the wonderful Almost My Floor, a comic book-styled horror adventure that takes place almost entirely in a single apartment complex. Players control two separate characters over the course of the game: Alex, a young man struggling with a recent break-up who is unsure if his building is overrun by demons or if he's just going crazy, and Adam, a detective who's on the trail of Alex's missing ex-girlfriend and unraveling the chaos the young man leaves in his wake. While Alex must fend for himself in a surreal and increasingly horrific reality filled with demonic creatures, Adam sees only the “real” building in its naturally crumbling, decrepit form, which makes for a unique experience from two different perspectives. Blending puzzles, simple action sequences, and key choices between (literally) good and evil, the game will leave you as amazed by its bold and creepy artwork as you are immersed in its fast-paced story.
Never Fails to Deliver: Lake
Where many games delight in sending us to far-flung, exotic locales, Lake takes us to rural Oregon in the 1980s. And instead of fighting space battles or tracking down the Illuminati, we're simply delivering mail. There's barely a puzzle to be solved, leaving players to embrace the peaceful rhythm of life in a beautiful lakeshore town. That may sound mundane, even boring, but in today's increasingly hectic world, with too much to do and not enough time to reflect, the idea of taking a step back and slowing down for a while is seductive. For Meredith Weiss, taking a much-needed break from the crunch of software development to fill in for her father as mail carrier in her former hometown for a couple of weeks, it's a chance to reconnect with old friends, catch up on gossip, and decide what she actually wants out of life. Likewise, as you wrestle the mail truck down winding country lanes, with just the radio for company and autumn sunlight dappling the leaves, it's easy to get drawn into Lake’s peaceful world and leave the modern one behind temporarily, emerging calmer and a little more relaxed.
Time Well Spent: Not Another Weekend
Most adventures involve some sort of heroic quest. Not Another Weekend… not so much. But sometimes being bad can feel oh so good, and this offbeat pixel art offering from Animatic Vision and Dead Blue Friends is just such an occasion. Disgruntled bellboy Mike Melkout is looking to rid the hotel he works at of all its guests and employees before the weekend is through. Why? So he can enact a mysterious ritual commanded of him by an ancestor’s brain floating in a jar of fluids and hidden behind the wine cabinet in the cellar. If that sounds overly grim, don’t worry – brief excursions into horror notwithstanding, this game is every bit as whimsical as it looks, jam-packed with colorful characters and nods to 80s action flicks, music, science fiction, and of course the adventure genre itself. With its vibrant visuals, zany throwback charm, irresistibly irreverent humour and a smooth stream of interconnected inventory puzzles, this game is one of the best ways to relax, have some fun and maybe blow off a little steam in your spare time before Monday rolls around again.
The Cat’s Meow: Inspector Waffles, Milo and the Magpies
As far as animal detectives go, Waffles has always been reliable. Like any cat in the city, he has his faults: a fondness for strong milk and occasional disregard of procedure. But lately things have gotten worse and he's been coasting. Can he land on his paws when Cat Town calls on the sharpest feline instincts in the CTPD? With a quirky cast of funny and adorable characters and a crime jazz soundtrack that's extra jazzy, Inspector Waffles delightfully delivers on its premise, finding just the right place between sweet and serious, moody and cheesy, and occasionally even getting away with being a little saccharine. Several different species live all-too-human lives with animal particularities, which sets up a very enjoyable quest in the best tradition of the genre. It has big pixels, a lot of heart, and it's packed with puns about cats, dogs and other dorky creatures (including a platypus) all in one neat, intuitive classic adventure game mystery. Well done on your debut title, Goloso Games!
Another sterling debut, Milo and the Magpies similarly features a feline protagonist, but this cute critter is of the garden variety. Which is where most of Johan Scherft’s short but utterly charming game takes place: the backyards of a working/lower-middle class neighbourhood, where people go about their daily lives in the ways that suit them best. This is a well-crafted, easygoing point-and-click adventure with a hint of magical realism, about an hour in the charmed life of a cat en route back to his loving home. The naturalist setting is gorgeously captured in the hand-painted scenery and subtle animations of its inhabitants. A gentle soundtrack weaves musical themes and ambient sounds into these environments, where each screen represents a puzzle to be solved before continuing on your way. If you're looking for a little enchantment in a gloomy time, this game comes highly recommended, particularly to fans of cats and clever, cozy adventures.
Oddly Overlooked: Life Is Strange: True Colors, Strangeland
Not only a worthy edition to the Life Is Strange series but arguably its best since the original, Deck Nine’s True Colors wisely keeps most of the hallmarks of the earlier games – the choices, the well-written drama, the characters you grow to care about – while also making it feel like a breath of fresh air. The plot is full of surprise twists and turns, and the new protagonist Alex Chen is both likeable and believable, superbly voiced by Erika Mori. Exploring Alex's unique powers as an empath (essentially being able to read people's thoughts and feelings) allows for all kinds of interesting insights and entertaining side quests, as well as posing some big decisions to make as you hunt to uncover the mysterious circumstances around the death of Alex’s brother. And on a more personal level, having players choose whether to have Alex pursue a relationship with either a male or female friend is a natural step for a series that's always supported diversity. Throw in a beautiful mountain setting and, as always, a strong soundtrack bursting with new and licensed hits, and True Colors cements its place as a high point in the franchise for Life Is Strange fans and newbies alike.
Fittingly weird and strikingly enigmatic, Wormwood Studios’ Strangeland demonstrates that some of the best horror tales aren’t about exorcising demons but confronting them. The setup is simple: an amnesiac wakes up in a straitjacket and finds himself trapped in the titular surrealist carnival, looking to rescue a woman with golden hair. But Strangeland, the place and the game, lives up to its name with a gorgeously macabre cast of characters, environments and situations – as one person describes it, a “masquerade of metaphors” – and a slickly animated visual style that falls somewhere between H.R. Giger grotesquery and an 80s heavy metal album cover. The journey through this otherworldly setting is wonderfully written and equally well-acted, with compelling gameplay to match. The emphasis is firmly on discovering, interpreting – and in one case, literally dissecting – its darkly emotional themes, so fair warning: at times the experience may leave your nerves as raw as the protagonist’s. On thing's for sure: Strangeland will remain with you long after the nightmare’s over and the clowns are out of sight.
Out of this World: Henry Mosse and the Wormhole Conspiracy, Lacuna
Sometimes one galaxy is not enough for an epic interplanetary adventure. As the eponymous teenaged star of Bad Goat Studios’ Henry Mosse and the Wormhole Conspiracy, you’ll have your chance to explore two, and have a whole lot of fun doing it. There are multiple alien worlds to investigate, a large and diverse cast of characters to meet, and some nicely complex puzzles to solve, all presented like a vivid hand-painted hi-res cartoon and complemented by full voice-overs. Add to that Henry’s eternal optimism and his adoptive mother’s desire for thrills, along with some practically moustache-twirling villains behind a cosmic conspiracy, and you end up with a thoroughly enjoyable outer space experience that makes a fine addition to any 2D point-and-click fan’s library.
DigiTales Interactive’s Lacuna proves that planet Earth isn’t the exclusive domain of compelling noir mysteries. When a diplomat is murdered, hardboiled detective Neil Conrad is assigned to investigate – and prevent an interplanetary conflict in the fallout. It’s not just space terrorists you’re dealing with, either, but Conrad’s family life as well, and your decisions matter in both. Whether you accidently accuse an innocent person or just tell Conrad’s daughter she can’t go to a party, there is no going back once you’ve committed to a choice, the story diverging down different narrative paths accordingly. It also matters how good you actually are at your job. While most games ignore the seemingly mundane aspects of paperwork, this side-scrolling pixel art thriller embraces it and even manages to make it fun. But whether you Marlowe or Clouseau your way through Lacuna’s retro-futuristic environments on your way to one of multiple possible endings, this sci-fi case is sure to be one you’ll want to return to again.
Best Casual Games: Down in Bermuda, TOEM
Thirty years ago, a young pilot named Milton crashed his airplane on a lonely tropical island. At long last, with your help, he may finally be able to escape the many vivid, cartoon-like locales in Down in Bermuda by Yak & co. The isometric view reveals brilliantly colored corals, clamshells, and starfish; mysterious stone monuments; massive crystals and abandoned pirate ships. Lively Caribbean music enhances Milton’s encounters with puffer fish, ancient turtles, a giant spider, and even a lava monster with its minions. Gameplay includes familiar environmental tasks like dragging levers, flipping switches, lifting hatches, and rotating pathway tiles. But there’s much more here to tickle a puzzle lover’s fancy, such as leapfrogging sheep, bopping mushrooms, foiling a furious sea worm, flinging Milton from seesaw to seesaw, and trundling a cannon down a track rimmed by objects begging for creative destruction. Better yet, all these whimsical challenges are brought to life by charming animations and cunning sound effects throughout, making for a delightful few hours of casual island getaway fun.
What’s as much fun as solving puzzles? Hitting the road with a brand-new camera and taking snapshots! Something We Made’s TOEM is a black-and-white isometric animated cartoon that sends players on a whimsical trip to photograph the mysterious titular phenomenon. You control a cute little anthropomorphic-sheep-type character wearing headphones and a balaclava, and at various stops you’ll need to replenish your bus card with stamps by exploring and helping out the many quirky characters you meet along the way, such as an ex-pirate queen who lost her hat, or a ghostly horse who wants to remember what he looked like in life. Sometimes this is as easy as finding missing items, but the most entertaining challenges involve taking pictures that meet required criteria. The main story is over far too soon, but thankfully you can take your time and capture the local wildlife on film to fill up a compendium, as well as collect various accessories and lo-fi music tracks to accompany your journey. It’s never particularly challenging, but the relaxing pace and variety of locations and characters make the experience an unfailingly charming casual treat.
Best Puzzle-Platformers: A Juggler’s Tale, Unbound: Worlds Apart
Puppet shows are often amusing, whimsical displays, but kaleidoscube’s A Juggler’s Tale has a much darker, deeper side, exploring the nature of one’s free will when someone else is literally pulling all the strings. Abby is a performer at a traveling circus who longs to explore the world beyond. But as a marionette she’s trapped in more ways than one, her movements seemingly her own but in actuality constrained by the unseen storyteller whose moral authority cannot be defied – at least at first. Making inspired use of this device in terms of both gameplay and metaphor, the riveting narrative of this side-scrolling adventure sees you cross gorgeously detailed environments bolstered by a cinematic score and the captivating voice work of a narrator whose story isn’t progressing the way he envisioned. It’s also a compelling blend of genres: a puzzler that unfolds like a platformer, with level designs and even “boss fights” that test your reflexes but have more to do with deductive skills than the nimbleness of your fingers. From start to finish, it is a delightful experience, taking a classic fairy tale aesthetic and exploring it with great wit, beauty, and emotional resonance.
Adventure fans not used to modern metroidvanias may have missed this charming little side-scroller from Alien Pixel Studios last year, but this amazing hand-painted magical game is certainly worth venturing out of your comfort zone. Unbound: Worlds Apart tells the story of Soli, an adorable little monk who stumbles into the power to open portals to other dimensions immediately around him. He must then use these circular gateways to other realms to navigate sometimes-twitchy puzzle-platform challenges in order to free his broken world from a demonic invasion. Portals manifest different game physics when used in different places, like reversing gravity or shrinking Soli down to half his size, giving each unique setting a different feel. You’ll travel back and forth across a few beautifully distinctive maps by completing goals and acquiring new powers that unlock previously inaccessible locales. There's more than enough story and puzzles here for an adventure gamer to sink their teeth into, numerous platforming challenges to appease an action fan, and an abundance of amazing artwork to leave any player in awe.
Best of the Rest: Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One
Elementary, my dear Aggie. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s great detective returns in Frogwares’ latest outing, Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One, but here he’s unlike you’ve ever seen him before. This is an origin story in which you’ll get to freely explore the large open-world Mediterranean island of Cordona, where Sherlock spent part of his childhood when his mother was ailing. Returning as a young man in his early twenties, Sherry – as his imaginary friend Jon calls him – discovers that her death when he was a boy may have been due to more than natural causes. And so the game is afoot! The visually impressive environments on Cordona reveal myriad mysteries great and small for Sherry to unravel. With ongoing conversations between the brash protagonist and his dissociative alter ego, disguises that impact how the locals respond, a specialized concentration mode for greater focus on important detail, the ability to eavesdrop, and even a little (optional) combat, there’s no shortage of things to do in your quest to uncover the truth of Holmes’ past.
Next up: Best Non-Traditional Adventure... the envelope, please!
Best Non-Traditional Adventure: The Forgotten City
If you were to dig deep in your imagination and guess the source for one of the greatest adventure games of the year, chances are you'd never come up with a mod for The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. Yet indie developer Modern Storyteller broke free of Bethesda’s popular fantasy RPG trappings to create a time-looping supernatural mystery, and the result was over three million downloads for The Forgotten City. Six years later, the commercial reworking of the acclaimed freeware release arrived, offering a new and improved experience that blew us away.
In this game you find yourself stranded beneath an ancient temple where a Roman civilization appears preserved in time, cursed to relive the same day over and over. Only, none of them know it. All they know is that they exist by the grace of an angry god and are compelled to follow a mysterious “Golden Rule.” The lively cast of characters debate among themselves what will actually happen if they break it, but you know the truth: someone will, turning the populace to gold and resetting the day to start all over again for eternity. You, our intrepid adventurer, must brave this endless time loop, learn the ins and outs of the city, its inhabitants, and the events that repeatedly unfold in order to figure out what's about to happen, why, and how to finally prevent it for good.
The forgotten city itself is beautifully designed and inviting to explore, and the game plays much like a standard investigative mystery for the most part, but the repeating-day conceit, the inclusion of some light action sequences, and the ability to manipulate events to achieve a number of different outcomes combine to make the experience stand out from your usual point-and-click fare. As you interact with dozens of well-acted characters, branching puzzle solutions offer enormous freedom to influence events, but beware that every choice comes with genuine consequences. With a rich and complex story containing many twists and weighty philosophical questions, this highly polished fable earns our Best Non-Traditional Adventure Aggie over a very competitive field.
Runners-Up:
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
Minute of Islands
Overboard!
Readers’ Choice: The Forgotten City
If you’d guessed a decade ago that Skyrim would one day provide the genesis for multiple Aggies, you’d have probably been met with blank stares or laughed off Adventure Gamers’ website. And yet here we are, handing out yet another award to a game that started as a fan-made mod for Bethesda’s fantasy RPG. The Forgotten City will see you running, jumping, and even fighting enemies with a bow and arrow, yes, so a little extra dexterity will be needed at times, but its creative puzzles, rich story and deep, involving dialogues with characters whose fates are ultimately in your hands leave no doubt that it’s an adventure through and through. Throw in a compelling time-looping element and some thoughtful philosophical musing, and like all the best surprises, the end result is just not something anybody thought to expect. Anybody but its developer, Modern Storyteller, that is, who may need another shelf for all the hardware it's collecting this year, adding the readers’ choice for Best Non-Traditional Adventure to pair with the one from AG staff.
Runners-Up:
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
Life Is Strange: True Colors
Overboard!
Next up: Best Traditional Adventure... the envelope, please!
Best Traditional Adventure: Mutropolis
Modern point-and-click adventures face an uphill battle these days. Their simple mouse-based interface and at times bizarre puzzle logic are considered by many to be relics of a bygone era, while to others, nothing will ever compare to the old beloved classics. So it’s always something special when a game like Pirita Studio’s Mutropolis comes along, able to tap into the best elements of the past while benefiting from everything the present has to offer. Incidentally, this is exactly what the game’s own cast is trying to accomplish. In the year 5000, after three millennia of life on Mars following a disastrous event known as the cataclysm, adventurers and academics have begun to repopulate planet Earth. You play as Henry Dijon, Head of Expeditions for Team Sigma, a group of archeologists searching for the eponymous fabled lost city. But after a kidnapping, a bit of treachery, and an introduction to an ancient goddess – who is really more of an awkward dork than you might imagine – you’ll find yourself right in the center of a narrative that perfectly balances intrigue and mystery with light-hearted fun.
Mutropolis takes place in an imaginative future, the story alternating between the Martian University’s Earth Campus, with all its hi-tech marvels, and archaeological sites on the still-largely-ruined blue planet, about which information is spotty at best. Whether in the form of textbooks at school that speculate Al Capone may have been “a popular quiz show host or soap actor” or the remains of a roller coaster Henry believes to have been an ancient mode of public transportation, references to the world as we know it are delightfully butchered and skewed throughout. The unique settings are brought to life by a charming cast of voice actors and whimsical cartoon-styled art in a vivid, expressive colour palette. Replete with compelling puzzles and unique twists on familiar conventions – including a second act sequence that comes together as impeccably as any you might remember from your old-school favourites – it may have fallen just shy of claiming any other individual awards, but there isn’t a single thing it doesn’t do well. Mutropolis is not simply our choice for Best Traditional Adventure of 2021, it’s a game that proves there’s still a wealth of riches to be excavated from the point-and-click format and offers plenty of hope for what lies ahead.
Runners-Up:
The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark
Lacuna
Backbone
Strangeland
Readers’ Choice: The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark
As with its acclaimed predecessor, The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark hearkens back to the best of the classic adventure games of yore, sporting vibrantly chunky pixel art graphics and a classic point-and-click interface. Environments are intriguingly designed and frequently host comical sight gags. The outrageousness of the dialogues contrasts the noir mystery and spectral atmosphere, making for a captivating combination. This new anthology of cases once again focuses on the earnest and determined Detective McQueen and the shrewd but airheaded Officer Dooley. The people (and non-people) they meet and the villains they engage are amusingly brash, including the shadowy Mister Wang (Detective McQueen’s catch-me-if-you-can nemesis); Geoff, a tentacled, purple-winged monster; and a surly Scout troop with some irresistibly delicious cookies. Inventive and often wacky inventory puzzles make up the bulk of the gameplay, though stand-alone minigames – some involving phone wires, glyphs, maps, location clues and models – occasionally surface. For embedding cutting-edge comedic tropes into the tried-and-true adventure framework, Spooky Doorway’s brilliant sequel snatches the Best Traditional Adventure award from AG readers.
Runners-Up:
Strangeland
Mutropolis
Inspector Waffles
Not Another Weekend
Next up: The moment of truth… Best Adventure of 2020... the envelope, please!
Best Adventure of 2021: The Forgotten City
Everyone loves an underdog story. From its humble beginnings as a 2015 mod for Bethesda’s acclaimed RPG The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, surely no one would have predicted that six years later its overhauled commercial revamp would be the Aggie Award winner for top adventure game of the year. But in The Forgotten City, indie developer Modern Storyteller did so much more than put on a new coat of paint to cash in on the popularity of its freeware predecessor. This clever, thoroughly engaging time-looping mystery offers a gripping story, great writing, smart puzzles, an atmospheric musical score, a beautiful and historically accurate ancient Roman city to explore, and a charming cast backed by terrific voice acting. What’s not to like?
But even that’s not all. You’ll come to care about the twenty-three citizens trapped in this city, doomed to be turned to gold before the day resets if anyone commits a sin. You’re here to prevent that from happening this time, but failure is inevitable. Fortunately you – and you alone – retain your memories (and inventory) at the start of each day, and making strategic use of the time loop becomes essential to figuring out who or what is to blame. There’s a bit of light platforming and other action elements at times, but this is no action game – it’s an old-school detective whodunit (or rather, whogonnadoit) at its core, to be resolved through exploration, investigation and dialogue. As an added bonus, you can ask your host Galerius to perform tasks you’ve already completed in previous time loops on your behalf, and if you need a hint on where to go next, a visible trail will highlight the way to your next objective.
There’s a real thrill in playing with fate as you try to solve the mystery of the “Golden Rule” curse and break the tragic cycle, but what will stick with you after you’ve reached the best of four possible endings are the questions the game raises about morality, authority, and punishment in a society. The game poses thought-provoking questions with no easy answers, and is all the more impactful for it. If such themes make the experience sound heavy, rest assured they’re just another intriguing layer in an already memorable, twisty adventure that will leave you lost in thought after the credits roll – and probably inspire you to load a save or start all over to play optional side quests and find out what you may have missed. If you haven’t yet picked up Adventure Gamers’ choice for Best Adventure of 2021, there’s still time to make it right – it’d practically be a sin not to.
Runners-Up:
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
Mutropolis
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark
Readers’ Choice: The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark
What distinguishes the Darkside Detective sequel from the many other enjoyable adventure games released in 2021 is its constant supply of laughs and deluge of uniquely zany situations. Detective McQueen and Officer Dooley face off against the Darkside, an otherworldly dimension sending forth tricky snares, sinister varmints, and terrifyingly boffo clowns. What to do with a group of gremlins in a garbage dump? How to somehow defeat a giant fiendish wrestler? What do you do when the Afterlife is broken, tied up in red tape so souls can’t progress? Figuring it all out provides a healthy amount of adventuring fun, though the difficulty is never so punishing as to ruin the whimsical, pun-filled atmosphere. Clever wordplay is a constant delight, and the blocky, richly colourful graphics set the stage for an insanely farcical experience: Officer Dooley in a child’s druid robe; Nikola Tesla’s ghost bobbing around his death ray machine; Charles Dickens as the Grim Reaper; Detective McQueen, a mannequin and a ghastly flaming fountain. The hilarity never stops (and continues not to stop with all-new DLC cases still emerging), and it all adds up to our readers crowning A Fumble in the Dark the year’s Best Adventure.
Runners-Up:
Strangeland
The Forgotten City
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
And so ends another great year of Aggie Awards!
Thanks again to the many developers for their fine work that brought so much joy throughout the year, as well as all those who participated in our reader poll, and of course our wonderful Patreon backers for their input and invaluable support.
With 2021 now firmly behind us, and 2022 showing no signs of slowing down, we turn our attention back to the present and what lies ahead. We wish continued good health and happy gaming to all, so we can meet back here to do it all again next year.
Final Notes
To be eligible, a game must have been commercially released in English for the first time in the previous calendar year, with the special exception of fifteen games that were originally launched prior to 2021 but previously omitted from Aggie consideration.
Any series designed to be episodic in nature that was completed in 2021 is eligible, even if the series was begun earlier. Conversely, any series that was begun in 2021 but not yet completed is ineligible.
Ports and remakes of commercial games released in previous years are generally disqualified from contention, though updated re-releases of former freeware games are eligible.
Complete list of eligible games
Contributors to the writing of this article include: Will Aickman, Jack Allin, Harald Bastiaanse, Melanie Blagg, Bee Bonthuys, Laura Cress, Evan Dickens, Courtney Ehrenhofler, Richard Hoover, Andy Jones, Joe Keeley, Peter Mattsson, Bryce O'Connor, Drew Onia, Bob Pragt, Pascal Tekaia, Cathlyn Vania, Becky Waxman.
The Aggie Award was designed by Bill Tiller.
