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Your Top 100 Adventure Games (Voting Ended)
OK, here are 25 games that I could think of relatively easily.
The problem here is that I have my own method of ranking games, which requires two playthroughs with some rules (screenshots, etc.), and only one of the games here actually is acceptable by my own rules. 
So a lot of this is based on not-so-methodological evaluation, although I managed to get games originating from different decades and different continents.
Unfortunately, most are point-and-clicks, with only two exceptions, and I really couldn’t come up with anything from 8-bit and/or text adventure era for now.
But I guess something is better than nothing.
Ben There, Dan That
Beneath a Steel Sky
Blade Runner
Broken Sword Shadow of The Templars
Day of the Tentacle
Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today
Deponia
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Leisure Suit Larry III: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals
Machinarium
Runaway: A Road Adventure
Shenmue
Simon the Sorcerer
Space Quest V: The Next Mutation
Star Trek: Judgment Rites
Star Trek: The Next Generation - A Final Unity
Syberia
The Curse of Monkey Island
The Darkside Detective
The Longest Journey
The Secret of Monkey Island
The Shivah
Time Gentlemen, Please!
Toonstruck
Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures
Anna’s Quest
Black Mirror 2: Reigning Evil
Black Mirror, The
Blade Runner
Day of the Tentacle
Dead Synchronicity
Dream Machine, The
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
Dropsy
Edna and Harvey: The Breakout
Full Throttle
Gemini Rue
Immortals of Terra: A Perry Rhodan Adventure, The
Journey Down, The
Kelvin and the Infamous Machine
King’s Quest 4: The Perils of Rosella
King’s Quest VI: Heir Today Gone Tomorrow
Laura Bow 1: The Colonel’s Bequest
Leisure Suit Larry 3: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals
Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail!
Lilly Looking Through
Longest Journey, The
Loom
Lost Crown: A Ghost-hunting Adventure, The
Machinarium
Memoranda
Memoria
Moment of Silence, The
Monkey Island 1: The Secret of Monkey Island
Monkey Island 3: The Curse of Monkey Island
Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet
Neverhood, The
Night of the Rabbit, The
Overclocked
Paradigm
Primordia
Quest for Glory 4: Shadows of Darkness
Riven
Runaway 3: A Twist of Fate
Sam and Max, Season 2
Sanitarium
Shardlight
Silent Age, The
Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon
Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
Stasis
Still Life
Syberia (1)
Technobabylon
Unforeseen Incidents
Whispered World, The
Woodruff and the Schnibble of Azimuth
1893: A World’s Fair Mystery
ABZÛ
Ahnayro: The Dream World
A Mind Forever Voyaging
Amber: Journeys Beyond
Anacapri: The Dream
Anchorhead
Bad Mojo
Barrow Hill
Beneath A Steel Sky
Black Mirror
Broken Sword 1
Bureaucrazy
Botanicula
Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon
The Cat Lady
Companions Of Xanth
Conquest of the Longbow
Contradiction
The Curse Of Monkey Island
Counterfeit Monkey
Day Of The Tentacle
Dear Esther
Death Gate
The Dig
Discworld
The Dream Machine
Eastshade
Edna & Harvey: The Breakout
Four Last Things
Gabriel Knight
Gabriel Knight 2
Gateway
Ghost Trick
Goblins 2
Goetia
Gone Home
Gorogoa
Grim Fandango
Hadean Lands
Heaven’s Vault
Her Story
Hypnospace Outlaw
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
The Inner World
The Journeyman Project 3
Kentucky Route Zero
King’s Quest 5
Lair Of The Clockwork God
The Last Express
The Legend of Kyrandia 2: Hand Of Fate
Life Is Strange
The Longest Journey
The Lost Crown
Lumino City
Machinarium
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge
Myst
Myst 3: Exile
Night Of The Rabbit
The Norwood Suite
Not For Broadcast
Obduction
The Pandora Directive
The Painscreek Killings
Paradigm
Perfect Tides
Phoenix Wright
Portal
Quern: Undying Thoughts
Quest for Glory IV
Relentless: Twinsen’s Adventure
Ripley’s Believe it or Not!: The Riddle of Master Lu
Sanitarium
Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Final Unity
The Return Of The Obra Dinn
Riven
The Sea Will Claim Everything
The Secret of Monkey Island
The Sexy Brutale
Sherlock Holmes and the Serrated Scalpel
Simon The Sorcerer
Slouching Towards Bedlam
Smile For Me
SOMA
Space Quest IV
Spider and Web
The Stanley Parable
Star Trek: Judgment Rites
Stories Untold
Syberia
Syberia: The World Before
Tangle Tower
Timequest
Under A Killing Moon
What Makes You Tick: A Stitch In Time
The Whispered World
The Witness
Zork Grand Inquisitor
Zork Nemesis
AKA Charo
Here is my Top 100 Adventure Games list every adventure gamer must play.
A New Beginning
Amerzone
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Aviary Attorney
Bad Mojo
Blade Runner
Broken Age
Broken Sword Shadow of The Templars
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller
Day of the Tentacle
Detroit Become Human
Disco Elysium
Discworld
Discworld 2
Discworld Noir
Eighty Days (Inkle)
Fran Bow
Four Last Things
Full Throttle
Gemini Rue
Gabriel Knight
Gabriel Knight 2
Gabriel Knight 3
Gorogoa
Grim Fandango
Heavy Rain
Hotel Dusk: Room 215
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Inside
Journey (2012)
Kathy Rain
Kentucky Route Zero
King’s Quest (2016)
LA. Noire
Last Window: The Secret of Cape West
Life Is Strange
Life Is Strange 2
Machinarium
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge
Myst
Myst 3
Myst 4
Obduction
Omikron: The Nomad Soul
Outcast
Outer Wilds
Papers,Please
Paradigm
Primordia
Portal 2
Post Mortem
Resonance
Return of the Obra Dinn
Ripley’s Believe it or Not
Riven
Samorost 3
Sanitarium
Sam & Max Save the World
Sam & Max Hit The Road
Sherlock Holmes Crimes and Punishments
Soma
Stasis
Still Life
Stupid Invaders
Syberia
Tales from the Borderlands
Tales of Monkey Island
Tell Me Why
Telltale Guardians of the Galaxy
Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure
The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
Tex Murphy: The Pandora Directive
The Black Mirror (1998)
The Blackwell Epiphany
The Book of Unwritten Tales
The Curse Of Monkey Island
The Dark Eye Chains of Satinav
The Darkside Detective
The Forgotten City
The Gene Machine
The Last Express
The Last Guardian
The Moment of Silence
The Neverhood
The Pillars of the Earth
The Silent Age
The Secret of Monkey Island
The Talos Principle
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
The Walking Dead
The Whispered World
The Witness (Jonathan Blow)
The Wolf Among Us
There Is No Game
Thimbleweed Park
Unavowed
What Remains of Edith Finch
Whispers of a Machine
Zork Grand Inquisitor
“Going on means going far - Going far means returning”
Just a quick note. If a game begins with “The” or “A”, please alphabatize the titles by the second word.
“Rainy days should be spent at home with a cup of tea and a good book.” -Bill Watterson
Journeyman 3 Legacy of Time
Bladerunner
Curse of Monkey Island
Broken Sword 1,2,5
Discworld Noir
A Vampyre Story
Face Noir
Beneath.A.S.S
Grim Fandango
The Wolf Among Us
Fahrenheit (aka Indigo Prophecy) might be too action based.is on prior list
Black Dahlia even though i hacked puzzles to death
Lost Horizon
Grey Matter
Cognition
Runaway P&C series
Yesterday
The Next Big Thing
Toonstruck
Feeble Files
Gabriel Knight series
Flight of the Amazon Queen
Gibbous - A Cthulhu Adventure
Secret Files of Tunguska
I’m working on it. I’ve currently got 42 games to submit, and am looking for more.
This is a tough task. As it actually tries to meld three threads into one. First there is this thread: trying to recreate the top 100 games. Second is the review/ratings thread that tries to determine what reviews older games actually deserve. And then there is the “Essential” thread that is discussing whether an “essential” game actually deserves to be in a “must play” list.
There are more than a few games in my Top 42 list that I absolutely enjoyed to the max when I first played them, and so they deserve to be on the list. But more than a few of those that I doubt I would enjoy if I played them today. (If I could play them today.)
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
Face Noir
that’s worth a shout, one of the best noir atmosphere ever handled well in an adventure, nice!
There are more than a few games in my Top 42 list that I absolutely enjoyed to the max when I first played them, and so they deserve to be on the list. But more than a few of those that I doubt I would enjoy if I played them today. (If I could play them today.)
Very true.
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders is a game that I played a lot, it even has an important place in the genre history.
I have few physical copies of it, at least Amiga and PC versions, and I bought the digital version from GOG too, as it comes with FM Towns version.
I was considering whether to put that on my list or not, and I had a place in my 25 games list for it, as somehow I had put Runaway twice there (neither entry in the correct alphabetical place, so what the hell was I thinking there…? 
).
But when I thought about my latest time I played it, it wasn’t that impressive.
Of course, I was playing the FM Towns version on my Android phone during an intercontinental flight with jetlag and everything, so the situation was so far removed from the “real” experience, that who knows how much that affected things.
In the end, I chose something else instead.
Then again, no one else has mention Zak either yet, so perhaps that was the right call anyway.
Face Noir
that’s worth a shout, one of the best noir atmosphere ever handled well in an adventure, nice!
this and a vampyre story were good games but problems with teams behind them led to demise.i think vamp tried crowdfunding for a preq and a sequel but nothing came off,face i think died.twau 2 was another in limbo.i feel they all derserve credit and just maybe we can garner enough interest to do them justice.
First off thank you Lady Kestrel for organizing this topic.
I have a few questions.
How are you compiling the results? Is it manually or do you have software to go through people’s lists to tally votes? I notice that some people might write game titles out slightly differently which can be a pain to properly string match later.
To that end, is it okay if I advertise this topic in some adventure game discord channels I’m in? It would be great to have as much participation as possible, but if the tallying is done manually it will be a lot of work, though I guess since everyone’s vote will be public it will be possible to scrape the text for a more automated process.
In addition to the previous top-20:
Amber: Journeys Beyond
Aztec: The Curse in the Heart of the City of Gold
Bad Mojo
Blade Runner
Black Dahlia
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars
Chronomaster
Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood
Dark Eye: Memoria, The
Discworld
Experience 112
Full Throttle
Heroine’s Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok
Hypnospace Outlaw
Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time, The
King’s Quest 6
Leisure Suit Larry 6
Legend of Kyrandia 2: Hand of Fate, The
Lost Crown: A Ghost-hunting Adventure, The
Myst
Omikron: The Nomad Soul
Pathologic
Penumbra: Black Plague
Primordia
Return of the Obra Dinn
Secret of Monkey Island, The
Simon the Sorcerer
Under a Killing Moon
Zork: Grand Inquisitor
Zork: Nemesis
PC means personal computer
First off thank you Lady Kestrel for organizing this topic.
I have a few questions.
How are you compiling the results? Is it manually or do you have software to go through people’s lists to tally votes? I notice that some people might write game titles out slightly differently which can be a pain to properly string match later.To that end, is it okay if I advertise this topic in some adventure game discord channels I’m in? It would be great to have as much participation as possible, but if the tallying is done manually it will be a lot of work, though I guess since everyone’s vote will be public it will be possible to scrape the text for a more automated process.
You’re welcome!
I will be compiling the results manually using an Appleworks database program, which does take time. I am ambivalent about bringing in those people who would only register to vote and then disappear again. I don’t mind the extra work so much, but not knowing why they would bother to come here when obviously they prefer other outlets does bother me. Hold off on that until we see what other members think about it.
“Rainy days should be spent at home with a cup of tea and a good book.” -Bill Watterson
i think people are entitled to register to the site just to give their vote, unless there is something fishy about certain ones, like spamming or trying to push a certain result, which if anyone intends to, it would absolutely reek eventually, and will be able to spot them out.
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders is a game that I played a lot, it even has an important place in the genre history.
Your Zak might be my Myst. It is a groundbreaking game, and it deserves to be on every Top 100 list. I last played it about eight years ago. I could see why I loved it when it first came out. But didn’t love it nearly as much when I gave it another shot. Still, I don’t think I can leave it off my list.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
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