Best PC gamesBest Adventure Games

The thoroughly unique Paper Beast can be a real monster to get through with its whip-like controls and occasional difficulty spike, but those who welcome unique gameplay experiences and value memorable moments over a detailed narrative are encouraged to give it a try.

There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension takes the rulebook for what a game can and should do and sets it on fire, practically reinventing the entire medium in the process. Unceasingly hilarious, ludicrously entertaining, and utterly unique, it will remind you why you play games while forcing you to reconsider every aspect of what that means.

From simple magnetism and gravity mechanics springs the fiendishly challenging Relicta, a highly polished environmental puzzler through a lunar space station with your every move being watched.

The Last Campfire is a wonderful way to while away a few evenings, pondering your own mortality while having a fun time doing it by solving puzzles in a lovely fantasy world.

Managing six different detachable body parts takes some getting used to, but Helheim Hassle is a consistently fun, creative blend of narrative adventure and puzzle-platformer with an amusing spin on Norse mythology.

Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town’s mystery fizzles with a rushed ending, but it’s perky and pretty and packed with puzzles and peculiar characters.

A surreal trip through an Alice in Wonderland-like dreamscape, Superliminal delights and surprises with level after level of inventive, bizarre puzzles.

On its surface, Röki delightfully explores a rarely visited branch of Scandinavian folklore, but delve deeper into this thoroughly charming fantasy adventure and you’ll find a beautifully told, emotionally engaging narrative that’s sure to resonate with players of all ages.

The House of Da Vinci 2 challenges you to match wits with the master in this sequel that, despite a few hiccups, builds upon the fun recipe of puzzles and mechanical systems that the first game established so well.

Creaks has beauty, creativity and invention to spare, but don’t let its flighty facade fool you: there’s challenge aplenty here too.

It’s not a perfect game, but Beyond a Steel Sky is a perfectly joyful experience and a faithful sequel for anyone who loved the original game, while bearing the standard for what a modern science fiction adventure should look and sound like in 2020.

Delightfully creepy and packed with content, Someday You’ll Return will keep you on the edge of your seat with its exploration of a dark forest and darker forces and leave you pondering what it all means when it’s finally over.

Old Gods Rising provides a spirited boost to those who prize spectacular scenery, a gripping mystery, and slow-burn horror without mind-bending puzzles to stall the journey.

Though it never really rises above its simple premise, the gorgeously immersive Beyond Blue may just be as close to deep-sea diving as you can get without a wetsuit (or the stress).

In Other Waters guides players through the visualization of an alien oceanic ecosystem and invites them to share in the exhilaration of discovering new life, all while telling a complex, original story with memorable characters through the medium of a diving suit’s display monitor.

There were moments early on when I began to feel a sense of missed opportunity from VirtuaVerse, but as with any good slow burn sci-fi, the stakes ramp up with the action in a much more satisfying second half to complete a beautiful, challenging point-and-click adventure.

Short but very sweet, A Fold Apart is a hug in game form that’s sure to warm even the hardest of hearts.

Arise uses creative level design, gorgeous visuals and challenging environmental puzzles to explore the length and breadth of a full lifetime. A few presentation issues aside, it’s a moving, thought-provoking experience that tells a complete story with scarcely a word.

A murder mystery set in a rich, fictional setting, Disco Elysium is told with sweeping profundity and hilarious absurdity. With no combat to impede story progression, this is a choice-driven role-playing adventure that deftly raises the bar of quality for the medium.

Though definitely not aimed at impatient or directionally challenged gamers, Woven’s splendidly fashioned locales, likeable heroes and amusing transformations are tailor-made for a unique experience.

Once The Complex enters full-on thriller mode, this compelling choice-driven tale of a trapped scientist facing terrorists and moral decisions doesn’t let up and even provides enough prompting and interesting options to weather multiple plays.

The Brotherhood had a tall mountain to scale when delivering their follow-up effort to STASIS, but Beautiful Desolation succeeds admirably on most fronts. It may be a little too big for its own good, but an intriguing new world beckons, ready to amaze even as it provides lots of choice in shaping its stories.

Lair of Clockwork God blends adventure and platforming to mixed effect, but it’s a very accomplished game overall, bursting with enough variety, style and humour to keep you surprised and entertained throughout its surprisingly generous play time.

Kentucky Route Zero’s short, elegiac coda sweetly and sadly puts a pin on this drawn-out but richly rewarding magical realist episodic series.

Although scouring Dark Fall: Ghost Vigil’s haunted Harwood House for supernatural signs can be tedious at times, the puzzles that lurk within its genuinely dark and spooky walls are anything but.

LUNA: The Shadow Dust is an audio-visual delight, with charming hand-drawn animation accompanied by a stellar soundtrack, though its gameplay isn’t very inventive and is ultimately more a case of style over substance.

It’s sometimes too convoluted for its own good, and its macabre take on certain subjects might turn some players off, but the complete five-part Sally Face is a worthwhile and wholly unique gaming experience that has to be played to be believed.

Mosaic will be a worthwhile experience for that certain type of gamer who can appreciate style over substance in the service of an artistic statement. Without much in the way of gameplay, it’s more of an experimental atmospheric experience than a traditional piece of interactive entertainment.

If you can get past all the timed events and repetition from multiple deaths, the slick-looking Deliver Us the Moon will reward you with an an evolving story and interesting characters in an evocative sci-fi setting filled with challenging obstacles to overcome.

Although marred by some technical issues at launch, as well as some poorly-implemented action sequences, the charm of this world and pull of its story are enough to make Blacksad: Under The Skin an engaging adaptation of the popular graphic novel series.

Life Is Strange 2 explores a touching, special relationship between two brothers that will make your heart hurt in the best possible way.

We Were Here Together provides a great assortment of co-op challenges that will test your ability to communicate vocally as well as to solve them together.

Argonus and the Gods of Stone takes elements of real Greek mythology and shuffles them about to create a fantastic, engrossing new experience that feels like it fits in antiquity.

Rather than treating Mary Shelley’s creation as the monster of so many horror movies, The Wanderer: Frankenstein’s Creature is true to the spirit of the original novel and is a treat for the eyes and ears.

Moons of Madness ditches the cold New England setting of Lovecraft’s eldritch tales for the dry, arid wastelands of Mars, and what results is a textbook example of how “cosmic” cosmic horror truly can be.

To play, or not to play? If you like Shakespeare, definitely. But even if you dozed through high school English, the clever premise and time-loop puzzling make Elsinore a world worth exploring.

A variety of engrossing “choose-your-own” quests based on real-life travel memoirs, Wanderlust Travel Stories’ vividly written text will have you longing to start your own exotic adventure.

An intriguing, beautiful mystery with a deep and memorable lead character, Jenny LeClue – Detectivú delivers in just about every way.

Balanced firmly between satisfying puzzles, survival horror gameplay, and an amusing story that satirizes the grind of corporate life, the odd but thoroughly engaging Yuppie Psycho has all the makings of a cult classic.

A slapstick romp through a stylish kingdom of loons and beasties, Pilgrims’ simple but inventive card-based inventory system and replay opportunities turn a slight game into a journey you’ll want to complete again and again.

While intentionally vague on backstory, The Sojourn provides a solitary journey through relaxing vistas littered with enjoyably mind-bending navigational puzzles.

Don’t be fooled by the glitter and sparkles: Little Misfortune is a surprisingly dark but very engaging grown-up tale about a little girl trying to find beauty in life’s ugliness.

While predictably light on actual gameplay, Supermassive’s kick-off to their Dark Pictures Anthology is a welcome return to form that ticks all the right boxes for a scarily good time. Whether alone or with friends, raise the sails and weigh anchor aboard Man of Medan’s ghost ship if you dare.

A grander take on Her Story‘s FMV database search idea, Telling Lies proves Sam Barlow is still the master of the carefully crafted reveal, even if at times this particular web of deceit unravels a little too slowly.

Another quality addition to the stable of games in the Black Watchmen universe, NITE Team 4 puts players on the hot seat of an elite hacker of a clandestine organization. Although some elements could have been executed better, the main game’s 25-plus hours of cyberwarfare goodness alone make this a must-have for existing Alice & Smith fans, and a great way for genre newbies to try their hand at some pretend hacking.

Though it lacks the strong narrative underpinning of its better inspirations, there is a lot to like in Epitasis for those who enjoy the gameplay of The Talos Principle, The Witness and similar exploratory puzzle games.

It ends way too soon and could really use a better backstory, but Alt-Frequencies is a simple and fun game that is totally worth playing for a unique new experience, and even more so if you have affection for FM radio.

Though its gameplay isn’t very deep, Sea of Solitude is a beautiful, at times poignant adventure that will linger with you long after you’ve left it in your wake.

For those who won’t be deterred by the endless deaths and time-looped backtracking in Outer Wilds, its intriguing mystery and non-linear exploration of an entire solar system will be a novel and deeply engaging experience.

An ambitious story with real, complex characters makes BEYOND: Two Souls one of the year’s most memorable adventures, as long as you’re willing to look past some constrained and awkward gameplay.