The most interesting adventure games released in 2016
All the best and most popular games of the year, upcoming releases, and hits from the past. Use filters to narrow down search.
That Dragon, Cancer
Adventure
January 12, 2016
An extraordinary, story-driven adventure game with point-and-click interface, developed by Numinous Games and crowdfunded by fans via Kickstarter. The story of That Dragon, Cancer is based on true events from the life of Ryan and Amy Green – the game’s developers. It tells of a married couple whose child is dying with cancer with only a couple of months of life left. Gameplay itself does not require much skill from the player, and boils down to performing simple actions, such as playing with the child. The game aims to immerse the players into impression of having lived through the last months of a child’s life, letting them experience all sorts of situations, some of which give joy and hope, while others are very sad. That Dragon, Cancer is a form of tribute to the developers’ deceased child as well as all children who struggle with cancer.
Oxenfree
Adventure
January 15, 2016
A 2D adventure game inspired by supernatural horrors, developed by Night School Studio, a debuting team founded by the former workers of Telltale Games. We take on the role of a girl named Alex, who is about to graduate middle school and to celebrate that, she travels with a group of friends to an island that has been the students’ customary place to say their farewells. As it turns out, during the party Alex and her companions have accidentally opened a gateway to another dimension, and the peace of teenagers is interrupted by increasingly strange phenomena, such as unnatural sounds and specters. Since a ghost's presence can’t always be detected with the naked eye, the heroine has to resort to a special radio that, after finding the proper wave frequency, helps her prepare for the possible attack in advance. The dark atmosphere of Oxenfree is complemented by climatic graphics, employing common horror movie filters, as well as an ominous soundtrack.
INFRA
Adventure
January 16, 2016
An adventure game, created by an independent developer Loiste Interactive, that focuses exclusively on puzzle solving and exploration. We play as an engineer responsible for structural analysis of defects and architectural damage. During a routine inspection carried out in an underground complex, a catastrophe takes place. This results in our protagonist being trapped in a labyrinth of chambers and hallways. In addition, he discovers that the catastrophe might take its toll on the entire city, and that he is the only one who is capable of preventing the disaster and saving the city's inhabitants. It is a first-person perspective game, and the gameplay consists of traveling through the underground structures both on foot and using different vehicles. The structures are full of hidden passages and unique locations. Equipped only with flashlight and their wits, the players have to lead the protagonist through a series of puzzles that require knowledge of mechanics and electricity.
Crudelis
Adventure
January 20, 2016
A game set in a steampunk world, which is a mixture of an RPG and adventure game. This is the debut work from Whiskey Jack Games, a studio based in Wroclaw, Poland. The action takes place in an alternative version of the 19th century, inspired by the industrial revolution and fantasy literature classics. We play as Henry Shackleton, a scientist who falls victim to a bandit attack. He was just about to discover the secret behind bringing the dead back to life, but now he has just an hour left to live. His task is to make the most of the time at his disposal. The gameplay combines difficult moral choices with a real-life time restriction, similar to the one present in the 1989's original Prince of Persia. In the game, the player is given complete freedom to explore and engage in different activities. Depending on the player's decisions, the game offers twelve different endings.
Between Me and the Night
Adventure
January 22, 2016
The game is the debut work from the RainDance studio. It is an action adventure game featuring arcade elements. The story is focused on two figures: a boy living in the modern, surrealistic world, and a medieval knight traveling across a magical land. Both storylines are tightly interconnected and are being gradually brought together as the game progresses. The mechanics combine elements of typical point-and-click adventure games with classic arcade elements. The player's tasks are to explore, gather items, and solve puzzles. From time to time, the player will be tested not only in terms of logical thinking, but also in manual skills. The game features a simplistic system of character movement - the player can only go left or right. Furthermore, the player's inventory is limited to six items.
Order of the Thorne: The King's Challenge
Adventure
January 26, 2016
A classic point-and-click adventure inspired by the iconic King's Quest series. Players take control of a young bard Finn, who decides to respond to the monarch's call and take on the task of finding the lost queen. During the game we travel through fantastic locations, talk to neutral characters and solve environmental riddles. The production has a colorful graphic design maintained in pixelart style.
Great Detective Pikachu: The Birth of a New Duo
Adventure
February 3, 2016
A mystery adventure game, set in the universe of the Pokémon series and developed by Game Freak studio, creators of most of the entries in this popular series. The story of Great Detective Pikachu: The Birth of a New Duo offers a different view on the aforementioned franchise and revolves around a boy named Tim, whose favorite activity are detective investigations. The whole game comes down to solving criminal mysteries, during which we are mentored by the eponymous Pikachu – one of the main protagonists of the Pokémon series. In terms of game mechanics we received a classic detective game, which requires us to thoroughly examine the locations we visit in search of clues and evidences. We also take part in numerous conversations with witnesses and suspects alike, during which Pikachu can speak human language instead of its characteristic squeaks.
Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders
Adventure
February 4, 2016
An old-school murder mystery point-and-click adventure game, developed by a veteran of the genre, the French company Microids. Production is based on a novel by Agatha Christie under the same title and is the first installment in a planned game series describing the adventures of a famous sleuth, Hercule Poirot. Plot of the Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders starts when the detective receives a letter from a serial killer, who identifies himself as A.B.C., in which he informs of the date and place of his next crime. When the panic begins to spread in the society, the task of capturing the guilty, falls, of course, on the shoulders of our protagonist. Title employs a third person view, and during the game we visit successive locations, investigate crime scenes, collect evidence, interrogate witnesses, and solve subsequent criminal puzzles. The game features a colorful, slightly cartoonish visual style.
Firewatch
Adventure
February 9, 2016
An indie FPP adventure game and the debut production of the American Campo Santo studio. The team comprises of veteran developers, previously working on such titles as The Walking Dead, Mark of the Ninja, BioShock 2, and Brutal Legend. The story of Firewatch takes place in an enormous forest in the American state of Wyoming, where our hero is trying to escape his day-to-day problems by becoming a ranger. This seemingly calm profession turns into an extremely complicated one, when various unexplainable events take place in the area that our character is charged with patrolling. The incidents are directly connected to our hero’s boss – Delilah, with whom we constantly keep in touch via radio. Building up relations with our superior is one of the key aspects of the game, as she is the only NPC featured in the production. The gameplay revolves exclusively around the single player mode; the popular Unity engine powers the game’s visuals.
Downfall
Adventure
February 15, 2016
Downfall is a bloody horror adventure with a classic point & click interface. The player directs the actions of Joe Davis, who tries to find his lost wife in a hotel like a nightmare. Due to the dark subject matter and extremely brutal scenes, the game is addressed only to adult audiences.
Layers of Fear (2016)
Adventure
February 16, 2016
A first person psychological horror adventure game inspired of 19th-century paintings and architecture. It was created by Polish developer Bloober Team, known for such titles as BRAWL, A-Men and Music Master: Chopin. The game is set in an ominous manor, while you assume the role of an insane painter striving to finish his masterpiece at all cost. Gameplay boils down to exploration, as the player searches for the source of the hero’s madness and the tools needed to complete the painting. While playing, you experience strange visions and fears born in the protagonist’s mind, making the task much more complicated. The game is soaked with dark, psychedelic atmosphere, which is further deepened by fitting audiovisuals.
Californium
Adventure
February 17, 2016
A first person adventure game taking place in a science fiction reality. It was inspired by the biography of one of the most famous American sci-fi writers, Philip K. Dick. The story is set in 1967, and the player takes control of a penniless writer called Elvin Green who, discouraged by failures in both his personal and professional lives, seeks comfort in alcohol and drugs. With nothing to lose, the protagonist finds himself about to hit the rock bottom where, after having doped himself, he discovers a passage to an alternative reality called Theta. Exploring the subsequent locations of the mysterious world we ventured into, we search for different items that can solve the protagonist's real-world problems. At the same time, all story elements vividly refer to the life of Philip K. Dick himself, his obsessions, and phobias haunting him. The game stands out with its original and artistic visuals, aiming to recreate the atmosphere of a narcotic trip into the mind of the character.
The Emerald Maiden: Symphony of Dreams
Adventure
February 17, 2016
A casual adventure game from the hidden object genre, developed for PC and mobiles devices by Gogii Games studio, known for Princess Isabella: A Witch’s Curse. Once again, creators take us to London during the end of 20th century. We play as a young woman, abandoned by her parents as an infant, who suddenly receives a mysterious invitation, promising to let her meet her mother. The girl quickly travels to the titular Emerald Maiden – and underwater complex for European elite, where something ominous lurks. As a classic hidden object game, Emerald Maiden requires keen eyes which will help you find items, and logical thinking to solve the puzzles. In addition, a dozen of mini-games supplement the gameplay. Those who are less patient can use a system of hints in the form of a robot accompanying heroine.
Nekopara Vol. 2
Adventure
February 20, 2016
Continuation of Nekopara Vol. 1 - a classic visual novel adventure set in a world inhabited by cats taking on a human figure. Players take on the role of the owner of the confectionery, who has to take care of and help several cats belonging to his family.
The Walking Dead: Michonne - A Telltale Games Mini-Series
Adventure
February 23, 2016
A three-part episodic adventure game by Telltale Games that came out as an expansion to The Walking Dead: Season Two. The game takes us back to the world where human population was decimated by a zombie virus. As the title suggests, it focuses on one of the most recognizable characters from the original graphic novel – Michonne, the series' relentless, sword-wielding heroine. Since the original story revealed only shreds of her past, the game tries to fill in the gap by depicting the events that caused Michonne to leave Rick, Ezekiel and the rest of the group, and why she came back. Gameplay mechanics is the same as in the previous installments in The Walking Dead series, therefore, you mainly explore, talk to other characters, and make tough choices that determine how the story unfolds. The game does not include logic puzzles, which usually are the landmark of the genre, instead featuring simple action sequences.
Heaven's Hope
Adventure
February 25, 2016
A point-and-click adventure game created by a German developer, Mosaic Mask Studio. The game combines the dark atmosphere of the 19-th century with comedy elements. The main character is called Talorel and is an angel candidate attending a stunt school located in the heavens. During one of his flights, he has an accident and falls to the ground near the eponymous town. Leaving heaven without permission is forbidden, thus the protagonist must return as soon as possible, before his supervisors find out what happened. This turns out to be more difficult than he initially thought - Talorel has to visit a several locations, talk to numerous characters, solve a massive number of puzzles and make a few hard choices that will influence the story and its ending. The game has two distinctive features: the player can join another player at any time, and customizable appearance of the protagonist.
Love You to Bits
Adventure
February 25, 2016
A science-fiction point ‘n click adventure game, developed cooperatively by Alike Studio and Pati.io. The story of Love You to Bits takes place in a fantasy world, where we assume the role of a boy whose robot-girlfriend was destroyed and her parts scattered around the world. Hoping to rebuild her, the protagonist traverses subsequent uncharted locations in search of parts of his beloved. Therefore, the gameplay focuses mostly on exploration, albeit we also solve some more or less complicated puzzles. The game has a rather unusual form for its genre, as it somewhat resembles a classic, scrolling 2D platformer game. Love You To Bits features very colorful cartoonish graphics.
The Town of Light
Adventure
February 26, 2016
First-person adventure game in the form of a psychological thriller and the debut of an independent Italian studio Lka.it. The game's plot is set in an mental institution located in the Italian town of Volterra. Creators of The Town of Light decided to depict in their game the history of an actually existing place, focusing on dramas of its residents, treated by facility staff like animals. In the game we play the part of a 16-year-old girl named Renee who comes to the asylum in hope of recovering her lost memories. Her task is complicated by the fact that she suffers from schizophrenia, and during exploration she is constantly accompanied by her various fears and other symptoms of her condition. During the game we explore subsequent, carefully reproduced rooms of the asylum, slowly discovering all of its dark secrets. Depending on our actions, story can develop in a nonlinear way.
Lucy: The Eternity She Wished For
Adventure
February 28, 2016
A visual novel adventure game developed by Modern Visual Arts Laboratory. The game was at first released in South Korea, and after that its refreshed version debuted worldwide. The story takes place in a future where androids became a normal part of human life. Lucy: The Eternity She Wished For tells a story of a young boy who finds Lucy, an android that is different than all other machines, on a garbage dumb. Lucy, in contrast to other androids, has feelings and acts like a human. Similarly as in other visual novels, the gameplay mostly consists of discovering the story created by developers and of making decisions during specific points of the game. These decisions impact the direction of the plot of the game. The title employs manga-style visuals that consist mostly of static images with text lines that reveal the story.
Deponia Doomsday
Adventure
March 1, 2016
The fourth installment in the comedy adventure game series initially planned as a trilogy. however, under the pressure of fan expectations, the creators from Daedalic Entertainment decided to create one more entry in the franchise. Deponia Doomsday continues the story of Rufus, who had a vision of a disaster striking the idyllic floating city of Elysium and his home, garbage heap-planet Deponia. Once he woke up from his nightmare, he decided to do everything he can in order to prevent the cataclysm from happening. He asks professor McChronicle for help and by using his time machine he sets out on a crazy journey in time and space. When it comes to gameplay mechanics, the game does not differ from the previous parts and concentrates on exploration, dialogues with NPCs, and puzzle solving. Even though Deponia Doomsday was released several years after the third part of the game, the visuals look very much the same, once again utilizing the series' distinctive style.
The Count Lucanor
Adventure
March 3, 2016
An adventure game with elements of survival horror, in which we play Hans - a young man wandering through a gloomy castle. Apart from exploring gloomy chambers and solving puzzles, during the game we talk to the characters we meet and hide from our opponents who make us shivers. Decision making also plays an important role, because it depends on them which of the five ways our adventure will end.
Shardlight
Adventure
March 8, 2016
A point-and-click adventure game set in a post-apocalyptic world. The title was developed by Wadjet Eye, a studio renowned for The Blackwell Legacy game series. The action takes place in an unspecified time in the future, where the human civilization was decimated in the aftermath of a nuclear war. You assume the role of a young woman that becomes infected with a deadly virus. She decides to take up work for the hated, authoritarian government, as it is the only way to participate in a lottery, in which the winner is awarded with a vaccine for all the mortal illnesses that plague humanity after the war. In terms of gameplay mechanics, Shardlight a classic adventure game focusing on exploration, dialogues, collecting items, and solving puzzles that test not only your perception, but also intelligence.
Late Shift
Adventure
March 9, 2016
An adventure game in the form of an interactive FMV thriller, developed by the Swiss team at CtrlMovie and directed by Tobias Weber; the script on the other hand, was written by Michael Robert Johnson. Though the game debuted on mobile devices, it also came out for PC and consoles a year later. Matt, the protagonist, is a young student of mathematics, who tries to make some money as a car park guard. He gets charged with stealing Chinese porcelain from an auction house in London. Trying to escape the punishment from the influential owners of the stolen valuables, the protagonist has to prove his innocence by any means necessary. The experience is based on watching story sequences and making various decisions - the player's choices influence the story and determine which of the seven possible endings will appear on the screen. The game is made of about 4 hours of video material in Full-HD quality and its visuals represent the standards of modern-day interactive movies.
The Guest
Adventure
March 10, 2016
A first-person adventure game with puzzles, developed by small team at Spanish Team Gotham studio. The Guest takes place in the 80s inside an obscure hotel. The main hero is a Soviet scientist with a mysterious past, who struggles with mental issues due to his medicine addiction. After he wakes up in the middle of the night, he finds the hotel has been completely abandoned, and various obstacles are trying to take his life and prevent him from leaving the building. We move through subsequent hotel rooms trying to get outside, collecting useful items and solving many various puzzles on the way. We also learn that the story of this building somehow related to the hero's dark past.
Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet
Adventure
March 22, 2016
A humorous pirate point and click adventure game and a sequel to the 2007’s free Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy!. In both productions, developed single-handedly by Alasdair Beckett-King, we assume the role of the eponymous Nelly who loves absolutely everything connected to pirates. When the evil Baron Whitebeard starts to kidnap entire flocks of birds to force them into obedience by means of hypnosis, the protagonist has to uncover the true intentions of the villain and find a way to thwart his plans. Gameplay-wise, Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet! is a classical adventure game that bases on exploration, conversations, gathering items, and puzzle solving. However, the developer has also put an emphasis on an adequate dose of humor and a visual style that brings the old-school adventure games of the 90s to mind.
Day of the Tentacle: Remastered
Adventure
March 22, 2016
A remastered edition of a classic adventure game created by LucasArts in 1993. That game, along with its sequel, Maniac Mansion, became famous as the grandfather of modern adventure games. The Remastered Edition was prepared by Double Fine Productions, a studio founded by Tim Schafer – one of the co-creators of the original hit. In the game you play as a trio of heroes who are trying to save the world from a threat posed by the titular tentacle. After coming into contact with an unknown substance it acquired consciousness and high intelligence. The only salvation seems to be traveling back in time in order to prevent the tentacle from being born. However, after the time machine malfunctions, the situation gets more complicated, as the heroes get trapped in three different historical periods. The creators made sure that the new edition was faithful to the original ideas, offering as much absurd humor as the original and the unique 2D visuals that are reminiscent of classic cartoons by Warner Bros.
Solstice
Adventure
March 23, 2016
A mystery adventure game from the visual novel genre, developed by small Polish developer team, MoaCube. It takes us to a fictional city in the middle of a desolate ice desert, cut off from the rest of the world. One day, the local archaeologist disappears. A pair of young people, a bored doctor on a contract and a young women who arrived with the last dog sled, decide to investigate the truth behind the event. It soon turns out that the vanishing itself is just the tip of an iceberg, and the protagonists get caught up in a much greater scheme. We learn the game’s story from perspectives of two different characters, each with different motives and objectives. Moreover, the town itself is filled with complex and colorful characters with their own hidden secrets. All those elements together allowed the creators to create a complicated, multi-thread plot with many plot twists and mysteries to discover.
King Rabbit
Adventure
March 23, 2016
King Rabbit is a mobile puzzle/platformer developed by RareSloth. The plot is not that important and serve a secondary role in the game. We play as the titular King Rabbit whose job is to save his subordinates from the dangers that threaten them. The game is presented from a bird's-eye perspective. Gameplay focuses on going through the levels and solving the encountered logical and environmental puzzles. We will also have to avoid the ever-present traps and face all kinds of enemies. It will require us to use our dexterity and reflexes. As we progress, maps get more complicated and the overall difficulty level increases. King Rabbit has simple but eye-pleasing cartoonish visuals.
Samorost 3
Adventure
March 24, 2016
The third installment in a light-hearted adventure game series created by Czech developer Amanita Design, who also created such titles as Botanicula and Machinarium. Once again, you play as the little space gnome, who does not speak and communicates with the world solely by gestures and strange sounds. In terms of gameplay, Samorost 3 is a typical point-and-click adventure game that focuses on exploration of diversified locations and solving inventive logic puzzles. In contrast to its predecessors, which were very short and simple productions, the newest installment in the Samorost series is a full-fledged production offering several hours of gameplay. The game’s unquestionable strength are its audiovisuals. The graphics were created with a technique that combines photography and hand-drawn elements. The atmosphere is further enhanced by the soundtrack composed by Tomas Dvorak, known from previous productions by Amanita Design.
Paws: A Shelter 2 Game
Adventure
March 24, 2016
An action adventure game from Might and Delight studio, set in world created for the sandbox simulator, Shelter 2. It is a story of a young lynx and his bear companion, who venture through the vast and dangerous world searching for home. As far as game mechanics go, Paws: A Shelter 2 Game combines the unique features of the Shelter simulation series with adventure and platformer elements. Instead of sandbox freedom, the game offers a linear plotline and allows us to control two independent characters, who can cooperate to solve puzzles and avoid various traps. The game employs the same visual style as the original Shelter 2, although we observe game’s world from third-person perspective, and many features not present in the original title, like the ability to follow a trail using senses other than sight.
The Descendant
Adventure
March 24, 2016
An episodic adventure game set in a post-apocalyptic world. It was developed by a Swedish studio Gaming Corps. The player is brought into a world where climate changes and dwindling natural resources led to a global conflict and the destruction of human civilization. However, the last humans survived in underground shelters, where they were supposed to remain in cryogenic chambers until the surface of the Earth becomes inhabitable again. The story is split into two storylines, featuring different characters and separated by hundreds of years. The gameplay consists of exploring different locations, conversations, and making difficult choices which have their consequences even hundreds of years later, in the second scenario. The game also features arcade challenges and occasional puzzles.
Preston Sterling
Adventure
March 25, 2016
A mix of a point-and-click adventure and action game developed by independent German studio Animation Arts. During the game the player assumes the role of the titular adventure seeker and treasure hunter named Preston Sterling, who is examining the secrets of various myths and legends from the British Isles. As one could guess, each of his adventures is filled with various dangers and the protagonist will encounter many characters, not all of whom are friendly towards him. The gameplay differs from typical action-adventure titles because in addition to exploring the locations, speaking to encountered characters and solving various logic puzzles, the player also participates in various action sequences such as sneaking past guards or avoiding traps. The action is shown from a third-person perspective, but during the riddle solving and manipulation of various items the camera switches to first-person perspective.
Adr1ft
Adventure
March 28, 2016
An action adventure game set in a science-fiction world created by Three One Zero - a studio led by former Microsoft employee, Adam Orth. The hero of the game is an astronaut trying to survive in space after a disaster destroyed his mother station. Core of the gameplay is exploring and solving logical puzzles, which mainly consist of repairing various equipment which allows us to keep ourselves alive in space. As Adr1ft takes place in environment with no gravity, we can move freely in all directions, with the only limitation being the need to replenish our supply of oxygen and the length of the rope ensuring that we won’t float away into open space. We discover the game’s plot mainly through audio diaries, which describe the stories of people who worked on the station and answer the question concerning the cause behind this disaster.
Dead Secret
Adventure
March 28, 2016
A horror first-person perspective detective adventure game developed by Robot Invader studio led by Chris Pruett, a man known for his love of the horror genre. The story of Dead Secret takes place in the 60s. During the game player assumes the role of a journalist who is trying to solve the mystery of the death of an eccentric professor, exploring the rooms of his mansion and gathering various items, hidden documents, evidence, and clues. What makes the situation even more interesting is the fact that all of the player’s actions are observed by the murderer hiding somwhere in the mansion and meeting him could end in sudden death. Robot Invader’s production was released both in traditional version and in one that is compatible with most popular virtual reality sets.
NightCry
Adventure
March 29, 2016
An action-adventure game stylistically inspired by Japanese horrors. The game was developed by Nude Maker studio in cooperation with many genre veterans, who have created such franchises as Clock Tower, Silent Hill, and the Ju-On movie series. Night Cry takes place on a passenger ship. A series of brutal murders that take place there scares the passengers and makes it impossible to continue the cruise. The player assumes the role of one of the surviving passengers - his task is to discover the identity of the killer. The gameplay mechanics of the game focus on adventure-related activities such as exploration, collecting items, conversations and solving riddles (some of which have a time limit). From time to time one can also encounter action sequences. However, the player's objective is not to fight, but to hide from the murdered and – in case of being discovered – escape.
