Top 21 Adventure Games of All Time — Ascending Order
by Brian_McInnis | created - 21 Mar 2019 | updated - 4 months ago | PublicThere are, at last count, somewhere over four hundred point-&-click-type adventure games, but I can report that almost all of them just plain suck. Here are the tiny handful of adventure games that are actually worth playing. List is ascending, so #1's the least, #21's the greatest.
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1. The Legend of Kyrandia: The Hand of Fate (1993 Video Game)
Adventure, Fantasy
The land of Kyrandia is disappearing piece by piece. The only way to save the land is to find the anchor-stone, located in the center of the world. In this second part of the trilogy, you play the part of Zanthia.
Stars: Bonnie Lynn Toups, Elena Ferrante, Michael Kucan, Douglas H. Baker
Votes: 67
2. Simon the Sorcerer (1993 Video Game)
Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
Simon, your average English boy, is abducted by a mysterious old book and transported to a fantastic world where he has magical powers.
Stars: Chris Barrie, Roger Blake, Paul Codish, Tony Dillon
Votes: 226
3. Dropsy (2015 Video Game)
T | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Dropsy becomes an outcast after a fire at his family's circus and must work to discover the truth behind it in order to clear his name.
Director: Jesse Bull
Votes: 33
4. Memoranda (2017 Video Game)
Adventure
A point-and-click adventure inspired by Haruki Murakami's surreal short stories. The game tells the story of a young woman who has forgotten her own name. But is she really losing her memory?
Director: Sahand Saedi | Stars: Lisette De Artola, Monica De Leon, Andrew Dennis, Daniel J. Edwards
Votes: 11
5. Botanicula (2012 Video Game)
E10+ | Adventure, Fantasy
Five botanical creatures try to save the last seed of their home tree from evil parasitic creatures that have infested their home.
Director: Jakub Dvorský
Votes: 148
6. Thimbleweed Park (2017 Video Game)
T | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
In Thimbleweed Park, a dead body is the least of your problems. Switch between five playable characters to uncover the surreal secrets of this strange town. The deeper you go, the weirder it gets.
Stars: Nicole Oliver, Javier Lacroix, Elise Kates, Alex Zahara
Votes: 337
7. Day of the Tentacle (1993 Video Game)
E | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
A disembodied tentacle is accidentally exposed to nuclear waste, giving it human abilities and an ambition to take over the world.
Directors: Dave Grossman, Tim Schafer | Stars: Denny Delk, Jane Jacobs, Nick Jameson, Ginny Westcott
Votes: 1,995
Beware the uglified 'Remastered' version.
8. The Dream Machine (2010 Video Game)
The Dream Machine is an award-winning adventure game about dreams and voyeurism. It's built by hand using materials such as clay, cardboard and broccoli.
Votes: 19
9. The Dig (1995 Video Game)
K-A | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Three humans trapped on a distant planet discover its deadly secret which could be their undoing.
Director: Sean Clark | Stars: Robert Patrick, Mari Weiss, Steve Blum, Leilani Jones
Votes: 980
10. Samorost 3 (2016 Video Game)
Adventure
Samorost 3 is a puzzle point-and-click adventure game developed by Amanita Design.
Director: Jakub Dvorský
Votes: 99
11. Football Game (2018 Video Game)
Adventure, Drama
It's game night for the Purchase County Turbines and high-school football hero Tommy's sweet-heart is waiting in the bleachers - isn't she? Join Tommy for a night of disturbing discovery in this eerie point-&-click adventure.
Director: Shaun Aitcheson
Votes: 19
12. Primordia (2012 Video Game)
Adventure, Sci-Fi
Horatio Nullbuilt and Crispin Horatiobuilt live alone in the desert, fixing up their ship before a rogue robot comes along and steals their power core. They then traverse the desert and ... See full summary »
Stars: Logan Cunningham, Abe Goldfarb, Sarah Elmaleh, Nonie Craige
Votes: 157
13. Sumatra: Fate of Yandi (2019 Video Game)
Adventure
A logger is caught in a terrible landslide, stranding him deep in the Indonesian jungle. Join him on his quest to find his best friend and coworker Ramdan, and return home to his beloved Adiratna in this old-school point-&-click adventure.
Director: Shaun Aitcheson
Votes: 11
14. Full Throttle (1995 Video Game)
T | Action, Adventure, Crime
Framed for murdering a motorcycle magnate, a biker gang leader tries to clear his name and take revenge on the scheming businessman responsible.
Director: Tim Schafer | Stars: Roy Conrad, Mark Hamill, Hamilton Camp, Kath Soucie
Votes: 1,710
Beware the uglified 'Remastered' version.
15. The Silent Age (2012 Video Game)
T | Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi
The story is set in 1972 and follows Joe, a janitor at Archon (a luxurious company focusing on scientific research and development), on a quest to save mankind by using time travel.
Director: Thomas Ryder | Stars: Gavin Hammon, Adam Harrington, Roger Jackson, Chuck Kourouklis
Votes: 114
This game's best with the voice acting turned off.
16. The Secret of Monkey Island (1990 Video Game)
E | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
Young pirate wanna-be Guybrush Threepwood sets out to pass the Three Trials, woo the governess Elaine Marley, reach the fabled Monkey Island and vanquish the nefarious ghost pirate LeChuck.
Directors: Ron Gilbert, Hal Barwood | Stars: Dominic Armato, Earl Boen, Alexandra Boyd, Leilani Jones
Votes: 3,305
Beware the horrendous 'Special Edition' version.
17. Machinarium (2009 Video Game)
E10+ | Adventure
A point-and-click adventure in which a humble robot must free his friend from the clutches of the nefarious Black Cap Brotherhood and save the control tower of the Steampunk-like city of Machinarium from being blown up.
Director: Jakub Dvorský
Votes: 634
If possible, avoid the tolerable but inferior 'Definitive Version', which sucks out a good deal of the original game's charm.
18. Grim Fandango (1998 Video Game)
T | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
Manuel Calavera is a travel agent in The Land of the Dead who has stumbled across a ring of corruption.
Director: Tim Schafer | Stars: Tony Plana, Maria Canals-Barrera, Alan Blumenfeld, Pamela Adlon
Votes: 3,752
In this case the Remastered version's actually better than the original: The characters are in better resolution, the game's way less buggy, and the scenery's unaltered.
19. The Curse of Monkey Island (1997 Video Game)
K-A | Animation, Action, Adventure
After unwittingly turning his true love Elaine into solid gold with a cursed engagement ring, Guybrush Threepwood must find a map, a ship and a crew, sail to Blood Island and track down an uncursed diamond ring to reverse the curse.
Directors: Jonathan Ackley, Larry Ahern | Stars: Dominic Armato, Alexandra Boyd, Earl Boen, Denny Delk
Votes: 2,837
20. The Last Door: Season One (2013 Video Game)
T | Adventure, Horror, Mystery
The story follows Jeremiah Devitt, who receives a letter from his childhood friend, Anthony Beechworth. Devitt travels to Beechworth manor, where he finds that strange things are afoot. As ... See full summary »
Director: Enrique Cabeza
Votes: 133
Along with Season 2, of course.
21. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (1991 Video Game)
E | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
Having vanquished the ghost pirate LeChuck with a soft drink, Guybrush Threepwood now seeks the treasure of Big Whoop. During his quest he discovers LeChuck is back from the dead. Once again.
Director: Ron Gilbert | Stars: Dominic Armato, Earl Boen, Alexandra Boyd, Leilani Jones
Votes: 2,530
The greatest of all video games. Beware the ghastly 'Special Edition' version.
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