Thanks for doing this, i like lists.
On the other hand many games in this list do not convey the main attribute of adventure games that i like, being relaxing in its gameplay.
obra dinn, outer wilds, blue prince, forgotten city, while relaxing in themselves, if you skip a few days/weeks then it is impossible to get back into them (which lead to obra dinn and outer wilds being the few games i started and never finished), so there is a pressure about them that i do not like and also do not fit with many life-styles. this is very far from the 'monkey island-experience'. of course exploration is very strong in these, yet i feel that they dominate this list a bit too much.
Also i still do not understand why Portal 2 ends up on adventure game lists, when it is mostly a puzzle game (a very good one at that). At least Witness did not (which is another puzzle game i like a lot).
But mostly i miss games from The Brotherhood, Stasis 1-2, Beautiful Desolation, which play in a very classic way but bring a lot of unique things visually, narratively, ambition-wise and even mechanics. And most importantly I had a lot of fun with them. compared to e.g. SOMA with similar themes (or Amnesia), which is generally hyped but for me it was a combination of story, survival and a walking simulator, the latter two i don't care about that much (even though i played my share), so it would have been better off as a short animation for me.
Somebody mentioned Lost in Play, i played that recently, and that was also a lot of fun, they put a lot of care in the details.
On the other hand many games in this list do not convey the main attribute of adventure games that i like, being relaxing in its gameplay.
obra dinn, outer wilds, blue prince, forgotten city, while relaxing in themselves, if you skip a few days/weeks then it is impossible to get back into them (which lead to obra dinn and outer wilds being the few games i started and never finished), so there is a pressure about them that i do not like and also do not fit with many life-styles. this is very far from the 'monkey island-experience'. of course exploration is very strong in these, yet i feel that they dominate this list a bit too much.
Also i still do not understand why Portal 2 ends up on adventure game lists, when it is mostly a puzzle game (a very good one at that). At least Witness did not (which is another puzzle game i like a lot).
But mostly i miss games from The Brotherhood, Stasis 1-2, Beautiful Desolation, which play in a very classic way but bring a lot of unique things visually, narratively, ambition-wise and even mechanics. And most importantly I had a lot of fun with them. compared to e.g. SOMA with similar themes (or Amnesia), which is generally hyped but for me it was a combination of story, survival and a walking simulator, the latter two i don't care about that much (even though i played my share), so it would have been better off as a short animation for me.
Somebody mentioned Lost in Play, i played that recently, and that was also a lot of fun, they put a lot of care in the details.
(12-31-2025, 10:09 AM)immorelity Wrote: obra dinn, outer wilds, blue prince, forgotten city, while relaxing in themselves, if you skip a few days/weeks then it is impossible to get back into them
I agree with you to an extent (it took me 3 or 4 attempts to get into Outer Wilds because I kept leaving it and restarting months later) but what is it about these games that makes getting back into them so hard? I had this with Grim Fandango too, for example - I have restarted it 3 times over the years and have never got further than about halfway.
Quote:Also i still do not understand why Portal 2 ends up on adventure game lists, when it is mostly a puzzle game (a very good one at that). At least Witness did not (which is another puzzle game i like a lot).
I wouldn't have Portal on an adventure game list either because it is too much about precise action movements. The Witness, on the other hand, is just like Myst - there is no precise action required (as far as I can remember). They are environmental puzzles and you need to explore to discover how to solve them.
Quote:But mostly i miss games from The Brotherhood, Stasis 1-2
I enjoyed Stasis: Bone Totem quite a lot, but it outstayed its welcome by about 1/3 of its length IMO and I found most of the dialogue quite boring. It could have been much more streamlined.
This post was last modified: 12-31-2025, 11:36 AM by Piero.
all comments are valid i guess, it is quite subjective after all.
some comments, again only reflecting my taste mostly.
for outer wilds (and for the others for a lesser extent) there is no explicit progression, all or most is in your mind and it is very nonlinear so one cannot shuffle through a walkthrough video to refresh what happens until some point, and then continue. this is what makes them unique, yet for me more frustrating.
witness... i don't see in it most of the elements i associate with adventure games, it is just a series of puzzles and a series of 'extra' videos connected by an overworld. by this definition bonfire peaks etc. puzzle games could be called adventure games too. i don't think that it is that similar to myst-likes.
stasis... yes, they are far from being flawless, but i found them more memorable and fun than many other games that occur in such lists regularly (most daedalic games, wadget eye games, even though i like them a lot).
overall this list appreciates novelty in mechanics more than anything else, so perhaps there should be a separate list exclusively for 'mostly classic' inventory-based point and click games (e.g. beyond the edge of owlsgard is a hidden gem in this sense) where a game can stand out only with story/puzzles/graphics/world-building alone.
some comments, again only reflecting my taste mostly.
for outer wilds (and for the others for a lesser extent) there is no explicit progression, all or most is in your mind and it is very nonlinear so one cannot shuffle through a walkthrough video to refresh what happens until some point, and then continue. this is what makes them unique, yet for me more frustrating.
witness... i don't see in it most of the elements i associate with adventure games, it is just a series of puzzles and a series of 'extra' videos connected by an overworld. by this definition bonfire peaks etc. puzzle games could be called adventure games too. i don't think that it is that similar to myst-likes.
stasis... yes, they are far from being flawless, but i found them more memorable and fun than many other games that occur in such lists regularly (most daedalic games, wadget eye games, even though i like them a lot).
overall this list appreciates novelty in mechanics more than anything else, so perhaps there should be a separate list exclusively for 'mostly classic' inventory-based point and click games (e.g. beyond the edge of owlsgard is a hidden gem in this sense) where a game can stand out only with story/puzzles/graphics/world-building alone.
This post was last modified: 12-31-2025, 12:07 PM by immorelity.
Al good points that clarify your first post 
There's definitely an element of excitement over new ways to play games. I suppose when some of us have been playing adventures since the 1980s it's always nice to discover new mechanics as well as new stories. However, I think a truly great story is a rare thing in an adventure game and agree that it should probably take precedence over mechanics.
(12-31-2025, 12:06 PM)immorelity Wrote: overall this list appreciates novelty in mechanics more than anything else, so perhaps there should be a separate list exclusively for 'mostly classic' inventory-based point and click games (e.g. beyond the edge of owlsgard is a hidden gem in this sense) where a game can stand out only with story/puzzles/graphics/world-building alone.
There's definitely an element of excitement over new ways to play games. I suppose when some of us have been playing adventures since the 1980s it's always nice to discover new mechanics as well as new stories. However, I think a truly great story is a rare thing in an adventure game and agree that it should probably take precedence over mechanics.
(12-31-2025, 10:09 AM)immorelity Wrote: Thanks for doing this, i like lists.
On the other hand many games in this list do not convey the main attribute of adventure games that i like, being relaxing in its gameplay.
obra dinn, outer wilds, blue prince, forgotten city, while relaxing in themselves, if you skip a few days/weeks then it is impossible to get back into them (which lead to obra dinn and outer wilds being the few games i started and never finished), so there is a pressure about them that i do not like and also do not fit with many life-styles. this is very far from the 'monkey island-experience'. of course exploration is very strong in these, yet i feel that they dominate this list a bit too much.
Also i still do not understand why Portal 2 ends up on adventure game lists, when it is mostly a puzzle game (a very good one at that). At least Witness did not (which is another puzzle game i like a lot).
I very much agree with most of this. There seems to be a conflation betwixt 'thematic puzzle game' and 'adventure game.'
I understand that fans on one are frequently fans of the other, but for purposes of a list of the best adventure games of the past 25 years, it seems like the list doesn't deliver on its promise.
But...where to draw the line? I had the same frustration as you about Obra Dinn --even though there are no reflexes required, it's a much more intense game than your typical 'Monkey Island Experience', in the sense that you can't play it casually.
A lot of games that are either walking simulators or skirt the edge of that genre also feel very much like adventure games (Gone Home and Little Misfortune are two that I've played that come to mind.) FMV games that Her Story have nothing in common with the Monkey Island Experience, except that they both have gameplay elements that could be described as 'puzzles'. Outer Wilds and Portal, it never occurred to me to call those adventure games --their primary gameplay manners are too far removed from the genre's roots. Can a genre evolve? Yes, but sometimes that means that the products of that evolution end up evolving into a different genre (pre-existing or completely new).
When I think of an Adventure Game with a capital A and a capital G, I predominantly (exceptions exist) think of a game that is either point and click, or could very well be point and click but was developed for a controller (Cleo: A Pirates Tale, Shadow of Destiny, Broken Sword 3), or a game that was developed before pointing and clicking was a thing (KQ 3, for example), or which is hearkening back to those games (The Crimson Diamond). Or a text adventure, or a Legend style hybrid.
Once we start getting into direct control full 3D worlds with action elements and separate buttons to perform different physical actions (jump, crouch, crawl, run shoot, etc) we're usually too far from the source for me to consider the game an Adventure Game.
But, and I say this with zero snark whatsoever, it'd probably be tough to run a website and not lose tons of money focusing on only point n click Monkey Island Experiences. It's too niche.
I agree with the previous commenters. Of course, walking simulators, puzzle games, interactive movies, narrative RPGs, and various other genre hybrids all contain the three pillars of adventure games. That doesn’t mean, however, that they don’t also fit into other genres - and this is where you often have to make a somewhat subjective call as to which genre a given game is actually closest to.
Watching the list, I also realized with some sadness that the highest-ranked classic adventure game with traditional dialogues and an inventory system is Syberia - and it only placed 10th. Machinarium is of course also very close to that tradition (and it’s an outstanding game), although in that case the dialogues are presented in a less traditional way. Still, it genuinely made me sad to see that this genre is no longer entirely “mine.” While I really like and appreciate Portal 2, The Walking Dead, or What Remains of Edith Finch, I don’t love them for the same reasons I love adventure games.
What I value most in adventure games is that sense of coziness, the lack of pressure, and the ability to think through puzzles at my own pace. For example, in walking simulators I no longer feel that coziness - because without real challenge, the story moves very quickly, leaving little room to pause or reflect on puzzles. At times, walking simulators or interactive movies actually overwhelm me with their intensity.
That said, I’m still glad we have so much choice today - so many different games, mechanics, and approaches to storytelling that everyone can find something for themselves, regardless of whether a given game is still considered an adventure game or not.
Watching the list, I also realized with some sadness that the highest-ranked classic adventure game with traditional dialogues and an inventory system is Syberia - and it only placed 10th. Machinarium is of course also very close to that tradition (and it’s an outstanding game), although in that case the dialogues are presented in a less traditional way. Still, it genuinely made me sad to see that this genre is no longer entirely “mine.” While I really like and appreciate Portal 2, The Walking Dead, or What Remains of Edith Finch, I don’t love them for the same reasons I love adventure games.
What I value most in adventure games is that sense of coziness, the lack of pressure, and the ability to think through puzzles at my own pace. For example, in walking simulators I no longer feel that coziness - because without real challenge, the story moves very quickly, leaving little room to pause or reflect on puzzles. At times, walking simulators or interactive movies actually overwhelm me with their intensity.
That said, I’m still glad we have so much choice today - so many different games, mechanics, and approaches to storytelling that everyone can find something for themselves, regardless of whether a given game is still considered an adventure game or not.
good points, trying to categorize things is fun even though games live happily without it.
so i liked people defining two categories that appear on this list that differ a lot from the classical p'n'c genre:
- walking simulators (and maybe visual novels)
- themed puzzle games (obra dinn, her story, escape games, etc.)
which seem to be two ends of a spectrum and what remains in the middle is what we may call
- 'monkey island-experience' or 'classic adventures'. calling them cozy/relaxing in gameplay also makes sense as a definition attempt.
and i think the spectrum should be a circle as some games fit into walking sim and puzzle as well but they are far from being classic adventures.
there are other types of course, e.g. what is disco elysium from these three options?
my other definition attempt for 'classic adventures' would be whatever could fit in the "Hardcoregaming101.net Presents: The Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures" book, quote: [focusing on promiminent publishers such as: -LucasArts (Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, Sam & Max, Grim Fandango) -Sierra On-Line (King's Quest, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Gabriel Knight) -Legend (Spellcasting, Eric the Unready, Callahan's Crosstime Saloon) -And several other popular and not-so-popular series and games (Zork, Myst, Broken Sword, The Longest Journey, Simon the Sorcerer, The Last Express, and dozens of others]
i wonder if academic people did write papers about finding the right categories (like for movies they always do even though yet again movies do not need this). maybe the aforementioned book also makes an attempt to do so, i don't remember.
in any case ideally we would need at least 3 lists covering the 3 broad categories from above.
currently the 25 can be split like this, see below. which actually is quite balanced so the list is a nice selection of the genre and its evolutions. on the other hand the themed puzzle games take better positions in general and even the walking sims get better positions compared to classic games. that's why maybe 3 lists (or one for classic, as i care less about the others in this respect) would represent better what most people regard as 'adventure games'.
-classic:
#25 – Foolish Mortals
#24 – The Book of Unwritten Tales
#23 – Kathy Rain
#22 – Still Life
#19 – Loco Motive
#18 – The Drifter
#14 – Unavowed
#10 – Syberia
#9 – There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension
#3 – Machinarium
-themed puzzle:
#13 – The Talos Principle
#12 – The Case of the Golden Idol
#8 – Blue Prince
#7 – The Forgotten City
#4 – Portal 2
#2 – Outer Wilds
#1 – Return of the Obra Dinn
-walking sim/visual novel (and a bit of this and that, e.g., platforming, survival, qte):
#21 – Life Is Strange
#20 – Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (or maybe this is more of themed puzzling?)
#17 – Amnesia: The Dark Descent (?? i think it has way too many survival elements, it was more half-life to me than monkey island)
#16 – Firewatch
#15 – Journey (?? i think it is much more of a cinematic platformer, it was more little nightmares than monkey island)
#11 – Disco Elysium (?? i put it here but i guess it is more of an rpg)
#6 – The Walking Dead
#5 – What Remains of Edith Finch
as a sidenote seeing that time loop games are so popular, actually my favorite would be "The Sexy Brutale" as it is the closest visually and presentation-wise to being a classic adventure and maybe because of that i enjoyed it most.
so i liked people defining two categories that appear on this list that differ a lot from the classical p'n'c genre:
- walking simulators (and maybe visual novels)
- themed puzzle games (obra dinn, her story, escape games, etc.)
which seem to be two ends of a spectrum and what remains in the middle is what we may call
- 'monkey island-experience' or 'classic adventures'. calling them cozy/relaxing in gameplay also makes sense as a definition attempt.
and i think the spectrum should be a circle as some games fit into walking sim and puzzle as well but they are far from being classic adventures.
there are other types of course, e.g. what is disco elysium from these three options?
my other definition attempt for 'classic adventures' would be whatever could fit in the "Hardcoregaming101.net Presents: The Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures" book, quote: [focusing on promiminent publishers such as: -LucasArts (Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, Sam & Max, Grim Fandango) -Sierra On-Line (King's Quest, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Gabriel Knight) -Legend (Spellcasting, Eric the Unready, Callahan's Crosstime Saloon) -And several other popular and not-so-popular series and games (Zork, Myst, Broken Sword, The Longest Journey, Simon the Sorcerer, The Last Express, and dozens of others]
i wonder if academic people did write papers about finding the right categories (like for movies they always do even though yet again movies do not need this). maybe the aforementioned book also makes an attempt to do so, i don't remember.
in any case ideally we would need at least 3 lists covering the 3 broad categories from above.
currently the 25 can be split like this, see below. which actually is quite balanced so the list is a nice selection of the genre and its evolutions. on the other hand the themed puzzle games take better positions in general and even the walking sims get better positions compared to classic games. that's why maybe 3 lists (or one for classic, as i care less about the others in this respect) would represent better what most people regard as 'adventure games'.
-classic:
#25 – Foolish Mortals
#24 – The Book of Unwritten Tales
#23 – Kathy Rain
#22 – Still Life
#19 – Loco Motive
#18 – The Drifter
#14 – Unavowed
#10 – Syberia
#9 – There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension
#3 – Machinarium
-themed puzzle:
#13 – The Talos Principle
#12 – The Case of the Golden Idol
#8 – Blue Prince
#7 – The Forgotten City
#4 – Portal 2
#2 – Outer Wilds
#1 – Return of the Obra Dinn
-walking sim/visual novel (and a bit of this and that, e.g., platforming, survival, qte):
#21 – Life Is Strange
#20 – Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (or maybe this is more of themed puzzling?)
#17 – Amnesia: The Dark Descent (?? i think it has way too many survival elements, it was more half-life to me than monkey island)
#16 – Firewatch
#15 – Journey (?? i think it is much more of a cinematic platformer, it was more little nightmares than monkey island)
#11 – Disco Elysium (?? i put it here but i guess it is more of an rpg)
#6 – The Walking Dead
#5 – What Remains of Edith Finch
as a sidenote seeing that time loop games are so popular, actually my favorite would be "The Sexy Brutale" as it is the closest visually and presentation-wise to being a classic adventure and maybe because of that i enjoyed it most.
This post was last modified: 01-01-2026, 10:34 AM by immorelity.
I'm getting a deja-vu feeling here... "Myst and its clones killed the Adventure Game!" This kind of discussion always boils down to: The only True Adventure Game is the classic 3rd-person one with inventory-based puzzles and dialogue trees. Don't get me wrong, I have absolutely no problem with people hating Mystian games, 1st-person adventures, "walking sims", visual novels, interactive movies, etc. But I honestly don't understand these determined attempts to exclude anything that doesn't fit the traditional mould even when the 3 pillars (exploration, puzzle, story) are in place. And no offence, but calling a game like Outer Wilds a "themed puzzle game" is not doing it justice. The games in the "themed puzzle" category actually tell a story! As a matter of fact, many if not most classic adventures don't or it's a very basic story; they're the themed ones.