Xbox – Series X|S / OneBest Adventure Games

The Talos Principle 2 is a complex puzzle game with an equally multifaceted but engaging narrative featuring rational and religious undertones. There are a couple of control issues, and the unorthodoxy of certain puzzles may be too challenging for some players. This point may also be compounded by the game’s length, which can take 35 hours if only dealing with the main content, with side content adding several additional hours. Still, this is a gorgeous game well worth experiencing and an invigorating treat for puzzle game enthusiasts or philosophy majors.

The Invincible is a successful experiment in bringing a novel to life via the medium of gaming. With compelling dialogue and meaningful narrative, it’s an adventure in every sense of the word, as you trek across a beautiful planet to uncover its mysteries.

DREDGE is a one-of-a-kind fishing game with an interesting premise that keeps players engaged throughout. Though its ending leaves something to be desired, DREDGE shines in its ability to create an enveloping atmosphere through its appealing art, well-composed music, and entertaining gameplay.

Wales Interactive has crafted a cleverly told tale within The Isle Tide Hotel. The mystery and choice-based scenarios blend deftly and promote multiple playthroughs, with the full-motion cinematography and performances adding to the experience.

Agatha Christie – Hercule Poirot: The London Case is an engrossing mystery brought to life by realistic graphics, well-executed music, and stellar voice acting.

GYLT is an atmospheric, beginner-friendly horror experience that channels classic tropes of the genre, but experienced players might need more to sink their teeth into.

Star Trek: Resurgence is a brilliant game that successfully recaptures the spirit of the classic shows. The former Telltale developers, Dramatic Labs, effectively update the formula to bring variety and ensure that adventurers are consistently engrossed. If you are a Trekkie or have enjoyed games made by Telltale, definitely put this on your gaming to-do list.

Amnesia: The Bunker is another Frictional Games classic, pitting players against a truly terrifying foe while providing immersive elements that are constantly engaging. While the AI can leave a bit to be desired, the atmosphere and story will keep players on their toes.

Figment 2: Creed Valley is a wonderfully designed game, combining plot and music in such a harmonious way and featuring creative puzzle-solving and combat. It is an absolute gem that every action-adventure gamer should try.

Unusual Findings is a clever tribute to ‘80s pop culture; a fun, creative story brought to life by well-executed graphics, interface, and voice acting.

Return to Monkey Island is a fantastic addition to the series and a great game in its own right. If you’re a Guybrush Threepwood fan or want to revisit the high point of adventures past and present, you owe it to yourself to come back to Monkey Island.

Although it gives the false impression of being a “choices matter” game, South of the Circle is still an excellent narrative experience for those who enjoy games without puzzles. Even if the ending might be disappointing, the stunning graphics and fantastic soundtrack make it a game worth playing.

BROK the InvestiGator is a bold and explosive burst of 90s nostalgia that plumb the depths of the adventure game genre for its best ideas and piles them, one on top of the other, for an unforgettable thrill ride. While it may slightly disappoint as an action game or a playable cartoon, it may just earn a place in the graphic adventure game canon.

Although rough around the edges in the story department, The Last Cube hits where it counts: fun powers used to solve clever logic puzzles in intriguing sci-fi environments.

Though its puzzles are not quite as sharp as its predecessors’, We Were Here Forever provides plenty of co-op fun and finally delves into what’s happening in the world.

Born Punk is an outstanding game; an engrossing story brought to life by well-executed graphics, music, interface, and voice acting.

Although a bit repetitive and not very challenging, Catie in MeowmeowLand serves up a delightful and whimsical game experience which gives you a well-deserved escape from reality.

Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit is an excellent game with an engrossing story brought to life by well-executed graphics, music, interface, and voice acting.

A hybrid of platforming, puzzle-solving, and systems management, FAR: Changing Tides is a visually stunning vehicle-based adventure that exceeds its predecessor in creating an intriguing post-apocalyptic world with light but engaging challenges while also giving you plenty of slower moments to drink in the sights.

With classic zaniness and puzzle solving and updated production values, Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space marries the best of the old with the new in this modern remaster.

The Plane Effect is a well-crafted surreal and atmospheric experience with philosophical undertones. While not perfect (though not too far from it), it is heartily recommended.

Despite some shaky puzzle mechanics, Hermitage: Strange Case Files is a compelling Lovecraftian visual novel horror anthology that’s well worth your time if you have even a passing interest in creepy creatures or cosmic terrors.

Side-scrolling through a suburban household as a tiny robot in Time Loader provides an immensely satisfying environmental puzzle-platforming experience that more than makes up for the weak endings.

Conway is a linear, tight investigative mystery that despite some flaws tells a compelling story and is worth seeing through to its strong conclusion.

While Chapter One can be a little too cumbersome and lacking in logic at times, young Sherlock’s investigation into the many mysteries on Cordona Island provides more than ample breadth and depth for any armchair detective.

Life Is Strange: True Colors paints a pretty picture, creating a story you’ll really want to invest in, with only a slow plot point or two distracting from what is otherwise a great work of art.

While its story never really soars, Unbound: Worlds Apart presents a brilliant and elegant Metroidvania type of gameplay that challenges both the mind and the reflexes. It’s perhaps a bit too twitchy for your diehard adventure gamer, but anyone who can handle a little action with their puzzles will fall in love with the beautiful art style and fun, finely tuned gameplay here.

Lake is, like the waves that break on its rural American Northwest shore, soothing and peacefully regular in its routine, making it ideal for those seeking a break from a hectic life.

House of Ashes proves that even an annual anthology release that’s so iterative in its gameplay mechanics can still evolve in significant ways. The changes evident here, and perhaps the developer’s maturation in storytelling, result in what may be the series’ strongest entry yet.

It could use a stronger pairing of story and gameplay, but Tandem: A Tale of Shadows is a cleverly conceived puzzle-platformer stuffed full of dual-character, double-dimension obstacles to overcome.

If you are a Myst fan who has played one or all the previous iterations, this is by far the best version yet and deserves your attention with or without the supported VR hardware. If you are one of the few adventure game fans new to the series, you are in for a real treat, though be forewarned that all the same divisively esoteric design elements remain from the original.

By emphasizing the connections between suspects, Hercule Poirot: The First Cases’ focus on deduction board gameplay nicely suits Agatha Christie’s famed Belgian detective and challenges your own little grey cells.

Far more action-oriented than a traditional point-and-click, Omno feels like a true “adventure” in the literal sense, offering a jaw-dropping journey of enlightenment that is sure to brighten any gamer’s day.

There isn’t much in the way of actual gameplay or player agency, but anyone who enjoys a highly interactive story will certainly want to add Last Stop to their gaming library.

It won’t deliver enough puzzle challenge or story depth to fully satisfy adventure game purists, but for fans of 3D platformers, the beautifully surreal Onirike serves up a pleasant helping of running, jumping, and exploring through dreamlike, Burton-esque worlds.

Operation: Tango provides such a fun series of asymmetric spy action to share with a friend that it’s a shame it ends way too soon.

Uniformly excellent writing, acting, and audio-visual presentation of an ancient Roman city and its imminently doomed citizens make The Forgotten City a mystery well worth solving—and the clever time-looping mechanics make your investigation a lot of fun.

Almost My Floor tells an interesting two-pronged horror/detective story with bold comic-book-style artwork and a mix of point-and-click puzzle solving, investigation, and timed action sequences that all work together extremely well.

Minute of Islands is a beautiful, unflinching game about the power to save what you hold dear and the responsibility that comes with it. Its breathtaking visual style, moving story and intensely affecting presentation add up to a one-of-a-kind puzzle-platforming experience.

Lacuna is a wonderfully tense hard-boiled story set in a gorgeous jazzpunk future. Its mysteries will make you work for the answers, and will even let you fail, but either way the payoff is a sense of accomplishment that few other narrative puzzlers provide.

I Saw Black Clouds is an entertaining psychological FMV thriller where player choice actually makes a significant difference in how the story plays out. While its production values are modest and puzzles are non-existent, the solid acting, short playthrough length, intriguing mystery, and high replayability will likely keep players coming back for more.

Part noir thriller, part rumination on the human condition, and part ... something else, Backbone is stylish through and through, presenting more questions than answers but brimming with vibrantly realised characters.

Although the titular character is disappointingly all but absent from the affair, fans of Petronella Osgood and the Weeping Angels should enjoy this voyeuristic journey through the misplaced phone of a series extra in Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins.

Genesis Noir’s gorgeous graphics may be mostly in black and white, but its cosmic journey through Earth’s past is anything but, though at times it’s a little too convoluted to be as ingenious as it could have been.

Mundaun is a gripping and unique horror adventure with an immersive portrayal of rural Switzerland and a distinctive visual presentation that only gets more uncanny the longer you look at it.

With the same charming aesthetic and just as many laughs and quirky paranormal phenomena as the first season, The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark is definitely worth playing for the comedically inclined.

Dripping with atmosphere, the sights and sounds of a lost end-of-the-world Nazi installation make up for a lack of interaction in Paradise Lost.

Though its short play time is almost devoid of challenge and occasionally suffers from pacing issues, Voyage is an enjoyable one- or two-player cinematic side-scrolling experience with an intriguingly cryptic story told through its lovely animated visuals.