Best Adventure Games 2014 Mac
May 20, 2016 Today we are taking a look at my personal Top 10 Mac Adventure games. 2014 Tales from the Borderlands is no longer supported on Mac! 163 Levels from Worst to Best. Find the best PC Adventure games on GameSpot, including Manifold Garden and Outer Wilds! Best Games To Play With People Not Normally Into Games. Mac and Linux which will involve you in the. The 38 Best Video Game Soundtracks You Can Stream. Best Adventure Games. Children of Morta is a narrative-based roguelike hack’n slash game for PC, Mac and Linux which will. Nov 21, 2017 Showcasing our list of the the best adventure video games on the PC so far. These are the highest adventure rated games currently available on the Windows, Mac. Jan 12, 2017 I'll try and leave out games that you can play on iPhone and iPad unless the Mac is the best place to play 'em. Here are the best games for Mac! Note: Make sure you double-check the system requirements for each game before you make a purchase. Welcome to VideoGamer.com's top Adventure games of 2010, a list of the best videogames, created from editorial reviews on the site. It's the perfect tool to find that great game you haven't played.
What are the best point and click adventure games you can play on Mac OS? Get ready to strain your brain and test your intellect with these tricky puzzle games and adventure titles, available for.
This may seem like a pretty subjective category, and I'd like to preface this list by saying that it most definitely is. That being said, there are some games that are just empirically good — great graphics, fun to play, great story, whatever. And though some folks might have you believe that Macs aren't meant for gaming, there are actually a ton of awesome titles to choose from.
I'll try and leave out games that you can play on iPhone and iPad unless the Mac is the best place to play 'em.
Here are the best games for Mac!
Note: Make sure you double-check the system requirements for each game before you make a purchase.
Firewatch
Firewatch, at its core, is a mystery game set in the Wyoming wilderness. You play as Henry, a man who decided to give the simpler life a try by joining a fire lookout team. Set in 1989, you watch for smoke during an especially hot, dry summer, aided via radio by your supervisor, Delilah. However, something draws you out of your tower and into the woods, where you must explore the unknown wild, making choices that could make or break your relationship with Delilah.
This is a gorgeous game, with a beautifully crafted open world, true-to-life characters, and a story that changes, depending on the choices you make throughout your story. Cissy Jones from the first season of The Walking Dead plays Delilah, and Henry is portrayed by Rich Sommer of Mad Men fame.
If you're looking for more than just a game — an experience — then Firewatch should be at the top of your to-play list. What starts as a simple game of watching for forest fires becomes a strange, twisty-turny, mystery-filled rabbit hole with new discoveries at every turn. It's like a book you just can't put down.
- $19.99 - Download now
XCOM 2
Set 20 years after XCOM: Enemy Unknown, XCOM 2 continues the turn-based tactics franchise in style, with much of the same gameplay that you love from the first one.
You'll once again play as the Commander, who, until the beginning of the game, was in alien stasis following Earth's surrender to the aliens. Once rescued by Central Officer Bradford, you'll resurrect XCOM and go to town reclaiming Earth from the aliens, one turn at a time.
If you love a good turn-based tactics game and you also love games like Halo or Mass Effect or even the first XCOM game for Mac, definitely check this one out.
- $49.99 - Download now
Life is Strange
Life is Strange is an episodic mystery game of sorts that has you playing as Max Caulfield, a photography students who randomly discovers that she has the ability to rewind time (saves her best friend's life). The pair end up investigating the disappearance of a fellow student, while Max struggles with the realization that altering the past can have consequences in the future.
Essentially, you go through the entire game making choices, and the choices you make can screw things up for you down the road or make life much easier (think Until Dawn). With well-crafted characters and a moving story, Life is Strange is for the folks who like a cinematic experience fraught with emotion (á la Heavy Rain). The first episode is $5 and you can buy subsequent episodes via in-app purchases.
- $4.99, with in-app purchases - Download now
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
This game may be a little old (like first generation Xbox old), but it's a classic and the fact that it's on the Mac is just wonderful. It's 4,000 years before the Galactic Empire and the Sith are just wiping out Jedi left right and central. So, of course, you're the last hope of the Jedi and you have to lead your brothers and sisters in arms in a last stand of sorts against the ultimate evil.
The cool part is you actually get to ultimately choose which side you want to be on, opting to conquer or save your fellow Jedi, using Force powers and sweet lightsaber moves all the way through. You get to customize your character and they change as the game goes on, depending on the choices you make and your style of play (kinda like the Fable series).
If you love an action-packed romp around the cosmos and, of course, Star Wars, then definitely download this right now. Keep in mind that it is an older game, but if you grew up with it like I did, it'll be a nostalgia-filled journey.
- $9.99 - Download now
Limbo
In Limbo, you play as a nameless boy who's unsure of what happened to his sister, so you enter Limbo looking for her, A.K.A. the 'edge of hell'. As the boy, you must journey through Limbo, as you encounter only a few other human characters who either attack you, run away, or are dead. You have to puzzle and platform your way to the end, and I'll be honest: It's rather unsettling.
Like, really unsettling.
There isn't much for a soundtrack, aside from nature sounds and physical sounds of running, jumping, and hits and such. If you're like a dark, creepy game, with a very open ending that's been hotly debated, then definitely check out Limbo. It's unlike anything you've ever played and the lack of a real narrative really gives it its atmosphere. (Watch out for that damn spider… BLECH).
- $9.99 - Download now
Braid
Braid is very similar to one of the most popular games of all time. Get into the actual gameplay, and you'll be like, 'THIS IS JUST SUPER MARIO', but then you'll sit back, listen to the AMAZING soundtrack, notice the little detail in Tim's hair while it flows in the wind when he runs, enjoy the beautiful scenery and interesting-looking enemies, and you'll be like, 'SUPER WHO?'.
In all seriousness, Braid is a lovely little game and it really emphasizes Tim's motives for rescuing the princess without ever saying exactly what they are or what exactly his 'mistake' was. Gameplay is quite simple; it's a Mario-style platformer, and you have to collect puzzle pieces along the way and slowly build a large puzzle in each world.
If you like platformers and love games with out-of-this-world soundtracks, then check out Braid.
- $9.99 - Download now
Thomas Was Alone
Believe it or not, playing a platformer as a faceless rectangle can actually be pretty fun. Of course, the right elements have to be there, like a killer soundtrack and, simply put, absolutely lovely narration by British radio a TV presenter Danny Wallace.
He tells the story of Thomas, a rectangle who is, you guessed it, alone. Thomas has to jump and slide his way through each level, entering a portal each time. Basically, all you can do is move right, left, and jump as you platform along, solving puzzles, and don't forget — the game's called Thomas Was Alone. This get significantly more interesting than you might think at the beginning. Get ready to feel stuff … for shapes. Not even kidding.
- $8.99 - Download now
Doom 3
What's there to be said? It's Doom — on the Mac. You're part of an elite marine division, sent to protect a Martian teleportation facility, and things are hunky dory until you're invaded by 100% evil aliens. So, you're going to have to walk down hallway after hallway, mowing down demonic aliens that can only be described as 'WTF'.
Doom is the classic first-person shooter and this 3D adventure only ups the ante, bringing you further into the world of monsters and insane weaponry. There's an online multiplayer element to this iteration, so replayability is definitely there.
If you're into classic first-person shooters where gore and horror abound, then Doom 3 is your bag, baby.
- $9.99 - Download now
Gone Home
Gone Home is a story exploration game where you examine objects and open drawers and doors to discover clues. You've been away for a year and come home thinking your family will be there to greet you, only to discover that the house is empty and you have no idea why.
Things may seem kind of creepy at first, and you'll uncover your sister's journal, complete with narration, as well as other objects from your childhood and things left behind. You likely won't expect the ending and you'll definitely feel all the feels throughout your journey, so be prepared for a lot of reading and an almost cinematic experience.
Gameplay is simple and barebones, but you like a good story exploration game, definitely check this one out, since it's pretty heavy on story.
- $19.99 - Download now
Sleeping Dogs
Crime never pays. I mean it does in terms of the money that gangs make from drugs and what have you, but it all comes back to bite them in the ass sooner or later. In Sleeping Dogs, you get to do the biting, playing as Hong Kong cop, Wei Shen, who's a streetwise badass martial artist, straddling the law and playing both sides to take down the city's biggest Triad gang.
Or will you crumble under the pressure? Will you change along with it? It’s all left up to you. Available on: PCIt’s the dawn of a pivotal new era and you’re about to build a city that will thrive or fall as technology continues to change and advance. Anno 1800 plants you at the start of the Industrial Revolution at the turn of the 19th century, and demands that you craft and maintain a city built on the innovation of your research and technological advancement. Best free city building games for mac.
If you enjoy open world games and have any love for the badassery of classic Hong Kong action movies, then Sleeping Dogs is right up your alley. You basically just get to go around kicking the crap out of criminals, while also playing the bad boy in some heavy undercover activity.
You'll have to live and learn as the game goes on, while honing your skills to survive twists and turns that are matters of life and death.
If you're up for an exciting action/adventure full of violence and intrigue, you got it.
- $29.99 - Download now
Darkest Dungeon
Darkest Dungeon is a very involved roguelike dungeon crawl with fantastic art, and an interesting twist on the genre, centering on the stress of adventuring. If your characters' stress levels get too high, you're gonna have a bad time.
You'll fight wave after wave of all sorts of ghouls in turn-based combat, simply trying to keep your party alive and calm. This game isn't just about defeating monsters, but about defeating your party's personal demons as well. You'll have to chill out at taverns to keep everyone's stress in check, camp to deliver pep talks, and save the characters you love from all-too meaningful permadeath.
Fans of Lovecraft will adore Darkest Dungeon for it's great horror and awesome hand-drawn art style that gives everything a gritty, visceral feel. If you like scary-ass RPGs, then check it out.
- $24.99 - Download now
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm is a MOBA game in teams of five fantasy characters battle against one another for supremacy in a series of different game modes. You'll have to destroy opposing team members, as well as their structures to gain points for your team and ultimately win the match. Many MOBA-style games have the same problem: one person can be a hero and win the game on their own, while screwing over the rest of their team. Not the case in Heroes of the Storm, where if one team member isn't up to snuff, the rest of the team feels it.
One team, one dream!
Made by Blizzard, this is one of the best ARTS games around, with awesome characters, solid voice acting, great graphics, and necessary teamwork that doesn't make you want to drive your Magic Mouse through your 5K iMac screen.
HotS is free to play, but you'll be stuck with the playable characters offered to you, which rotate every week. You can earn gold in the game, but to get anything decent will take a looooong time. Therefore, you can buy heroes, skins, and mounts in the game with USD. Otherwise, play for free and just enjoy.
- Free, with in-app purchases - Download now
Portal 2
It doesn't matter which platform you're playing on, Portal 2 is hands-down one of the greatest video games of all time. It builds on the fun and weirdness of Portal from the Orange Box and throws you into a more fascinating story, with puzzles that never really feel like puzzles, since you're out of the testing chambers just trying to escape.
You once again play as Chell (the voiceless captive with the sweet boots and 'stubborn will to live') who is once again trying to escape the Facility, which she totally ruined years earlier. Wheatley, a personality core voiced by Stephen Merchant, revives Chell to escape the Facility with him, but all is not as it seems.
This game is incredibly atmospheric, often creepy and weird, as well as gut-bustingly hilarious. You'll learn about the history of the ruined Facility, mainly from GLaDOS (in an unusual form) and voice recordings from Aperture Science founder Cave Johnson, voiced by the legend J.K. Simmons (the funniest part of the game).
Portal 2 also has a sweet multiplayer mode where you play as testing robots Peabody and Atlas, working with a partner to frustratingly solve testing chambers (you might lose friends over some of the more difficult levels).
If you're at all into physics puzzles and hilarious, quirky games, then Portal 2 is not to be missed. Hell, even if you don't like puzzle games, play it. You'll be a better person for it. You can even download the stellar soundtrack for free
- $19.99 - Download now
Rocket League
Best Adventure Games For Mac
It's soccer. With cars. There really isn't much more to say except that's it's freakin' awesome. Think of a physics-based FIFA with wild and crazy vehicles and full-frontal multiplayer mayhem. And if those aren't enough hype buzzwords then imagine yourself as a small child, forced to play soccer in order to 'build character'. Now imagine that you're a child driving a monster truck around a massive enclosed arena, smacking giant balls around and flying and flipping around because physics.
Yeah.
If you're kind of into multiplayer sports games, but prefer them with a side of absolutely wacky, then Rocket League is totally for you.
- $19.99 - Download now
Undertale
Undertale is for those of you who are just sick and tired of having to murder innocent, repulsive monsters. If you've ever thought 'why can't I just talk to the monster instead', then you should play Undertale.
In this indie RPG, you play as a child who has fallen into the Underground, which is a large, isolated region beneath the Earth's surface, separated by a magical barrier. Along the way, you'll meet monsters and have to face them in mini bullet hell combat, where you can choose to spare them instead of killing them. The choices you make affect the outcome of the game, including the story, dialogue, and the characters you meet, as you try and make your way back to the surface.
Undertale was released to excellent critical praise, garnering Game of the Year nods from multiple gaming publications. If you love a good top-down RPG, with fantasy elements and the ability to be a pacifist, then Undertale is great for feeling the feels or kicking some serious hiney.
- $9.99 - Download now
Civilization V
I have Civ V on this list instead of VI, but might add VI when the bugs are ironed out. Sid Meier's Civilization V has you ruling the world from the dawn of man all the way into the space age, where you will wage wars and conquer nations in the pursuit of progress and total domination.
You'll also discover new technologies, strike treaties, and all that other diplomatic stuff that world leaders do.
There is a multiplayer mode, though it is restricted to a LAN.
If you're into amazing turn-based strategy games and love a good game of Risk, then Civ V is calling to you. Answer it.
- $29.99 - Download now
Myst
Originally released in 1993, Myst was recently revamped for the Mac, so that you can explore the open world of Myst Island and its Ages in a gloriously rebuilt environment. The world is completely interactive and you'll have to discover and solve puzzles in order to find books containing access to all of the Ages.
The ending of the game changes depending on the choices you make, and you'll be torn between helping one of two brothers or their father, with your own fate entirely unknown until it's too late. Myst is an absolute classic and the graphics update puts a modern spin on it, bringing the Myst you grew up with into the 21st Century.
If you love a classic puzzle game, a story filled with intrigue and twists, and open-world exploration games, then totally check out Myst.
- $17.99 - Download now
What do you play?
What's your favorite game for the Mac? Any absolute essentials I may have missed? Let me know in the comments below!
We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.
Concepts everywhereAnother day, another iPhone 12 Pro concept. How much would you pay?
If reports are accurate we might be waiting a little while longer than normal for iPhone 12 Pro. But would you care if it looked like this?
What are the best adventure games? From 1976’s text-based Adventure – that gave the genre its name – through the point-and-click golden age of the ‘90s and up to more modern fare, few genres have endured quite so well as the adventure game. That multi-decade lifespan has produced some of the most astounding titles, so it is certainly a struggle to narrow down a list of the best adventure games.
Adventure games have prospered thanks to a focus on story and character. That, and a few tricky brain teasers, as opposed to violence set the genre apart. Characters usually get by through talking or thinking instead of resorting to fighting – though, Full Throttle protagonist Ben might have a few things to say about that.
We frequently return to our lists to make sure they are as up-to-date as possible and represent the very best the genre has to offer, so you can be confident that what we list below are nothing less than classics.
The best adventure games are:
Grim Fandango
Dialogue, character, world, and imagination cement Grim Fandango among the best adventure games. Set in the Mexican Land of the Dead, where everyone’s a skeleton or a demon, the recently deceased have to work off any crimes they may have committed before taking the treacherous four-year journey to get into the Ninth Underworld. It is a cleverly-realised world with film noir influences and a big dollop of crime and corruption.
The game stars some of the finest characters ever written, including protagonist Manny Calavera, who must try to save Mercedes Colomar, the woman he thinks he wronged. Friendly, car-obsessed demon Glottis would not be out of place in the best Disney/Pixar movies, and Manny is one of the most effortlessly cool and likeable player characters in an adventure game. The often obtuse puzzles can derail the pacing, but just exploring and interacting with this beautiful world makes up for these irritants.
Tim Schafer’s journey through Mexican folklore still represents the pinnacle of proper movie-quality storytelling in videogames – just don’t mention those wretched demon beavers.
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge
While The Secret of Monkey Island changed the genre and put LucasArts on the Adventure Throne, Monkey Island 2 is a perfect improvement in every area.
Loveable loser Guybrush Threepwood is one of videogames’ most endearing characters. His burning desire to become a swashbuckling pirate and win the heart of governor Elaine Marley is noble. The problem is he is utterly inept, has more confidence than ability, and is a dab hand at ruining lives. He is also being hunted by the zombie pirate LeChuck, whose ghost he killed in the first game. Elaine, understandably, wants nothing to do with him.
Greatest Hits: The best old games on PC
The result is a game with dialogue that is witty and regularly laugh-out-loud, its situations wildly memorable (think back to the spitting contest, the skeleton dance, or the mardi gras fish fry), and puzzles that, while challenging, are always amusing.
Monkey Island 2 is the peak of the outrageous comedy adventure and one of the best adventure games on PC. They do not come funnier than this, and the Special Edition somehow makes this point-and-click game even better with pitch-perfect voice acting, painted backgrounds, and a remastered soundtrack.
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars
Imagine Uncharted without the jumping and shooting, sporting a plot that hints at what an interesting Dan Brown novel might be like, and you will have a reasonable picture of Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars. Like the Monkey Island series, it is difficult to decide which of the first two titles is best, but, in this case, the first game just edges it.
Easygoing American George Stobbart’s holiday in Paris is interrupted by a bomber dressed as a clown, and from there he’s pulled into the conspiratorial world of the Templars. The story is great, and developers Revolution keep the tone light despite a smattering of darker moments. But it is the chemistry between George and French photojournalist Nico Collard that forms the franchise’s backbone.
Thanks to sterling writing and voice acting, Broken Sword remains one of the best adventure games on PC. It does, however, feature the infamous ‘goat puzzle’, which has been gently mocked by many adventure games since, including all four Broken Sword sequels. Self-awareness is half the battle, at least.
Discworld Noir
When you think of the Discworld series the first two games will likely come to mind. Starring Eric Idle as Rincewind the wizard, they were both, well, terrible. For the third game, developers Perfect ditched 2D, Rincewind, and the attempt to adapt actual books in Terry Pratchett’s series. Instead, with his help, they crafted a gloomy – but still funny – film noir parody featuring British comedian Rob Brydon as Lewton, the Discworld’s first private detective.
Related: Check out the best detective games on PC
Discworld Noir is a well-crafted adventure game shot through with the understated British humour of Pratchett’s novels, and a handful of decent puzzles. But what secures the game a place among the best adventure games is a pair of remarkably clever systems. The first is Lewton’s notepad, on which he notes down clues, suspicions, and anything out of the ordinary. But these musings are more than just memory aids: he can use them like inventory items, combining them to create more detailed thoughts to get closer to the truth – solving puzzles in the process. It is so smart it is astonishing that more games have not ripped it off. Oh, and he can turn into a werewolf. In this form, Lewton can see the world through smell, which is as clever as it is surprising when it happens.
Unfortunately Discworld Noir is the only game on this list that is not available digitally. Even if you find a copy it is damn hard to run on modern PCs. We optimistically tried it on Windows 10 and it crashed immediately after the opening cutscene.
Beneath A Steel Sky
If there is one button that any game can push to make us pay attention, it is ‘cyberpunk’. Combine that with a great original story, the finest UK adventure game studio, and art by legendary comic artist Dave Gibbons (Watchmen), and we are putty in anyone’s hands. Thankfully, Beneath a Steel Sky already exists, and it’s one of the best PC games around.
While Revolution founder Charles Cecil originally intended to adapt Watchmen with the assistance of Gibbons, we are glad the project did not pan out. Instead, they collaborated on this classic point-and-click game. Hand-drawn cutscenes, gorgeous pixel art, and the tale of Robert Foster and his attempts to escape from the dystopian Union City. The atmospheric world is influenced by the likes of Blade Runner, Judge Dredd, and Mad Max, and thematically explores societal oppression and corruption. It is a bleak Orwellian nightmare with… fart jokes.
Revolution ensure that what could have been a depressing slog is, instead, a deeply entertaining point-and-click adventure game. The plot twists, wonderful character moments, excellent puzzles, and stylish world all make one of the best adventure games around. Oh, and it’s free on GOG, so there is really no excuse not to play it.
Day of the Tentacle
When it comes to puzzles, Day of the Tentacle is one of the best adventure games you can play. It is never obtuse or mean-spirited, and that is all the more impressive when you consider the player is expected to manage three characters over three different time periods, their actions from one affecting the other. You have to think fourth-dimensionally, as Doc Brown would say, and it is a testament to Tim Schafer, Dave Grossman, and the rest of the team that somehow this never feels overwhelming.
Related: The best laptop games around
Day of the Tentacle is still exceptionally funny, delightfully absurd, timelessly pretty, and contains the whole of LucasArts’ earlier adventure, Maniac Mansion – the game to which Day of the Tentacle is a sequel – as an Easter Egg. Despite the brilliance of the other point-and-click games on this list, if you were to ask us for one classic adventure you need to play, we’d say send you this way.
The Walking Dead: Season One
The stellar first season for Telltale’s most popular series remains its best despite fierce competition. Tales From The Borderlands and The Wolf Among Us both come close, but neither have the magnetism of The Walking Dead’s Lee and Clementine. Good-hearted lawbreaker Lee and recently orphaned Clementine establish a fiercely loyal bond as they weather an onslaught of tragedies and disasters. Chief among these is the zombie apocalypse, of course, but the agendas of every survivor they meet both help and hinder the pair, too.
Decomposing danger: The best zombie games around
Telltale’s ability to convince the player that they are in charge of the story – despite the whole thing being a smoke and mirrors act – is what makes The Walking Dead: Season One one of the best adventure games on PC. Scenes play out differently, certain characters can survive longer, and Lee can behave like an absolute dick. The main plot ploughs on but it can feel wildly different depending on who is steering it. For the shocking end of Episode 4 alone, it is a modern classic of a point-and-click game. And, speaking of conclusions, here’s hoping we see an end to the Clem’s narrative season one so expertly kicked off with The Walking Dead: The Final Season.
Night In The Woods
It is hard not to fall for Night in the Woods. Developers Infinite Fall packed personal experience, humour, small-town Americana, a creepy conspiracy, stylish visuals, a fantastic soundtrack, and some of the most affectingly real scenes in videogames into one of the best adventure games ever made.
Night in the Woods tackles depression, dysfunctional families, economics, societal pressure, growing up, joblessness, escapism, and death, but in a whimsical and good-natured way that ensures things never become hopeless. Characters gently poke fun at each other and do anything to distract themselves, no matter how stupid or dangerous. Every character is quotable and lovable, and while the story’s main focus, Mae Borowski – an anthropomorphic cat and college drop-out – initially seems like an entitled jerk, you will grow to love her as she opens up.
It might play like a platform game, but there are no heads to jump on, no points to collect, no bosses to defeat or worlds to conquer. Instead, there are friends to talk to, paths to choose, songs to play, and an awareness of the one shrinking world we all inhabit. Better make the best of it, then.
Technobabylon
Slowly but surely, publishers Wadjet Eye have made themselves the modern kings of the classic-style point-and-click adventure game. Since 2006’s The Shivah, each of Wadjet Eye’s releases are worth playing – even the ones they did not develop themselves. The Blackwell series – Gemini Rue, Shardlight, Primordia – are all modern classics, but, in our opinion, the best of the bunch is Technocrat’s Technobabylon.
Blade Runners: The best cyberpunk games on PC
Set in 2087, the city of Newton is run by an AI called Central that sees and controls everything according to an unknown agenda. The internet has evolved into an addictive virtual cyberspace called the Trance. A murderer called the Mindjacker is killing mysteriously and with impunity. Assigned to the Mindjacker case are Charlie Regis and Max Lao, as well as Trance addict, Latha Sesame. Each illuminate different angles on the story, which unfolds spectacularly in this horrifyingly believable world.
It’s the puzzles that elevate Technobabylon to the lofty echelons of the best adventure games. Every puzzle solution makes refreshing real-world sense. Don’t know an address? Pull out your in-game phone and Google it. Can’t open a door? Call the person who has the key, ask the all-seeing, all-controlling Central to open it for you, or just kick it down. Plus, it is cyberpunk, which is always a win in our book.
Life Is Strange
Developers Dontnod managed the seemingly impossible with Life is Strange: they out Telltale’ed Telltale. Life is Strange boasts consequential choices, a better-looking and more expressive graphics engine, and, most importantly, an entirely original setting.
Main character Max Caulfield is a photography senior, working with classic Polaroid cameras, while everyone else sports expensive top-of-the-range digital gear. She is immediately endearing, appealingly weird, and… has the ability to rewind time. It is a testament to Dontnod team’s writing skills that this game-changing superpower is the least impressive thing about Life is Strange; Max’s relationship with former best friend Chloe, and how they reconnect after Max ran out on that life, is the heart of a story that puts the game in the hallowed company of the best adventure games on PC.
You will cry. You will make bad choices – and you’ll make even more when you meet Sean and Daniel in Life is Strange 2 – rewind and make a completely different choice that you regret in a completely new way. You will stick with Max and Chloe until the end of the world. Literally.
Samorost 3
Czech developers Amanita Design have produced some of the best adventure games, including Machinarium, Botanicula, and their long-running Samorost series. Their games are a little different, though: they are entirely dialogue-free. Instead, symbols and sounds are relied upon to tell the story – and they are unbearably sweet. Samorost 3 strikes just the right balance between clever puzzle design, gorgeously bizarre looks, and sheer cuteness.
Samorost 3 is about an alien gnome living with his dog on an asteroid. In his spare time he who discovers a mysterious flute and explores the origins of the cosmos. As you do. Unlike every other point-and-click adventure games on this list, the plot is of secondary importance. The Samorost series is all about warm, atmospheric visuals, adorable audio, and shockingly smart puzzles. Playing a Samorost game is almost like a pleasant drug trip, we imagine: it is full of inexplicable creatures, mind-boggling locations, and imaginative encounters. It’s a wordless Alice in Wonderland. But it’s in space. With a gnome instead of a girl.
Chuchel
Chuchel is as much a slapstick comedy as it is a point-and-click indie game. From the developers behind Machinarium and Samorost, Chuchel’s eponymous protagonist is a rotund, hairy, but lovable speck that looks like a bright yellow upside-down acorn. Alongside an equally goofy and colourful cast of blobs and everyday objects, you match your own childlike curiousity with Chuchel’s, clicking and experimenting with your delightfully hand-drawn cartoon world and giggling at all the mischief into which you can get him.
The laughs come thick and fast. Chuchel and his chums can drink too much water and urinate on each other. Your cute critter can even crack open the shell of a sentient egg with a spoon almost four times his own size after a psychedelic trip induced by licking a mushroom. The playful joy of your endearing misdemeanours is enhanced by the satisfyingly silly boings, zips, and plops, the game emits, imbuing Chuchel with an onomatopoeic quality that makes it one of the funniest and best adventure games on PC.
Thimbleweed Park
While Day of the Tentacle is the official sequel to Maniac Mansion, Thimbleweed Park – from adventure veterans Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick – feels like the authentic sequel; one where you get to explore the Mansion but also the surrounding area and local town. The weird, weird town.
Thimbleweed Park is one of the best adventure and retro games around not just because it feels like a forgotten LucasArts classic or love letter to the company’s adventures; it feels like a worthy update. Developers Terrible Toybox keep Thimbleweed Park looking and feeling authentically retro, with chunky pixel art and huge verb buttons, but cleverly add to the genre, too. For example, there are random events that may or may not happen as you explore as one of the five playable characters. Wandering into a deserted alleyway, apropos of nothing, could see a character get abducted. Then there are more puzzles to solve before you get them back.
The characters are quirky, entertaining, and will stick in your mind for ages-a-reno even if you do not want them too-a-boo. The clever puzzles can require multiple characters to solve, and they can even have multiple solutions. Then there is the ending, an audacious denouement that feels like a mic-drop to the entire genre. Only the creators of Maniac Mansion could get away with it.
Free Mac Adventure Games
That’s the mystery of the best adventure games on PC solved. If you’re after more casework why not read our list of the best police games? You can return to using real world logic for solving your problems from now on, no need to try using every object in your pocket together. If you’re looking for a little more running, jumping and/or bludgeoning, check out the best action-adventure games.
Either way, it’s funny.Stardew ValleyFollowing years of disappointment with the Harvest Moon series he had once loved so much, first-time developer Eric Barone, also known as “ConcernedApe”, took it upon himself to create his own version of the farming simulation game. Buy mac computers.