Top Point-and-Click Adventures You Cannot Afford to Miss
Point-and-click adventure games have never lost their appeal. If you’re trying to find the best ones to try your hand at, this article is a must-read.
So, let’s get to it – here are our top 10 picks of must-play point-and-click adventure games:
1. Odysseus Kosmos and his Robot Quest
If you like the movie Interstellar, you’ll probably enjoy Odysseus Kosmos and his Robot Quest.
The game follows a similar plot – spaceship engineer Odysseus Kosmos, his robot-buddy Barton Quest, and their team are on a journey to study a black hole. Their teammates are stranded on a remote planet where the time goes very slowly, and it doesn’t look like they’re going to come back anytime soon. It’s already years since the duo were left alone, and the spaceship the two are on starts to age and crumble. When no one comes to help, Odysseus and Barton realize their lives are in their own hands. The only way to return to Earth is to successfully fix the spaceship through a series of science experiments.
This game has been beautifully designed, with experiments ranging from the simple to the complex. As you progress through the game, you learn all about physics, mathematics, chemistry, and astrophysics.
This is a 2D point-and-click game that’s been designed in a retro pixel style. The game comes in five episodes that follow their own unique storylines.
2. The Walking Dead: The Game
The Walking Dead TV series has been consistently ranked as one of the best shows in history. Its intense storyline, brilliant characterization, and jaw-dropping costumes & animation have won hearts. The Walking Dead: The Game keeps up with this legacy.
Dubbed as one of the best games ever, this horror-adventure point-and-click game will keep you at the edge of your seat. The storyline follows 16-year-old Clementine, a survivor who was rescued from a treehouse (which you’ll see in the first episode), as she tries to keep fellow-survivor, AJ, safe. The duo meets many people on their way to safety – and most are out to kill them. Players need to make decisions for Clementine, which will ultimately define her fate.
The best thing about The Walking Dead: The Game, is it’s so life-like. The emotions, expressions, and voice modulations are highly realistic, adding to the experience.
3. Machinarium
This game – Machinarium – begins at an abandoned junkyard. An unnamed robot has been unceremoniously dumped, and he wakes up, determined to escape.
But why does he want to leave? His girlfriend, the head of the city of Machinarium, and other robots are in grave danger. There’s an evil corporation that’s out to destroy all machines, and the only way to stop them is to solve a series of puzzles.
But here’s the catch. Our unnamed hero is powerless – he literally has no extraordinary powers. All he can do is crane his neck upwards, crouch down low, and poke at things that are within arm’s reach. Players need to use these limited maneuvers to solve a variety of problems and help the robot hero get back to the city and defeat the bad guys.
The design of the game is spectacular. It even won the Independent Game Festival’s Excellence in Visual Art Award. With its haunting music, lovable cast, and engaging storyline, this game is a must-play for point-and-click lovers.
4. Day of the Tentacle Remastered
A remake of the classic Day of the Tentacle game, the Remastered version comes with a brand new set of super-colorful and detailed hand-painted cartoons.
The game follows a similar storyline to the older version – Dr. Fred has a mutated and evil tentacle that’s bent on taking over the world. It has very devious plans to change the course of history. Players need to direct the game’s three protagonists – teenagers who’ve been sent to a different era on a time-travel machine to stop the evil purple tentacle and save the world.
The best part about this game is that players have the option of switching back to the classic (retro pixelated) version whenever they want. You can even mix and play with the design, animations, and audio of the game. Unlike before, the Remastered version is compatible with all OS and PlayStations.
5. The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Another point-and-click adventure game that’s a remake of an old gem is The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition.
This rib-tickling, edge-of-your-seat game comes 20 years after the original first released. The graphics have been spruced-up, the voiceovers have been changed, and the game feels more responsive.
But beyond this, the storyline is exactly the same. Players play the role of pirate Guybrush Threepwood, whose goal is to plunder the richest kingdom he can find. On the way, he’ll meet new people, encounter dangerous problems, and solve puzzles and games to make his way to the loot.
The Special Edition comes with a Hint feature for the challenges. You also have the option of reverting to the classic graphics, voiceovers, and animations if you find the contemporary design too modern for your taste.
6. Year Walk
If you’re okay with serious, emotionally-draining adventure games, then you should definitely take a look at Year Walk.
This Swedish point-and-click game is like no other. The player is the protagonist – an identity-less individual who makes his way across the snowy Swedish landscape in search of his beloved.
This game is far from typical. You’ll need a pen and paper to take notes of everything you’ve seen and read as you progress through the game. You never know when these notes might help.
The game merges supernatural and reality– mixing Swedish mythology with history. The monochrome backdrop, coupled with the haunting audio and lack of dialogue, is chilling. The design of the game draws you in. A lot of times, clues and answers will be off-screen, just out-of-reach. You’ll need to put your thinking cap on to get your hands on the answers.
7. Milkmaid of the Milky Way
Scandinavia sure has a thing for odd and eerie games. Milkmaid of the Milky Way is an independent Norwegian point-and-click game that you’ll find strangely captivating.
Set in Norway, the game starts with Ruth, the protagonist, waking to find her missing parents. Her only companions – her four cows. But the cows soon get kidnapped by aliens, and Ruth needs to save them before the evil queen (who steals souls to remain immortal) finds her and kills her.
The best part about this game is that every dialogue is in rhyming couplets. It’s probably one of the most poetic video games on the planet. The game comes in a retro-pixelated style and offers easy to intermediate-level puzzles. The auto-save feature ensures you don’t lose your progress.
8. Deponia
A love story at its core, Deponia takes a dig at conventional romances with its wacky storyline, lovable characters, and seriously cheesy, sometimes dry humor. Players need to help the protagonist Rufus, as he escapes his humdrum life and makes his way to his one true love. He has a plan, and you, the player, need to make it happen.
This three-installment game takes its point-and-click format very seriously. You can pick-up, combine, and take-apart absolutely everything on the screen. Each action brings a snarky comment from the characters. There are numerous jigsaws, riddles, and confusing games that Rufus needs to solve to get to the next level.
The game’s graphics are extremely detailed, and the voiceovers for the characters make the game very realistic. With Deponia, it isn’t the goal that’s important, but the journey. Now, that is unforgettable.
9. Distraint 2
If psychological terror could be made into a game, then it would be called Distraint 2.
This game doesn’t resort to cheap jump scares. It gives shape to the deepest, darkest, and most dismal fears that humans have, and puts players through a few hours of rigorous, soul-searching, gut-wrenching gameplay.
If you’ve played the original game, you’ll be familiar with the storyline. The protagonist wakes up in an isolated and scary place, probably inside his own head (at least, this is the theory), and he needs to escape soon. There are monsters lurking in the shadows, waiting to catch him. Players need to use the buttons on the screen to maneuver through the hazy maze of a building and solve puzzles and win games to get closer to the exit.
Compared to most point-and-click games, Distraint 2 is much better developed. There aren’t too many confusing controls, the storyline is smoother, and the graphics are much easier on the eyes.
10. Broken Sword
No list of point-and-click adventure games can be complete without Broken Sword, and that’s why we’ve decided to wrap up this list with this game.
A multi-award-winning game series, Broken Sword follows lawyer George Stobbart as he tries to solve one mystery after another with the help of his friend – the sassy French journalist Nico Collard. The pair visit various places around the world, encounter everyone from scary mobsters to annoying goats, and solve decades-old conspiracies while saving the world.
The gameplay is one of the most complicated on this list, and players need to solve a variety of complicated puzzles before they can head to the next level. There are five franchises in the game, and each follows a unique storyline. The graphics have dramatically changed over the years – from simple cartoons to 3D-realistic characters.
The dialogues and voiceovers for the game are available in French, Spanish, German, and Italian (Russian is being developed now).
