Top 10 must-have adventure games of 2024

At the dawn of the gaming industry, adventure games were highly popular, and huge fan communities formed around titles such as Myst, King's Quest, Monkey Island, I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, and Full Throttle. Unfortunately, the demand for this genre has declined over time, and major releases are now rare.

However, developers continue to work tirelessly, and even in 2024, many excellent works have been released in this genre. We will discuss the best of them in this article.

Star Trek: Resurgence

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What happens if former developers from Telltale Games take on one of the most popular universes of the last decades? There can only be one answer — a quality adventure game with a deep and dynamic plot is created.

The authors did not invent something new but used a formula proven in The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead for Star Trek: Resurgence: ambiguous choices whose consequences affect the gameplay, rich characters, and, of course, moral dilemmas.

Fans of interactive cinema and the Star Trek franchise are definitely recommended to check it out.

No Case Should Remain Unsolved

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The title tells the story of an unresolved case that has been haunting the detective for many years. The original visual approach — black-and-white pixel art and anime stylization — only emphasizes the underlying depression of the events.

Fans of the genre will appreciate the convoluted plot, where each new clue makes things even more ambiguous.

Gameplay involves interacting with characters, searching for information during dialogues, and uncovering the true motives of the characters. The abundance of text won't become tedious: the plot develops and keeps the player in suspense, and the game can be completed in 2–3 hours.

Definitely will appeal to fans of noir aesthetics and the series True Detective.

The Rise of the Golden Idol

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Lucas Pope is one of those industry figures whose almost every project becomes popular due to an original idea or plot. His latest work, The Rise of the Golden Idol, is not a direct sequel to the 2022 game but exists in the same universe. Therefore, knowledge of the original is not required to play through.

On the other hand, the concept remains roughly the same: by interacting with objects, you need to explore the level to piece together the full picture of what happened from the clues found. Simple, but only at first glance! With each level, the complexity of the puzzles increases, and the plot becomes only more tense, so the word puzzle mechanic does not become tiresome.

If you like grotesque visual styles and detective stories, this title will provide many engaging hours of gameplay.

Lil Guardsman

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This title will surprise the player literally from the first minutes, as you have to play as a twelve-year-old girl guarding the kingdom! However, it's not all that critical, and tiny Lil just needs to learn the reasons and purposes of visiting the castle from magical beings. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

This title has a warm and even heartfelt atmosphere of carefree fantasy, where magic coexists with televisions and landline phones. Special pleasure is derived from the narrative development of each visitor: you'll meet both evil ents and office clerks. Dialogues with them, of course, are seasoned with good humor and sarcasm.

Lil Guardsman lacks the grim dystopian aesthetics of Papers, Please and, moreover, it delights and makes you laugh. A customs officer simulator has never been so fun!

Riven

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This title is a continuation of the legendary Myst game series, which has nearly a thirty-year history. Riven 2024 is a remake with updated graphics that meet modern industry standards, along with numerous various changes and improvements.

Unlike other adventure games, players are given direct control of the character and the freedom to move around several islands with picturesque locations. The main interest, of course, lies in the plot and the puzzles, which number in the dozens, and newcomers to the genre may find them terribly difficult. It’s not always possible to understand which interactive objects will be useful after five hours of gameplay!

On the other hand, it’s a meditative, slow, and measured adventure with rich lore, an interesting setting, and a no less interesting plot.

For genre veterans — definitely worth checking out + we recommend trying the Myst series. For newcomers — with caution: the game has a lot of backtracking, puzzles with non-obvious but logical solutions, and a leisurely pace.

Please, Touch The Artwork 2

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The next title in our top list may seem quite strange, as you have to control a skeleton traveling through paintings! The risen from the dead is named James Ensor, and he ends up in his own works, where he must solve various puzzles.

It looks surreal and in some ways avant-garde, as the game literally allows a bit of mischief. The main gameplay consists of finding several items on the paintings: for example, matches or buckets.

These two simple elements — original visuals based on real paintings + simple mechanics — create a unique experience that cannot be obtained in any other game.

Thank Goodness You're Here!

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"Thank Goodness You're Here!" is both the name of the game and the exclamation with which the characters address the main hero, as only he can solve their problems. And they are strange: helping a passerby pull his hand out of a sewer grate, milking a cow, helping grow a tomato...

Adventures in this game are unpredictable, and absurdity engulfs the entire town where our nameless salesman arrives. This is where all the humor lies (there are a lot of jokes, not always decent), clearly inspired by the Monty Python group.

Like one of the publisher's previous projects, Untitled Goose Game, this title is perfect for having fun.

Duck Detective: The Secret Salami

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And this charming game about a duck detective will not leave any gamer indifferent! The story premise is extremely simple and familiar to almost any genre fan: the main character spent all his money on bread and is trying to reconstruct the events of the past night. And then he stumbles upon a task that brave Eugene McQuacklin takes on…

Gameplay-wise, the title is also exceptional: you need to collect clues, interact with other animal characters, and in your journal reconstruct the sequence of events by placing words in the correct order in sentences.

Duck Detective has only one significant drawback — it's short and can be completed in a maximum of three hours. Nevertheless, the game is perfect for an interesting and fun evening.

Boxes: Lost Fragments

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The main concept of the game revolves around solving puzzles related to boxes. At first glance, it sounds banal, but each of these boxes is a multi-layered puzzle that requires careful examination of the object to solve. Their design and detailing, executed at a high level, will continue to amaze even by the end of the gameplay.

There is no real plot here: the main character simply needs to escape from a mansion from which he stole a mysterious mask. Strangely enough, the story does not play a big role here, and the fact that it is presented only through notes, on the contrary, does not distract from the meditative gameplay.

The title will especially appeal to fans of The Room, but newcomers to the genre will also find it engaging.

Aurora Hills: Chapter 1

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The mountains of North America attract many developers with their mysteriousness: the atmosphere of dense forests is perfect for mystical events. Aurora Hills tells the story of a town of the same name that was supposed to thrive but became a ghost town due to mysterious disappearances of people.

Investigating these incidents is, of course, necessary for the main character. And it's quite a challenging adventure! Some puzzles that Ethan Hill encounters along the way may seem simply unsolvable, while others can leave you stumped. However, in this regard, the game is lenient towards newcomers and provides some hints.

The visuals, a crucial part of adventure games, are done superbly: backgrounds are highly detailed, and interactive objects do not stand out from the overall picture.

Unfortunately, Chapter 1 in the title says it all. Its completion will take no more than three to four hours, and whether a sequel will be released is unknown. Nevertheless, we highly recommend checking out this quality title.

We hope you enjoyed our selection. Be sure to write in the comments about your favorite games in the adventure genre!

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