33 Upcoming Adventure Games You NEED to Play in 2023

• Features by Adventure Game Hotspot
• Published:

Last year was an important one for adventure game fans. The long-awaited return of industry legends Ken and Roberta Williams and the first new Monkey Island from Ron Gilbert in over 30 years brought welcome attention to the torchbearers who have been keeping their classic design principles alive. With successes on PC, consoles and even virtual reality platforms, notable adventure games made headlines not just in game journalism, but even international mainstream media.

With more beloved franchise reboots, the return of other acclaimed designers, and some truly mind-boggling genre innovations on the horizon, the coming year promises to keep that momentum going, complemented by oodles more traditional point-and-click goodness we all know and love from a host of talented indie developers. There are too many to list all the games deserving your attention, but we've picked out 33(!) of the upcoming adventure games and – brace yourself – adventure-adjacent releases we’re most excited about, and why you should be too.

Rosewater

• Developer: Grundislav Games
• Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux
• Release Date: 2023 

Francisco Gonzalez has been a mainstay of the indie adventure scene for two decades now. After making waves with his Ben Jordan freeware series in the mid-2000s, he went on to create some of the most notable commercial indies of the modern era, including Shardlight and A Golden Wake. Rosewater, his latest title, is a western adventure set in the same universe as his 2018 steampunk mystery Lamplight City. Players take on the role of frontier journalist Harley Leger, whose pursuit of a seemingly trivial news lead turns into a high-stakes treasure hunt, featuring a fully voiced cast of dangerous characters in a beautifully animated 2D world.

Beyond Shadowgate

• Developer: Zojoi
• Platform: PC
• Release Date: September 2023

Shadowgate is the beloved dark fantasy adventure that first premiered on the Mac in 1987, before finding an even bigger audience on the NES console two years later. The Dungeons and Dragons-inspired gothic horror title has seen countless ports, remakes and sequels over the last three-plus decades, including a “full re-imagining” in 2014 under the auspices of original co-creator Dave Marsh and his studio Zojoi. Now Zojoi is back with Beyond Shadowgate to finally give us a direct sequel. Based on Marsh's decades-old design documents for his ambitious vision of the planned follow-up, Beyond Shadowgate is lovingly crafted in the pixel art style of its popular NES predecessor, but promises to be several times the scope. Fans are clearly enthused, as the project's Kickstarter campaign reached its initial crowdfunding goal in only four hours, and is still going strong!

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 Old Skies

• Developer: Wadjet Eye
• Platforms: PC, TBA
• Release Date: TBA

Dave Gilbert has earned his iconic status within the adventure game community. After a popular string of freeware games, in 2006 he founded Wadjet Eye Games to commercially release his spiritual mystery-thriller The Shivah. Shortly thereafter, he created his seminal Blackwell series, a five-part saga that follows a psychic medium and her wise-cracking spectral companion as they aid ghosts to the spirit realm, which brought the studio wider recognition. In addition to his own work, including 2018’s crossplatform hit Unavowed, Wadjet Eye has also functioned as producer, publisher and talent broker for a number of modern genre classics in the indie game space, including Gemini Rue, Resonance, Technobabylon, Primordia and the recent The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow.

With Old Skies, Gilbert has taken the reins as project lead for the first time since Unavowed. Players assume the role of Fia Quinn, agent and guide for ChronoZen, a time travel tourism company. It’s Fia’s job to keep her rich clientele in check and prevent them from causing catastrophic damage to the timeline during their indulgent exploits. While the stakes may be high for everyone around them, Fia’s own existence as a time agent is unaffected by their chronological missteps. The game finds much of its black humor in the mundanity of Fia’s work.

“I kind of made [time travel] a blue collar job; it’s just something that happens,” Gilbert said in a video interview with Adventure Game Hotspot last fall. “It both lowers and raises the stakes. When you do a time travel story, [normally] you have to worry about paradoxes, but [these characters] don’t care. They’re protected and insulated from that. It leads to some very funny character moments.”

The time travel mechanics have provided Gilbert with a fresh approach to puzzle design too. Scenes must be played multiple times, and key items and information to solve each puzzle must be gathered through multiple iterations of the same moment in time. Unlike in Gilbert’s previous titles, Fia can (and likely will) die, but the conceit of the game means that frequent death is merely a hazard of the job.

“It’s taken this one danger with time travel stories and just removed it completely,” he said. “That freed me up a lot.”

Old Skies marks a departure in several ways from Gilbert's established body of work. While his earlier titles in Blackwell’s shared universe (sometimes called the “Durkinverse” by fans) were largely grounded in the real world or near-future, Old Skies is pure science fiction.

“Unavowed and Blackwell were sort of the same themes, the same subject matter – they were both supernatural,” he said. “This is sci-fi, it’s time travel. It’s in the same universe; there are a lot of references [to my earlier games], but nothing that blatant,” he continued, implying that familiarity with his older work is not a prerequisite to enjoying his latest.

A more visually noticeable change is Old Skies’ further evolution away from the retro pixel art style that was a hallmark of Blackwell and other Wadjet Eye-published titles. Thanks to the contributions of lead artist and longtime collaborator Ben Chandler, the game will feature hand-drawn character animations set against high-resolution backdrops, which illustrate the world and its seven distinct time periods and locales in rich detail. Gilbert makes no secret of the fact that he resents his work being boxed into the new-retro niche. Hopefully Old Skies’ more modern presentation will help shake any perceived remaining vestiges of nostalgist-only appeal.

With Gilbert’s trademark dialog and storytelling, Chandler’s colorful art direction, and the return of Blackwell composer Thomas Regin, we have every reason to believe Old Skies will prove to be another Wadjet Eye classic.

The Last of Us, Part I (PC release)

• Developer: Naughty Dog
• Platforms: PC
• Release Date: March 28, 2023

Sony’s 2013 postapocalyptic zombie phenomenon – which has already seen a remaster, a remake, a sequel and a blockbuster television adaptation – finally arrives on PC! The Last of Us, Part I is a port of the 2022 PlayStation 5 overhaul, featuring new models, textures, animations, lighting and ray-tracing effects. This horror-thriller is very much an action-adventure game, but with strong characters and an emotional storytelling core, it will surely be of great interest even to genre fans less used to having combat and stealth elements mixed in. Naughty Dog proved that they can capably bring their brand of hybrid gaming to PC with last year's Uncharted 4 release, so here’s hoping they can repeat their success again.

The Invincible

• Developer: Starward Industries
• Platforms: PC, TBA
• Release Date: 2023

Based on the novel by Polish science fiction writer Stanisław Lem (author of Solaris), The Invincible is a first-person 3D atompunk adventure that emphasizes exploration and interactivity. After a spaceship crashes on the surface of Regis III, an astrobiologist named Yasna must explore the uncharted planet's surface to find the whereabouts of her lost crew. With the vocal assistance of your “Astrogator,” you will begin to uncover this alien world's many mysteries in what looks to be a visually stunning retro-futuristic adventure.

The Expanse: A Telltale Series

• Developers: Deck Nine, Telltale Games
• Platforms: PC, TBA
• Release Date: TBA

Based on the television series and novels of the same name, The Expanse is one of two eagerly awaited titles under the banner of the newly revived Telltale Games. Co-developed by Deck Nine, the studio behind Life Is Strange: True Colors, The Expanse is a sci-fi horror adventure that emphasizes the choice-and-consequence storytelling that both studios helped popularize, though we welcome what appears to be significantly more gameplay than many of Telltale’s earlier games. Set prior to the events of the Syfy show, the cinematic adventure game will feature actress Cara Gee reprising her role of scavenger Camina Drummer as she navigates a series of life-or-death decisions in a narrative that can unfold any number of ways in a universe on the brink of war.

The Alters

• Developer: 11 bit studios
• Platforms: TBA
• Release Date: TBA

From Polish developer 11 bit Studios – designers of Frostpunk and This War of Mine – comes The Alters, a first-person science fiction psychological thriller. Players take on the role of Jan, a spacefaring laborer who crash lands all alone on an alien planet. Not fully aware of the consequences, to survive Jan must create alternate versions of himself – or what he could have been. Despite being comprised of the same genetic code, each “alter” represents a unique identity with his own personality and history, strengths and weaknesses. The game promises to be a visually stunning sci-fi tale that emphasizes philosophy and self-reflection as players grapple with how to balance interactions between the different variations of the same troubled protagonist.

The Last Night

• Developer: Odd Tales
• Platforms: PC,TBA
• Release Date: TBA

From Odd Tales comes The Last Night, a narrative-driven side-scroller in a highly stylized cyberpunk noir setting. With a blend of lovingly crafted pixel art and cinematic modern effects, this action-adventure began life as a small Flash game jam entry before being expanded and updated for commercial release. Designed in “the spirit of Flashback,” players control a second-class citizen named Charlie, one of the few remaining non-augmented humans in a city filled with machines, drones, and fellow residents living a “gamified existence.” Announced way back in 2017, we’ve not heard any updates about this game recently, but publisher Raw Fury has brought us modern classics like Kathy Rain and Whispers of a Machine, so we trust it’s only a matter of time before The Last Night joins their impressive catalog.

The Wolf Among Us 2

• Developer: Telltale Games, Adhoc Studio
• Platforms: TBA
• Release Date: 2024

The other highly anticipated title from the resurrected Telltale Games is the upcoming sequel to 2013’s acclaimed The Wolf Among Us. Although the game’s release date has been delayed to next year to accommodate a switch to Unreal Engine 5, Telltale announced recently that they were able to secure key investment funding to continue production. Co-developed by AdHoc, a studio founded by former Telltale employees, the new game picks up where the original left off. Players will once again step into the shoes of Fabletown sheriff Bigby Wolf as he solves a new noir-steeped fairy-tale mystery. Based on Bill Willingham’s Fables comic book series, The Wolf Among Us 2 will continue the choice-based gameplay of its predecessor in a world filled with famous characters from folklore as you’ve never seen them before.

Shadows of Doubt

• Developer: ColePowered Games
• Platforms: PC, TBA
• Release Date: 2023

Shadows of Doubt is shaping up to be a truly innovative detective mystery. Combining voxel art à la Minecraft with a cyberpunk setting, this indie noir adventure game from ColePowered Games features an open, persistent world with an immersive sim approach to puzzle solving, wherein the solutions to a given obstacle are limited only by the player's own ingenuity. Featuring a distinctive artistic direction and a procedurally generated living world, the ambitious Shadows of Doubt could help to shape the adventure genre for years to come.

The Crimson Diamond

• Developer: Julia Minamata
• Platforms: PC
• Release Date: 2023

From Canadian developer and community artist Julia Minamata comes The Crimson Diamond, a loving homage to the EGA era of Sierra text-parser adventures. Taking obvious cues from the Roberta Williams murder mystery classic The Colonel's Bequest, the game puts players in the role of mineralogist and amateur sleuth Nancy Maple as she investigates the whereabouts of an invaluable diamond. Featuring a quirky cast of characters with their own machinations, The Crimson Diamond aims to be a faithful and nostalgic recreation of a bygone, but still beloved, period of classic adventure gaming.

Amnesia: The Bunker

• Developer: Frictional Games
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox and Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: May 15, 2023

Developer Frictional Games have proven themselves masters of the first-person horror adventure with their Penumbra, SOMA and Amnesia games, the latter in particular helping to redefine survival horror for modern gamers. The Bunker is the fourth main title in the terrifying Amnesia series, but in borrowing elements from immersive sims it includes several new features this time. As an abandoned French soldier investigating the mysteries of a desolate World War I military bunker while evading its horrors and striving to keep your sanity intact, you now have some ability to fight back. Resources are limited, however, and the traps and obstacles you encounter are procedurally generated, so it’s up to you to decide how you wish to navigate the game's spine-tinglingly labyrinthine semi-open-world environments.

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Firmament

• Developer: Cyan Worlds
• Platforms: Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, TBA
• Release Date: May 18, 2023

Firmament is Cyan Worlds' long-awaited next project, touted as “the next step in the evolution of Cyan, deeply rooted in the spirit of Myst, Riven, and Obduction.” Players will be dropped into a surreal world of “steampunk magic” and tasked with solving a series of varied and interconnected puzzles across several different environments, including a tropical coastal region, a snowy mountainscape, and decrepit industrial ruins.

Though the premise will be instantly familiar to fans of Cyan’s previous efforts, several aspects distinguish Firmament from its predecessors. For one, the game is being built from the ground up with VR in mind (though a flatscreen experience will be available as well). Building off this foundation, the developers are proudly touting the inclusion of a “clockwork adjunct,” a floating mechanical companion who follows you throughout the game. This companion can interact with various parts of the world’s mysterious mechanical architecture, though players will have to learn to communicate with their little helper through gestures, telegraphing what they need it to do.

First revealed via Kickstarter in March 2019, the project was quickly funded with a target launch date of July 2020. Needless to say, that didn’t happen, but if anything the extra wait has only increased anticipation for fans and backers still eagerly awaiting its release. The new date is May 18th, so we're not far off now for VR platforms (Rift, Vive, Valve Index, and PSVR2), as well as Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. We here at the Hotspot can’t wait to finally get our (physical and VR-rendered) hands on it!

Tintin Reporter: Cigars of the Pharaoh

• Developer: Pendulo Studios
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: 2023

The long-running Belgian comic strip The Adventures of Tintin has all the hallmarks of great licensed detective-mystery source material, so we have high hopes for the upcoming Tintin Reporter: Cigars of the Pharaoh. The game is produced by Microids and developed by Pendulo, whose impressive credits includes the Runaway and Yesterday series, Blacksad and the recent Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo. The titular reporter and amateur sleuth, accompanied his trusty dog Snowy, must travel from Egypt to the Far East in pursuit of a narcotics ring linked to an ancient pharaoh’s tomb in a popular storyline taken straight from the pages of Hergé’s internationally beloved cartoon. The game's brand new reveal trailer suggests there will be plenty of action-packed excitement in store, but the official Tintin website promises “unique and innovative gameplay combining all the key elements of adventure and investigation video games” that will be appropriate for all ages.

Stasis: Bone Totem

• The Brotherhood
• Platforms: PC, TBA
• Release Date: TBA

The long-anticipated sequel to The Brotherhood’s cult hit Stasis is nearly here, and this time it’s going to a much deeper place than its 2015 predecessor – literally. Bone Totem is another dark sci-fi point-and-click adventure with an isometric perspective, but rather than a new game set in the vast expanse of outer space, here the husband-and-wife duo Mac and Charlie, along with their robot pet Moses, will explore a deep-sea facility and the horrors (and puzzles) within. While it may have the visual trappings often associated with 90s role-playing classics, including an atmospheric soundtrack by Fallout’s Mark Morgan, expect another terrifying, philosophically rich narrative that is very much a traditional adventure at its core.

Professor Layton and the New World of Steam

• Developer: Level-5
• Platforms: Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: TBA

Coming exclusively (at least at first) to the Nintendo Switch is the latest in Level-5’s popular Japanese puzzle series, Professor Layton and the New World of Steam. Though little of the game beyond a 30-second teaser trailer has been revealed, the eighth game starring the famed top-hatted archaeologist will once again be a steampunk-tinged animated visual novel with lovely Ghibli-inspired graphics and a new mystery to solve that will undoubtedly feature the richly packed puzzle stylings of its predecessors.

The Last Worker

• Developer: Oiffy, Wolf & Wood Interactive Ltd
• Platforms: PC, Playstation 5, Nintendo Switch, Steam VR, Oculus
• Release Date: March 30, 2023

As one of the few VR-supported (but not required) titles on our list, The Last Worker stands out as a potentially visionary first-person narrative adventure experience. With graphic novel-style artwork and rotoscope animation reminiscent of Borderlands, combined with Portal-like mechanics and plenty of black humor, The Last Worker promises to be a fun and darkly satirical sci-fi take on the physics puzzler genre. Starring the voice talents of Jason Isaacs, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, David Hewlett and Zelda Williams, among others, this unique game looks like one to watch and listen to, and best of all it’s coming soon!

Twinsen’s Little Big Adventure

• Developer: Adeline Software
• Platforms: TBA
• Release Date: TBA

The original Little Big Adventure (aka Relentless: Twinsen’s Adventure), released in 1994, remains a cult sensation. Using groundbreaking 3D isometric visuals, the charming action-adventure was one of the most unique games for the PC during the early CD-ROM era, followed soon after by a sequel. Now, 30 years later, original art director Didier Chanfray has assembled a new team for a complete reboot, with input from series creator Frédérick Raynal. Rather than carry on with the planned third (and final) entry to the beloved franchise, Chanfray and company decided that enough time had passed that the world needed to be re-introduced to the titular ponytailed young Quetch in beautifully animated, fully explorable 3D. It’s anything but a traditional adventure, but we’re long overdue for Little Big Adventure to reach a new generation while delivering a faithful experience to its many die-hard fans.

Gobliiins 5: The Morgloton Invasion

• Developer: Pierre Gilhodes
• Platforms: TBA
• Release Date: August 2023

French developer Coktel Vision’s Gobliiins series is a fondly remembered oddity of the golden age of point-and-click adventures. Featuring a quirky animated style and challenging puzzles that required the use of multiple characters to solve, the series eschewed the linear narrative-focused structure that its parent company Sierra On-Line had helped to popularize. Original designer and visual artist Pierre Gilhodes previously attempted to revive the series with 2009’s Gobliiins 4, to admittedly mixed reception. Now, with the help of a successfully funded Kickstarter campaign, he’s bringing the series to life again with The Morgloton Invasion. Leaving behind the 3D experimentations of his last foray, Gilhodes will be using full-color 2D panoramas in 640x480 resolution to bring us a modern Gobliiins adventure with a classic feel.

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Indiana Jones

• Developer: Bethesda, MachineGames
• Platforms: TBA
• Release Date: TBA

On January 12, 2021, Bethesda Softworks announced that it was working with Lucasfilm Games and MachineGames to produce a new Indiana Jones game.

Little information regarding the title was revealed, aside from what could be ascertained from the cryptic teaser trailer released alongside the announcement. However, we do know that this “original story” will be a “standalone adventure” that takes place during “the height of the famed adventurer's career.” No 80-year-old protagonist here!

Throughout the trailer, the camera slowly pans across Jones’s desk, teasing clues about the game’s setting. A leather-bound notebook partially obstructs several pieces of paper, one of which contains a map of a Mesopotamian ziggurat, and his passport and a plane ticket sit atop a map of Rome. Before the teaser ends, we see Indiana’s famous fedora lifted from the desk to reveal his whip underneath.

MachineGames are best known for their work on the recent Wolfenstein titles, and Bethesda for their RPGs, so it seems almost certain that the game will feature a significant action element. And yet the Indiana Jones franchise has always been synonymous with solving puzzles to uncover ancient mysteries, so we have high hopes that there will be plenty of “adventure” in this game, in every meaning of the word. In an interview with SVG, executive producer Todd Howard refers to the gameplay as “a mash-up" that will end up feeling very much like “a unique thing.”

Though it may seem premature to anticipate a game we know so little about, Indiana Jones has a long and storied history in the adventure genre, including 1992’s brilliant Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, so how can we not be excited about the prospect of the first new major release (not counting LEGO) in twenty years starring everyone’s favorite treasure hunter? With the fifth movie set to hit theaters this summer, we expect to hear more about the game soon to coincide with its release. Here’s hoping MachineGames and Bethesda can deliver a game worthy of the series’ legacy.

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened

• Developer: Frogwares
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: April 11, 2023

Marrying Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous literary detective with the supernatural Cthulhu mythos of cosmic horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, The Awakened was an interesting turn in Frogwares’ long-running Sherlock Holmes series in 2007. A “remaster” a year later added the rather unique option to explore its fully 3D world in either first- or third-person perspective. Now the team is re-envisioning the original title from the ground up with the graphics engine and open world-RPG approach they used in 2019’s The Sinking City, along with the younger versions of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson introduced in Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One. The release date has slipped slightly due to the unprecedented challenges presented by the war in Ukraine, but it’s not far off now and we’re sure this eerie detective mystery will delight fans of Sherlock and Lovecraft alike.

Dustborn

• Developer: Red Thread Games
• Platforms: TBA
• Release Date: TBA

From legendary designer Ragnar Tørnquist, creator of The Longest Journey/Dreamfall series, comes an innovative graphic novel-inspired action/adventure. A group of friends (and a couple of robots) find themselves bound together on a road trip across dystopian America in the near future, in a premise somewhat reminiscent of DigixArt’s Road 96. Using a variety of non-standard mechanics, including a speech-based combat system, players must navigate the ragtag team of protagonists through a complex web of choices, relationships, and hostile encounters as they make their way across a war-torn country to deliver a mysterious package. Dustborn promises to be a stylish neo-western hybrid adventure with a socially conscious message, so we sure hope Red Thread breaks its lengthy radio silence and shares more about the game soon.

Foolish Mortals

• Developer: Inklingwood Studios
• Platforms: Windows, macOS
• Release Date: July 2023

David Younger literally wrote the book on Theme Park Design. It’s no surprise, then, that his first adventure game evokes the Disneyland-charm of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and the cartoon panache of Monkey Island and Broken Sword. This gothic 2D mystery adventure appears to have no shortage of spooky puzzles, fun scares, macabre humor and gruesome deaths all wrapped up a beautiful hand-painted art style. Supported by a successful Kickstarter campaign, Foolish Mortals looks poised to be a shockingly polished debut from a first-time developer that is sure to appeal to fans of the zany sensibilities of the LucasArts classics.

Layers of Fear

• Developer: Bloober Team
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S
• Release Date: June 2023

Continuing the trend of horror revivals, remakes and reboots comes the third entry in Bloober Team’s Layers of Fear series. Not only does it present a brand new story set in a lighthouse, it will also include the first two games in the series and all original DLC, updated with new features and core mechanics to blend the three titles seamlessly together. Although it has the cadence of more action-heavy survival-horror peers, the series eschews traditional combat encounters in favor of moments of sheer psychological horror. Using the state-of-the-art Unreal 5 tech, we fully expect Layers of Fear to be a visceral, visually stunning creepfest.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

• Developer: Nintendo
• Platform: Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: May 12, 2023

As one of the best-selling franchises of all time, Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda series needs no introduction, although where it fits on the “adventure game” spectrum has long been open to debate. There is plenty of action, to be sure, and yet the franchise has always maintained the exploration, narrative and puzzle-solving mechanics that are the foundational pillars of the genre. This year’s upcoming Tears of the Kingdom is one of the few titles in the venerated series that serves as a direct sequel, so look for it to build on the lush environmental design and engaging hybrid gameplay of Breath of the Wild, its award-winning predecessor.

Master Detective Archives: Rain Code

• Developer: Too Kyo
• Platforms: Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: June 30, 2023

Brimming with exuberance, twee and busty leather-clad shinigami, Too Kyo's quirky cyberpunk anime adventure is sure to delight Japanophiles – or anyone who enjoys off-the-wall paranormal adventures. It's a candy-colored lucid-noir mystery that sees fledgling amnesiac detective-in-training Yuma Kokohead and his mischievous spirit guide solve a series of fantastical capers. Combining visual novel elements with investigative gameplay, Master Detective Archives: Rain Code is being published by Spike Chunsoft, the company best known for the Danganronpa and Zero Escape franchises. If its name is any indication, this may just be the start of a whole new series, though it will launch only as a Switch exclusive for now.

Oxenfree II: Lost Signals

• Developer: Night School Studio
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: 2023

The original supernatural thriller Oxenfree was a breath of fresh air to new- and old-school genre fans alike. Primarily a narrative adventure that nevertheless included some light puzzle-solving mechanics, Night School’s debut offering skillfully kept players engrossed in the growing tension of its unfolding character drama and troubling narrative. Lost Signals, a standalone sequel, looks to be more of the same winning formula, set five years later with an all-new protagonist and story about problematic radio signals sure to send a shiver down your spine. With its atmospheric homage to 80s sci-fi horror, it’s no wonder Netflix signed on to co-produce this one.

Phonopolis

• Developer: Amanita Design
• Platforms: PC, TBA
• Release Date: TBA

Phonopolis is the latest title from art-game Czech studio Amanita Design, whose many hits include the likes of Machinarium, Botanicula and the Samorost series. Like its predecessors, Phonopolis features a striking visual art direction, this time reminiscent of a pop-up storybook world made of corrugated cardboard. The alluring aesthetic belies its more sinister themes: Players take on the role of Felix, a resident of the oppressed paper world who must reluctantly lead a rebellion against its tyrannical government. Consistent with the rest of Amanita’s catalog, Phonopolis promises to be a gorgeous, high-concept work of interactive fiction for adventure fans who prefer their games a little headier, and for the first time ever from this studio will include intelligible speech to help convey it.

PRIM

• Developer: Common Colors
• Platforms: Windows, macOS
• Release Date: 2023

As if channeling Greek mythology and the humor of Terry Pratchett through the visual lens of Tim Burton, developer Jonas Fisch and Common Colors bring us a new and charming artistic vision that is neverthless all their own. The daughter of Death is the sardonic Prim, who, in order to answer the cry for help from a boy she continually sees in her dreams, must trick her father and escape to the land of the living. A black-and-white animated adventure, PRIM is reminiscent of twee-goth screen classics like The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Addams Family, adapted to a delightfully traditional 2D point-and-click adventure experience.

Road 96: Mile 0

• Developer: DigixArt
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: April 4, 2023

Road 96, a first-person 2021 political road trip adventure, was an intriguing experiment in incorporating RPG and sim mechanics into the traditional adventure game format. Similar to the Life Is Strange or various Telltale series, it presented players with choices that determined both larger story and more immediate relationship outcomes. But Road 96 went a step further and incorporated these elements into a procedurally generated experience with iterative gameplay that its developer DigixArt described as a “narrative roguelike.” While the original featured an ensemble cast of teenagers as they attempted to flee the dystopian landscape of Petria, the upcoming prequel Mile 0 will scale back the character dynamics to focus on the relationship between two teens – Kaito and Zoe – from different castes, whose unfolding story and differing worldviews help set up the political tensions of the first game.

Star Trek: Resurgence

• Developer: Dramatic Labs
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
• Release Date: April 2023

Founded in 2021, Dramatic Labs is a new studio founded by some of the key creative minds at the original Telltale Games. Their first game will be an original new choice-driven story in the Star Trek universe. Resurgence will put players in the dual role of two Starfleet officers, one on the upper decks and the other on the lower decks of the U.S.S. Resolute. There, with their different perspectives and priorities, they will make high-stakes decisions that affect the branching narrative and the lives of Resolute’s crew. As befits a pair of working crew members, there will be hands-on tasks to complete and even some action-oriented elements to contend with as the ship is caught between two alien civilizations on the brink of war. The game promises cameos from tentpole franchise characters, but Resurgence looks to immerse Trek fans in a way that hasn’t been done before.

Harmony: The Fall of Reverie

• Developer: Don’t Nod
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch
• Release Date: June 2023

The latest title from Don’t Nod, the French studio that created the Life Is Strange series, is a choice-based narrative adventure that breaks from its predecessors with a fantastical hand-painted presentation. In a dystopian, corporate-run Mediterranean metropolis, players shape the character of Polly, a clairvoyant with the ability to foresee the future who can tap into the spirit world, where she becomes the goddess Harmony. Players will alternate between the mundane world and fantastical realm of Reverie, shaping the fate of both with branching choices, because what happens in one world is inextricably linked to the future of the other. It certainly looks different than its predecessors, but Don’t Nod is known for their emotionally rich stories that touch on real social and political issues, and Harmony: The Fall of Reverie looks to be no exception.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Directive 8020

• Developer: Supermassive Games
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
• Release Date: TBA

Beginning with 2013’s acclaimed PS4 slasher-thriller Until Dawn, Supermassive Games have continued to corner their unique niche in the adventure game market. Their particular brand of cinematic thriller looks simple on paper: Take a group of hapless (usually teen) protagonists and a monster of the week, unleash them in a classic horror locale, and throw in a mystery scavenger hunt for good measure. The primary conceit is that player choices have major (though not always immediately apparent) impact on who, if any, of the playable characters will survive. The four-part Dark Pictures Anthology continued that same brand of interactive movie horror, the first season wrapping in 2022 with The Devil in Me. Directive 8020 represents the season two premiere, marking the series’ first foray into sci-fi. While little has been revealed about the premise, the story will revolve around an ill-fated space mission to a planet unwisely targeted for human colonization. Supermassive has proven consistent in its delivery of fun interactive horror that can be experienced alone or with friends, and we look forward to Directive 8020 being more of the same.

And Many, Many More Adventure Games

That’s a wrap for our top 33 upcoming adventures! There were literally hundreds of games to choose from, dozens of which we seriously considered, so not everything could make the cut. Rest assured, whether on the list or not, we will be following each and every new adventure game in the months to come, so stay tuned for more news, videos, developer interviews and more for all your favorite upcoming releases.

As always, we want to hear what you think! Which of these games are you most excited about? Which ones do you think we overlooked? We invite you to leave a comment below, join us Discord or any of our social media channels and let's talk adventures!

Written by Jeff Tripoli with contributions by Drew Onia and Joshua Cleveland

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