The Hotspot Highlights – The Best Adventure Games of 2023

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What a year 2023 has been! The genre continues to grow and expand, with nearly 300 new adventure game releases this year. Three hundred!

As varied as their creators, the games came in all shapes and styles and sizes, ensuring there’s plenty for everyone to play. But not all games are created equal, and so with the calendar coming to a close, it’s time once again to honor the best of the best of 2023 with the Hotspot Highlights!

With so many great games to choose from, paring the list down required some painful cuts to many other adventures we loved, so if you don’t see your preferred games here, you’re not alone! But something had to give, so congratulations to all the developers claiming an award, and absolutely no disrespect to those that didn’t. Really it’s we who are the winners for all the incredible gaming experiences we were treated to this year, whether they made the final list or not.

Only complete, original new adventure games released for the first time in 2023 are eligible, but we’ve introduced a few new categories this year to recognize those that are ineligible but still eminently worthy of your attention.

And now, on with the show!

Most Promising Early Access Game: Shadows of Doubt

Early access games offer a great opportunity for players to take a role in shaping the final product. Many developers aren’t as open to hearing players’ opinions, but with ColePowered Games it's a different story as they have been actively adjusting Shadows of Doubt based on player feedback. And it was already extremely impressive to begin with. Even unfinished, it’s a lengthy, substantial neo-noir voxel art experience that is both entertaining and intellectually stimulating as you take on the role of a private detective tasked with solving murders in a fully simulated city of corruption. Or not. In this genre-defying sandbox roleplaying-sim-adventure, the choices are seemingly endless in how you want to make money, upgrade abilities and solve crimes in this alternate reality 1979 – potentially even resorting to crime yourself, though you’ll need to maintain your mental and physical condition as well, adding another layer of challenge. It’s still very much a work in progress, but new features and content are continually being added. More items to interact with? Check. More dialogue options? Check. More side missions? Check. Increased anticipation for the complete game? CHECK!

Best Co-op Adventure: We Were Here Expeditions: The FriendShip

What’s better than playing a really great adventure game? Playing a really great adventure game with a friend! The debut installment in Total Mayhem Games’ new spin-off co-op adventure series, We Were Here Expeditions: The FriendShip keeps the multiplayer goodness of the main franchise while playing with the formula to entertaining effect. With an intentionally short play time, this is a game intended to be enjoyed comfortably in an evening. Trapped in a piratey-themed park, two players must work together to prove themselves worthy by solving a host of puzzles in three radically different flavors. As a great new addition, puzzles are no longer all-or-nothing affairs. There are grades of varying completeness, with the opportunity to opt out of puzzles early should certain challenges prove too difficult. With the ability to tailor the difficulty to go with a new storyline separate from the primary game series, this is a fantastic jumping-on point both for experienced co-op players and those new to this kind of multiplayer adventuring.

Best DLC: Golden Idol Mysteries: The Lemurian Vampire

Downloadable content was a rarity among adventure games until very recently, but now that it’s caught on, there have been an impressive number of DLC expansions to choose from, not the least of which was a franchise crossover release of Sea of Thieves: The Legend of Monkey Island. But it was last year’s Adventure Game of the Year that once again led the way in 2023. The final DLC for The Case of the Golden Idol brought three challenging new mysteries tying the base game to the first DLC, The Spider of Lanka, bringing the saga full circle. The Lemurian Vampire provides a welcome third helping of intense challenge, paired with a deep, twisting story, and the same uniquely stylized artwork. Not merely more of the same (though we wouldn’t have complained if it was), this installment shows some evolution for Color Gray Games with a more complex, three-dimensional approach to animation, as well as a new dimension to problem solving: the ability to leap between two or three different moments in time to piece together the mystery of the Golden Idol and the effects it has on a small island village. In bringing the full game to a close, this DLC doesn’t miss a step and arguably adds one of the most complex chapters overall. We all wait with bated breath for the recently announced full-fledged sequel, The Rise of the Golden Idol, but in the meantime, The Lemurian Vampire is sure to sate any fan’s appetite for more Mad Libs-styled deduction.

Best Visual Novel: Slay the Princess

Part of what makes Black Tabby Games’ Slay the Princess so remarkable is how strongly it commits to the novel aspect of “visual novel.” While its story starts out deceptively simple – there’s a princess locked up in a forest cabin, and you’re told you have to kill her to save the world – as the protagonist you have a dazzling array of options for how it develops from there. Your decisions don’t just affect your immediate circumstances, but the quest’s entire trajectory. Each playthrough features a distinct, singular narrative whose tone, subject and direction flow from your actions. There are more unique and unexpected story strands on offer here than could ever be seen in a single go-round, each with its own complement of hair-raisingly creepy art, dynamic music, and stunning voicework by Nichole Goodnight and Jonathan Sims; you can go back multiple times and still never see them all. Reaching the end credits may mean that the current tale is over, but your true journey into the princess’s world will be just beginning.

Best Remake: Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened

When it comes to remakes, how many times have you heard the sentence “just play (or watch) the original?” As graphical capabilities advance, each passing year sees more and more high-profile game remakes that all too often fail to fully justify themselves. Ukrainian developer Frogwares’ revision of their 2007 classic Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened is that rare reimagining that goes far beyond mere technical updates to provide a uniquely rewarding experience. An exemplary remake, it could also be considered an excellent sequel, continuing the fresh take on the beloved detective in his younger years introduced in Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One. This version of the character’s fragile grip on reality imbues the fast-paced narrative of the original with an entirely new dimension, as the detective rushes across the globe to take down a dangerous cult of Cthulhu worshippers. Propelled by engaging investigative gameplay, The Awakened takes Sherlock through an assortment of immersive settings, from Victorian London to a formative 18th century New Orleans to a dark portal accessing other worlds, or perhaps someplace even worse – the recesses of a deeply disturbed mind. All the more amazing is that Frogwares delivered all this while their country was in the midst of a devastating invasion. While The Awakened doesn’t need an exceptional backstory to garner praise, the resilience of its developer deserves a special mention of its own.

Best New Adventure Games of 2023

#15 – Scene Investigators

So you think you’re better at exercising the little grey cells than Poirot, Holmes, Spade, Marple, or Murdoch? Here’s your chance to prove it! Though we warn you: it won’t be easy. EQ Studios’ Scene Investigators drops you into a variety of crime scenes. It’s up to you and your powers of observation and deduction to piece together the clues and determine what happened in each scenario. Ranging from robberies, to disappearances, to murders, there’s plenty to test your detective instincts. The game pulls no punches, providing little in the way of direction or handholding, placing the challenge squarely on your shoulders. The smaller mysteries have that addictive “just one more” quality, but when you do need a break, don’t be surprised if you find you’re still mulling over theories, inferences, and avenues of investigation in your head to follow up on next. Challenging but fair, the cases feel so rewarding when you finally crack them with your own brainpower, allowing you, at least for a moment, to join the hallowed ranks of the greatest detectives of all time.

#14 – A Highland Song

The Scottish Highlands can be bleak, cold, and windswept, but when the rain stops and the sun shimmers off the loch, they can also be beautiful, majestic and a little bit magical. Inkle's A Highland Song, the side-scrolling tale of Moira's quest to find her Uncle Hamish's lighthouse by the sea and get a break from her overprotective mother, brilliantly captures these contradictions. One moment the teenager is tumbling down a gully to spend a wet and miserable night under an overhang nursing a twisted ankle, but the next she's bounding along a sunny hillside in pursuit of a deer, skipping in time to a merry folk tune. Stoic, earthy, and determined, she has to scale sheer cliffs, scramble down scree-laden slopes, and explore deep dark caves, as Hamish's fondly remembered voice regales her with stories of the people and the land. Presenting a crisp, cartoonish figure against the lovely, painterly backgrounds, Moira is often lost but comes to find both herself and a deeper appreciation of her culture in the mountains, as she stumbles across hidden spots and long-forgotten byways. It’s anything but a traditional adventure, and quite unlike the developer’s own previous games, but A Highland Song paints a rich and authentic portrait of what it means to be Scottish, both the joy and the pain, and that's a unique kind of adventure that’s well worth any gamer undertaking.

#13 – Dreams in the Witch House

While it looks like a classic point-and-click game, roleplaying and resource management increase the challenge and lower your odds of survival significantly in the pixel art horror adventure Dreams in the Witch House, based on the short story by H.P. Lovecraft. As a visiting university student trying to understand everything of an occult nature through the lens of science, you’ll have the chance to uncover the dark secrets of a witch plaguing the town of Arkham, Massachusetts. As creepy and atmospheric as that can be in its own right, perhaps the scariest part about it – at least at first – is the daunting number of choices available. You’ll have to divide your limited time between studying for school, keeping yourself healthy and sane, and researching the witch’s case. Whichever road you take, your decisions will impact future events so you’ll have to constantly plan ahead to survive your two months in this haunted New England town. Stick with it, though, and the many available actions and randomized elements in this open world allow for great replayability, with three difficulty settings to accommodate every skill level. It’s a constant balancing act that Atom Brain Games deftly navigated in one of the richest, deepest genre-bending games of the year.

#12 – Paranormasight : The Seven Mysteries of Honjo

Japanese folklore makes for wonderful horror game (and movie) fodder, with its twisted imagery and often even more twisted psychological terrors. Another rich source of Japanese thrills is the "killing game," made popular by series like Danganronpa and the Zero Escape trilogy. Square Enix tapped into the best of both worlds with Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo. Based on real-world urban legends, it revolves around multiple characters investigating the centuries-old "Seven Wonders" ghost stories, seemingly all connected to a Rite of Resurrection. Those who seek the rite’s ability to raise a single soul from the dead become cursed to kill and collect other souls by fulfilling the obligations of a carved netsuke, each of which has its own unique murderous power. It’s a complex but brilliant premise for a visual novel-style adventure that sees you roaming authentic locations in Tokyo’s Sumida Ward (based on actual photographs taken with a 360-degree camera). During the day you’re free to converse with others, search for clues and solve the occasional puzzle, but on the evening of the Feast of Shadows, you’ll be forced to either hunt or be hunted by other curse bearers. The choices you make have critical consequences, with a visible map of branching pathways allowing you to quickly revisit earlier decisions, and it’s well worth exploring as many as you can to get the most of this gripping supernatural mystery.

#11 – The Invincible

Nearly a quarter of the way through the 21st century, one of the best games of 2023 transports us sixty years into the past. Starward Industries’ The Invincible is a prequel to Stanisław Lem’s sci-fi novel of the same name, conceived during the age of the Cold War Space Race. Accordingly, the book represents a paradigm of hard sci-fi for its time, and the game lovingly recreates that feeling with every fiber. As astrobiologist Dr. Yasna, we’re sent to explore the strange but beautifully alien world of Regis III, where things aren’t quite what they appear to be. It’s not long before circumstances spiral out of control, but even as the stakes rise, the game maintains an impressive focus on scientific analysis and curiosity over cheap scares or artificial obstacles, even in the face of danger, and that, along with some incredibly memorable characterizations punctuating this interstellar adventure, help make it one that shouldn’t be missed.

#10 – Torn Away

Sometimes we play games for fun, and sometimes we play them to feel. In perelesoq’s Torn Away, a little girl named Asya is peacefully playing at home in Stalingrad, 1942. It all starts out innocently enough, but then disaster strikes and both Asya and her mom are captured, transported away and forced to live in a Nazi labor camp. So begins a rollercoaster ride of emotion as you help young Asya escape the camp alone and cross a continent ravaged by war back to her hometown. The story focuses on her hardships, told through hand-painted graphics with a grainy filter as if you’re watching an Oscar-winning war movie unfold on an old television set. The different set pieces along the way vary greatly in both content and style, ranging from traditional adventure fare to stealth, jumping and climbing, and navigating dark forests and frontline trenches. While it’s mostly casual gameplay with lots of little mini-games, this hellish journey of both hope and despair will leave no heart untouched before all is said and done.

#9 – Repella Fella

Do you like gratuitous amounts of cartoon gore? Do you enjoy hearing constant cuss words coming out of South Park-style animated characters with an Australian accent? Do you relish the chance to go face to face with bloodthirsty mutant koalas? You do? Crikey, what a coincidence! Misadventurous’s Repella Fella has all of that and some traditional adventure game goodness to boot. Playing as an exterminator who accidentally escapes World War 3 in a submarine that somehow re-emerges 105 years in the future (and who hasn't done that before?), you must avoid the Russian military that's taken over a large part of Australia while hoping the resistance will appreciate your superhuman skills you (naturally) developed in the sub and take you in. You also get to play as one of the Russian intelligence agents and as an American operative, both of whom are very interested in the Fella's abilities. While primarily a choice-based game, there are many puzzles too, requiring clever investigation before you’re asked to decide how you want to, say, decapitate a bad guy. One of the funniest games out there ... providing you leave any and all sense of political correctness at the door!

#8 – Amnesia: The Bunker

Amnesia is a horror series that needs no introduction, but it’s been over ten years since we first made the dark descent through Brennenburg Castle, and though the intervening years have given us a couple of sequels, that original Amnesia feeling has remained somewhat elusive to re-create. Until this year, that is, when Amnesia: The Bunker caused us to lose our minds (and possibly the contents of our bladders) in fear once again. Being entombed inside a French World War I bunker ratchets the claustrophobia factor up to eleven, and the series’ versatile physics engine provides a veritable sandbox of clever environmental interactions. Throw in the fuel-guzzling generator’s always-ticking clock, a light source that actively calls attention to our presence, a spine-chilling narrative about being trapped between a hellish war above and something even more insidious hiding in the pitch-black dark below, and an indomitable foe who will harangue you tirelessly, and the result is not just an extremely tasty horror experience but one of the year’s best adventures, full stop.

#7 – Firmament

Firmament proves that Cyan hasn't lost its touch for transporting players to strikingly original worlds. The architecture on display here is some of the studio’s finest, chiefly featuring massive structures that tower over a handful of sprawling and diverse landscapes that will have you happily puttering around for hours on end. There's just the right balance of harsh, steampunk surrealism and vibrant, utopic splendor to trek through, housing an array of (mostly) cracking good puzzles that strike a sizeable amount of challenge without being unfair. Players hoping for a modern Myst won’t entirely find it here; the puzzles are simplified to revolve around one main game mechanic that was clearly built with VR in mind, and in-game journals of lengthy text passages (a Cyan hallmark) are almost entirely absent. Still, there's loads to appreciate for anyone who wants to get lost in the absolutely gorgeous remnants of a long-abandoned society, and the central mysteries stay compelling all the way to the finish.

#6 – Agatha Christie – Murder on the Orient Express

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express has been adapted so many times that you wouldn’t think there’d be any surprises left, but Microids Studio Lyon managed to do just that in a number of delightful ways. The latest interactive version of Christie’s classic whodunit takes us back to the prestigious titular train, but this time in modern day with not one but two lead protagonists. It’s always fun to snoop around and interrogate suspects as Hercule Poirot, but here the brilliant Belgian detective is joined by an original new character, police investigator Joanna Locke, whose external flashback scenes fill in crucial details from before the train ever left the station. Accompanied by a jazzy orchestral soundtrack, you’ll scour visually detailed 3D environments filled with eclectic characters, all of whom have secrets to hide, and complete many different deductive mini-games excellently woven into the narrative and fitting the character profiles. The Orient Express becomes your home as you immerse yourself in unraveling all the mysteries and fitting the puzzle pieces together. It’s not the hardest of games, but this winning adaptation of one of the most famous murder cases in literary history will certainly tickle your little grey cells, even if you’ve taken a ride on the same train before.

#5 – Stasis: Bone Totem

The Brotherhood’s debut game, Stasis, was an instant hit when it launched in 2015. The isometric sci-fi horror adventure was immediately evocative of greats like Sanitarium, utilizing its pre-rendered visuals and impeccable sound design to moody, immersive effect. That was followed up by a free prequel in Cayne, and though The Brotherhood's next full production, Beautiful Desolation, was also well-received, adventure enthusiasts were eager to go back to the world of Stasis proper. And we are so thankful they listened! Stasis: Bone Totem is a loosely associated successor that swaps outer space for a station deep underwater on the ocean floor, though things are no less alien or creepy this time around. Much of what we loved (and feared) about the first one was retained, yet despite a chilling familiarity, Bone Totem never feels like a retread of old ground. The story is brought to life through extremely well-written and brilliantly acted protagonists – including a most unusual but utterly memorable sidekick – as well as innovative use of stunning pre-rendered visuals to create an unforgettable deep, DEEP sea adventure. It’s sure to give you a challenge at times, but Bone Totem is a worthy, ambitious follow-up to one of the genre’s most renowned indie horror titles, effectively building on the macabre promise of its predecessors.

#4 – Viewfinder

Far from a standard Myst clone, Viewfinder is a first-person puzzler of perspective tricks and optical illusions wrapped with an intriguing sci-fi story. It’s so mesmerizing and just plain fun that it’s hard not to wish it was longer, but Sad Owl Studios should be smiling with pride at all of the clever moment-by-moment delights they’ve managed to pack into this mind-bender of an adventure. There’s an interesting tale of scientific ambition, told with copious audio logs and solid voice acting, but it’s the environment-shaping camera mechanics that are especially gripping as you explore and manipulate this beautiful digital world within a digital world with an impressive degree of freedom. It’s one of those rare adventures that will broaden your horizons to what is possible in gaming, and we heartily recommend that everyone gives it a try.

#3 – A Space for the Unbound

With Mojiken Studio's A Space for the Unbound, it's as if Studio Ghibli moved to Indonesia and started creating point-and-click adventure games. The retro anime-styled pixel art is delightful and the score is gently beautiful, but delve below this lovely surface and you'll find an emotional rollercoaster of a coming-of-age story. Full of wonder and whimsy shot through with grief and melancholy, its slow burn rewards the patient player with a late-game revelation that neatly ties together everything that came before, casting it in a new and devastating light that may just have you in tears. Graduating high school students Atma and his girlfriend Raya, faced with having to plan their futures, instead decide to blow off school to do something more fun, but things take a turn for the magical when Atma discovers a book enabling him to "space dive" into people's souls, helping them to confront the demons of their past and move on. As Atma winds up reliving the same day over and over, Groundhog Day-style, it slowly becomes clear that he's at the heart of something strange that's in danger of tearing his reality apart. Add in acutely observed vignettes of Indonesian village life and you have a unique, powerful and unforgettable cocktail. Along the way, it plays with gaming conventions to draw you into a tale that's at once charming, sad, and ultimately resolutely hopeful, and for that it richly deserves its place as one of the best games of the year.

#2 – Chants of Sennaar

Rundisc’s Chants of Sennaar is a point-and-click puzzle adventure all about language, yet it’s hard to find just a few words that would adequately describe this enigmatic and beautiful game. At once historical and modern, fantastic and familiar, and complex while harboring a singular idea, this journey up a vividly colored Babel-inspired tower has you deciphering languages, discovering cultures, and working as a translator to help people understand each other and heal the rifts between them. It’s remarkable how deftly the developers designed their puzzles to move us from complete unfamiliarity with their fictional languages to confidence in understanding their syntax and using them to gain insight into the strange world around us. With gorgeous artwork and one of the year’s best soundtracks, this is an adventure we’re happy to keep babbling about.

#1 Adventure Game of the Year – The Talos Principle 2

Croteam’s The Talos Principle 2 is a shining rarity in the first-person puzzler genre. Despite being a sequel, it's no simple retread, taking the fallout of its predecessor's epic conclusion and running with it in one of the most creative ways possible. It doesn't just deliver another giant batch of inspired puzzles (chock full of wildly inventive new components), but also a deep and genuinely affecting story about the purpose of humanity and our place in the vast, confusing cosmos. Along the way, it deftly blends an equal balance of satisfying problem solving, jaw-dropping vistas, and an unexpected "choices matter" branching narrative that sports some of 2023's best game writing. It's weighty yet buoyant – full of poignant philosophy, yet totally digestible and peppered with a keen sense of fun throughout. Even though the cast is entirely robots, rarely will you find a group of characters with a more palpable zest for life.

By and large, the puzzles aren't quite as brain-bendingly difficult as their predecessors, but there's still plenty of challenge, and the new tools at your disposal culminate in some truly satisfying "aha!" moments that will keep you constantly craving more. With the first game set exclusively in a simulation and this one almost entirely within reality, the game spins a lot of narrative plates in the air to make its larger-than-life escalation and puzzle rooms feel believable. The science fiction of the original title definitely gets pushed a bit more in the direction of science fantasy this time around, but for players willing to suspend a little disbelief, The Talos Principle 2 will utterly enchant. From the incredible sense of scale to the moving quiet moments in between the major plot twists, this is a game to be fully savored across its gargantuan 30-hour playtime. There’s simply nothing it doesn’t do superbly, and for that it deservedly claims the crown of Adventure Game Hotspot’s Game of the Year for 2023.

Honorable Mention: Colossal Cave

So ends our main awards for 2023, but it just wouldn’t be right to close out the year without acknowledging what may have been its most significant and noteworthy release: Colossal Cave. The original creation of Will Crowther and (later) Don Woods nearly 50 years ago will forever be remembered as the pioneer of all adventure games, but as a rudimentary text adventure it’s largely been shunted to the annals of history. But what if it could be reimagined as a contemporary graphic adventure, while still retaining all the other key elements from the past? And if it could be done, who better than the legendary Ken and Roberta Williams to bring it to life, more than twenty years after leaving the company they’d built from the ground up into the adventure game titan we all know and love, Sierra On-Line? Roberta herself was inspired by Colossal Cave to get into game design, thereby increasing its legacy exponentially in immeasurable ways. Sounds like a match made in heaven, but surely too far-fetched to ever come to fruition, no?

As it turns out, not at all, as 2023 marked the welcome return of Ken and Roberta to the genre with a passion project they’ve clearly poured themselves into with their new company, Cygnus Entertainment. Their updated reimagining of Colossal Cave is a tricky game to properly evaluate, largely due to the rather dated nature of the original 1976 text adventure, which this ground-up graphical remake faithfully retains. It can be thrilling to freely explore the cave first-hand, on a timed scavenger hunt filled with strange creatures, magic spells and abundant puzzles, with Roberta's added flair for fairy-tale whimsy feeling right at home. And yet the experience is frequently confounding, sometimes frustrating, and unapologetically breaks several adventure game design rules that wouldn’t fly in a modern adventure. But the thing is, Colossal Cave existed before any such rules existed, and indeed helped author the rulebook that has been updated and adapted ever since. Thus, as an act of historic preservation, the 2023 remake is really quite admirable, and even more so thanks to its upgraded Enchanted Edition that came out last month, adding polish and addressing a fair number of player complaints from the game’s initial launch. Colossal Cave may still be a bit of a rocky journey for modern audiences not used to such experiences, but there are most definitely some worthy treasures found within. So welcome back, Ken and Roberta, and thanks for taking us on this journey with you.