Are These The 100 Best Adventure Games of All Time?

The fine folks over at Adventuregamers.com have taken on one of the most herculean tasks in video-game-list-writing: They have assembled a list of not the top 10, not the top 20, but the top 100 adventure games of all time. It’s a really good list, too.

The list was part of a multi-part series they ran, and each game has its own entry along which nicely includes a list of “If you like this, you might like” suggestions. I highly recommend checking it out. Just for fun, I thought I’d assemble the full top 100 list here, just to see how it looks when you can see ’em all at once.

Personally, I think it looks pretty good! I certainly can’t argue with the #1 choice, which is one of my very favorite games of all time. And not just because of the music, which is both a symptom and a cause of that particular game’s awesomeness.

https://lastchance.cc/the-video-game-that-got-jazz-so-so-right-5827410%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

I dare you to read this list and not want to go back and play at least one of these. For me, it was Tex Murphy, which I barely got to play when I was younger, even though I remember reading printed walkthroughs just so that I could experience the game in some form.

100. Titanic: Adventure Out of Time

99. Nancy Drew: Curse of Blackmoor Manor

98. The Space Bar

97. Runaway: A Twist of Fate

96. Gold Rush

95. Ripley’s Believe it or Not!: The Riddle of Master Lu

94. Faust (aka Seven Games of the Soul)

93. Toonstruck

92. The Dig

91. The Feeble Files

90. Spycraft: The Great Game

89. The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time

88. Simon the Sorcerer II: The Lion, The Wizard, and the Wardrobe

87. Penumbra: Black Plague

86. Dark Fall

85. The Dark Eye

84. Colonel’s Bequest: A Laura Bow Mystery

83. The Black Mirror

82. The 7th Guest

81. Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire

80. Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened

79. Gemini Rue

78. Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist

77. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

76. Drawn: The Painted Tower

75. Kings Quest: Quest for the Crown

74. Shadow of the Comet

73. Discworld II

72. Maniac Mansion

71. Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail!

70. Amber: Journey’s Beyond

69. I Have no Moutn, and I Must Scream

68. Shadow of Destiny

67. Pepper’s Adventures in Time

66. Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon

65. Hotel Dusk: Room 215

64. The Book of Unwritten Tales

63. Black Dahlia

62. Obsidian

61. Loom

60. Another Code

59. Myst III: Exile

58. Star Trek: Judgment Rites

57. Indigo Prophecy (aka Fahrenheit)

56. In Memoriam

55. Syberia II

54. Samarost 2

53. Return to Mysterious Island

52. Dreamfall: The Longest Journey

51. Zork Nemesis

50. Infocom Text Adventures

49. Sam & Max: Season Two

48. Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers

47. Professor Layton and the Curious Village

46. The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time

45. The Curse of Monkey Island

44. Simon the Sorcerer

43. John Saul’s Blackstone Chronicles

42. Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood

41. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

40. Myst IV: Revelation

39. Last Window: The Secret of Cape West

38. Full Throttle

37. Stacking

36. Sanitarium

35. The Neverhood

34. Amnesia: The Dark Descent

33. L.A. Noire

32. Gabriel Knight: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned

31. Portal

30. Bad Mojo

29. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

28. Sam & Max Hit The Road

27. Discworld Noir

26. Heavy Rain

25. Tex Murphy: Under a Killing Moon

24. Police Quest 2: The Vengeance

23. Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness

22. The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel

21. Blade Runner

20. Still Life

19. Beneath a Steel Sky

18. Myst

17. Machinarium

16. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers

15. Syberia

14. The Secret of Monkey Island

13. King’s Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow

12. Zork Grand Inquisitor

11. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

10. Portal 2

09. Tex Murphy: The Pandora Directive

08. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge

07. The Last Express

06. The Day of the Tentacle

05. Riven

04. Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars

03. Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within

02. The Longest Journey

01. Grim Fandango

Some thoughts: Nice to see Amnesia get some love in there, and also nice to see Gabriel Knight 2 above the original. While Sins of the Fathers will always have a place in my heart, I too prefer the second one. Shadow of the Templars really is great, isn’t it? I’m several hours into the iOS version, and while I haven’t played in a while, this made me want to return.

I also like how this list includes current-gen adventure games (it is an “all time” list, after all). There are some great ones, from Gemini Rue to games you wouldn’t necessarily think of as “Adventure Games” like Heavy Rain and L.A. Noire. I don’t know if I’d really call Portal an adventure game, and I don’t know how I feel about putting all of the Infocom text adventures in one category (or about ranking them 50th!) but then again, I think I get it. Otherwise they would have taken up twenty or so spots.

Anyhow, head on over to the site and check out the full write-ups. It’s a well-curated collection of games that are entirely worth celebrating.

Top 100 All-Time Adventures [Adventuregamers.com]