Check ’em out!
Every year AdventureX brings together a wide range of narrative-driven indie games. We’re thrilled to present our selection for 2019.
Backbone
An atmospheric, dark adventure in an even darker town that puts you in the shoes of a raccoon detective solving crimes. A classic PI tale, brought to life with gorgeous, moody pixel art.
CW: Mature Themes, Violence, Discrimination
The Longing
A shade tasked with guarding a sleeping king must find a way to pass the time; a game about loneliness, that runs an actual-time 400-day countdown. The art and sound design inspire a kind of hushed reverence.
Elsinore
The story of Hamlet from Ophelia’s perspective. Navigate court intrigue, and use a ‘vision’ mechanic to alter future events in this well written, original take on the RPG genre.
CW: Mature Themes, Violence
Apartment: A Separated Place
Apartment’s story is told through hovering subtitles and flashbacks. Navigate the memories of multiple protagonists, and explore the emotional consequences of break-ups and separation.
CW: Mature Themes
Superlunary, Episode 1: Pentagon Gate
Interactive dialogue draws the player into a weary, post-war future full of military and personal intrigue. There’s rich mix of twine narrative and mini games in this punk DIY game manifesto.
CW: Sexual References
Aurora: The lost medallion episode I
The charming and engaging Aurora lives with other children in a tech-filled cave, hiding from The Vultures. A true, old-school point-and-click with a Saturday morning cartoon aesthetic.
Vagrus – The Riven Realms
Vagrus’s story is told with evocative writing and fantastic 2D paintings. The world seems vast and the lore implies great depth; a stand-out amongst medieval fantasy RPGs.
CW: Mature Themes, Combat
Haiku Adventure
An intriguing puzzle adventure with an original mechanic and a bold art style based on Japanese woodblock prints. Construct Haikus to solve problems and resolve conflict.
after HOURS
After HOURS is an intensely personal vignette of a young woman with borderline personality disorder. An intimate and affecting game, rendered in striking full-motion video.
CW: Imagery of self harm and sexual assault.
A Juggler’s Tale
A serio-comic fairytale about a young circus performer’s perilous escape: a beautifully animated adventure story told with marionnettes in a puppet theatre.
Tick Tock: A Tale for Two
A puzzle adventure that takes its two players back in time to solve the case of a missing girl. Both players explore a different version of the game’s spooky, painterly world.
Astrologaster
Help Elizabethan astrologer Simon Forman diagnose his patients’ medical problems by reading the stars. Astrologaster’s art style is ingenious and its characters are superbly written and hilarious.
Ord.
A text-based adventure where three-word scenarios combine to form a remarkably coherent quest. Death is frequent, but finding all the “secret” deaths is part of the fun.
The Crimson Diamond
A charming and immersive homage to Sierra games of the mid-1980s. The Crimson Diamond is a forward-thinking retro throwback, and a lovable ‘reluctant detective’ story.
Ladderhead
An avant-garde, parser-driven story of purgatory and lost love, Ladderhead is darkly comedic and very strange – Lynchian at times; an unusual and memorable treat.
CW: Mature Themes
Once Upon a Crime in the West
Sharp, humorous dialogue, engaging characters and a compelling non-linear mystery. It’s Christmas Day and you must discover who has been most suspicious during the twelve days of Christmas. Red Dead Redemption meets Obra Dinn meets… Bad Santa?
Magical Diary: Wolf Hall
A visual novel RPG with strong dialogue, rich world-building and a diverse cast of characters. Learn “pentachromatic magic” and find love at the Iris Academy.
Mutropolis
A cute and colourful point-and-click adventure about an archaeological dig in the distant future. Unearth the ruins of the 21st century, with lovely character animation and witty dialogue.
Ring of Fire
A gruesome detective mystery in a seedy future London. Intriguing, stylish storytelling with skillful world-building and character development. The art evokes hyper-modern, vivid neon-noir.
CW: Mature Themes, Violence
Crowns and Pawns
The 21st century collides with Lithuanian myths and legends in this charming point-and-click adventure game with a beautiful, painterly aesthetic and high production values.
Sumatra: Fate of Yandi
Lost after a logging accident, Yandi finds himself among people for whom trees are sacred. This character-driven adventure game conveys a sense of solitude and epic scope of Sumatra’s jungle.
CW: Moderate Violence
Because We’re Here
An otome dating-sim set in a fictionalised WW1-era conflict. The game’s unusual setting and muted anime-style artwork are complemented by its engaging “battle of wits”.
CW: Moderate Violence
Tangle Tower
Detective Grimoire and Sally Spears team up to catch a murderer, using Grimoire’s unique deduction mechanic. Interview suspects and solve mini-games in this lovingly animated addition to the Grimoire series.
30Birds
A quirky exploration / puzzle game inspired by the Persian miniature tradition. 30Birds is visually striking, with fun writing and a quirky characters (some of whom are aubergines).
Inspector Waffles
A pixel-art murder-mystery in a world of anthropomorphic cats. The writing is brilliant and terse, with a good measure of cat puns; a characterful parody of the hardboiled detective genre.
In Other Waters
In Other Waters exists at the intersection of interactive fiction and resource management-and-exploration games. Its line-art UI sparks instant curiosity: what is this vessel I’m controlling and what is its purpose?