Wccftech’s Best Adventure Games of 2023 – Exploration and Mystery

wccftech.com:

Pure adventure games are a peculiar genre. Some of the most popular games nowadays belong to the action/adventure genre, but for the purposes of our year-end lists, we prefer to split this category into action and adventure.

Because of this choice, this list is filled with titles with little to no combat, emphasizing exploration, puzzles, and overall mystery-solving instead. They also tend to be made by smaller studios that bet more on innovative features and ideas rather than bombastic visuals or high production values.

2023 wasn't quite a banner year for adventure games, as no new release received universal acclaim. That said, there were still several enjoyable games that genre aficionados should look into.

Also in Wccftech's Best Games of 2023 lists: Shooter, Fighting, RPG, Action, Indie

Seven years after the release of the critically acclaimed OXENFREE, developer Night School Studio (a subsidiary of Netflix since 2021) finally released the sequel to the adventure game. According to Ule Lopez, who scored the game 8 out of 10 in Wccftech's review, OXENFREE II: Lost Signals is nearly as good as the first installment.

Oxenfree 2 feels like it relies on its dialogue system a bit too much as its more exciting elements take a backseat. While the dialogue is still incredible, the appearance of these more unique sequences left me often asking where I would be able to find more of the unique time-altering puzzles and surreal visuals that also made it stand out over other games. The character writing is still as good as the first game, but it feels like more could have been done to make it stand above the first game.

Don't Nod's Jusant is possibly the most unique title on this list of adventure games. Instead of being a sequel or