10 Best Adventure Games of the 2020s (So Far)

Given that action has been the video game industry's dominant focus for decades, any genre that departs from violence automatically catches my interest due to its novelty, which brings us to adventure games.

Historically, whether in the form of puzzles, exploration titles, graphic adventures, or other genres, this type of game focuses on aspects outside the average combat epicenter, naturally feeling refreshing due to its transcendence of the trope.

Although some do use violence for narrative purposes, these playable proposals move away from belligerent conventions to focus on characters, events, and messages, giving them a generally deeper essence.

Therefore, if you're looking for games that have managed to surpass the typical skirmish antagonisms, this list of the ten best adventure games of the 2020s (so far) is just what you need.

10 Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2

A Necessary Exception

Although this list will primarily feature video games without combat systems, I wanted to make an exception for Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, as it's the quintessential immersive experience.

Considering its combat isn't even its main draw, Ninja Theory outdid itself by delving even deeper into Senua's mind, delivering sound and visual design that is simply cutting-edge for the entire generation.

Wandering through the psyche of our broken protagonist is a practically arcane experience, with extravagant puzzles, striking cinematics, and inexplicable mythologies that make you feel like you're inside this devastated and cruel world.

The first game has the element of surprise, and therefore it's my favorite of the two, but it doesn't detract from the fact that all the audiovisual and narrative elements Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 offers are absolutely among the decade's finest.

9 Mixtape

Vintage Nostalgia

All the discussion surrounding Mixtape after its release, debating whether it's indie or not, the attempted cancellation of Annapurna Interactive, and whether it's an interactive movie, distracted us from its wonderfulness.

Beethoven & Dinosaur had already done a very special but improvable job with The Artful Escape, and it's precisely this room for progress that gives rise to a nostalgic coming-of-age adventure that is more powerful on all fronts.

From the visuals and narrative to the interactive sections themselves, it's a much smarter and refined product, with a more distinct art style and identity, demonstrating the studio's growth and its renewed ability to assemble impressive soundtracks.

Perhaps, of all the entries on this list, it's the hardest to recommend considering its theme, length, and interactive component, yet if this is your kind of game, rest assured that Mixtape will be etched in your memory and even more so in your heart.

8 Despelote

Connecting with Culture

Despelote is among those video games you don't expect much from, though when you try it, you're teleported to an alternate reality where you can't help but feel mesmerized by everything unfolding in your presence.

Perfectly capturing the average Latin American youth experience of a kid who loves soccer, Julian Cordero and Sebastian Valbuena crafted a work that is both a love letter and a time machine, perfect for remembering in the first person and empathizing in third.

Kicking a soccer ball with your friends in the streets, running from irate octogenarians who get annoyed because you're having fun, or eavesdropping on neighbors' political conversations about how bad everything is—this is a pretty accurate worldview for millions of children.

With its local dubbing, unique aesthetics and themes, and affection for history, Despelote is an experience unlike any other, one that, like few others in the genre, allows you to vividly connect with the personal experiences of someone who isn't you.

7 Before Your Eyes

It's Time to Cry

Considering that crying isn't something I usually do, any game that touches me deeply enough to rip my tear ducts earns a special place in my heart, which brings us to Before Your Eyes.

For an experience about how quickly life passes to affect you so profoundly in just one hour is truly an achievement, especially given its only mechanics are blinking to let time go by, interacting with a few elements of the environment and making decisions.

Thanks to its sincere message, relatable circumstances, and a remarkably precise consistency between tone and gameplay, Before Your Eyes isn't afraid to be direct and allows the player to miss some content in order to amplify its message, which hits like a ton of bricks by the end.

It's a transcendent experience in every sense of the word, and the kind of game worth considering when you want to have those typical discussions about whether the medium can be art or not.

6 Road 96

Procedural Emigration

Maintaining the tradition of emotionally resonant games that, with honesty and intelligence, authentically portray real-life situations, Road 96 is an outstanding experience in light of modern political times.

While video games are escapist, which is a political mechanism in itself, I applaud when they allow themselves to address important contemporary themes, and this one in particular portrays emigration and the frustration of new generations facing the apparent impossibility of a better future.

Transforming a decision-making game into a procedurally generated adventure where you embody backpackers trying to reach the border with varying resources and from different distances is quite satisfying and creative in itself, though it's even more so when you view the bigger picture.

With iconic characters, significant structural reflection, and a soundtrack that ranks among the best of recent years, Road 96 is a true marvel that we should continue to discuss until it ceases to be relevant to its message (which is to say, never).

5 Dispatch

Remembering a Golden Age

After years of absence from Telltale Games-style products, which created an entire school of thought in the early 2000s, Dispatch arrived to bless a whole demographic of players who had been left without idols.

Although the change in tone and gameplay is considerable, the studio's soul remained virtually intact, resulting in a title with a highly intriguing and captivating story and characters that, perhaps for the first time in the genre's history, is properly balanced with the mechanics.

By making decisions or engaging with the different gameplay systems Dispatch presents, you get the necessary alternation so that the player doesn't just become a passive observer of what happens, but becomes a fundamental participant in a way that is both entertaining and enchanting.

For a long time, I thought the formula had reached its peak and that it was best to leave it as a historical piece, but AdHoc Studio achieved what I thought was impossible and gave us one of the best narrative adventures of the entire century.

4 Cairn

Desperate for Meaning

Mountain-climbing games, regardless of genre, are becoming a specialization I'm very fond of, but it wasn't something I realized until I fell in love with Cairn.

The level of mechanical and technological detail that Mount Kami presents to the player, in the form of countless unique rocks, vertices, and ledges to grab onto with your four individual limbs to achieve the elusive feat, is some of the most incredible I've ever seen, enabling an immersive experience where every movement is incredibly tense.

Add to that the survival systems like temperature, thirst, and hunger, as well as the dynamic weather, beautiful art, masterful soundtrack, and deeply emotional and poignant story, and you get, without a doubt, an indie masterpiece that will leave no one indifferent.

By the time you reach the end, you realize The Game Bakers is already living history of the indie scene, and that anything other than Cairn being remembered among the most singular and emotional adventures of recent years would be an insult to the medium.

3 NORCO

Meditations That Arrive Too Late

I'm a hopeless doomsayer who loves to revel in works that acknowledge the endemic ills of our world, so it's easy to see why NORCO so often appears on the lists I make.

As one of the best-written games I've ever enjoyed, this traditional graphic adventure presents an even more hostile version of our existence, infused with magical realism that provides enough contrast to both captivate and terrify.

Making use of excess, metaphors, histrionic characters, and a collective madness born of corporate abuses and social dissociation, it presents a fantastical tale that warns of the fate of civilization on its current course, though from the perspective of when it's already too late.

The incredible pixel art and the superbly designed narrative and worldbuilding are important parts of its appeal, but the main reason to love NORCO is its ability to analyze modernity and dismantle it to make us feel more comfortable in the face of impending misery.

2 Sword of the Sea

Symbiosis with Nature

Everything from Giant Squid deserves, at the very least, to be praised as extraordinary, but I must admit Sword of the Sea reached a new level I completely didn't expect.

Combining the best of Journey and ABZU, the studio crafted a voyage through maritime dunes that is simply exceptional from any angle you approach it, because its excellence is entirely horizontal.

If we talk about the divine movement mechanics, the impressive dynamic environments, the indescribable beauty of its art design, the wonderful songs, or the subtle reflections on the destruction and recovery of the environment, it's difficult to use adjectives other than superlative positive ones.

Whether it's the best game in its creators' history is something that can be debated, given the significance of what this team through thatgamecompany did with their magnum opus, but the mere fact that Sword of the Sea can compete with such a titan is reason enough to consider it among the decade's most distinguished works.

1 Pentiment

To Fall in Love with Art

It's difficult to believe that the best video game from the historic Obsidian isn't one of their numerous RPGs, but I'm going to step forward and defend Pentiment as the most impressive creation to come out of this talented studio.

Just looking at the game's majestic art design, from the imagery to the symbols, characters, settings, and even text boxes, lets you know you're in front of a title unlike any other, and experiencing it fully only confirms it.

This detective adventure is magnificent thanks to its 16th-century setting and its tone, placing us in circumstances where art, religion, technology, and human civilization itself converge as central themes in a murder that encompasses more than just a mystery.

However, what's truly incredible is that, whether we're talking about the enigma driving the plot or everything surrounding the construction of its universe, there's not a single aspect of Tassing that isn't of the highest quality, and that includes everything from the dialogue with the characters to the writing and the atmospheric narrative.

Playing Pentiment is like stepping into a completely different reality, and even when you stop playing, you never truly leave it. The only way to complete its cycle of excellence is by uncovering its secrets, and by the time you finally do, you'll already be in love.