Today, point-and-click games may seem anachronistic. They are misconstrued as wrong, slow and needlessly complex. However, they were once the epitome of immersive gaming. Long before big-name titles like Skyrim, point-and-click titles offered players immersive ways to enjoy richly detailed environments.
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And even now, decades after their introduction, master storytellers use the genre to create remarkable adventures. The point-and-click genre hasn't strayed far from its roots either. While the environments may be more three-dimensional than the carefully hand-drawn worlds of yesteryear, modern point-and-click games still offer the same amazing stories and amazing environments as their predecessors.
10 Hypnospatial Outlaw
The world of the early Internet was weird, wonderful, and often slightly unsettling. Before corporate-sponsored websites and backlink-optimized sites, people created their sites and dedicated them to what they liked best – no matter how weird or mundane it would have been those interests.
Hypnospatial Outlaw is a unique point-and-click adventure game that immerses you in this strange world of personal websites and nasty HTML codes. Instead of trawling the high seas or crawling through dungeons, you're tasked with combing your personal web pages for trivial infractions. But don't worry; this seemingly boring premise quickly blossoms into a cacophony of nostalgic neon hues and unchecked absurdism.
9 Went home
Went home is a modernist take on the classic video game genre. While most classic point-and-click games are two-dimensional, Gone Home gives you a three-dimensional world to explore. You can search every corner in your own time, taking as long as you need to enjoy this narrative adventure at your own pace.
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The visual direction of the game is amazing. It's easy to immerse yourself in its limited world. However, there is little traditional gameplay. Gone Home might rely on the same mechanics as a point-and-click, but it lacks the genre's hallmark puzzles and teasers. While some may loathe the term, “walking simulator” is the best descriptor for the game. However, fans of inferred stories and in-depth narratives will love this unique twist on a long-standing genre.
8 Beacon Pines
Fans of a more interactive story can apply Beacon Pinesa seemingly innocent story about young, anthropomorphic forest creatures in a delightful fantasy world. The narrative is set within the pages of a literal storybook. However, the bright colors and kid-friendly designs hide the game's wild and conspiratorial plot.
Functionally, Beacon Pines blends interactive fiction and point-and-click gameplay. It's no simple LucasArts clone, but it proudly carries the banner of the classic genre. Its storybook premise offers interesting narrative options and chances to explore the game's many branching stories, while its puzzles seem tailor-made to scratch the itch that combines point-and-click elements.
7 Lucy dreaming
Light games are the archetypal meat and potatoes of point-and-click adventure games, and Lucy dreaming is the perfect example. Set in the fictional and very British town of Fiddlington, the game immerses you in a brightly colored cartoon world. Fittingly, Fiddlington's residents are also thoroughly British, often met with dry jokes and sensitive chuckles.
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The plot of the game is simple. You play as the titular Lucy, an idealistic resident with a penchant for mystery. Armed with a bag of assorted supplies and plenty of deranged wits, you must solve comical crimes and paranormal oddities. Fortunately, you have plenty of help in the universe and meta. The game's sly hint system and subtle nudges keep this delightful adventure from turning into a frustrating mess.
6 Primordial
Wedjet Eye is known for its many flawless point-and-click games. The company's creations revolve around the purest essence of the genre, relying on little more than these two interactions to tell captivating and impactful stories. However, among his many games, the best viewed is Primordial.
Where many classic point-and-click adventures struggle to tell humorous stories, the post-apocalyptic cyberpunk world of Primordial is a rarity. Its simplistic interface furthers its goal, further immersing you in its melancholic narrative. Despite their grim earth tones, the painstakingly rendered worlds of Primordia are a living testament to the dire circumstances of the setting. Everything about the game is carefully curated for maximum impact, and the result is beyond amazing.
5 Norco
Originally started as a multimedia project about the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Norco it eventually evolved into a masterful exercise in surreal games. Playing as Kay, you are tasked with finding your missing brother. You arrive in a post-apocalyptic version of Norco, Louisiana, and things unravel quickly.
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The game's rich world is populated by meticulously rendered pixelated masterpieces. Every detail and every nook and cranny is valuable, adding to the game's sense of pressing intrigue. However, it's far from pure doom and gloom. Beneath its disturbing exterior, Norco is a humanitarian story of loss, grief and rediscovery.
4 Rusty Lake series
Horror-adjacent Rusty Lake series started out as online flash games before becoming full-fledged video game titles. The series comprises three non-linear entries: Hotel, Paradise and Roots. Each game is set in its own self-contained world, though they share the same enigmatic overarching narrative.
Some might consider the games' crude visuals and Flash-inspired movements outdated. However, these visuals only add to each game's sense of unsettling intrigue. Don't panic, though! The Rusty Lake games feature few – if any – jumpcares, preferring to rely on more cerebral and implicitly cosmic horrors.
3 Hob's Mound Excavation
Despite its long title, Hob's Mound Excavation it is based on a remarkably simple premise. You are cast as Thomasina Bateman, a researcher hired to help with the archaeological study of an ancient barrow in Bewlay. Of course, things don't go as planned. Your seemingly uneventful dig is quickly interrupted by suspicious locals, a missing supervisor, and plenty of point-and-click puzzles.
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Fans of more visually palatable games, à la LucasArts, may be disappointed by the pixel art in Hob's Barrow, but the simple visuals hide an incredibly compelling story. Even more captivating is the universe of Hob's Barrow. The game world is familiar enough to lull you into a sense of contentment before dropping popular horrors into your lap.
2 Thimbleweed Park
For fans of LucasArts' acclaimed point-and-click adventures, there is Thimbleweed Park. Terrible Toybox's investigative drama wears its inspiration on its sleeve, adopting a title befitting Guybrush Threepwood's maps. However, its similarities to the classic adventures of the 1990s run deep.
Thimbleweed Park is a love letter to the classics. Its narrative and visual style is unashamedly inspired by its predecessors. Like many point-and-click adventures of yesteryear, the game includes plenty of dry humor and nonsensical calls to action. You'll even find that old-fashioned context menu for in-game interactions. And of course, there are plenty of object-based puzzles to solve.
1 Disco Elysium
Sure, it has some extra bells and whistles, but Disco Elysium is a point-and-click adventure game at its core. Its heavily stylized art and vivid colors will draw you in, and its story will keep you glued to your seat. But be warned: this is unlike any point-and-click game you've ever played.
While it's rightly renowned for its engaging narrative, Disco Elysium also boasts a unique balance of simple interfaces and complex tabletop-inspired mechanics. You can fail at seemingly mundane tasks and not achieve the standard of finger point and click. Instead, each failure leads to new paths and unique choices that propel your journey deeper and deeper into the jaws of Martinaise's unfathomable weirdness.
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Old school point and click adventure games that still hold up today
Point and Click games are something of a classic, but some still hold up today. Here are some games that are still worth playing.