The Academy can be frustratingly clunky and limited at times, but at its best it’s energetic, likable and packed with puzzling goodness.

Shapik: The Moon Quest ticks almost every checkbox for lovers of charming, atmospheric puzzle adventures. What it lacks in narrative depth it more than makes up for with fun gameplay and impressive production values.

With a focus on old-school, high-quality puzzling and an intriguing stand-alone story, Boïnihi: The K’i Codex comes with an unhesitating recommendation for both newcomers to the Black Cube shared universe and series veterans alike.

Old Gods Rising provides a spirited boost to those who prize spectacular scenery, a gripping mystery, and slow-burn horror without mind-bending puzzles to stall the journey.

The complexity and weighty subject matter of the complete seven-part Pendula Swing threaten to get the better of it at times, but the end result is unique and uplifting, offering a timely social history lesson wrapped up in jazzy fantasy flair.

While The Grimsworth Reports: Woodfall lacks refinement and is clearly limited by its budget, it is a solid mystery adventure with a strong atmosphere and true repercussions for the choices you make.

Though it never really rises above its simple premise, the gorgeously immersive Beyond Blue may just be as close to deep-sea diving as you can get without a wetsuit (or the stress).

A mix of the supernatural and saucy, Dark Nights with Poe & Munro excites with witty exchanges and Lynchian tales that come undone by unclear choice and pacing.

Debonair, aggressive, honest, deceiving—whatever your spy style, Over the Alps is a wonderful visual novel with a really fun mechanic. Picking this game up, with the promise of similar games still to come, is a choice no story lover will regret.

In Other Waters guides players through the visualization of an alien oceanic ecosystem and invites them to share in the exhilaration of discovering new life, all while telling a complex, original story with memorable characters through the medium of a diving suit’s display monitor.

There were moments early on when I began to feel a sense of missed opportunity from VirtuaVerse, but as with any good slow burn sci-fi, the stakes ramp up with the action in a much more satisfying second half to complete a beautiful, challenging point-and-click adventure.

Eclipse: Edge of Light makes the most out of its humble mobile beginnings, making exploration visually and aurally entertaining. Deeper gameplay and a bigger focus on narrative would have pushed the game to the next level, but being able to ride a jetpack for a few hours is a winning mechanic right from the start.

In spite of some technical hiccups and a half-baked plot, great pacing and puzzle design make Veritas an easy recommendation for veterans of the puzzle-adventure genre.

Interactivity is a short but well-executed meta-story adventure that stands on the shoulders of games like The Stanley Parable but has enough of its own identity to make it worth checking out.

A huge city in a state of entropic decay to explore, a diverse and memorable cast to meet, and an engaging new spin on adventure game navigation make for a highly compelling sci-fi experience in Cloudpunk.

The Secrets of Jesus has a great premise for parody of a topic that few people would be game enough to attempt, but the execution is awful in delivering a wordy mess that makes little sense and, more importantly, is just plain uninteresting and a labour to play.

From Beyond’s designers do a formidable job recreating a nostalgic MacVenture feel while avoiding most retro pitfalls. But until we get a more substantial entry in the series, there simply isn’t enough here to be satisfied just yet, no matter how well it all works.

Night Lights is a cute side-scroller with a quick pace and unique gameplay that unfortunately is a bit too buggy and ends way too soon to stand among the better puzzle-platforming adventures.

While lighter on adventure elements than earlier games in the series, the gameplay is as innovative and fun as ever (with one or two exceptions), and the story of The Craftsman is advanced in an interesting way. If you have the proper hardware and enjoy puzzles, The Room VR is a must-have for your collection.

Short but very sweet, A Fold Apart is a hug in game form that’s sure to warm even the hardest of hearts.

Mazovian Adventure’s rough localization and glitchiness aren’t enough to stop the occasional sparkle of fun from shining through in this throwback to Sierra-inspired comic medieval adventuring.

The Gateway Trilogy is sometimes too mysterious for its own good, but it’s nonetheless an entertaining collection of well-designed puzzles presented alongside accessible and entertaining commentary from its developer.

With its Monty Python-inspired silliness, cleverly recycled art and music, plenty of fun objectives and appropriately zany tasks to complete, The Procession to Calvary gives fans of Four Last Things more of what made the first game great.

Investigating a murder mystery tinged with political corruption from a balcony makes for a compelling concept, but the passive gameplay, slow pace and poor animation prevents The Flower Collectors from ever fully blooming.

Summit of the Wolf tells an emotionally heavy story that tackles difficult issues in an honest, unflinching way, but it’s hurt by the many production corners it seems to have cut along the way.

Arise uses creative level design, gorgeous visuals and challenging environmental puzzles to explore the length and breadth of a full lifetime. A few presentation issues aside, it’s a moving, thought-provoking experience that tells a complete story with scarcely a word.

To forgive is divine, but The Unholy Society comes up sinfully short in too many areas to deserve a full redemption without further acts of contrition in future installments.

Murder by Numbers combines the unlikely trio of maths, melodrama and murder in a stylishly animated equation that is somewhat unbalanced by its repetitive Picross puzzles.