The point-and-click genre has always stood out for its striking visuals, excellent stories, and memorable scenes that live with us long after the puzzles are solved. In our video game book, The Art of Point-and-Click Adventure Games, we highlight many great moments in classics such as Monkey Island and Broken Sword. We also hear from legends like Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman about their work in this much-loved genre.
While we have fond memories of the classics, there are still great adventures being released today, many of which are covered in our book. With that in mind, let’s take a look at five great point-and-click adventure games to play in 2026.
The Drifter
A recent modern masterpiece, The Drifter was seen as one of the best games of 2025, not just in the point-and-click genre, but in gaming in general. Most critics and players were impressed with the high production values, especially the detailed pixel art and excellent voice acting, which elevated the experience. There was much praise for the portrayal of the main players in the story, who felt like real people with flaws and conflicts rather than just video game characters. There was also recognition for the limited inventory that doesn’t get bloated and keeps puzzle-solving slick.
The story in The Drifter is dark and touches on lots of social issues as well as mental health and abuse. It starts when the protagonist, Mick, is on his way home for his mother's funeral and witnesses a murder committed by a mysterious figure dressed in black who also has three glowing eyes. What unfolds is a series of confusing events in which Mick finds himself tangled in a corporate conspiracy, family relationships becoming strained, and the world falling into insanity. This one is for those who want a darker experience over a humorous adventure. https://thedriftergame.com/
Lucy’s Dreaming
Lucy’s Dreaming was the debut game from British developer Tall Story Games and is inspired by the LucasArts point-and-click adventures of the 1990s. While there are plenty of homages to those games throughout, they’re quite understated and don’t overshadow the strong original ideas in the puzzles and the overall design. A standout feature is how interactive the world is, with Lucy being able to interact with almost any object in each area. Many don’t serve any purpose in progressing in the game, but do add to Lucy’s back story or just help to build the world up with more detail.
Comedy has always been a mainstay of the point-and-click genre, and Lucy’s Dreaming has plenty of laugh-out-loud moments portrayed through its very British sense of humour. Imagine Monty Python meets Blackadder, and you’ll get an idea of the jokes in store as you progress through this clever game. The humour is backed up with excellent voice acting, a classic pixel art style, and a unique story filled with memorable characters. Fans of classic point-and-click gameplay and deadpan British laughs will enjoy this one. https://lucy-dreaming.com/
Foolish Mortals
With its presentation inspired by Broken Sword, an iconic series we cover in our book The Art of Point-and-Click Adventure Game, Foolish Mortals sticks true to what makes a classic point-and-click adventure game. It’s set in 1930s Louisiana, where young auditor Murphy is trying to sort out the financial affairs of an estate in disarray. Secretly, he’s also obsessed with an old wives' tale that suggests the estate is hiding a long-lost treasure that adventurers are always trying to discover. What Murphy finds is more than a treasure hunt, as many of the estate's inhabitants are ghosts, and the mystery begins to unravel as they appear.
With its beautifully detailed hand-drawn graphics, accompanied by equally impressive animations and colourful locations, Foolish Mortals is a great achievement for first-time developers Inklingwood Studios. Each environment is distinct, and the high-quality of the backgrounds, items, and general surroundings makes this feel almost film-like in places. Add to this the intriguing story, great voice acting, and clever point-and-click puzzles, and it's easy to see why this has been hailed by critics as a future classic of the genre. https://foolishmortalsgame.com/
Strangeland
While some point-and-click adventures focus the attention on a sprawling story or deep puzzle mechanics, Strangeland instead invites us to explore a surreal world. Its striking visuals and dystopian presentation, filled with dark contrasts and sharp-edged pixel sprites, are as shocking as they’re chilling in places. All of the game’s imagery could’ve easily come from the mind of H.R. Giger with its blend of grotesque humanoid characters and cold machine parts. This unsettling location is accompanied by seemingly bizarre dialogue and cryptic conversations that work as metaphors for exploring the world and solving the puzzles.
This is a game all about experiencing a strange world and exploring the human condition through light puzzles and conversation. There’re multiple ways to solve each scenario, which helps streamline this purposefully short experience. It wants players to be fascinated by what they see and interact with, creating a joyride of insanity mixed with thought-provoking imagery and words. This one might not satisfy those who love the usual tropes of the genre, but it certainly provides a different approach to what makes a point-and-click adventure compelling. https://wadjeteyegames.com/games/strangeland/
Midnight Girl
Every so often, a developer will try something a little different, and Midnight Girl, from Danish studio Italic, strips away all the complex or brain-teasing puzzles to put style and story at the forefront. Set in 1960s France and inspired by European heist films of the era, this game allows players to take on the anti-hero role of Monique, a cat burglar trying to escape jail and track down a precious diamond. The puzzles are casual in nature and are meant to be worked out quickly, with the main draw being the unfolding story between Monique and her fellow burglar.
The pair team up to find the diamond, and the longer they work together, the deeper the twists become, and you never know if either one can be truly trusted. They find themselves having to visit lots of interesting locations, each one giving a fresh view into 1960s France. With its stylised visuals, varied puzzle mechanics, and a slow build toward the dramatic finale, Midnight Girl’s story and presentation would be fitting of any 1960s heist film. https://www.midnightgirlgame.com/
This list just shows how much variety there is in point-and-click adventure games to this day, especially thanks to the dedicated indie developers who create such magical stories and worlds. If exploring these new point-and-click games has got you all nostalgic for the classics, you can relive the magic of Maniac Mansion or Beneath a Steel Sky, among many others, in our video game book The Art of Point-and-Click Adventure Games.
