The 14 best Android adventure games of 2020

The weather was, the adventure games all looked pretty much the same. There were text adventures, then a new generation of text adventures with better graphics, then point and click adventures like Monkey Island and Broken Sword.

But the genre has exploded since the invention of the smartphone, going in so many different directions that we don’t even know what an adventure game is anymore. This list covers everything from cutting edge narrative experiments to spooky political allegories.

Love oozes from every pore of Forager. At least it oozes the pixelart portrait of developer Mariano Cavallero greeting you when you start the game. A labor of love, Forager is an ultra-streamlined crafting game that lets you explore an island by collecting resources, by building structures, leveling, creating tools, etc. He reduces gender to its very essence, then refines that essence until it is irresistible.

FMV games have made an unlikely comeback lately, and The Complex is one of the finest and most star-studded examples. Not only does it boast decent production values, with brilliant sets and compelling makeup, but it stars actors you can recognize on shows like Grantchester, Letterkenny, and even – gasp – Game of Thrones. There is also a Telltale-like relationship tracking feature and several endings to discover.

Far: Lone Sails is a fascinating game. Set in an arid desert, it sees you piloting a strange land vessel of your own design and construction. Your virtual life in this empty dusty landscape is all about making repairs, finding fuel, sheltering from the elements, and avoiding obstacles. It’s a simple life, made so touching it would have made streamer Limmy cry.

Originally designed for virtual reality – and therefore arguably not ideal without it – EQQO is a unique puzzle adventure game that takes you to Ethiopia. You play as Eqqo, a blind boy trying to protect an egg as he navigates a magical world of mysterious rooms and ancient temple mechanics. You might be struggling with the non-VR interface, but it’s worth sticking with EQQO to experience its music and story.

Nobody likes high school, but Hope’s Peak is in a league of its own, shit’s point of view. It is ruled by an evil teddy bear headmaster who forces the students to murder themselves. You play as a normal teenager who navigates the ordeals of moving to a new school and building a network of friendships while trying to survive the massacre and identify the culprits in your ranks.

The most conventional adventure game on this list, Truberbrook is a classic LucasArts point-and-click affair set in a parallel 1960s universe. You are a scientist, summoned by a lottery to a remote rural village in Germany and involved in a cold war plot. The gameplay is solid, but what really sets Truberbrook apart is its stunning, handcrafted, technologically enhanced stop motion graphics.

Much like Jaws is not a shark movie, despite appearances to the contrary, The First Tree is not a game about a fox in search of its young. The fox thing is a metaphor, for a son trying to reconnect with his sick father in the Alaskan desert. From a gameplay standpoint, The First Tree presents you with simple puzzles that you will go through, because that’s not the challenge. This is the journey of life, man.

Samsara Room is a prequel to Rusty Lake’s awesome horror adventure games on Rusty Lake, and a total remake of its first title. He drops you off in a spooky room and challenges you to escape using the items you find there. The puzzles are well designed, but the real joy of Samsara Room is how scary it is. Rusty Lake has a knack for mobile horror, and this lovingly restored adventure will disturb and entertain you in equal measure.

Damn, they can do some smart things these days. Pitch Black: A Detective’s Demise is a black detective adventure game built entirely around sound. You’ll explore Dystopian District 5, avoiding deadly creatures and other dangers, while trying to find her – all with your ears, of course, your imagination. It’s not the first audio adventure game we’ve come across, but we’re always happy when a new one comes along.

Like The First Tree, GRIS is an adventure game without any challenge or peril. Instead, he wants you to focus on the story that unfolds, on a young woman struggling with a painful experience. Her sorry is manifested in her outfit, which acquires new abilities as the story unfolds. While there are puzzles and platform sections here, GRIS is all about admiring the magnificent artwork and absorbing the story.

Some adventure games are more equal than others. Orwell’s Animal Farm is a bit of a weird proposition – an adventure game where you play as the animals that rise up and take over Manor Farm in George Orwell’s classic allegory of Soviet communism. But it’s handled with such intelligence and sensitivity that it works one way or another. Few developers would have the cajones to turn a literary classic into a game, but it paid off for The Dairymen.

Less is more. The less a game gives you instructions, visual cues, illustrations, etc., the more you have to create for yourself in your brain. In the end, you will be happier for it. That’s the guiding principle behind Ord., An ultra-simplified text adventure that is limited to simple one-word prompts and subtle visuals, like lines running down the screen to indicate rain. It is totally unique and an absolute gem.

Lineweight, from ultra-hip developer Cipher Prime, is an innovative multimedia storytelling company that explores different facets of the human experience through five chapters. There’s no actual gameplay – you just need to swipe across the screen to reveal new text and visual effects. You might like. You might hate him. But Lineweight is a total original and a prime example of the impact of technology on the ancient art of storytelling.

Developer Joe Richardson describes The Procession to Calvary as Pythonesque in his Google Play Store blurb, and there’s no other word. Assembled from Renaissance paintings, accompanied by playful classical music and full of abrupt beheadings of paper, this unique point-and-click adventure game is like a Terry Gilliam cartoon that you can play. Fortunately, this is a solid adventure game too.