Top 10 Adventure Games

48 thoughts on “Top 10 Adventure Games”

1. Grim fandango

2. The Lord of the Rings: the Card Game belongs on this list 🙂

3. What the… no Skulldugg?

4. hey Tom, I have just completed making a fun game and getting it published at the game crafter. it's called last man standing, with the dungeon master adventure expansion. (you can find the video on my channel). are you possibly doing reviews to help get a game out there? maybe I can get a game sent to you? I really think you'd like it having seen you talk about many games you like. cheers! and thanks

5. Is time stories really worth buying? It just seems like a game with ZERO replay value.

6. Nice and quick, I miss Sam and Zee's input and discussion with Tom though.

7. I know most people hate it, but as far as "Adventure" gaming is concerned, Talisman is near the top! Sure it's totally luck based, it's always a new adventure, with friends remembering crazy shit that happened for years to come.

8. I was hoping Tom would mention Talisman. It's like the Dice Tower never mentions it or acknowledges it's existence. It's an old classic but still amazing.

9. Not sure if bias or something else but it's hard to take this seriously when you skipped Mage Knight, sorry. I was really interested in this list at first.

10. Nice attempt at using Carmina Burana for the intro musical score…without violating any copyrights. 🙂

11. Really, Tom?!?
    No Mage Knight??

12. I miss the three of them doing top 10s together, those are way more fun.

13. I agree with most of the list. Duel of Ages II is amazing! Mage Knight The board game should have been on there. That game is superb!

14. I own 3 out of 10 of these!

15. Hi, fred Henry, has recently said on the forum of the french website "Trictrac", that he has signed with cool mini or not for a third game of The Adventurers !

16. Great list!! Kind of miss Zee and Sam giving you trouble for your choices.

17. Sigh Descent 2 is not a dungeon crawl and not an adventure game as well – so overrated.

    You should really play Shadows of Brimstone, Tom. It will fire Descent 2. Fortune & Glory is another great adventure game. The old classic World of Warcraft – The board game as well.

    Maybe fans of that genre should check Assault on Doomrock as well.

    My top 10:

    1.) Shadows of Brimstone (even a crawler- very adventure-ish)
    2.) Machina Arcana (same here)
    3.) Fortune & Glory
    4.) Robinson Crusoe
    5.) World of Warcraft – The board game
    6.) Relic
    7.) Eldritch Horror (not gameplay wise – but the feel of adventuring is not that big like in Fortune & Glory)
    8.) Posthuman (not playtested enough)
    9.) Runebound 2nd Edition (did not play 3rd)
    10.) Mice & Mystics

18. That's a nice adventure hat! I love the concept of Mice and Mystics, thanks for the tip

19. Cannibal Pygmies!! Now you're talking 😉

20. Talisman !!?

21. Fortune & Glory would easily top this list for me.

22. No D&D Adventure game system?

23. I like how Tom differentiated between Dungeon Crawls and Adventure games. Many people don't do that, but some games fit both genres.

    Fantasy is my 2nd favorite genre, and pretty much my favorite genre to find in a game, so I was interested in this.

    Here is my Top 10 Adventure games:

    1. Tikal – Not much in adventure but there is some. You are exploring and looking for temples. As an Amerithrash gamer, it's this theme that has this game as my #3 game over all. I even have a music cd I made for thematic music.

    2. Talisman: 2nd edition & 4th edition – I have been playing Talisman since 1986 or 87 and it's great still.

    3. Cutthroat Caverns – the base game is only a Dungeon Crawl but there are expansions that give you a scenario, although I haven't played those yet, so I am cheating. 🙂

    4. Relic – a space game built around the Talisman mechanic, but tweaked for faster play

    5. Prophecy – a fantasy adventure game which I have only played 1 partial play through, but absolutely loved. It needs more play, and may rise up in rank!

    6. Runebound 2nd Edition – I haven't played 3rd edition yet

    7. Forbidden Desert – hey BGG calls this an adventure game, and running out of choices

    8. Lord of the Rings co-op (2000 game) – it's feeling it's age, and needs more plays, as I haven't played it much lately, but a decent game

    9. Betrayal at House on the Hill – an ok game for a social/party time atmosphere

    10. HeroQuest – haven't played it in ages, but quite enjoyed it. I would like to play it again and see if it rates elsewhere

    I only snuck one dungeon crawl in there, but there is at least 1 other I quite enjoy.

24. I don't know if Duel of Ages II is an adventure game, but yeah good list. So many adventure games out there that it's got to be hard to just pick 10.

25. Time Stories was ok. Not sure Id play it again. The fact that you had to replay the starting encounters (often in the same exact order) to progress felt unneeded and ultimately tiresome. Why not just rewind to the point where you took the wrong path instead? As is, half the game play of subsequent playthroughs are known events, known outcomes, no longer exciting, and not surprising. It Felt like the idea to start over each time was simply to extend game time only.

    I know many games are repetitive to a certain degree but at least the order and severity of events in many games differ. Even in Legacy, each individual games unfolds differently. This games particular repetition causes me hesitation to buy another module and makes me wonder if there is enough fresh content per installment to justify $20-$30 add ons.

26. I miss Sam & Zee!

27. Duel of Ages….not an adventure game. Euro-fiends, check out Legends of Andor for your fix.

28. Epic intro

29. looking forward to have Zee back with Tom.

30. But where is secret of the lost tomb ?!!

31. Tom, I love your videos, and I love this video. But… I miss watching you and Sam and Zee interacting in the top 10 lists. It's so much more fun to watch you disagree and hash out the ideas. Please don't make those videos go away!

32. the top 10 with all 3 guys or with at least one other person would be much better… each can give an opinion about each other's game adds to the enjoyment of watching the video

33. i love how fast you did this! a list at the end with all the games would be great

34. Love the topic. I can't wait to see you do it with Sam & Zee when Zee gets better.

35. the only thing I don't agree with is fuel of ages… I wouldn't call that an adventure game, yes you can adventure in it but it's really an arena game…

36. what about the 10-minute timed game Escape: Temple?

37. Tom, you should take a look and play Fortune & Glory: very good adventure game.

38. When are we gonna get another group top ten

39. why do you do these solitare top five/tens? its boring as hell..

40. why is this a single top 10 ?

41. Thanks so much for this! I really enjoy these solo top 10s, I wish you could include a couple of pictures of the games when you talk about them not just the box cover.

42. The base game of Descend 2 got a terrible story. Massive plot holes and hardly ties together.
    Also calling it a dungeon crawl is really stretching the term. More like tiny skirmishes tired together in a campaign.

43. I agree with Duel of ages 2,awesome game with the master set.
    Also i would add,fortune and glory,talisman and darkest night.

44. I haven't picked up what I would call an "adventure" game, because one that would actually appeal to me apparently doesn't yet exist. I like the idea, but the implementations haven't hit the spot for me.

    Many of these top 10 are over-scripted for my tastes, I really don't like the "story" games. And fighting monsters or aliens and overlong epics I can do without. What I want is discovering treasure, exploring or finding and collecting resources, or possibly something puzzely, or building things would also be good. I'd also prefer competitive to co-op. I do like the idea of adventure in the mechanisms at least in principle– but I really wish there was a game that fit my criteria here and is set in outer space. A middleweight adventure/discovery competitive game in space. But all the one's I've seen either depend too much on fighting rather than discovering, or are the XXXX games which are multi-hour extravaganzas that just go on way too long…

45. Minor grammar suggestion: 'both have a different feel'. Don't pluralise feel and use an indefinite article. Thanks.

46. Well, I like most of these picks. Especially Mice and Mystics.

47. my top 3
    shadows of brimstone
    mage knight
    mice and mystics

48. Robinson crusoe would be my n1

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