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What are the best point and click adventure games you can play on Mac OS? Get ready to strain your brain and test your intellect with these tricky puzzle games and adventure titles, available for Mac computers and Macbooks in 2017.
Here at Recombu Towers we’ve been huge fans of point n’ click adventures since the days of Maniac Mansion. For a while at the turn of the millennium, it seemed as if adventure games were as dead as dust, but thankfully they’ve enjoyed a recent resurgence. Now fresh new puzzle titles are emerging on the likes of Steam and GOG, while classics are being remastered for re-release.
So what are the best point and click games and puzzle-stuffed adventure titles that you can play on Mac computers in 2017? Here’s our pick of our favourites.
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Best Mac adventure games: Thimbleweed Park
Thimbleweed Park is a shiny new adventure game from Ron Gilbert, the genius behind some of the best point and click titles ever conceived. Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: all Gilbert’s babies.
This new adventure stars a colourful cast (including a foul-mouthed clown and the most sarcastic federal agent of all time) and thrusts them into a twisty-turny murder mystery. As you explore the titular town and its surroundings, you’ll uncover sinister secrets about the various residents. But while the story is surprisingly dark, there’s a healthy dose of humour to lighten proceedings. Plus, the endings is all-out bonkers insane.
Check out our in-depth Thimbleweed Park review.
Best Puzzle Games For Mac
Best Mac adventure games: Syberia 3
If you don’t mind a gentle pace, Syberia 3 is a rewarding and rather epic adventure for Mac that has just been released on Steam.
Once again you’re thrust into Kate Walker’s well-insulated boots, as she helps a native tribe to migrate with their herd across a harsh, unforgiving landscape. A task that’s made much more difficult by the authorities, who frown upon such movements. Not to mention the dogged PI in hot pursuit, with aspirations of dragging her back to NYC.
Gorgeous graphics and a rather amusing cast of characters help Syberia 3 to really stand out from the adventure gaming crowd. We especially love the automotons, which are seriously creative. The game’s plot is engaging throughout the long running time, while the puzzles are just as clever and interesting as those in the last two Syberia titles.
Don’t worry if you haven’t played Kate Walker’s previous adventures, as Syberia 3 can definitely be played as a stand-alone title. Many of the references early on may be lost on you, so an understanding of the overarching plot is a definite plus, but it’s certainly no biggie.
Although we experienced a few technical glitches here and there, and the control scheme is definitely better suited to a controller, this is definitely a game well worth adding to any adventure fans’ library.
Best Mac adventure games: Day of the Tentacle
Day of the Tentacle will be well-known to anyone who appreciates a good point n’ click title. This classic adventure from Tim Schafer features a maniacal purple limb attempting to take over the world by means of a time travelling device, and only three geeky friends can help to stop his sinister plot.
With updated graphics and audio, the remastered version of Day of the Tentacle is the shiniest version of this amazing adventure around. However, it’s worth playing again simply for the brain-taxing puzzles and hilarious one-liners.
Best Mac adventure games: Obduction
If you like the Myst titles, you’ll love Obduction. This is a fresh new Myst game in all but title, offering stunning environments to explore and complex, multi-layered puzzles that are well integrated into those worlds. We love how the game characters are presented in full motion video too, rather than rendered efforts.
Be warned, however: Obduction is a serious performance hog. Our Macbook Pro test machine is the most powerful version you can buy right now, yet we still had to scale back the graphics to avoid stammers and pauses. It’s no wonder when you check out those graphics of course. And the good news is, even on medium settings, the game looks absolutely gorgeous.
Best Mac adventure games: Gemini Rue
If you want a hard-hitting sci-fi adventure game with a tight plot and interesting characters, check out Gemini Rue from developer Wadjet Eye. Wadjet has a strong back catalogue in fact, so check out as many of its titles as you can.
Gemini Rue may look like an old adventure thanks to its retro graphics, but you can expect top production values throughout. The voice acting is solid and the way you can switch between characters helps to make the game less linear.
Best Mac adventure games: Dropsy
The second game on this list to feature a slightly disturbing clown, Dropsy is a rather hilarious adventure title available for Mac on Steam and GOG right now. The open-world environment makes for a pleasingly linear-free experience, but there are plenty of interesting puzzles tucked away to solve and bizarre characters (including animals, who Dropsy can communicate with) to meet and befriend. And hug.
Best Mac adventure games: Tex Murphy series
Tex Murphy is one of our favourite characters from any videogame past or present and you can play all of his old adventures now thanks to Steam and GOG.
We recommend starting at the very beginning with Martian Memorandum and Mean Streets, if you don’t mind the dated interface and the rest. From Under a Killing Moon, the series went full 3D with the ability to explore your environments in first person in search of clues. Each game boasts a complex mystery to unravel and heaps of taxing puzzles, as well as a nifty built-in hint system and a casual mode for adventure game beginners.
Best Mac adventure games: The Last Door
Fans of Poe and classic horror stories should get a kick out of The Last Door. This stark point and click adventure game sports incredibly low-resolution graphics, yet still inspires terror thanks to its harrowing soundtrack and a healthy dose of imagination.
You can enjoy two series of The Last Door now on Mac, each of which features six episodes packed with puzzles and dread.
Best Mac adventure games: Life is Strange
Life is Strange offers a very different experience compared with the other Mac adventures here. This casual title casts you as a college girl who discovers she has the ability to turn back time and prevent bad things from happening – at a cost. It’s your typical teenage drama, but with well-realised characters, dark plot twists and a healthy dose of supernatural shenanigans.
Best Puzzle Games For Mac Osx
The pacing is slow and the gameplay is gentle at best, but Life is Strange is one hell of a trip.
Best Mac adventure games: Dead Synchronicity
If you’re after a bit of light relief, stay well clear of Dead Synchronicity. Just take a look at the game description on Steam:
“Help Michael face a dying reality, a universe that’s fading away. Face a merciless world that gets sick and vanishes. Face no past, no present, no future…” and so on.
The story is as bleak as it comes, but Dead Synchronicity is a gripping glimpse of a horrific apocalyptic future where the population is overcome by a deadly virus. Stuck away in a grim containment camp, you must break free and discover a solution to the world’s predicament. Smart puzzles and slick production makes for a great adventure.
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Best Mac adventure games: Broken Age
Tim Schafer (of Day of the Tentacle fame) came up with this imaginative and rather bonkers new adventure game, starring two very different characters who find their worlds colliding in dramatic fashion. Gorgeous cartoon graphics, tough brainteasers and a couple of rather great plot twists make for a solid Mac adventure game.