Best games
Best Adventure games of 2016
The 12 best Adventure games released in 2016, ranked from 5,130 critic and player ratings.
The best Adventure game of 2016 is Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration, with a critic score of 88/100 — updated September 2026.
How this ranking is built
- Games are ranked on the aggregated critic score out of 100 imported from IGDB and Metacritic, never on Tier's own grades.
- A game only enters the ranking with at least 80 external ratings, so a single enthusiastic review never outranks a proven classic.
- Each game is ranked in one genre only, the one that defines it best, so the same title never tops two different genre charts.
- Community grades from F to S are shown next to every game, and only stated as a fact above 5 Tier ratings.
- Release window covered: 2016.
- 12 games are listed on this page, carrying 5,130 ratings between them.
- Rankings are recomputed hourly; this one was last rebuilt on 28 September 2026.
Top 12
01
A
Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration
88
/100
02
OneShot
84
/100
03
Firewatch
Firewatch is a single-player first-person video game where you, as a man named Henry, explore the Wyoming wilderness after taking a summer job as a fire lookout. What is supposed to be a peaceful respite from your complicated life takes a turn when you start to question some of the things that are happening to you. Your only human connection is over a handheld radio, which you’ll use to speak with your supervisor Delilah about the things both of you are experiencing.
79
/100
A
Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration
88
/100
02
OneShot
84
/100
03
Firewatch
Firewatch is a single-player first-person video game where you, as a man named Henry, explore the Wyoming wilderness after taking a summer job as a fire lookout. What is supposed to be a peaceful respite from your complicated life takes a turn when you start to question some of the things that are happening to you. Your only human connection is over a handheld radio, which you’ll use to speak with your supervisor Delilah about the things both of you are experiencing.
79
/100
04
S
Watch Dogs 2
79
/100
05
Batman: The Telltale Series
Batman: The Telltale Series is an episodic graphic adventure game developed by Telltale Games, first released in 2016. The game offers a narrative-focused experience, where players control Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman, making choices that shape the story and relationships with characters. The plot explores Bruce Wayne’s struggle to uncover corruption in Gotham City, while confronting revelations about his family’s past. The game features dialogue-driven gameplay, quick-time combat, and detective sequences. Decisions carry over across episodes, influencing the narrative’s direction and character arcs.
75
/100
06
Batman: Return to Arkham
75
/100
07
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier
The Walking Dead: A New Frontieris an episodic graphic adventure game based on Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead comic book series developed by Telltale Games. It is Telltale's third season of its The Walking Dead series. The game employs the same narrative structure as the past seasons, where player choice in one episode will have a permanent impact on future story elements. The player choices recorded in save files from the first two seasons and the additional episode "400 Days" carry over into the third season. Clementine, who was the player's companion during the first season and the player-character in season two returns as a player-character along with another player-character, Javier "Javi" Garcia. The game takes place in the same fictional world as the comic, with the zombie apocalypse having occurred. The main characters of the game are original characters, however due to time skips in season two and between seasons two and three, the timeline is caught up to where the comics are.
71
/100
08
Aragami
Aragami is a third person stealth game that casts you as an undead assassin with the power to control the shadows. Teleport to any shadow, become invisible, materialize weapons or even summon a shadow dragon to infiltrate the enemy ranks and dispose of your targets.
70
/100
09
The Walking Dead: Michonne
The Walking Dead: Michonne - A Telltale Games Mini-Series stars the iconic character from the comic book series haunted by her past and coping with unimaginable loss and regret. The story explores her untold journey during the time between issues #126 and #139. Through this Telltale Games mini-series of 3 episodes, players will discover what took Michonne away from Rick, Ezekiel, and the rest of her trusted group... and what brought her back.
68
/100
10
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition has been remade with the Unity engine, featuring a full audio remaster, and the addition of a brand-new Directors' Commentary mode, allowing players to explore the island and learn what inspired the game and how it was crafted by The Chinese Room and Rob Briscoe. Dear Esther immerses you in a stunningly realised world, a remote and desolate island somewhere in the outer Hebrides. As you step forwards, a voice begins to read fragments of a letter: 'Dear Esther...' - and so begins a journey through one of the most original first-person games of recent years.
64
/100
11
Here They Lie
62
/100
12
PlayStation VR Worlds
60
/100
S
Watch Dogs 2
79
/100
05
Batman: The Telltale Series
Batman: The Telltale Series is an episodic graphic adventure game developed by Telltale Games, first released in 2016. The game offers a narrative-focused experience, where players control Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman, making choices that shape the story and relationships with characters. The plot explores Bruce Wayne’s struggle to uncover corruption in Gotham City, while confronting revelations about his family’s past. The game features dialogue-driven gameplay, quick-time combat, and detective sequences. Decisions carry over across episodes, influencing the narrative’s direction and character arcs.
75
/100
06
Batman: Return to Arkham
75
/100
07
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier
The Walking Dead: A New Frontieris an episodic graphic adventure game based on Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead comic book series developed by Telltale Games. It is Telltale's third season of its The Walking Dead series. The game employs the same narrative structure as the past seasons, where player choice in one episode will have a permanent impact on future story elements. The player choices recorded in save files from the first two seasons and the additional episode "400 Days" carry over into the third season. Clementine, who was the player's companion during the first season and the player-character in season two returns as a player-character along with another player-character, Javier "Javi" Garcia. The game takes place in the same fictional world as the comic, with the zombie apocalypse having occurred. The main characters of the game are original characters, however due to time skips in season two and between seasons two and three, the timeline is caught up to where the comics are.
71
/100
08
Aragami
Aragami is a third person stealth game that casts you as an undead assassin with the power to control the shadows. Teleport to any shadow, become invisible, materialize weapons or even summon a shadow dragon to infiltrate the enemy ranks and dispose of your targets.
70
/100
09
The Walking Dead: Michonne
The Walking Dead: Michonne - A Telltale Games Mini-Series stars the iconic character from the comic book series haunted by her past and coping with unimaginable loss and regret. The story explores her untold journey during the time between issues #126 and #139. Through this Telltale Games mini-series of 3 episodes, players will discover what took Michonne away from Rick, Ezekiel, and the rest of her trusted group... and what brought her back.
68
/100
10
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition has been remade with the Unity engine, featuring a full audio remaster, and the addition of a brand-new Directors' Commentary mode, allowing players to explore the island and learn what inspired the game and how it was crafted by The Chinese Room and Rob Briscoe. Dear Esther immerses you in a stunningly realised world, a remote and desolate island somewhere in the outer Hebrides. As you step forwards, a voice begins to read fragments of a letter: 'Dear Esther...' - and so begins a journey through one of the most original first-person games of recent years.
64
/100
11
Here They Lie
62
/100
12
PlayStation VR Worlds
60
/100
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Adventure game of 2016?
Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration currently tops the ranking with a score of 88/100 across 147 ratings. Ranking updated September 2026.
How is this ranking built?
Games are ranked on their aggregated critic score out of 100, with a minimum vote threshold so a single glowing review never outranks a proven classic; the Tier community's own F-to-S grades are shown alongside each game.