50 Best Point-and-Click Games for PC

point and click games for pc
"USE [object] WITH [object]" - a game mechanic that entertained a generation.


For mystery, atmosphere and adventure, there’s nothing quite like a good point and click game

Generations of gamers have grown up with point-and-click games. A lot of them were clunky, a lot of them were unintuitive, a lot of them were not all that great-looking. But at their best, they were hilarious and heartwarming and epic. And thanks to the revival of the genre in recent years, they still are!

Let’s revisit 50 of the all-time classics of the point-and-click genre:

50) Alpha Polaris

Alpha Polaris gameplay video

Horrific nightmares afflict the crew of Alpha Polaris, an isolated Greenland research station. As the station falls prey to more horrific events and visions, they begin to suspect a supernatural cause.

They reused a prop corpse from The Thing for this scene.

Alpha Polaris isn't particularly revolutionary. What it is is an old-school horror tale done well, with engaging characters and a story that will keep you entertained the whole way through.

“The new screen-saver is working out great, huh?” “…that’s the window.”

49) Gods Will Be Watching

Gods Will Be Watching gameplay video

War rages across the stars. Sergeant Burden and his team must find a way to survive the war, make hard decisions, and prevent the unthinkable - no matter what the cost to his own men.

The dog farted, so he gets to sit on the outside.

Gods Will Be Watching's group management adds an interesting dynamic to a genre which often struggles with breaking new ground in gameplay. And the far-future story is more than fascinating enough to keep you playing until the end.

“Great! And only one guy’s brains got blown out!”

48) The Pandora Directive

The Pandora Directive gameplay video

Tex Murphy, a private detective in a futuristic world, finds himself caught up in a conspiracy that threatens his very life - a plot that involves a strange occurrence at Roswell, New Mexico…

Used to be detectives used actual magnifying glasses. Nowadays, that cursor would be an app.

The Tex Murphy games have always had a devoted following, and with The Pandora Directive it's pretty easy to see why. This mix of film noir and cyberpunk may not be visually beautiful (especially today), but it's got boatloads of charm.

The game subtly prompts Tex to investigate this actor’s old-man makeup.

47) Myst

Myst gameplay video

You stumble upon the abandoned island of Myst, where strange books serve as portals to other worlds. But this place is not completely devoid of life - for a sinister plot is being hatched, a plot in which you are meant to play a key role…

The island of Myst, where the game takes place. No, it isn’t a theme park.

Myst was something of a technical accomplishment when it first came out, made in an era without hard drives and enough memory buffers to run Minesweeper and pretty much nothing else. That being said, the island setting is still deliciously atmospheric and the puzzles are well thought-out. Wandering the abandoned home of Atrus is still a mesmerizing experience.

Beats the hell outta me.

46) Zork: Grand Inquisitor

Zork: Grand Inquisitor gameplay video

The Great Undeground Empire has fallen, and magic has been outlawed by the Grand Inquisitor. You are AFGNCAAP, the Ageless Faceless Gender-Neutral Culturally-Ambiguous Adventure Person, and it falls to you to bring magic back to the land through all manner of wacky shenanigans.

“I see they still have the bottomless pits installed. Oh, the nostalgia!”

The text-based Zork games were marvelous works of evocative literature, even though they were ludicrously unforgiving and the code could probably fit in a couple tweets. Zork: Grand Inquisitor loses a little of the old magic in the translation to a visual medium, but it's still got that spark of zany humor at its heart.

The White House, where it all began.

45) Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers

Space Quest IV gameplay video

Space janitor and would-be hero Roger Wilco is on the run from his nemesis Sludge Vohaul in a veritable conga-line of shenanigans that will take him through Space Quest adventures past and future.

I dunno...babes made of latex don’t sound that appealing.

Space Quest IV doesn’t particularly aim for emotional depth or layered storytelling. It’s more interested in just showing you a good time. And it is a good time!

A villain exacts revenge on Roger Wilco by making his lines impossible to read.

44) Phantasmagoria

Phantasmagoria gameplay video

Shortly after moving into a New England mansion with a dark past, mystery novelist Adrienne Delaney finds the history of her new home surfacing in strange and horrific ways, threatening her and her husband.

Fun fact: this mansion was decorated by Gaudi’s personal exorcist.

In some ways, Phantasmagoria has aged pretty poorly - the themes it tackled in the mid-nineties may have been revolutionary for games at the time but are comparatively pedestrian today. Yet it’s still an interesting glimpse into a transitional period of gaming history as the medium learned to tell stories which aimed for mature themes.

This is an obscure visual reference to every romance novel ever.

43) Police Quest III: The Kindred

Police Quest III: The Kindred gameplay video

When his wife Marie is stabbed and left in a coma, highway patrol officer Sonny Bonds embarks on an investigation that will bring him into conflict with a drug cartel and a Satanic cult.

Thrilling car chases!

Police Quest III emphasizes realism in its police work, with one particularly memorable sequence involving sketching a face based on a witness’s accounts. These little touches keep the game distinct from other detective-style adventure games in that you’re actually asked to follow procedure, not just spitball solutions willy-nilly.

Thrilling car crashes!

42) Emerald City Confidential

Emerald City Confidential gameplay video

Someone is missing in the Emerald City. Petra, retired guard and private eye, is asked to look into the case - which goes further and deeper than anyone could have guessed.

Ten seconds earlier: “Got a thing for green, I see.”

Fusing film noir and L. Frank Baum’s children’s novels is a work of sheer genius: Oz always seemed to have a bit of a sinister undercurrent (picked up on in countless adaptations of the original books), and Emerald City Confidential gives life to it with a plot straight out of a Raymond Chandler story.

“Yes. I got a bear mask stuck on my head. Please help me.”

41) Tormentum: Dark Sorrow

Tormentum: Dark Sorrow gameplay video

A prisoner in a nightmare world must travel the land in search of his own mysterious purpose.

This looks like a game that will end happily for all involved.

The twisted, Giger-esque creep factor in this game will get under your skin and remain there for a long, long time…until it births itself out of your chest cavity! Well, no, probably not. But Tormentum’s eye-gouging horror is more than worth your time if you are an aficionado of the gruesome and the grotesque in gaming.

If you don’t get past this thing by feeding it something, I will feed myself to it.

40) Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers

Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers gameplay video

Writer and bookstore owner Gabriel Knight investigates a series of murders, looking for inspiration for his own novel.

Back when characters were modeled on blow-up sex dolls.

Sins of the Fathers is festooned with excellent voice actors that give life to its tale of murder and voodoo, and its visuals and atmosphere rank among the best of the Sierra oeuvre.

That guy’s got a serious case of Street Fighter Shoulder Syndrome.

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Film student. Game writer. Improv comedian. Passionate lover.
Gamer Since: 1994
Favorite Genre: RPG
Currently Playing: Sunless Sea
Top 3 Favorite Games:Fallout: New Vegas, Gothic II: Night of the Raven, Civilization IV