Ashen is a role-playing game from New Zealand set in a low fantasy world. You play as a character living in a dark and sunless world who is looking for a new home. Ashen is open world and most gameplay centres around exploring this land and either cooperating or competing against other players. There are also plenty of AI monsters to fight, too! The combat is high stakes and intense, keeping gamers on the edge of their seat in this uniquely-designed adventure game.

The world of Ashen is what puts it on our list of the Top 10 Adventure Games of 2018. It’s all done in a muted style, and much of the art is inspired by the famous post-apocalyptic novel The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Ashen is the adventure game for people that feel like they’ve already played everything else, and are looking for something refreshing and different. Cooperative play with other players is entirely optional, but it does add to the gaming experience if you choose to do it, so you can focus on the intense combat instead if you want to. Ashen will take you on an adventure to a land you’ve never seen before, so give it a chance.

Made by the same team behind Heavy Rain, Detroit: Become Human is another game with a similarly unique play style. You step into the role of three androids in the city of Detroit, set in the near-future where androids have become a normal part of life in America. The age-old science fiction question of whether or not androids have feelings and deserve the same rights as humans is what you’ll be challenging as each of these androids battles that question themselves. Detroit ends up in a full-scale android revolution, and it’s up to the players to determine if it’s violent or peaceful, as well as how it will turn out for everyone in the end.

Detroit: Become Human is quite different from the other adventure games on our list of the Top 10 Adventure Games in 2018. It doesn’t have any usual combat, inventory and equipment menus, or anything of the sort. Instead, you have your adventure through exploring environments and interacting with other characters and things to progress the story, with some quick-time action sequences to keep you on the edge of your seat. Most choices are time-limited, so you have to think on your feet much like real life. And every action has a consequence, with branching storylines that affect the whole game. Detroit: Become Human encourages replaying it many times to see just how big the adventure really is and how different it can turn out if you make even small changes to your choices.

Far Cry 5 is the fifth instalment in the Far Cry series but tells a stand-alone story that you can enjoy without ever playing the other games. Set in fictional Hope County, Montana, Far Cry 5 plunges players into a near future America where religion rules the county. You play as an unnamed junior deputy who gets trapped in Hope County. The county is being ruled by a doomsday cult named Eden’s Gate. It’s up to you to help resistance fighters fight back the cult and its leader, trying to liberate the people of the county and escape with your own life.

Far Cry 5 stays away from fantasy and supernatural in exchange for something perhaps scarier - an all-too-believable near future setting. Far Cry 5 takes you on a perilous adventure through small-town America, fighting soldiers and dangerous animals as you explore an open world and try to survive. It has plenty of side quests and branching storylines to give gamers plenty to do and lots of things to experience. For gamers that want a narrative more rooted in reality and prefer shooting games, Far Cry 5 is your best choice of an adventure from 2018.

Monster Hunter: World was developed to try to bring the immense popularity of the Monster Hunter series in Japan to the rest of the world, hoping to get international audiences interested in the game as well. In it, gamers control a customised character called the Hunter (though you can give them any name you wish when designing them). The Hunter is tasked with either trapping or killing difficult monsters across many different environments. From conquering these monsters, the Hunter can gain loot and resources used to make bigger and better weapons. And what better thing to do with bigger and better weapons then pursue bigger and harder monsters!

Monster Hunter: World doesn’t have a very deep story, which is why it’s not ranked so high on our list of the Top 10 Adventure Games of 2018. But that doesn’t mean it’s not an adventure all the same! Monster Hunter: World transports players to beautiful and diverse environments that are full of imaginative creatures and beasts. It has a whimsical feeling when you’re just exploring, but the fighting is downright intense and difficult, keeping the adrenaline pumping. You can enjoy harvesting raw materials and exploring these amazingly designed lands, and also get a rush from hunting giant beasts! Monster Hunter: World is the kind of adventure game that does take a time commitment to really excel at, but once you know what you’re doing, you won’t want to put it down.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance was an all-new idea released in early 2018. Set in 1403 Bohemia, you play as the son of a blacksmith named Henry. When the game begins, Henry’s village is massacred due to being a major source of silver in the empire. Henry is one of the few survivors of this tragedy. Of course, Henry wants justice and revenge for his family, so he joins the civil war happening across the land. Henry’s goal is to try to put the rightful king back on the throne, and remove the one responsible for his family’s death because the massacre came at his orders.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance prides itself on realism and historical accuracy. If you ever wanted to have the adventure of being a soldier in 1403 without flourishes and magic, this is your chance. All the weapons, clothing, buildings, and even combat techniques were created with the help of real historians to keep them true to the times. Kingdom Come lets you get as close to experiencing real life in the 1400s as you can, including crafting and maintaining weapons and armour, eating, sleeping, distilling alcohol and more. All quests are also non-linear, allowing you to choose how your adventure unfolds and how you solve problems. The game is very challenging and has a steep learning curve, but it’s the most realistic adventure game you can have from 2018 and an undeniably unique experience.

Celeste is a platform game where players become a girl named Madeline who is attempting to climb Celeste Mountain, despite the warnings to stay away from it. On her first night camping on the mountain, she has a strange nightmare where a dark version of herself called Part of Madeline tries to stop her on her journey. Throughout the rest of her adventure, Madeline has to work both with and against Part of Madeline to survive and make it to the summit. Along the way, she meets plenty of other interesting characters, some with good intentions and some with less than good ones.

Celeste is a surprise addition to our list of the Top 10 Adventure Games of 2018. It began as just a prototype made in a game jam, became a full game, and then went on to get short-listed on a number of best game lists last year. It’s (sadly) one of the few great adventure games from 2018 featuring a female protagonist, and Madeline is someone who we can all identify with as she struggles with her inner fears. Celeste takes gamers along on this heartfelt adventure where you can’t help but feel for Madeline and empathise with her struggle as you battle your way up the mountain.

Spider-Man is a game inspired by the Spider-Man comic books along with the famous character’s appearances in other forms of media. Spider-Man has faced many villains and challenges over the years, and this time he is fighting against Mr. Negative, a superhuman crime lord. Mr. Negative is trying to control the entire criminal network of New York City, and he’s planning to unleash a deadly virus. Spider-Man not only had to stop Dr. Negative’s evil plan, but he also has to deal with the personal problems of being civilian Peter Parker. After all, he’s not a superhero all the time!

Spider-Man is an adventure game set in a limited open world of New York City. You can explore the map freely using Spider-Man’s incredible abilities to climb buildings and swing from webs, which is really fun! In addition to the main story, there are plenty of side quests to take on as well. You can also unlock new suits and gadgets by exploring and fighting enemies. Spider-Man is an all-new adventure for Marvel fans, with a story that is original from the comics and movies - and has since been used in the most recent comics! But since it’s original, you can enjoy the game even if you know little about the Spider-Man franchise. It’s a fun and modern adventure letting you step into the shoes of a superhero and save New York from the bad guys!

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is the twelfth game in the long-running Assassin’s Creed series. It’s the first game in the series to claim to be a role-playing game over just an action/adventure game. Players choose to control one of two twins, either Alexios and Kassandra and play as a Greek mercenary from Sparta during the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC. Throughout the story, you will fight for both Athens and Sparta as you try to reunite your separated family, and defeat an evil cult that is playing the war and trying to control all of Greece using a mysterious artefact.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is meant to be a Greek epic, and it does a great job of being just that. With a huge map that includes many real locations in Greek history, plenty of real historical figures, and even some monsters and myths from Greek mythology, it’s really immersive. Players go on a quest that has them fighting pirates on longboats, competing in the Olympics, facing Medusa, and deciding the future of Athenian politics. Odyssey is the first Assassin’s Creed game to allow players to change equipment and make limited dialogue choices that can affect the story and change the ending, finally letting players have some say in the game. It’s a great adventure combining real history with mythology for an entertaining story.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is actually the third game in the Red Dead series, though many people believe it’s only the second. The story is actually a prequel to the 2010 hit game Red Dead Redemption, so you can play it even without playing the other game. You step into the role of an outlaw named Arthur Morgan in 1899, and the story is set in the Old West of America. Morgan is a member of the Van Der Linde gang and has to face the decline of the old west along with the dangers of other outlaws, wild animals, and government forces. Along the way, you’ll have to take care of yourself and your horse, support your gang and campsite, and slowly find out what happened to set off the events at the start of the game.

Red Dead Redemption 2 lets you adventure back to a romanticised American West. If you ever wanted to lasso someone from a horse, have a brawl at the saloon, hunt bears from horseback, and rob trains, this is the game for you. The developers didn’t go halfway with the theme; it permeates the whole story from the main plot to side quests, and the end result is a fully immersive outlaw adventure. Red Dead Redemption 2 has been consistently praised for its amazing narrative that puts you right in the saddle and lets you experience being a cowboy. It’s an adventure unlike any other game on the market, and one you won’t want to miss if you like adventure games.

God of War is the eight game in the God of War series, though it has gone in a different direction from the previous games. Whereas they had all been based on Greek mythology, God of War is based on Norse. It is set in ancient Norway in the realm of Midgard. Like previous games, players control Kratos, a former Greek god. God of War also heavily features his young son Atreus, who can occasionally be passively controlled, too. The game is set after the death of Atreus’ mother, and father and son set forth on an adventure to fulfil her wish of having her ashes spread at the highest peak of the nine realms. The monsters they face along the way are all rooted in Norse mythology.

God of War is an epic level adventure story, plunging gamers deep into a Norse adventure in the shoes of an actual god. You can’t get much more of an adventure than that! The monsters in God of War are also incredible; powerful, challenging, and wonderfully rendered. The story in God of War is something you won’t want to skip over, either; it’s a challenge the modern issue of “toxic masculinity” and tells a tale generally worth listening to about fatherhood and what it means to be a “man.” Being a parent is an adventure in and of itself, and doing so while travelling through ancient Norway is an adventure unlike any other in 2018.