In Adventure games (also referred to as interactive fiction), the player enters a game world and the story's progression follows from the player's interaction with that world. Progress toward the goal is usually impeded by intellectual problems to solve using resources within the game world.

The term adventure game derives from Crowther and Woods's "Adventure", the computer game that invented the genre.

This category includes classic text adventures (like the original Zork trilogy), and graphical adventure games (like Myst). Interactive movies like Dragon's Lair lack the intellectual problem solving of adventure games, but may be listed here for want of a better category.

Games in the cinematic adventure genre, such as Tomb Raider, are not necessarily adventure games in the sense used here. Nor are collections of puzzles on a similar theme, like Jewels of the Oracle, though they may be marketed as adventure games because puzzle games appeal to the same audience.

The best RPGs (roleplaying games) share the plot-driven character of interactive fiction, though interaction with the game world is often limited to combat and static conversations rather than intellectual problem solving. They are listed under Genres/Roleplaying.