Best Detective Games With Realistic Crime Solving

Crime has been a key subject in gaming ever since Hiroshi Suzukis Manbiki Shounenused shoplifting as a basis for stealth gameplay. Though while committing crimes has worked wonderfully for Grand Theft Auto, Saints Row, Hitman,and more, there are also a wide range of games dedicated to stopping crimes.

Usually, this came via fisticuffs, like in Streets of Rage, while others included detective-style investigations and fisticuffs, likeBatman: Arkham Asylum.That said, real detectives dont have breath-detecting cowls like the Dark Knight nor spirit mediums like Phoenix Wright - not usually anyway. These games use more realistic ways of solving crimes, with investigation, clues, testimony, and a lot of deduction.

Updated on October 30th 2024 by David Heath:Murder mysteries have been inspiring people for centuries, be it through classic Agatha Christie novels, or on TV through shows like Castle and Murder, She Wrote. It's even convinced some people to take up amateur sleuthing themselves, or become actual detectives, criminologists, and investigators. Even so, they tend to take some artistic licenses with crime solving. Video games do the same thing, offering fanciful settings, powers, and other mechanics. But a few have tried to be more authentic, making players search for clues, talk at length to different NPCs, and use their own logic to figure out who did what. There are more of them than people would think, as this list has been updated with more detective games that take a realistic approach to mystery solving.

Return Of The Obra Dinn

A Supernatural Game That Requires Natural Investigative Skills To Complete

By its premise alone, Return of the Obra Dinndoesnt sound very realistic. The titular Obra Dinn is a ship that went missing around the Cape of Good Hope in 1803, taking all 60 souls with it. When it suddenly reappears off the coast of England 5 years later, its up to the player to figure out what happened to everyone aboard. The circumstances are spooky, and its as supernatural as the players Memento Mortem, a pocket watch that lets them recreate suspected deaths.

Yet getting ahead in the game involves investigating the scenes closely for all its clues, noting them down, and deducing what happened. Players must be accurate, too, as theyve got to validate the fates in pairs or triples rather than making one educated guess. Some deaths are similar enough that players can get away with making the same conclusions, but others require more careful and exact deductions. Otherwise, the player will be left on the ship with a lot of bad memories.

Paradise Killer

A Murder Mystery Involving Aliens, Sci-Fi, and Conspiracy

Paradise Killer's premise is anything but realistic, as it sees the Syndicate, an organization of immortal aliens, abduct humans from Earth in an attempt to create the perfect society on Paradise Island. When it inevitably fails, they sacrifice its citizens to create the next attempt. On the 24th incarnation of the island, the Syndicate Council are found murdered, putting its 25th recreation on hold. To solve the mystery, the Syndicate sends detective Lady Love Dies to find the true culprit, then personally execute them if they're sentenced to death.

However, its gameplay is more grounded by comparison, as Lady Love Dies has to examine crime scenes, talk to witnesses and suspects, and piece the clues together to figure out the facts. It takes place in an open world, where the player can go anywhere they like and talk to whoever they want in any order and at any time. They could even solve other mysteries, and put people on trial. Though if they don't have all the evidence they need to expose the island's secrets, it's going to be a short session in court.

Disco Elysium

Using Dialogue, Detection, And Luck To Uncover What's Happening In Elysium

Disco Elysiumtakes place in a fantasy world called Elysium, where its isolas are separated by a misty tissue called The Pale that induces insanity and death with prolonged exposure. Beyond that, it resembles life in a Communist country and takes inspiration from grittier detective media like The Wire and novels by Dashiel Hammett and China Miville. This is certainly evident in its surreal storytelling, where the player must investigate the death of a hanged man in Martinaise.

The plot gradually unfolds a wider conspiracy and delves into the players character, Lieutenant Harry DuBois. But to get there, players must improve their detection by finding the right clues and making the right dialogue choices. Without them, they wouldn't be able to develop the right skills and thoughts needed to aid the investigation. They can also help tip things in their favor during skill checks, as players can have all they need, but they'll still need luck on their side to succeed.

The Case Of The Golden Idol

Using Logical Deduction To Figure Out A Family Plot

The Case of the Golden Idol uses point and click elements, as its Exploring Mode requires clicking on characters, objects, etc., to pick up keywords and phrases relevant to the story. Namely, how the titular Golden Idol is involved with the Cloudsley family and the mysterious secret society known as the Brotherhood. Things get strange quite quickly, though the way to figure out what's happening is more straightforward.

When they enter Thinking Mode, players can piece the evidence together to come to different conclusions that reveal more of the plot. It can reveal the names of more Brotherhood members, the rooms they stayed in, what they had access to, etc. It's quite a merciful game, as itll clue players in a little by letting them know whether their segments are correctly placed or not, allowing them to rearrange things when necessary. To get all the right segments, players can't leave any stone unturned in Exploring Mode.

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes And Punishments

Using Elementary But Honed Skills To Catch Culprits

• Platforms: PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC.
• Released: September 2014, February 2022 (Switch).
• Developer: Frogwares.

Obra Dinnand Disco Elysium have fanciful settings but use realistic detective methods, such as clue logging and pressing witnesses and suspects for information. But how about a game that has a realistic setting andrealistic gameplay? There are plenty around, though few follow the most famous detective in fiction, like Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments does. This title sees Holmes and Watson go around Victorian England and solve cases based on actual Holmes short stories.

Players search for clues, then piece them together on a deduction board to figure out the results. Each case has multiple solutions depending on how well players figure things out, if they find the culprit, and whether they choose to absolve or condemn the criminal in question. Its fanciest detail is Sherlock Vision, where Holmes can look more closely at items to derive new information from them, like finding hidden inscriptions or signs that something's been moved.

Blade Runner (1997)

A Concurrent Investigation in the Blade Runner World

Point & Click adventure games were popular fixtures on PCs and microcomputers throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. But by the late 1990s, their gameplay and moon logic puzzles felt like old hat next to 3D platformers and first-person shooters. Still, they went out with a bang, offering some of the strongest games in the genre, with the likes of the Broken Sword series, Grim Fandango, and Westwood Studios' take on the classic movie Blade Runner. Well, kind of.

It takes place during the flick, and features its characters, some of whom are played by their original actors. But it follows a different runner: Ray McCoy. New to the job, he's tasked with tracking down a group of replicants who killed some animals. But when he follows their trail too closely, he's framed for murder and forced to go on the run. By talking to suspects, finding clues, analyzing photos, and using the Voight-Kampf test to find replicants, he can solve the mystery, and get one of 13 endings depending on their choices in-game.

Murder Mystery Machine

Isometric Examination

• Platforms: PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Apple Arcade.
• Released: August 2021.
• Developer: Blazing Griffin.

Despite its blunt title, Murder Mystery Machine aims to make players really think like detectives. Players take the roles of District Crime Agency newbie Cassandra Clarke and the experienced-but-burnt-out Nathan Huston to investigate the murder of a famous politician. The evidence says he was killed in a botched robbery, but as they delve further, they touch upon a more complicated plot that could have grave consequences.

Players explore settings and crime scenes as isometric dioramas, where they can move the place around to get a better look at things. Then, they can piece together their clues, witness testimony, and more on their Charlie Kelly-style mindmap. Once they link things accurately, they'll get more dialogue options to advance the case and get closer to the truth. Its controls take some getting used to, as they can be a little clunky. But its inventive approach to gameplay has kept players going back to it to solve its 8 chapters over and over.

The Painscreek Killings

Using Urban Exploration To Figure Out A Mystery And A Murder

• Platform: PC.
• Released: September 2017.
• Developer: EQ Studios.

Walking simulators are often derided for not offering much in terms of gameplay, but it can be nice to just explore a virtual world and figure out what it's like through environmental storytelling alone. Given that detective games are all about careful observation and deduction, they could fit walking simulators like a hand in a glove. At least EQ Studios mustve thought so, as that became the basis for The Painscreek Killings.

Players take the role of Janet, a journalist tasked with figuring out why the formerly bustling town of Painscreek was abandoned and how it connects to a series of killings in the area. They can walk all around town in search of clues and logic puzzles that involve careful observation to solve. Theres no handholding here; players must investigate the town carefully on their own to come to the right conclusions.

Contradiction: Spot The Liar!

It's Cheesy, It's Campy, And It's A Neat Display Of Detective Work

• Platforms: iOS, OSX, PC.
• Release: January 2015.
• Developer: Baggy Cat.

Tim Follin is better known in video games for his music, converting Capcoms Ghouls N Ghosts and Bionic Commando tracks for the Commodore 64. Then, in 2015, with the help of Kickstarter, he and Baggy Cat made something that hadnt been big since the 1990s: an FMV game.

Contradiction: Spot the Liar! sees Detective Jenks explore the village of Edenton in search of clues and testimony into the apparent suicide of Kate Vine. On top of using point and click elements to open new areas, Jenks must find the contradictions in his interviewees statements by comparing one detail to another. The more lies and truths he exposes, the closer he gets to solving the case. While it has its flaws, it's a fun, experimental game with plenty of campy charm to go with its intriguing gameplay.

The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story

Figuring Out What Connects Different Murders Decades Apart

FMV games seem to be coming back in style, as there are more games experimenting with using live-action footage in their gameplay. For example, The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story is a mystery puzzle game that sees novelist Haruka Kagami work with Eiji Shijima, a scientist who studies aging. He thinks his family passed down a special fruit that, once eaten, could stop the aging process altogether. But when a dead body is unearthed at his ancestral home, he asks Haruka to help figure out who killed them, along with other mysteries surrounding his family.

It splits its gameplay up into 3 parts. In the Incident phase, players watch the murder take place to find clues to the culprit's identity and their methods. Then they can use the collected clues to form a hypothesis in the Reasoning phase, where they can make multiple deductions and see where the mystery leads them. Then, when they're sure, they can go to the Solution phase to catch the murderer. The smarter ones will fire back with their own counter-arguments, so players have to be sure their hypothesis is airtight.

Her Story

Corroborating One Source With Another To Discover The Truth

Another FMV game that plays to the strengths of the genre is Her Story. It takes the form of an old computer OS from 1994, as the player must watch multiple clips from an interview with Hannah Smith over the disappearance and subsequent death of her husband Simon. Shes asked off-screen questions that the player cant hear, leaving them to deduce the context from Smiths answers.

By cross-referencing her details with information from the database, players can figure out the more complex plot surrounding the Smiths as well as how Simon met his end. The most intriguing twist involves discovering who the players character is. Though to learn that, players will have to try the game out for themselves. Her Story shows how well FMV games can work with the right minds behind them.

L.A. Noire

Investigating Robberies, Arson Cases, And Murders In 1940s California

This list wouldnt be complete without L.A. Noire. This game offers up multiple cases of crimes for Cole Phelps and Jack Kelso to investigate, giving players a more up-close and personal look at investigating crime scenes, gathering key information from colleagues like coroners, etc., and interrogating key people for more information. In this title, things can get quite grisly when investigating homicide cases.

Its revolutionary face-scanning tech was meant to aid this, where players could look at the persons facial expressions to figure out whether they were being economical with the truth. It worked fairly well, too, even if some of the expressions came off as funny rather than intriguing. That said, as far as detective games go, it was one of the most authentic with its setting, investigations, and the fierce pressurizing of suspects when Phelps and Kelso needed answers.

The Portopia Serial Murder Case

The Most Iconic Detective Game in the Genre

• Platforms: PC-6001, PC-8801, FM-7, FM-8, MSX, Sharp X-1, Famicom (NES), PC, Java mobile phones and smartphones.
• Release: June 1983.
• Developer: Chunsoft.

Detective games became a craze in Japan during the mid-1980s. Famicom Detective Club, Sanma no Meitantei, and Snatcher, among others, have players wander open worlds (albeit by changing screens), investigating the areas, and talking to key figures/interrogating suspects for key info. Why did it catch on so well? Its because of Yuji Horii and The Portopia Serial Murder Case.

On top of revolutionizing RPGs through Dragon Quest, Horii practically invented visual novels by letting the player and their assistant Yasu figure out how bank president Kozo Yamakawa met his end in a locked room. Combining a first-person view with point and click elements, branching dialogue, and twists, it was as realistic as detective games could get in 1983, and it became the basis for many future detective games in the following decades.