Ever since the golden age of detective fiction in the 1920s, stories about suave detectives solving murder mysteries have been all the range in any medium. From classic novels like A Study in Scarlet and Murder on the Orient Express, television shows like Columbo and Twin Peaks, to movies like Knives Out, audiences cannot get enough of solving mysteries.
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Naturally, this love of the genre has made its way to the medium of video games. Many developers new and old have dipped their toes into trying to craft a mystery in this art form. Whether it be playing as an attorney trying to free their client or a professor showing his sidekick that everything has a simple explanation, mysteries are all over the video game medium. If you crave something more, though, we have compiled a list of ten great games that you yourselves can play as a detective.
10The Portopia Serial Murder Case
Started the Genre
Visual Novel
Release Date
When discussing mystery or detective fiction in the video game medium, any gamer worth their salt must bring up Chunsoft’s The Portopia Serial Murder Case. Nearly every gameplay mechanic gamers associate with detective games and even the visual novel genre as a whole can be traced back to this 1983 title. Being that old, the game is of course a bit obtuse with its verb-noun parser and how players will often need to trial and error their way past sections, but if one is willing to meet the game on its own terms, then there is truly something to appreciate here.
As a mystery game, it may be hard to still consider The Portopia Serial Murder Case as one. Being as influential as it is, the once-shocking plot twist as to who the culprit is has become a long joked-about line on par with other pop cultural spoilers like a Japanese equivalent to Darth Vader being Luke’s father. With other mystery games like Danganronpa, Ace Attorney and Umineko lampshading this twist, you may have learned it without realizing it. If you are unspoiled, though, then perhaps find a way to play the original game and avoid a certain AI version of it.
9Famicom Detective Club
Nintendo’s First Visual Novel
August 01, 2025
Nintendo R&D1
While The Portopia Serial Murder Case may be the most-influential detective game in history, another Japanese company had also thrown its hat in the ring during the ’80s: Nintendo. Their Famicom Detective Club duology showed that their home consoles could do more than simple games like Mario Bros. Still being some of the earliest existing games in this subgenre, the original Famicom Detective Club games are simple with their investigation and dialogue mechanics. In many ways they feel like a direct evolution of Portopia’s mechanics as the visual novel genre began to truly take form in the late ’80s.
The novelty of seeing Nintendo, a company most well-known for platformers or action-adventure games, produce a visual novel about solving mysteries never wears off. Despite critical success in the 80s, these games wouldn’t be officially translated into English until their 2021 remakes on the Nintendo Switch. Their charm has persisted through the ages too, as these remakes would sell well enough to justify a 2024 sequel in the form of Emio: The Smiling Man.
8The Silver Case
Kill the Past
Grasshopper Manufacture
ASCII Entertainment
June 18, 2025
OpenCritic Score
Suda51’s Kill the Past games have occasionally broken into the mainstream gaming conscious via titles like No More Heroes, but those who are truly a fan of his catalog know this recurring theme began withThe Silver Case, a little title about a police department investigating bizarre murders in a bizarre-feeling Japan. This visual novel sees the player following instructions as they move from place to place in a 3D-grid world and interact with strange characters.
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Suda51 is considered one of the best avant-garde game directors of our time and nearly all of his current quirks can be found within this title, from the synthetic voice that would later be heard in No More Heroes boss titles to the strange dialogue quirks characters have. While this strangeness and the almost-Lynchian way the story of the game is told may turn many people off, gamers who play these types of games often will have a lot to appreciate here. Just remember to be kind and lend your coworkers 50,000 yen.
7Deadly Premonition
A Tribute to TV’s Greatest
Survival Horror
Access Games
Marvelous Entertainment
August 14, 2025
After listing a game developed by a director with a very Lynchian style, it would be remiss of this list not to mention a detective game directly inspired by the works of David Lynch:Deadly Premonitionby Swery65. This Twin Peaks-inspired adventure sees the player investigate a murder in Washington as they drive down long/empty roads, watch nearly nonsensical cutscenes and engage in combat which has a lot to be desired. The protagonist is also hard to understand as he pulls clues from seemingly nowhere and goes on and on about movies the game’s director fondly remembers.
Review: Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise
Quirky dialogue and loads of fun content to fiddle around with in Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise provides an experience worth checking out.
While on paper (and sometimes in practice), Deadly Premonition is what one would call a bad game, there’s something magical about the experience and all the charm it oozes that’s hard to explain. Seeing how all of the oddities and quirks come together to form a truly memorable experience makes one take a step back and remember that video games are an art form and not just content to be consumed. Deadly Premonition is far from perfect and you’ll feel pain if you play it, but if you truly attempt to relax and appreciate the vision and work behind it, you’ll come to understand it.
6Umineko When They Cry
Best of the Genre
07th Expansion
August 03, 2025
Ryukishi07’s When They Cry franchise used to only be known online for their subpar anime adaptations, but recently these grand Visual Novels have begun to be read and appreciated by the English-speaking internet. The second of these games:Umineko When They Crytells a classic Agatha Christie-styled story about a rich family that is murdered one by one in their mansion. This premise has a twist, though: a witch may have committed the murder and it’s up to the protagonist to attempt to figure out a solution that doesn’t involve magic.
While Umineko is fantastic and claimed by many to be the best piece of fiction they have ever read, it’s also a hard story to sell to people for one simple reason: its length. Umineko is not just one of the longest Visual Novels ever, it’s one of the longest pieces of written fiction period. While that length is well-earned by the story, it’s hard to begin reading something that’ll likely take you half a year to get through. So for that reason, this stellar VN only places halfway on this list.
5AI: The Somnium Files
A Puzzling Journey
Puzzle Game
Spike Chunsoft
July 15, 2025
Don’t let that name scare you, Kotaro Uchikoshi’s AI: The Somnium Files was released long before the current generative AI scare and is only referring to events in the game’s plot. Uchikoshi’s mystery and puzzle games kept a niche genre alive in the early 2010s. So naturally fans of his work flocked to his latest series about a detective who can dive into the dreams and memories of characters to solve a case. The gameplay is unique, outside of visual novel sections where the player talks to characters and learns about the plot, they’ll also dive into the Somnium where they’ll need to walk around and solve mental locks within a time limit.
Review: AI: The Somnium Files
It’s hard to go into what makes AI: Somnium Files so extraordinarily great without spoiling key elements, but it’s truly a title that grips quickly.
Interacting with any object takes precious time, creating a unique puzzle system where the player must figure out what to interact with and in what order to do so. While obtuse at first, this quickly leads to expertly-designed puzzles which will lead to one of the most memorable game experiences ever. Gamers looking for a detective mystery game that goes beyond the usual mechanics of gathering and utilizing evidence will want to check this out.
The Most Famous Detective Game
Action-Adventure
Team Bondi
Rockstar Games
June 01, 2025
L.A. Noire puts the players in the shoes of Detective Cole Phelps as he works his way up the police department chain, investigating traffic cases, murders and even arsons. The gameplay has nearly everything a player would want from a detective game as you look around for/sketch evidence, interview witnesses and accuse suspects.
Like many other games on this list, what truly makes L.A. Noire shine is its story as Cole slowly comes to terms with the corruption of the police department and the major drug case that they’re involved in. The explorable open world of LA Noire may be completely vacant, but with a main story and gameplay loop that’s this compelling, it’s hard to see that as a major issue. Sadly it’s unlikely that the world will ever see another game like this from Rockstar, but at least we can still appreciate it onmodern consoles.
3The Sinking City
A Lovecraftian Mystery
Action-Adventure Horror
August 09, 2025
Lovecraftian Horror and video games rarely mix well. Most video games that attempt to adapt these stories tend to go for action combat or in-your-face horror that doesn’t truly feel Lovecraftian. One exception to this rule, however, comes from the developer Frogwares’ and their title The Sinking City. This game combines the gameplay of their Sherlock Holmes video games and the paranoia of Lovecraft’s stories to form a compelling narrative. While you may not be playing as Holmes in this title, the mystery within is just as strange as those he solves.
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A new direction for the developer.
The Sinking City’s gameplay can be hard to get into, as the game does little to hold the player’s hand. Even navigating its world can be difficult at first as rather than having automatic map markers, the game will give the player an address and expect them to find it on their own. While this design will naturally turn off many players who have gotten used to the hand-holding nature of modern gaming, these unique design decisions make the game a delight for those willing to meet it on its own terms. If you want an experience that feels surreal in both its gameplay and story decisions, The Sinking City awaits you.
The Modern Noir
RGG Studios
July 06, 2025
Sega’s Like a Dragon franchise (formerly known in America as Yakuza) has had many spinoffs over the years. From the Black Panther games on PSP to their historical samurai games like Kenzan and Ishin, this franchise has always been willing to experiment with new protagonists and settings. Perhaps the most famous of these spinoffs is the Judgment games, which star detective Yagami as he investigates mysteries in the city of Kamurocho.
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The dragon engine combat andfun minigamesof the Like a Dragon games are as compelling as ever in the Judgment titles. Yagami’s various styles are fun to switch between on the fly in combat and allow for many extreme combos. The stories of these games are closely tied with the main Like a Dragon series without being too tied down by the main narrative. If you ever wanted more from the world of Like a Dragon but don’t feel comfortable yet with diving into more out-there spinoffs like Ishin, then consider playing through the Judgment games.
1Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One
Fiction’s Greatest Detective is Back
July 13, 2025
In 2021, Frogwares rebooted and revived their Sherlock Holmes video game franchise with an open-world title known as Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One. This title took all of the game design lessons they learned from The Sinking City to create a truly phenomenal experience. The same map system which trusts players to figure out where to go themselves remains as well as the franchise’s beloved mind palace mechanic where the player can piece together logic threads as they investigate a crime.
The heart of Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One and its plot is the relationship between Holmes and his companion Jon. This unique and intriguing twist of the detective and assistant formula with the most famous detective duo in history is intriguing and makes the game more than worth playing. This title would later be followed up in 2023 with a remake of Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened, which may possibly be the greatest Sherlock Holmes game of all time. Because that title is a direct sequel to Chapter One and is elevated by playing it first, however, this first title makes the list.
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