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The best mystery games take you on a true adventure. Whether you're charged with solving a murder or putting a life back together, the best detective games ask you to put on your thinking cap and get to work analyzing the world around you.
That's what you'll find here. After looking through the best gaming stories and the best adventure games, we've found ten awesome titles. These games will have you chewing over clues, interrogating witnesses, and using your powers of deduction to help you through a case. Whether you're looking for a narrative-focused game or an experience full of puzzles – or maybe something between the both – you'll find something to pique your interest here.
10. The Wolf Among Us
Developer: Telltale
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One
Telltale's signature formula of pairing deeply thoughtful stories to consequential decision-making is perfectly suited to the mystery genre, and The Wolf Among Us is ample proof of concept. Here, you're tasked with a fairly singular goal: solving a captivating murder case in a fairytale version of New York City, meanwhile keeping fairytale characters and their hidden community a secret from the outside world.
A prequel set in the world of the Fables comics, The Wolf Among might surprise you with its grittiness. This very noir murder mystery kicks off with a decapitated prostitute setting into motion the events of the game. Decision-making and the resulting consequences can be agonizing, as oftentimes it's nigh impossible to determine the outcomes of your choices. But The Wolf Among Us manages to surprise at every turn, making it a worthwhile adventure no matter where your decisions take you.
Read our The Wolf Among Us review.
9. Duck Detective: The Secret Salami
Developer: Happy Broccoli Games
Platform(s): PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One
When it comes to cozy mystery games, there are a surprising amount of titles on offer. However, none are as polished or well done as the 2024 hit Duck Detective: The Secret Salami. You play as said Duck Detective ( a down on his luck kind of guy with a bread problem), and are called to investigate a mystery at a strange office.
Interrogate, gather clues, and piece together a mystery that may or may not involve a meat smuggling conspiracy. The game is entirely voice-acted, and with its charming art style, you'll be dying for more even after you solve the case. Hopefully, this is just the start of Duck Detective's adventures, and we'll be back to fighting crime, even with our crippling bread addiction, soon.
Check out our list of the best games of 2024.
8. Heavy Rain
Developer: Quantic Dream
Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS3
Heavy Rain is what solidified Quantic Dreams as a pioneer of the narrative-driven, interactive game experience. What would follow from the studio ranges from forgettable (Beyond: Two Souls) to genre-defining (Detroit: Become Human), but the since-remastered Heavy Rain remains a must-play for fans of dramatic storytelling and mystery-solving.
In Heavy Rain, the stakes couldn't be higher for protagonist Ethan Mars, who had just lost a son before having another taken from him by the mysterious "Origami Killer." With a fast-moving clock on his son's life, Ethan is forced to endure exhausting, increasingly horrific "tests" to prove his fatherly determination. Heavy Rain feels very real - one of my playthroughs resulted in an ending about as wretched as I've seen in a game. Needless to say, I've played through Heavy Rain more than a few times, and you likely will, too.
Read our Heavy Rain review.
7. L.A. Noire
Developer: Team Bondi
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
When you think of mysteries and detective stories specifically, there's almost no better setting than L.A. Noire's sepia-toned 1940s Los Angeles. A technical marvel for its time (2011), L.A. Noire still looks good today, but more importantly, it's also just as engrossing to investigate murders and climb the ranks of the L.A.P.D.
The 2017 remaster on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch features updated textures and a few convenience updates that make L.A. Noire an essential crime-drama mystery for aspiring detectives. Though, it's best to forget the precedent set by Rockstar's mainstay series, Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. While it's technically an open-world game, L.A. Noire tells a laser-focused story without much room for distraction. And believe me, that's a good thing because you'll be too absorbed in rooting out the scum of L.A.'s underbelly to care about anything else.
Read our L.A. Noire review.
6. Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments
Developer: Frogwares
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One
How could a list of the best mystery games exist without the man himself, the prolific Dr. Sherlock Holmes? Though Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments earns its spot on this list without relying on the famous name of its titular detective. Like the best detective games, this one will have you second-guessing yourself, as well as everyone you interrogate, as you work through the complex moral bargaining at its center.
Exploring the detailed environments, picking out clues, and piecing together conclusions is surgical in a way you might expect from a Sherlock Holmes game, but Crimes and Punishments adds a challenging ethical question to your choices that elevate it beyond its piers. This is Sherlock Holmes with a conscious, and Crimes and Punishments is a detective game that more than lives up to its legend.
5. Her Story
Developer: Sam Barlow
Platform(s): PC, iOS, Android
Her Story is an interactive movie. There is no "gameplay" in the traditional sense, and even the visuals are live-action shots of actual actors through an actual camera. Now that that's out of the way, the reason Her Story qualifies as a game is that it's up to you to sort through various clues and decipher their meaning.
Clues exist in the form of archived clips from a police interview with a woman whose husband has gone missing and is later found murdered. The character and her relationship with her husband are fascinating to learn about, each new revelation a source of multiple new theories about whether Hannah Smith is culpable for her husband's murder.
4. What Remains of Edith Finch
Developer: Giant Sparrow
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
For a stylish, lighthearted mystery or distraction, look elsewhere. But if you're in a mood to reflect, empathize, and become entirely absorbed in a touching, often heart-wrenching dive into loss and mortality, don't sleep on What Remains of Edith Finch. Giant Sparrow unleashed a mystery game that skirts so close to being a masterpiece, which is certainly one of the best games of the last generation.
The story of a possible curse that leaves only one family member of each generation alive is exactly that: a story. Some very light puzzling is all that hinders your pursuit of the mystery behind your relatives' deaths, and it'll only take a couple of hours for you to learn the truth of What Remains of Edith Finch. Like it or not, it'll probably take far longer for you to escape its emotional grip.
3. Outer Wilds
Developer: Mobius Digital
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One
While most mystery games are content with identifying the culprit in a small-town crime, Outer Wilds seeks to solve mysteries on a much larger scale: the universe, or at least the solar system you're tasked with exploring, and the infinite time loop in which it lives.
On its surface, Outer Wilds is a space exploration game about looking for clues and solving mysterious phenomena on diverse planets, but just beneath the crust lies an experience unlike anything I've ever played. Learning more about the extinct, intelligent species called Nomai compels your adventure, but the ways in which you uncover their secrets is what makes Outer Wilds so special, and I'd never forgive myself for spoiling anything.
2. Disco Elysium
Developer: ZA/UM
Platform(s): PC, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One
If its numerous accolades, not to mention three BAFTAs, aren't enough to convince you to try out Disco Elysium, hopefully, this humble little list of best mystery games will. A murder mystery and black comedy, the story kicks off with the player-character blurrily waking from a drunken stupor, only to be told he's in charge of investigating a grizzly murder.
From an isometric perspective, you'll guide your detective through his booze-induced amnesia and toward the answer to the game's mystery by leveling up and upgrading his deductive skills and navigating different personality traits that develop based on character choice. It's an immensely complex, innovative ride that never fails to elicit both laughs and suspense.
Check out our list of the best RPGs of all time.
1. Return of the Obra Dinn
Developer: 3909 LLC
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Return of the Obra Dinn's story of a ship that returns to port five years after having gone missing, now a mass grave for its occupants, is enthralling throughout its fairly brief run-time. Your job as an insurance adjuster is to figure out what happened to the ship's crew and passengers, who all died mysteriously or went missing en route.
The distinct monochromatic art style and wistful score offer the perfect setting to wrack your brain for clues to the Obra Dinn's ill-fated voyage, and you'll want to use every tool in your cerebral shed to find whodunnit. Return of the Obra Dinn never holds your hand, which only makes piecing together its many secrets that much more rewarding. It's undoubtedly one of the best mystery and detective games ever made, but you can really only play through it once – so do yourself a favor and go in blind, as it'll greatly enhance the experience.
Looking for more cases to solve? Read our guide on all the new games heading our way this year and beyond.
