Moreso than books or television, games draw the audience into an experience, putting them inthe driver’s seat. When it comes to mystery stories, this is absolutely perfect. When Phoenix Wright is solving a case, he’s not figuring anything outbefore the player does. It’s the player’s job to solve the mysteryalongside the characters, and it’s one of the most satisfying experiences the medium has to offer.
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This might explain why detective games are so ubiquitous. Mysteries keep readers interested,hooked inas they try to figure out where the story is going. Games do the same thing by hooking players with a certain sense ofprogression. The two go hand in hand, and these excellent titles illustrate that fact.
10Contradiction: Spot The Liar!
Contradiction is a ridiculously charming FMV detective game. For those who don’t know, FMV stands for full-motion video. Rather than using 3D models and animations, Contradiction usedreal actorsandhigh-definition camerasto capture its gameplay scenes. Some might balk at this, but the way it comes across is endearing and nostalgic.
Contradiction follows a straightforward mystery plotline. Inspector Jenks, the clever protagonist, is investigating the recent death of a young woman in an English village. The player watches Jenks interview suspects, assisting him by pointing out contradictions in their statements. It’s a satisfying game that doesn’t overstay its welcome. At only 5 - 6 hours, we almost wish it were longer.
9Deadly Premonition
Deadly Premonition is a bad game. It’s also an amazing game. Heavily inspired by the television showTwin Peaks, the game follows an FBI agent uncovering a supernatural influence in a remote town in the Pacific Northwest. Players might be drawn in by the game’s ridiculous characters or its hilariously bad acting, then surprised by the story, which isactually sort of great.
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It’s far from the most polished detective game, but it’s a thoroughly enjoyable classic. Too many games have boring, predictable storylines. Deadly Premonition goes against the grain, presenting something so off-the-wall it’s impossible not to smile.
8Sam & Max Hit The Road
It’s hard to go wrong with any entry in the Sam & Max series. The more modern Telltale Sam & Max games are good, but Hit the Road is anenduring classic. Published in 1993 for MS-DOS, it rubs shoulders with classic LucasArts point-and-click games — Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, and so on. Its graphics are dated, sure, but they looked great back then, and they’re still cute and eye-catching to this day.
Although they aren’t exactly pillars of detective gameplay, the Sam & Max games are consistentlyhilarious and entertaining. The humor is at its best in the old LucasArts games, but the modern Telltale games are a bit more accessible without having to consult a walkthrough.
7Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Danganronpa iscompletely ridiculous, in a fun way. Fans will argue about which entry is best — 1 and 2 are regarded as excellent, and V3 is a bit more controversial. They’re not for everyone, but in terms of mystery gameplay, they’re incredibly fun.
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The gameplay of Danganronpa is similar to that of Ace Attorney, but its plot is less grounded in reality. It’s about a group of high school students trapped in a killing game, where the only way to survive is to either solve your classmates' murders, or deceive them by pulling off theperfect crime. For us, game’s main flaw is that its story tends to drag when there isn’t a class trial going on.
6Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium hasone of the best stories ever told in a video game. And it’s an important, challenging story. But we’re not looking at the best stories in games, and in terms of actual detective gameplay, it’s far from the best of all time.
First, the good: there are always multiple ways to tackle the mystery. It’s a deep RPG with great dialogue, and it rewards clever thinking. As for the bad, there’s only one real mystery to solve, and some of the best stuff in the game is essentially unrelated to it. Also, without getting too deep into spoilers, Disco Elysiumbreaks a core tenant of mystery storytelling. Obviously rules are meant to be broken, but it ends up making the mystery itself feel like a bit like an afterthought.
5The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, a game with a very long name, breathes life into the classic Ace Attorney series with itsfascinating setting. It starts off set in Japan just before the turn of the century. However, its story sees the characters travel to England in the time of gaslights, Sherlock Holmes, and Jack the Ripper. This might seem like an odd pull, but it works shockingly well. Themes of justice and corruption abound in the legal system of Victorian England; it’s a setting rife withstorytelling opportunities.
For those who are new to the series, we highly recommend starting with the mainline games. However, for longtime fans looking to change it up, this game is downright refreshing.
4Her Story
Similar to Contradiction, Her Story is a fantastic FMV mystery game. It takes place on the virtual desktop of an old police database. The player character uses this interface to study the interrogation videos of a woman named Hannah Smith, who is (or was, at one point) suspected of killing her husband. As the game progresses, Hannah’s story unfolds more and more.
New videos are uncovered by searching keywords. These can be whatever the player wants; they need to bededucedusing information gleaned from the videos. This unique mechanic adds to the open-ended nature of the game and reallymakes the player feel like a detective.
3L.A. Noire
Created by a now defunct Australian developer, L.A. Noire is a unique and excellent mystery game. Its big claim to fame is its facial scan technology, which is used to create NPC faces so realistic they’re almostuncanny. This allows players to accurately read character’s emotions, adding a new layer to the detective gameplay.
Unfortunately, L.A. Noire fails to meet its full potential. Its story feelsunderbakedat times, possibly because Cole Phelps never gets any character development outside the cases he’s working on. That said, the game features one of the mostvibrant, fleshed-out worldsto be found in any detective game. And the story isn’t all bad — the episodic nature of the mysteries means even though some can be boring, others are great.
2Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Ace Attorney is thegold standardfor any fan of detective games, and the first game in the series may very well be the best. It follows the story of a fledgling defense attorney, featuring four episodes that all revolve around murder cases (with later re-releases featuring a new fifth case). In addition to investigating crimes, the player interrogates witnesses and uncovers contradictions in a court of law.
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The Ace Attorney games feature witty humor, charming characters, and excellent music. They also offer a variety of fun mysteries to be solved in dramatic and satisfying fashion. It’s hard to go wrong with any entry in the series, but all of them are worth playing, so consider starting at the beginning!
1Return Of The Obra Dinn
Return of the Obra Dinn is an underrated gem of a game, a unique detective experience, and arguably what all detective games should strive for. It may as well berequiredfor fans of mystery games. More than any other, Return of the Obra Dinn succeeds at being a detective game bymaking the player feel like a detective.
Players will use logical deduction, process of elimination, and perhaps a bit of note-taking to fully unravel the mystery of the titular ship. Of course, these are all techniques used by real detectives. Ace Attorney is great, but it tends sort offeedanswers to the player. Not so in Obra Dinn. Here, the player’s brain is their only reliable tool. We don’t want to give too much away — the way to experience this game is toplay it as soon as possible.
