Summary
Fighting crime is a staple of many video games. Players could be superheroes using powers to stop the destruction, or they could just be random individuals who find themselves in a peculiar situation needing to stop bad guys. Regardless, there’s no role more fun to take on than detective.
Detective gamesare narrative-driven, giving players the ability to immerse themselves in the mystery. Finding clues, hunting suspects, and solving crimes can be satisfying. It isn’t always done well, so it’s worth praising the games that have done a good job of giving the players the tools to crack the case.
Updated June 23, 2025, by Mehrdad Khayyat:Being a detective and searching for clues is a superb fit for video games, and it has been a major genre in this industry for a long time, though sometimes developers just combine with other elements like shooting or combat to add more exciting moments.
There have been plenty of detective games from various Western and Eastern developers over many years, each delivering their very own perspective on what makes a mysterious adventure more engaging for gamers, and some of those lead to spectacular industry standards.
Another outstanding entry in the visual novel category is basically a detective game that stars a lawyer.Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorneyfocuses on a rookie attorney whose main goal is to find his defendants not guilty of the crimes they are being accused of.
The primary gameplay revolves around interrogating witnesses and searching crime scenes for clues that could exonerate the client. The case comes to a head when Wright has to face off in the courtroom with a prosecutor like Miles Edgeworth and present the evidence necessary to get the job done.
Players looking for a little bit more control of the main character and their environment will enjoy the open-world adventureParadise Killer. Taking place on Paradise Island, a place that doesn’t exist in reality, someone has been murdered and it is up to investigator Lady Love Dies to get to the bottom of the situation.
Players can wander the world in search of evidence and talk to various suspects to get their side of the story. The game was heavily inspired by the work of H.P. Lovecraft andDanganronpa.
Visual novels are a perfect medium fordetective gamesas they focus heavily on solving a mystery and not so much on other gameplay elements. That said, theDanganronpaseries has always had a mixture of both point-and-click adventure and time-based puzzles.
The best in the series isDanganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. The story revolves arounda group of studentsfrom Hope’s Peak Academy being trapped on an island by Monokuma, a stuffed bear, who tells them they must kill a fellow student and not get caught to escape.
Many people considerthe final game of the originalPhoenix Wright: Ace Attorneytrilogy to be the best one of the lot, and it’s easy to see why this is the case. Shu Takumi was clearly at the top of his game when he crafted this masterpiece, combining logical puzzle-solving with supernatural elements to make for a bombastic entry that fans still can’t stop raving about to this day.
All the cases in this title are brilliant, exploring Phoenix’s backstory while letting Maya Fey’s character shine bright too. With many memorable character interactions, intense witness testimonies, and engrossing breakdowns, it’s easy to see why most people still consider this title to be the bestAce Attorneygame to date!
A detective game that dips more into the horror genre,Condemned 2: Bloodshotis a sequel toCondemned: Criminal Origins. The 2008 game is the second chapter in the story of Ethan Thomas, an investigator for the FBI’s Serial Crime Unit.
In this game, Thomas is recruited back to his job after resigning following the end of the original game. He is tasked with solving a murder while also discovering his true nemesis, Serial Killer X, is still alive. Thefirst-person gamefeatures melee-oriented combat as well as adventure mechanics revolving around investigating crime scenes.
Pentimentis probably the most unique title from Obsidian Entertainment so far. This is one of those games that people can barely find anything exactly similar to it. Of course, there have been many detective-oriented games so far, but they have barely touched on the medieval era as precisely asPentiment.
For those who love a trip back to the distant centuries,Pentimentis a great opportunity that not only delivers a captivating story but also recreates the details of that era superbly. This is an adventure like no other, and it might require a bit of good old English understanding.
Another horror and investigative game,The Vanishing Of Ethan Carterfocuses more on puzzles and stealth gameplay to tell its story. The player is Paul Prospero, a paranormal investigator who receives a letter from a young fan and is inspired to meet him.
Upon arriving at the fan’s hotel, Prospero learns that a 12-year-old kid, Ethan Carter, has gone missing.Prospero must deal with paranormal activityto find Carter and solve the mysteries of the small town. The game is open-world and leaves the player to discover much of the story and mechanics.
11Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Working Between Two Different Visions To Bring Back The Lost Memory
A unique twist on a detective game,Ghost Trick: Phantom Detectivehas players solving a crime from the grave. The ghost of Sissel wakes up to discover they don’t know who they used to be and who killed them. The game revolves around finding clues to get answers to those questions.
Along the way, Sissel must use his paranormal powers to save lives by taking control of their corpses and rewinding time. Players can jump between the Land of the Living (with time moving) and the Ghost World (where time is stopped) to ultimately figure out the mysteries in front of them.
The fate of Telltale Games was a hard one to stomach for fans who loved these adventure games and everything they brought to the table. Thankfully, a sequel to one of its most popular games,The Wolf Among Us, was finally announced after many players were disappointed that the cliffhanger ending would never see a proper resolution.
The story of Sheriff Bigby as he tries to figure out the truth behind a grizzly murder in Fabletown leads him on a wild goose chase that is executed brilliantly in typical Telltale fashion.While the puzzles and detective work itself are fairly simple, it’s the unmatched vibes, excellent presentation, and memorable characters in the game that do a great job of engrossing players till the very end.
One of the most underrated mystery games that was released recently, the intriguing world ofAI: The Somnium Filesis easily one of its biggest draws. Fans simply can’t get enough of the futuristic setting of Tokyo present in this title, with the story and gameplay making full use of this unique backdrop. It’s a unique experience that fans ofdetective gamescan expose themselves to.
The idea of investigating killings by exploring one’s memories is a simple yet riveting concept that is executed brilliantly in this game.AI: The Somnium Filesmay not be a perfect detective game… but it sure comes pretty close, which is high praise indeed.
