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Return of the Obra Dinn (2018)
9.0/10on IGDB
Released
A frozen death scene gives you fragments, not a complete explanation. Cross-reference voices, uniforms, positions and the ship's records, then enter each person's identity and fate in your book. Correct answers are generally confirmed in groups, which discourages treating every guess as a separate yes-or-no test. It is an excellent choice for patient observation, with a notebook useful when several plausible connections compete.
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The Roottrees Are Dead (2025)
8.1/10on IGDB
Released
Filling a family tree becomes genuine investigative work when a name, occupation and photograph have to agree across scattered sources. The 2025 version sends you through a simulated late-1990s internet, following search terms and comparing records. Groups of correct entries are confirmed together, so a strong theory matters more than endless random guesses. Choose it if tracing relationships sounds as satisfying as identifying a murderer.
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The Case of the Golden Idol (2022)
8.6/10on IGDB
Released
Everyone is caught at a revealing moment, but you must explain what that moment actually means. Inspect scenes, collect names and terms, then place them into statements describing identities and events. The game checks your assembled explanation rather than letting the detective announce it for you. Its grotesque art and dark humour accompany some demanding leaps, making this especially good for readers who enjoy revising a theory.
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The Rise of the Golden Idol (2024)
8.3/10on IGDB
Released
A modern photograph, a stray document and a familiar face can overturn your first reading of a scene. This follow-up expands the Golden Idol method into a 1970s conspiracy: gather words and evidence, fill in the account of each incident, then connect it to the wider case. It suits anyone who wants several smaller deductions to support a larger argument. There is more information to manage, so work slowly rather than filling blanks by rhythm.
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The Incident at Galley House (2026)
7.6/10on IGDB
Released
The 2026 investigation makes access to evidence part of the puzzle. A device reveals echoes of a disastrous gathering, but recognising people and locations helps you work out which further memories to retrieve and how events connect. You actively build the sequence instead of receiving it as a tidy flashback. Its growing web rewards careful notes; the supernatural premise is best discovered without reading a plot summary first.
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Her Story (2015)
7.8/10on IGDB
Released
Your next search term is your next investigative decision. A police video archive returns fragments containing the words you type, leaving you to notice connections, contradictions and changes in what the speaker means. There is no conventional accusation form that grades your entire interpretation. Choose it for the pleasure of constructing an argument from testimony, especially if you are happy to decide for yourself when the evidence is enough.
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Telling Lies (2019)
6.5/10on IGDB
Released
A recording may show only one side of a conversation, making the missing reply an important piece of evidence. Search words from the footage, match people and exchanges, and reconstruct how private relationships fit into the larger situation. The game tracks your access to material more readily than it verifies every conclusion. It is a patient, film-heavy investigation, with scrubbing and repeated viewing part of the work.
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Unheard (2019)
7.0/10on IGDB
Released
Follow a voice into the next room and an apparently simple conversation can acquire another meaning. Unheard lets you move around an overhead plan while scrubbing a shared audio timeline, identify the speakers and answer questions about the case. You must decide whose conversation matters at each moment. Its reliance on listening is central, so check that the available audio and language options suit you before choosing this over a text-led mystery.
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Scene Investigators (2023)
6.1/10on IGDB
Released
These reconstructed crime scenes give you objects, layouts and questions, then largely leave the reasoning to you. Look closely at what is present, what is missing and what people must have done before submitting your answers. It offers far less narrative guidance than most choices here. Some conclusions depend on assumptions as well as direct evidence, so choose it for difficult inference rather than the reassurance that every fact will be explicitly supplied.
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Shadows of Doubt (2024)
6.4/10on IGDB
Released
A fingerprint can become a person, an address and eventually a case you can submit. Its simulated city gives you records, witnesses, surveillance and a case board to organise connections, with the route from crime scene to suspect largely yours to choose. That freedom is the attraction, along with plenty of sneaking and trespassing. Procedural cases and rough edges make it less tightly authored than the puzzle-box mysteries on this list.
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Paradise Killer (2020)
8.7/10on IGDB
Released
You decide when to stop investigating and take your argument to trial. Exploring the island, interviewing its extraordinary inhabitants and assembling evidence gives you a case to present, with the court judging what you can support. The distinction between understanding an event and proving an accusation is its particular pleasure. Expect free exploration, strange mythology and substantial reading rather than a sequence of neatly isolated murder puzzles.
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The Painscreek Killings (2017)
7.2/10on IGDB
Released
An abandoned town becomes a paper trail of diaries, addresses, photographs and people whose accounts need to be compared. You work out where a lead might take you, keep track of useful details and eventually report your findings. This suits someone who enjoys a notebook slowly becoming an explanation. It also contains plenty of walking and searching for access to rooms, so the investigative atmosphere is stronger than a constant stream of formal deduction tests.
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CaseCracker (2022)
Released
A receipt or an apparently minor phrase can supply the search term that opens a new line of inquiry. CaseCracker keeps you inside a text-based case database, where you cross-reference documents and interviews before answering the system's case questions. It is a good fit for the reader who enjoys tracing a lead through dense records. Exact search wording and a large amount of reading are part of the challenge, rather than cinematic crime-scene wandering.
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The Operator (2024)
7.8/10on IGDB
Released
Working behind the investigators gives the forensic tools a clear purpose: find the relevant detail in a recording, document or database and report what it supports. The Operator supplies a guided sequence of cases, but the useful connections still need your attention. Choose it as an approachable desk-based investigation with clear tasks. It offers less freedom to pursue your own theory than an open case board, which is helpful if a blank notebook feels daunting.
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Duck Detective: The Secret Salami (2024)
8.0/10on IGDB
Released
A missing lunch becomes a compact lesson in questioning assumptions about an office full of suspects. Examine objects, talk to everyone and fill the notebook's deduction statements with the names and words your evidence supports. The game checks those statements, giving a first-time sleuth something concrete to test. It is short, comic and fairly guided, so choose it for a friendly introduction rather than a sprawling independent investigation.
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Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments (2014)
8.0/10on IGDB
Released
Linking two clues is only the beginning: you must choose what their connection implies. Its deduction board lets competing interpretations develop into different accusations, and you can close a case with the wrong conclusion. That gives your judgement more weight than a standard evidence-collection checklist. Some observations and reconstructions are heavily assisted, but the final reasoning and moral decision make it a useful introduction to fallible detective work.
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Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One (2021)
7.6/10on IGDB
Released
Young Holmes has useful senses, but you still have to decide how the facts fit and whom to accuse. Exploring Cordona, testing interpretations in the Mind Palace and weighing different explanations creates room for uncertainty. The game is less insistent on declaring a single right answer than many courtroom mysteries. There is also action and open-world travel around the cases, making this the broader adventure choice rather than the purest deduction exercise.
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Tangle Tower (2019)
7.6/10on IGDB
Released
The pleasure is in hearing a suspect's confident story, examining the relevant object and working out why the two do not fit. Tangle Tower combines interviews and physical puzzles with moments where you assemble an explanation from selected clues and phrases. Its characters and clear case file make the process welcoming. The investigation follows a designed route, so expect guided reasoning and a good conversation rather than complete freedom to accuse anyone.
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Contradiction: Spot the Liar! (2015)
7.1/10on IGDB
Released
A suspicious performance is a lead; two statements that cannot both be true are something you can actually submit. Pair those contradictions in the interview records to push this live-action village mystery forward. It is especially satisfying if you enjoy carefully worded testimony and theatrical characters. The system needs particular statements paired in its intended way, so a sound general suspicion does not always count as the recognised contradiction.
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Mindcop (2024)
5.1/10on IGDB
Released
Being able to enter someone's thoughts does not tell you which lead deserves your limited time. Question people, investigate and interpret the truths, lies and uncertainties revealed through Mindsurfing before choosing how to pursue the murder. The five-day limit makes priorities part of the case. Its mind-reading includes a timed puzzle element, so this is a more pressured investigation than a completely leisurely notebook mystery.
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Lacuna (2021)
7.3/10on IGDB
Released
Clues become useful when you can turn them into a report. Lacuna asks you to examine scenes, compare testimony and records, then complete deduction sheets that commit you to an account of events. Its science-fiction noir story continues through your decisions rather than inviting endless harmless retries. Important passages can be highlighted, so it provides support, but understanding which facts answer the question remains your task.
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The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker (2017)
6.5/10on IGDB
Released
The next question can be something you have thought to ask, rather than simply the next highlighted dialogue option. On PC, type questions or keywords to question patients about the death of their psychiatrist, compare their stories and eventually name a culprit. The murderer can vary between playthroughs, so memorising a universal answer defeats the premise. Its keyword parser sometimes needs rephrasing, and the supernatural horror grows increasingly strange.
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Lamplight City (2018)
8.1/10on IGDB
Released
How you question someone can determine whether a useful lead remains open. Lamplight City lets an investigation end in a mistaken accusation or an unsolved case, with consequences beyond an immediate game-over screen. That makes courtesy, attention and deciding whether you have enough evidence part of the work. Its point-and-click structure still guides the available actions, but it trusts you to live with a conclusion instead of automatically correcting it.
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No Case Should Remain Unsolved (2024)
7.1/10on IGDB
Released
Rebuilding a conversation becomes a way of rebuilding a case. Testimony begins out of order and detached from the people who gave it; you identify speakers, place statements in sequence and use connections to recover further memories. The arrangement itself records your understanding. This is a compact, text-heavy investigation where careful reading does the detective work, with a sensitive story that benefits from avoiding summaries of its revelations.
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