A smooth and thrilling ride was created each time a Sherlock Holmes game came out. The games do not fail to take players on a British journey through murder and mystery. But there’s always room for different types of mystery and developers continue to explore new, creative ways to deduce crimes in gaming.
Sherlock Holmes games succeed in bringing the player along for the ride, but most of the deducing is hand-held and simple to complete. It focuses’ more on atmosphere and story rather than the player figuring out curious missions by their own logic. Listed below are some games that offer a unique take at performing detective work as well as allowing the player to come up with their own conclusions.
10 Return Of The Obra Dinn (PC, Switch, Xbox One, PS4)
There are many ways to solve a murder case but on an old ship in 1803 all you need is a magical pocket watch and a notebook. Return Of The Obra Dinn leaves the player up to everything. You have to match faces to names, figure out who’s shooting what and when by stepping into the past, and unravel a bigger story.
The game has an interesting artistic style that can make it easier or harder to identify faces. It allows the player to focus more on the situation itself and use their imagination. If you’re looking for a game that feels highly rewarding when you come up with your own conclusions, this is the game.
9 Disco Elysium (PC, Switch, Xbox One, PS4)
Where Return Of The Obra Dinn is more technical, this game is more entertaining. Disco Elysium isn’t just about the player solving a case by themselves, but about life and politics. You play as an older man with a miserable life, but playable character or not the player feels as if they are making their own choices through their own personality.
It’s more about the adventure as Disco Elysium is a role-playing game about a detective. Games, where you play as a character instead of yourself, can feel handheld and limiting, but in this hobo-cop expedition players are gripped into the city of Revachol and it’s lively people.
8 Danganronpa (PC, PSP, PS4, Mobile)
Danganronpa is a revolutionary visual novel franchise that uses mini-games and horror elements to figure out mysteries in a whodunnit fashion. At first, you’re a student locked in a school with others, kidnapped by a killer bear, next you’re stuck on an island with the same circumstances. It never ends with Monokuma and his treachery.
What makes this visual novel different from the others is the player isn’t just clicking through dialogue and snapshots of anime characters. Instead, the player is actually playing the game. Aside from conversing with various characters to figure out answers, the player must also scan their environment for clues and items as well as complete puzzles.
7 Blacksad: Under The Skin (PC, Switch, Xbox One, PS4)
Play as a dashingly handsome black cat, decide to be a dirty detective or a morally-aligned one, and pick the fate of the true killer. John Blacksad is a popular comic book detective living in a world so intricate and similar to our own. In the game, Blacksad is solving the case of a dead boxer.
Blacksad: Under The Skin is a swift, enjoyable cup of coffee. The player controls Blacksad and follows along with the story playing out before them. Despite this following, choices and dialogue options are still up to the player and with quick-time events and a detailed anthropomorphic world, you’ll never feel like just a viewer.
6 The Council (PC, Xbox One, PS4)
George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, and a young man looking for his mother enter a room. That’s just the beginning of what The Council entails. An isolated mansion in the 1700’ full of important names, all who are apart of a secret society, and a missing person. And then a dead person. Who’s responsible?
The player controls Louis de Richet, a young man who’s mother went missing. Both he and his mother are members of this secret society that decides political and world events behind closed doors. You waltz through the mansion, questioning the guests and exploring hidden areas. This game has in-depth puzzles related to exceptional literature and astrology, which may sound challenging, but who doesn’t like a challenge?
5 Thimbleweed Park (PC, Mobile, Xbox One)
Anyone looking for a more retro take on detective gameplay may look no further than Thimbleweed Park. This is a game by the same makers of Monkey Island, a point-and-click a tale tied with funny characters and secrets.
Two FBI agents, who look strangely familiar (Scully, is that you?), follow a report in this small and strange town. The player gets to control five different characters, solving mystery after mystery until everything starts to connect. Thimbleweed Park is a comedic point-and-click adventure full of twists and turns.
4 Kona (PC, Xbox One, PS4)
Kona is more closely related to a walking simulator with a hint of thriller and survival. The player controls a detective (surprise) following a case that leads them to a cold and ominous village where nothing is as it seems.
Anyone looking to experience an interactive story where you slowly discover pieces to a puzzle while simultaneously fearing for your safety, this is the one!
3 Orwell: Keeping An Eye On You (PC)
Back to a more technical take on solving crimes and mysteries, Orwell: Keeping An Eye On You allows the player to research suspects via the internet on behalf of an organization. Whether to trust the organization you work for or withhold information from them is up to the player.
The player must analyze different people's online presence and through that find out information about their real-life, personal presence. It’s a breach of privacy and a struggle to figure out where justice belongs.
2 Interrogation: You Will Be Deceived (PC, Switch)
Interrogation is an eerie, noir thriller where the player is tasked at controlling their police force and deciding how far to go to get the truth.
Everything is up to the player, the detective, from what type of interrogation techniques to use to budgeting your team. Instead of trying to crack a case by walking the streets and inserting oneself into the suspect environment, the suspects are brought to you in one dark and cold room. All you have to do is chat.
1 Simulacra (PC, Switch, Xbox One, PS4, Mobile)
This is a more entertaining take on solving mysteries. It’s not a three-dimensional world you waltz through but a phone you interact with and use. Simulacra is an interactive simulation with horror elements.
This is more than just a detective game. The player will find themselves terrified and deciding fates. The game contains multiple endings and puzzles, leaving the player to wonder what options they missed. And if they should go back.