Summary
- Some detective games emphasize the thrill of wrong decisions over being infallible sleuths.
- Games like L.A. Noire, Disco Elysium, and Return of the Obra Dinn embrace the consequences of players' failures.
- Contradiction and Shadows of Doubt challenge players with potential irreversible mistakes in investigations.
Some detective games hold your hand until the mystery is solved. Others gleefully let you crash and burn. In these worlds, one wrong hunch, missed clue, or overly confident accusation can derail the investigation entirely. Sometimes the fallout is immediate. Other times, players only realize hours later that they’ve been chasing the wrong lead since the start.
17 Detective Games With Realistic Crime Solving
Though not all of these detective games take place in realistic settings, they feature incredibly realistic methods of crime-solving.
These games thrive on risk. They’re not about always being right, but about the thrill of being wrong in spectacular fashion. They embrace dead ends, irreversible mistakes, and conclusions that make players question their detective instincts. Here are the best cases where the floor can slip out from under you at any moment.
L.A. Noire
When A Bad Call Ends Your Career
L.A. Noire
- Released
- May 17, 2011
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- Team Bondi
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Set in post-war Los Angeles, L.A. Noire thrives on subtlety. Each interrogation feels like a gamble; read a suspect’s face wrong and players might miss the truth entirely. Cole Phelps’ journey is littered with branching paths where failure doesn’t mean a reload; it means a botched arrest or a murderer walking free.
The game’s facial animation tech still stands out, demanding players notice the tiniest twitch or darting glance. The brilliance is that the story keeps moving regardless; blunders ripple through the narrative. Sometimes players will nail the culprit and feel like a genius, and other times they’ll close the case and realize they sent the wrong person to jail. All this makes L.A. Noire feel less about being infallible and more about living with the consequences of your worst hunches.
Disco Elysium
Logic Isn’t Always Your Friend
Disco Elysium
- Released
- October 15, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Blood, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs, Violence
- Developer(s)
- ZA/UM
- Genre(s)
- RPG
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Stadia
Disco Elysium hands players an amnesiac detective and a murder case, then gleefully lets their inner voices sabotage them. Skills talk back, argue, and coerce the player into absurd decisions. Failing a key check might result in spiralling into humiliation, injury, or outright career collapse.
Its beauty lies in letting the story move forward, no matter how badly players handle it. They can accuse the wrong person with total confidence, alienate allies, or chase conspiracies that make Harry's peers question his sanity. Every misstep feels like part of the roleplay, and every disaster is written so well that even failure feels canon.
Return Of The Obra Dinn
Wrong Boat, Wrong Time
Return of the Obra Dinn
- Released
- October 18, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood, Intense Violence, Language, Partial Nudity
- Developer(s)
- Lucas Pope
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC
As the sole time-travelling detective aboard the Obra Dinn, every deduction is the player’s to make, which also means they’re fully responsible for every mistaken detail. Misidentifying a single crew member can set off a chain reaction, with wrong fates locked in and the game politely nodding at your misplaced confidence.
8 Underrated Detective Games, Ranked
Ready your deerstalker hat and magnifying glass, it's time to shine the light on some mysterious and underrated detective games.
The beauty is that there’s no instant feedback. Players could go hours before realizing they’ve tangled the ship’s entire murder web into a messy knot. When the truth finally clicks, it’s not just a solution, it’s a gut-punch reminder of how much time they spent chasing a phantom. There’s a quiet dignity in reworking one's notes after realizing the “smoking gun” clue was nothing but a coincidence.
Her Story
Truth In A Thousand Cuts
Her Story
- Released
- June 24, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Sexual Themes, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Sam Barlow
- Genre(s)
- Adventure, Puzzle, Indie Games, Simulation, Casual
Her Story hands over a database of police interview clips and no roadmap, just a search bar and your own curiosity. Fans can easily latch onto the wrong detail, crafting a convincing but completely false narrative. And the game will never correct them.
The danger is in the freedom. Searching the wrong keywords means missing entire swaths of footage, and misinterpreting a piece of testimony could result in hours spent chasing a storyline that exists only in your head. When the real truth clicks, it’s equal parts revelation and an embarrassed laugh at how far players have strayed.
The Council
Politics, Poison, And Poor Decisions
The Council
- Released
- March 13, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature: Violence, Blood, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Big Bad Wolf
- Platform(s)
- Steam, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
Murder, conspiracy, and political intrigue in an 18th-century mansion, with the player having a role in untangling its web. The Council tests skills from psychology to manipulation, but a failed choice can burn bridges permanently.
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Dialogue battles feel like high-stakes poker. Misread an opponent, and the conversation can spiral into chaos, shutting players out of entire story branches. Sometimes, fans realize their mistake immediately. Other times, the fallout hits hours later when their carefully laid plans unravel. The spectacle of failure is part of its charm.
Contradiction: Spot The Liar!
One Slip And You’re Toast
Contradiction: Spot the Liar!
- Released
- July 10, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
Few FMV games are as endearingly theatrical as Contradiction: Spot the Liar!. The goal is simple: catch suspects in inconsistencies. But with each character describing scenery in wildly different ways, spotting the actual contradictions can be trickier than it looks.
Picking the wrong statement to challenge might derail the momentum entirely. The game doesn’t soften the blow; players will either catch the lie or be left standing there awkwardly, fumbling for another lead. The absurd charm comes from how easily the investigation can go from confident brilliance to utter farce in the span of one bad accusation.
Shadows Of Doubt
Drowning In Your Own Case Files
Shadows of Doubt
- Released
- April 24, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
An open-world detective fantasy filled with endless suspects, false leads, and procedurally generated chaos. In Shadows of Doubt, every NPC has a routine, every location hides potential evidence, and a player's board can quickly turn into a wall of useless threads if they’re not careful.
It’s possible to spend hours building a perfect case against the wrong person, only to watch the real killer slip away. The joy is in the freedom to fail hilariously. The city won’t stop for mistakes; it will just keep living, shifting, and daring players to start from scratch.
Who Is The Best Video Game Detective?
One popular genre of video games is the mystery genre. In this genre, players usually take on the role of a famous detective (a lot of whom started out in books). Some of them have great deduction skills like Sherlock Holmes, and others may just be very good at snooping until they find the truth. My favorite has always been Nancy Drew; however, those books were some of my favorites growing up.