Detective Games (Played)
Crime/mystery investigation games I've played
Companion to the list of detective games I haven't yet played (but plan to)
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The Sherlock Holmes games (especially the later ones like Crimes & Punishments and Devil's Daughter) focus more on forming deductions based on evidence obtained through puzzle-solving. Something like L.A. Noire focuses on correct answers obtained through gaming the interrogation system. Now, I'm not a detective but I think Paradise Killer, in its simplicity, is a truer detective experience.
By letting you explore this very large island, gather evidence, question suspects about the evidence you've found, and establishing the timeline of events until you're satisfied with it (rather than explicitly tracking completion, not unlike Her Story), it does end up feeling closer to what an actual detective would do to solve a murder mystery. In that way this game is most similar to a Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, and the structure is largely the same -- once you feel you have enough to make your case, you begin the process of answering questions about the crime(s), accuse people, and then present your evidence.
It's worth saying that this game is weird as ♥♥♥♥. The lore and mythology in this game are as wild, unique, and intriguing as the trailer would lead you to believe. It took me some time to familiarize myself with the terms and traditions of this world, but over time I developed a fluency and began to uncover the conspiracies and understand the motives in the context of how that world operates.
Also that soundtrack.
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The best UI/UX so far for putting together timeline of the crime and cross-examining suspects with testimonies and evidence.
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Yo you get to play as a detective/cyberexorcist. That should be enough, no?
This game does a really good job of making you feel like a detective through its use of talking to suspects to establish alibis and construct a timeline of events, looking for evidence and contradictions, and then establishing a motive. That last part is accomplished through weakening the suspects' mental barriers and unearthing truths from their psyches.
The vaguest of spoilers, I suppose: there is a thread which connects the cases, and I was intrigued the whole time -- curious where the story would go. It's a short game, but I appreciated that about it -- it didn't overstay its welcome. After uncovering the truth about everything, I felt pretty satisfied about the journey.
Props for the cyber-Catholicism setting/lore, which feels unique and also highly appropriate to play in the days leading up to Halloween.
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Each case was so interesting and I appreciated how varied they were in complexity. Some were almost diabolically intricate and included quite a few locations that we had to explore. I also really like the deduction system, wherein you find clues and then make deductions that lead to experiments you might have to perform to get more clues or contradictions to witnesses' statements. It was a really fun game and made my spouse and I feel like we were detectives, which is super cool!
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