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crime gamesPATCH 2026.10.18

9 Crime-Solving Mystery Games That Let You Crack the Case

By VGSources Team 9 min read

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If you want a mystery game in which your deductions lead to an identified culprit, start with Hercule Poirot: The First Cases, The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story, Jake Hunter Detective Story: Ghost of the Dusk, L.A. Noire, or Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Anniversary Edition. Those games put a murder, suspicious death, or explicit culprit reveal at the center of play. No Case Should Remain Unsolved also delivers a concrete resolution, although its case is a disappearance rather than a conventional murder investigation.

The other three are excellent if you use “solve a crime” more broadly. The Case of the Golden Idol and Return of the Obra Dinn ask you to reconstruct deaths and events from evidence, while Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy combines investigation with courtroom arguments; its cases are mysteries, but the reviewed material does not establish that every one is a murder case.

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How these games differ

“Mystery game” can mean a guided detective story, a deduction puzzle with almost no hand-holding, a visual novel built around testimony, or a courtroom drama. The table below separates the nine choices by the work you perform as a player, not merely by their detective-themed presentation.

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Game What you solve Your main deduction work Structure and tone Platforms explicitly identified in the cited material
Hercule Poirot: The First Cases A murder at a family gathering Question suspects, connect clues in a mind map, identify the culprit Classic locked-room-style whodunit; original early-career Poirot story Not stated in the reviewed description
The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story Four murders across different time periods Reconstruct each incident, reason through evidence, select the solution Live-action mystery with incident, reasoning and solution phases Nintendo Switch, Steam, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 in the May 12, 2022 announcement
No Case Should Remain Unsolved A girl’s disappearance and its hidden truths Assemble memory fragments, clues and testimony Short narrative deduction game Nintendo Switch listing; September 19, 2024 release date
Jake Hunter Detective Story: Ghost of the Dusk An accidental death leading to a suspicious mansion and a culprit Question suspects and search crime scenes Hard-boiled investigation Nintendo 3DS
L.A. Noire Multiple crimes, plots and conspiracies Work crime scenes and cases, then pursue leads through a wider investigation Grounded crime procedural in fictionalized 1947 Los Angeles Not stated in the reviewed description
The Case of the Golden Idol A sequence of deaths and crime-scene events Inspect scenes and infer what happened, who was involved and why Puzzle-heavy, deduction-first mystery Nintendo Switch roundup and PC coverage
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Anniversary Edition Classmates’ murders and the person behind each one Expose lies and contradictions during class trials Stylized, high-stakes visual novel Not stated in the reviewed description
Return of the Obra Dinn What happened to the people aboard a lost ship Explore, compare evidence and make logical identifications First-person mystery reconstruction PlayStation page and Nintendo mystery roundup
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy Case mysteries resolved through investigation and trial Present evidence and challenge testimony Courtroom mystery series Nintendo mystery roundup

For the strictest interpretation of “you actually solve a crime,” choose a game from the first group below. The reconstruction and courtroom games are included because they make your reasoning essential, but their relationship to a conventional police whodunit is different.

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Direct crime-solving games

Hercule Poirot: The First Cases

This is the closest match to a traditional “who committed the murder?” promise. Agatha Christie Limited describes an original story from Poirot’s early detective career in pre-war Belgium. A murder occurs during a family gathering, and you question the people present, collect clues and connect them on a mind map before the culprit is revealed.

The mind-map system gives the investigation a visible logic: testimony and observations are not just collectibles, because you decide how they relate. That makes the game a good choice if you want a contained suspect group and a classic locked-room atmosphere rather than an open-ended police sandbox. Its tone is literary and methodical, with the final reveal serving as the payoff for linking the evidence.

The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story

The Centennial Case uses live-action footage and divides each mystery into three explicit stages: an incident phase, a reasoning phase and a solution phase. The story spans four murder cases set at different points in time, so the central activity is reconstructing what happened rather than merely watching a detective explain it afterward.

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That repeated structure suits players who enjoy testing a theory, revising it and then committing to an answer. Because the cases are separated across eras, details that seem incidental in one section can matter when you reason through the larger pattern. Square Enix announced Nintendo Switch, Steam, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 availability on May 12, 2022. Storefront listings and editions can vary by region, so verify the platform shown for your country before purchasing.

No Case Should Remain Unsolved

Nintendo’s listing describes a short narrative deduction game about a missing girl and a case that has remained unsolved for years. It is not presented as a standard murder investigation, but it does ask you to uncover what happened and reach two hidden truths. You piece together memory fragments, clues and testimony across 54 conversations.

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Nintendo gives a 2–3 hour playthrough estimate, making this the most compact option here. Its brevity is useful if you want a focused mystery rather than a long campaign, while the fragmented presentation puts the emphasis on interpreting information instead of searching a large map. The Nintendo listing records a September 19, 2024 release date; confirm the current regional store page for availability and edition details.

Jake Hunter Detective Story: Ghost of the Dusk

Jake Hunter’s case begins with an accidental death and leads to a suspicious mansion. The official Aksys description identifies the core detective actions directly: question suspects, search crime scenes and uncover the culprit’s identity. That makes it a straightforward fit for readers who want investigation scenes and interrogations rather than an abstract logic puzzle.

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The hard-boiled presentation separates it from Poirot’s drawing-room style. You follow a chain of suspicious circumstances, use information gathered from locations and people, and work toward identifying who is responsible. Aksys lists the game for Nintendo 3DS. Because it is an older release, platform support and physical availability require particular care; check the relevant regional store or used-game listing for the exact version.

L.A. Noire

L.A. Noire is the broadest crime-procedural choice on the list. Rockstar describes solving brutal crimes through crime-scene work, cases, plots and conspiracies in a fictionalized 1947 Los Angeles. Instead of one family-sized suspect puzzle, you progress through a series of investigations and follow a larger professional detective career.

Choose it when “solve a crime” means working a case file from scene examination through interviews and connected leads. The setting and tone are grounded noir, and the game’s appeal comes from moving between individual incidents and the wider network of wrongdoing. It is less suitable if you want a single, tightly bounded whodunit with one final reveal; its structure is episodic and procedural.

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Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Anniversary Edition

Danganronpa turns murder investigation into a stylized visual novel and class-trial format. Spike Chunsoft’s description centers on exposing classmates’ lies and contradictions to discover who is behind each murder. The player gathers information during the investigation portions, then uses it in a trial where testimony must be challenged with the right contradiction.

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The tone is deliberately exaggerated and high-stakes, so it is a poor fit if you want realistic police work. It is a strong fit if you enjoy character-driven mysteries in which the argument itself is the puzzle. The satisfaction comes from recognizing an inconsistency, selecting the evidence that proves it and forcing the trial toward a culprit rather than passively receiving the explanation.

Crime reconstruction and deduction-first mysteries

The Case of the Golden Idol

The Case of the Golden Idol is built around a sequence of crime scenes. Nintendo includes it in its mystery roundup, while PC Gamer describes the series’ core formula as examining scenes and piecing together what happened. You inspect the available details, infer identities and actions, and assemble a coherent account of each event.

This is a deduction-first game rather than a conventional detective simulation. The evidence is on the screen, but the game expects you to interpret it: a body, an object, a position or a relationship can change the meaning of the whole scene. Pick it if you want the highest concentration of “connect the clues” play and do not need a realistic police department or a heavily scripted investigation.

Return of the Obra Dinn

Return of the Obra Dinn is a first-person mystery adventure about reconstructing what happened aboard a ship. The PlayStation description and Nintendo’s mystery roundup present it as an exploration-and-deduction experience. You move through the ship, study evidence and make logical deductions about the people and events you encounter.

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It belongs in this article because you must account for the disaster rather than simply follow a linear explanation. It does not present a conventional police case with a single suspect and interrogation sequence. Think of it as a forensic reconstruction: the goal is to identify what happened, connect people to events and arrive at conclusions supported by the evidence.

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Courtroom and testimony-driven mysteries

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy combines investigation with courtroom argument. Nintendo’s mystery roundup groups it with games in which sleuthing skills are used to solve mysteries. You investigate cases, collect evidence and then present that evidence while challenging testimony in court.

The important distinction is scope: the reviewed material establishes a courtroom mystery series, not that every case is a murder mystery. Choose it if your favorite part of crime fiction is proving a theory under pressure, catching contradictions in a witness statement and building an argument from exhibits. Choose one of the dedicated murder-focused games above if every episode must center on identifying a killer.

Which game should you choose?

For a classic locked-room whodunit

Pick Hercule Poirot: The First Cases. It offers a family gathering, a contained murder, suspect questioning, clue linking and a culprit reveal in the tradition of classic detective fiction.

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For multiple murders with a formal reasoning loop

Pick The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story. Its four cases and incident–reasoning–solution structure make reconstruction the organizing principle of play.

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For a short, concentrated mystery

Pick No Case Should Remain Unsolved. The stated 2–3 hour length, 54 conversations and two hidden truths give you a compact narrative deduction experience.

For hard-boiled detective work

Pick Jake Hunter Detective Story: Ghost of the Dusk if you want suspect interviews, crime-scene searches and a suspicious-mansion setup.

For a larger police procedural

Pick L.A. Noire. Its fictionalized 1947 Los Angeles setting and connected cases provide a broader career-and-conspiracy structure than the other direct whodunits.

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For the most puzzle-focused clue linking

Pick The Case of the Golden Idol. Its scenes are problems to decode, with less emphasis on conventional detective role-play.

For trial-room confrontations

Pick Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Anniversary Edition for stylized class trials, or Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy for evidence-based courtroom arguments.

For a shipwreck-sized logic puzzle

Pick Return of the Obra Dinn if identifying people and reconstructing a chain of events sounds more appealing than interrogating suspects.

Before you buy

  • Check the exact platform and edition in your regional storefront. The Centennial Case announcement lists four platforms, while the Aksys page identifies Jake Hunter as a Nintendo 3DS release; older hardware and regional stock can change what is actually purchasable.
  • Do not assume that a mystery label guarantees a murder case. Obra Dinn and Golden Idol are event-reconstruction games, and Ace Attorney is a courtroom mystery series whose cases are not all established as murders in the cited material.
  • Expect availability and pricing to change by region and date. The cited material does not establish a current universal price, physical format for every title or retailer inventory.
  • Use the game’s structure to match your preference: guided suspect questioning for Poirot or Jake Hunter, procedural case work for L.A. Noire, explicit reasoning phases for The Centennial Case, or largely self-directed deduction for Golden Idol and Obra Dinn.

Nintendo’s January 18, 2024 mystery roundup summarizes the appeal of this broad category: “In each of these Nintendo Switch games, you’ll use your sleuthing skills to solve a mystery or two.” The nine games above show how differently that promise can be delivered, from naming a murderer in a locked room to reconstructing every fatal event on a ship.

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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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