The best detective, mystery games
A murder to solve! A criminal to apprehend! Detective and mistery games have the recipe for a perfect crime story. Police investigations, finding clues, mysterious killings, a noir atmosphere are all ingredients that makes a good detective / mystery game worth playing. The Police Quest series, the Tex Murphy series, games based on Sherlock Holmes are just some of the most popular detective games ever published in the last century.
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The Last Express
DOSWindows XP/98/95Mac OS1997protecteddemo Smoking Car Productions
The Last Express, released in 1997, is a unique adventure game designed by Jordan Mechner, the creator of Prince of Persia. Set on the Orient Express in July 1914, just before World War I, the game offers an intricate and immersiv...
Police Quest 1: In Pursuit of the Death Angel
DOS1987 Sierra On-Line
Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel is an adventure game released in 1987 by Sierra On-Line, designed by former police officer Jim Walls. It's the first installment in the Police Quest series and is known for its realistic...
Police Quest: Open Season
DOSWindows 3.x1993protected Sierra On-Line
Murders in Space
DOS1990protected Hitech Productions
Blade Runner
Windows XP/98/95LinuxMac OS1997protected Westwood Studios
One of the best licensed games of the '90s, Blade Runner (1997) puts you in the rain-soaked shoes of Ray McCoy, a detective tracking down replicants in a world where it's always night and nobody smiles. It’s not just point-a...
Anachronox
Windows XP/98/952001protected Ion Storm
Anachronox is a 2001 role-playing video game developed by Ion Storm and published by Eidos Interactive with a futuristic, cyberpunk-inspired setting. The game was written and directed by Tom Hall, one of the original developers be...
Maupiti Island
DOS1991 Lankhor
Suspect
DOS1984 Infocom
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective
Windows XP/98/951991protected ICOM Simulations
The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel
DOS1992 Mythos Software
Felony!
DOS1984 BrainBank
Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?
DOS1989 Broderbund
Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? is an educational computer game and television game show franchise created by Broderbund. It focuses on teaching geography and history while players try to track down the infamous thief, Carmen Sa...
Blue Force
DOS1993 Tsunami Media
Blue Force is a police procedural adventure game developed and released by Tsunami Games in 1993. Blue Force is a point-and-click adventure game that follows the protagonist, Jake Ryan, a rookie police officer. The gameplay r...
Magnetic Scrolls Collection
DOS1991 Magnetic Scrolls
Magnetic Scrolls was one of the finest developer companies dedicated to Interactive Fiction. The Magnetic Scrolls Collection is a trilogy of Magnenic Scrolls adventures remade using the Wonderland engine: Fish!, Corruption, The Gu...
Circuit's Edge
DOS1990 Westwood Studios
Circuit's Edge is a cyberpunk-themed role-playing game developed by Westwood Associates and published by Infocom. It was released in 1990 for MS-DOS. Set in a dystopian future, Circuit's Edge takes place in the fictional city of R...
Murder Club
DOSWindows XP/98/951991 Riverhill Soft
The Colonel's Bequest
DOS1989protecteddemo Sierra On-Line
The Colonel's Bequest is a graphic adventure game developed and published by Sierra On-Line. It was released in 1989 for various platforms, including MS-DOS, Amiga, and Atari ST. The game was created by Roberta Williams, co-founde...
Sleuth: A Murder Mystery
DOS1983freeware Norland Software
Police Quest 2: The Vengeance
DOS1988protected Sierra On-Line
Police Quest 2: The Vengeance is a graphical point-and-click adventure game developed and published by Sierra On-Line. It was released in 1988 as the second installment in the Police Quest series, which was created by former ...
Clue Master Detective
DOS1989 Dalali Software
It’s Colonel Mustard in the Study with the Lead Pipe—but on DOS. Clue Master Detective takes the classic board game and wraps it in moody music, pixelated crime scenes, and computerized suspects with alibis weaker than...
Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels
DOS1988 Challenge
Eagle Eye Mysteries: The Original
DOS1993 Stormfront Studios
Crime City
DOS1993
Crime City is an isometric action game that throws you into the role of a lone enforcer cleaning up the streets. Armed with a trusty weapon and a questionable sense of self-preservation, you’ll gun down wave after wave of pi...
Amnesia
DOS1986 Cognetics corporation
In Amnesia, you wake up in a hotel room with no idea who you are, where you are, or why someone wants you dead. And no, this isn’t a gritty FPS—it’s a text adventure. That’s right, no graphics, just your im...
The Dame Was Loaded
DOS1996protected Beam Software
Cruise for a Corpse
DOS1991 Delphine software
A murder has been committed on a luxury yacht, and in Cruise for a Corpse, you’re the detective tasked with unraveling the mystery before the killer strikes again. The game unfolds in real time, meaning characters move aroun...
Voyeur
Windows XP/98/95Mac OSDOS1993demoNSFW Philips Interactive Media
Eagle Eye Mysteries in London
DOS1994 Stormfront Studios
Tex Murphy: Under a Killing Moon
Windows XP/98/95DOSLinuxMac OS1994protected Access Software
Corruption
DOS1988 Magnetic Scrolls
In Corruption, you’re a businessman trapped in a web of deceit, murder, and paperwork. It’s an interactive fiction game where every conversation could be a clue—or a setup. The writing is sharp, the tension is re...