The Best Mystery Games

Update, : Firmament added at rank #36.
1

The Forgotten City (2021)

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89
Review score
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Playstation 5 Nintendo Switch Xbox Series X Playstation 4 PC Windows Xbox One

The Forgotten City is a narrative-driven time loop adventure in ancient Rome. Discover the ruins of an ancient underground city, travel 2000 years into the past, and unravel the mystery of who destroyed it by cleverly exploiting the power to wind back time. The fate of the city is in your hands.


  • mystery
  • narrative
  • travel
  • story
  • rpg
  • exploration
  • adventure
  • action-light
  • time
  • crime
  • investigation
  • discovery
  • multiple-endings
  • philosophical
  • silent

2

Outer Wilds (2019)

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94
Review score
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Xbox One Nintendo Switch Playstation 5 Xbox Series X PC Windows Playstation 4

Named Game of the Year 2019 by Giant Bomb, Polygon, Eurogamer, and The Guardian, Outer Wilds is a critically-acclaimed and award-winning open world mystery about a solar system trapped in an endless time loop.


  • exploration
  • mystery
  • puzzle
  • discovery
  • sci-fi
  • open-world
  • space
  • adventure
  • first-person
  • instrument
  • day
  • endless
  • story

3

Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins (2021)

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86
Review score
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Playstation 4 IOS iPhone Android PC Windows Nintendo Switch Xbox One

Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins is a captivating phone mystery game based on the critically acclaimed and fan favourite episode “Blink”. You play as an unnamed character who comes across a lost phone, and must unravel the mystery by scouring the phone for clues and interacting in various ways to uncover the truth.


Pros:
  • Creative and inventive storytelling
  • Fascinating puzzles with time-stamped messages and up to date call logs
  • References to episodes from TV series
  • Jump scares thrown in for good measure
Cons:
  • Puzzles are not difficult even at the end
  • No free import option from last game

  • mystery
  • horror
  • puzzle
  • sci-fi
  • interactive
  • simulacra
  • adventure
  • narrative
  • visual-novel
  • immersive
  • fiction
  • investigation
  • detective

4

Bugsnax (2020)

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88
Review score
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Playstation 5 (IOS iPhone) Playstation 4 Xbox One Xbox Series X Nintendo Switch PC Windows Mac OS

Catch mysterious living snacks and feed them to your friends in this unusual island adventure!

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  • puzzle
  • narrative
  • horror
  • adventure
  • mystery
  • inventive
  • discovery
  • cute
  • muppet
  • comedy
  • story
  • colourful
  • psychological
  • first-person
  • collector

5

Paradise Killer (2020)

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87
Review score
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Nintendo Switch Xbox Series X Xbox One Playstation 5 Playstation 4 PC Windows

Paradise Island, a world outside reality. There’s been a murder that only "investigation freak" Lady Love Dies can solve. Gather evidence and interrogate suspects in this open world adventure. You can accuse anyone, but you’ll have to prove your case in trial. It’s up to you to decide who’s guilty.


  • crime
  • mystery
  • detective
  • open-world
  • exploration
  • psychedelic
  • investigation
  • visual-novel
  • first-person
  • surreal
  • multiple-endings
  • story
  • demons
  • choices
  • stylized

6

Pentiment (2022)

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87
Review score
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Xbox One Xbox Series X PC Windows

Pentiment can be seen as a educational game set in the 15th century, combining point-and-click adventure with role-playing elements and a branching narrative. It follows Andreas Mahler as he tries to clear his friend's name while uncovering the secrets of a small Bavarian town.

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Pros:
  • Captivating story
  • Immersive atmosphere
  • Beautiful visuals and sound
  • Interesting characters and dialogue
  • Deep RPG elements and replayability
Cons:
  • Limited number of puzzles which are not particularly challenging

  • historical
  • narrative
  • mystery
  • medieval
  • choices
  • rpg
  • book
  • crime
  • adventure
  • detective
  • story
  • fiction
  • stylized
  • local
  • education

7

The Case of the Golden Idol (2022)

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91
Review score
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Mac OS Nintendo Switch PC Windows

In The Case of the Golden Idol, you take on the role of a detective tasked to investigate a string of cases related to a mysterious golden idol. You must piece together evidence from the frozen tableau at each crime scene and solve puzzles in order to explain what happened.


Pros:
  • Innovative puzzles
  • Elegant execution
  • Trial-and-error approach and pure deduction available
  • Sherlockian texture that plays out in imagination
  • Captivating 18th century thriller
Cons:
  • Rudimentary artwork
  • Requires feats of deduction that may be difficult for some players

  • detective
  • mystery
  • investigation
  • conspiracy
  • crime
  • fiction
  • thriller
  • pixel
  • puzzle
  • point-and-click
  • historical
  • choices
  • dark
  • interactive
  • story

8

Strange Horticulture (2022)

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91
Review score
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Mac OS PC Windows Nintendo Switch

Strange Horticulture is an occult puzzle game in which you play as the proprietor of a local plant store. Find and identify new plants, pet your cat, speak to a coven, or join a cult. Use your collection of powerful plants to influence the story and unravel Undermere’s dark mysteries.


  • mystery
  • investigation
  • puzzle
  • nature
  • detective
  • relaxing
  • lovecraftian
  • exploration
  • multiple-endings
  • choices
  • 2d
  • alternate-universe
  • simulation
  • clue
  • lovecraft

9

Overboard! (2021)

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89
Review score
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IOS iPhone Nintendo Switch Android PC Windows Mac OS

Overboard! is an exciting mystery game where you play as Veronica Villensey, a 1930s femme fatale who throws her husband overboard on a boat eight hours away from New York. You must help her get away with her crime by getting her off the boat scot-free when it docks. With visuals and music that evoke the 1930s, and the ability to direct your own story with multiple endings, this game is sure to keep you entertained.


Pros:
  • Open world visual novel gameplay
  • Multiple endings
  • Replayable
  • Short playthroughs
  • Fun 1930s visuals & music
Cons:
  • Short playthrough times may be a con for some players

  • visual-novel
  • crime
  • mystery
  • choices
  • detective
  • narrative
  • fiction
  • comedy
  • novel
  • interactive
  • adventure
  • conversation
  • sailing
  • cover
  • puzzle

10

The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story (2022)

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74
Review score
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PC Windows Playstation 5 Playstation 4 Nintendo Switch IOS iPhone Android

Unravel the mysteries of death, and find the answers to life.A unique Mystery-Adventure Game:The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story

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  • mystery
  • detective
  • drama
  • fmv
  • live-action
  • crime
  • choices
  • novelist
  • grid

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