Case File 036 · Interrogation and Detective Games

Best FMV Detective Games

Live-action detective games where filmed footage is either the evidence you search or the suspects you question.

By Murder Book Editorial TeamPublished 16 September 2026Updated 16 September 2026

The best FMV detective games use live-action video, with real actors on screen, as the evidence you investigate or the people you question. Full-motion video (FMV) suits detective stories because so much of an investigation is watching faces and listening to how people answer. Strong picks:

Her Story: search a police database of interview clips.
Telling Lies: search secretly recorded video conversations.
The Shapeshifting Detective: question suspects in a whodunnit with a randomly chosen murderer.
The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker: type your own questions to suspects who answer on video.
Contradiction: Spot The Liar: catch contradictions in villagers' filmed statements.
Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus?: find the family member who poisoned Marcus.
Murderous Muses: question suspects and unlock police interviews in a gallery that changes each run.
IMMORTALITY: explore footage from three unreleased films to find out what happened to their star.

Coming later, Murder Book is an upcoming interrogation game inspired by real police footage and psychological interviews.

Key takeaways

FMV detective games come in two main styles: searching recorded footage and questioning filmed characters.
Several games pick the culprit at random, so the answer changes between playthroughs.
None of the games below describes combat in its store text.
Some let you type your own questions, while others offer set choices or search tools.
Murder Book is an upcoming interrogation game inspired by real police footage.

What makes a detective game "FMV"?

FMV games use filmed video of actors instead of, or alongside, animated characters. In a detective game, that footage usually does one of two jobs:

The footage is the evidence. You search or browse recordings and build an understanding of events from what you see. Her Story, Telling Lies and IMMORTALITY work this way.
The footage is the conversation. You ask questions and filmed characters respond. The Shapeshifting Detective, Doctor Dekker and Contradiction work this way.

Every game below was checked against its Steam listing and, where available, its official page.

Best FMV detective games at a glance

Game	Developer	How the investigation works	Steam release
Her Story	Sam Barlow	Search a police database of interview clips	2015
Telling Lies	Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid	Search a database of recorded video conversations	2019
The Shapeshifting Detective	D'Avekki Studios	Question suspects and shapeshift to unlock private conversations	2018
The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker	D'Avekki Studios	Type free-text questions to patients who reply on video	2017
Contradiction: Spot The Liar	Baggy Cat	Question villagers and point out contradictions	2015
Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus?	Wales Interactive, Good Gate Media	Find out which family member poisoned Marcus	2022
Murderous Muses	D'Avekki Studios	Question suspects and unlock police interviews	2023
IMMORTALITY	Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid	Explore film footage using match cuts	2022

Her Story

Her Story (Sam Barlow, 2015) puts you at a 1990s police computer. You type search terms into a database and watch clips from seven interviews with a British woman about her missing husband. You never question her yourself; you study what she has already said. See Games Like Her Story.

Best for: players who like to analyse testimony at their own pace.

Telling Lies

Telling Lies (Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid, Furious Bee Limited; published by Annapurna Interactive, 2019) widens the idea. You search a stolen NSA database of secretly recorded video conversations by typing words, then watch the clips in which those words are spoken. See Games Like Telling Lies.

Best for: players who want a larger web of secrets to untangle.

The Shapeshifting Detective

The Shapeshifting Detective (D'Avekki Studios, Wales Interactive, 2018) is an FMV murder mystery in which you question suspects and shapeshift into other characters to unlock private conversations. The murderer is chosen at random at the start of each game, and the Steam page cites more than 1,600 video responses. See Games Like The Shapeshifting Detective.

Best for: players who want a replayable whodunnit.

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker (D'Avekki Studios, 2017) casts you as a psychiatrist trying to solve a murder while treating the patients of the late Doctor Dekker. You can type any question, or pick from suggested ones, and patients reply in full-screen video. The murderer is chosen at random, and there are multiple endings. The Steam page warns of mature themes and psychological horror and recommends it for adults only.

Best for: players who want to phrase their own questions.

Contradiction: Spot The Liar

Contradiction: Spot The Liar (Baggy Cat, 2015) is an all-video murder mystery. As detective Jenks, you explore a village, question its residents and point out contradictions in their statements. See Games Like Contradiction.

Best for: players who enjoy catching inconsistencies in what people say.

Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus?

Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? (Wales Interactive, Good Gate Media, 2022) is set during a family quiz. As the quiz is about to begin, Abby's Uncle Marcus tells her he is dying and that someone in the family has poisoned him. You have to find out who before it is too late. According to its Steam page, it was shot during lockdown in London and Los Angeles.

Best for: players who want a self-contained family whodunnit.

Murderous Muses

Murderous Muses (D'Avekki Studios, 2023) describes itself as an "old-school FMV adventure" rather than an interactive movie. As the night watch at a gallery, you question suspects, unlock police interviews and deduce who killed the artist Mordechai Grey. The gallery is procedurally generated and the mystery changes each time you play.

Best for: players who want exploration and puzzles alongside the questioning.

IMMORTALITY

IMMORTALITY (Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid, 2022) is less a crime investigation than a film mystery. You explore footage from three unreleased films starring the actress Marissa Marcel, using "match cuts" to jump between scenes, and work out what happened to her.

Best for: Her Story fans who want a more abstract mystery told through old film footage.

What about Late Shift?

Late Shift (CtrlMovie, Wales Interactive, 2017) is also a live-action crime game, but it is a thriller rather than an investigation. You make timed choices during a London heist, with over 180 decision points and seven endings according to Steam. It suits players interested in choice-based crime games more than detectives.

Are new FMV detective games on the way?

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker 2 from D'Avekki Studios is listed on Steam as coming soon, with a release window of "2026" at the time of checking. Its Steam page describes six suspects, a murderer chosen at random and multiple endings. Check the store page for the latest date.

Is there an upcoming game inspired by real police footage?

Murder Book: The Art of Interrogation is an upcoming narrative interrogation game from Gungrounds, an independent studio in Zagreb, Croatia. It is inspired by real police footage and psychological interviews. What it shares with the best FMV mysteries is a focus on accounts that cannot be taken at face value: you examine unreliable stories, changes in behaviour, narrative gaps, avoidance and contradictions. Development screenshots show an in-game casebook of behaviours such as Avoidance, Fabrication and Emotional Fading.

Cases are designed for focused 5–10-minute sessions. Murder Book is in development for PC (Steam) and mobile, with release currently planned for the end of Q2 2027. Read What Is Murder Book? for an overview.