Case File 025 · Interrogation and Detective Games

Best Murder Mystery Games

Whodunnit games that give you a body, a set of suspects and a fair chance to name the killer, compared by how each one handles the accusation.

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

The best murder mystery games give you a body, a set of suspects and a fair chance to work out who did it before the game tells you. Strong picks across different styles:

Tangle Tower: a classic mansion whodunnit with suspects and puzzles.
Detective Grimoire: a murder at a swamp tourist attraction, seemingly by a mythical creature.
Murder by Numbers: pixel puzzles reveal clues in a 1996 Los Angeles murder case.
Lamplight City: five cases in a steampunk-tinged city, and a partner's killer to find.
The Painscreek Killings: explore an abandoned town with no hints or quest markers.
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc: murders in a school-turned-prison, settled in class trials.
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective: the victim investigates his own murder.

Coming later, Murder Book is an upcoming interrogation game in which a suspect's story, not a crime scene, is where the mystery lives.

Key takeaways

A good murder mystery game plays fair: the clues you need are available before the answer is revealed.
The genre ranges from puzzle-heavy whodunnits to hint-free exploration games.
Some games, such as Lamplight City, let a case go unsolved and carry the story on.
How you accuse someone varies: assembling thoughts, courtroom-style trials or your own notes.
Murder Book is an upcoming interrogation game whose development screenshots show a "not guilty" case result.

What makes a great murder mystery game?

Murder mysteries in fiction are built around a promise: the reader has a fair shot at the solution. Games can go further, because they make you do the reasoning instead of watching a detective do it. The strongest ones share a few traits:

Fair clues. The solution can be reached from information the game has already shown you.
Plausible suspects. More than one person could have done it, so you have to rule people out.
A real accusation. You commit to an answer rather than clicking through until the game confesses.
A satisfying reveal that makes earlier details click into place.

For a deeper look at the design side, see What Makes a Satisfying Mystery Solution?.

This list focuses on murder mysteries in the traditional whodunnit sense. Games already covered in depth on our other lists, such as Return of the Obra Dinn, The Case of the Golden Idol and The Shapeshifting Detective, are left out here so you can find something new. You will find the first two in Best Detective Games on Steam.

Best murder mystery games at a glance

Game	Developer	How you solve the murder	Setting	Platforms (examples)
Tangle Tower	SFB Games	Explore a mansion, question suspects, solve puzzles	A mansion	PC, Mac, Switch, iOS
Detective Grimoire	SFB Games	Inspect the scene, grill suspects, assemble conclusions	A tourist attraction in the marshes	PC, iOS
Murder by Numbers	Mediatonic	Solve pixel puzzles for clues, then question witnesses	Los Angeles, 1996	PC, Switch
Lamplight City	Grundislav Games	Investigate scenes and interrogate suspects across five cases	A fictional 19th-century port city	PC, Mac, Linux
The Painscreek Killings	EQ Studios	Explore a town, take notes and photos, solve logic puzzles	An abandoned town	PC
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc	Spike Chunsoft	Investigate, then expose lies in class trials	A school turned into a prison	PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective	Capcom	Possess objects and rewind time to uncover your killer	The hours until sunrise	PC, iOS, Android

Tangle Tower

Tangle Tower (SFB Games, 2019) is a point-and-click murder mystery set in a mansion. You explore, collect clues, question suspects and solve puzzles to identify the murderer.

Best for: players who want a traditional whodunnit with puzzles. See Games Like Tangle Tower and Detective Grimoire.

Detective Grimoire

Detective Grimoire (SFB Games; iOS 2013, Steam 2014) sends its detective to investigate the death of the owner of a small tourist attraction deep in the marshes, seemingly killed by the mythical creature the attraction is based on. You inspect the scene, grill the suspects, solve puzzles and assemble Grimoire's thoughts into conclusions about the case.

Its "assemble your thoughts" mechanic is a neat way to make the player state a deduction instead of simply selecting a name.

Best for: players who want a murder case mixed with puzzles.

Murder by Numbers

Murder by Numbers (Mediatonic, The Irregular Corporation, 2020) mixes two kinds of logic. You solve pixel puzzles, in the style of nonograms, to uncover clues, then use those clues to question witnesses in a murder mystery set in 1996 Los Angeles.

Best for: players who enjoy logic puzzles as much as the mystery itself.

Lamplight City

Lamplight City (Grundislav Games, published by Application Systems Heidelberg, 2018) follows Miles Fordham, a police detective turned private investigator who hopes to track down his former partner's killer. Steam describes five cases, each with multiple suspects, false leads and different outcomes. If a case becomes unsolvable, you move on to the next one, and the story adapts to your choices.

Clues and documents are collected in a casebook for review. Steam's content notes mention mature themes, including murder and torture, shown in low-resolution pixel art.

Best for: players who want a darker mystery where getting it wrong is part of the story.

The Painscreek Killings

The Painscreek Killings (EQ Studios, 2017) casts you as Janet, a journalist exploring an abandoned town to find out who killed Vivian Roberts. You take notes, photograph clues and solve logic puzzles. Steam stresses that there are no quest markers or hints, so the investigation moves only as fast as your own observation.

Best for: patient players who like a mystery that does not hold their hand. See also Mystery Games That Make You Take Notes.

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (Spike Chunsoft; Steam 2016) is set in a school that has become a prison. When murders happen, you investigate, collect clues and talk to classmates. Then, in class trials, you pick apart statements and fire suspects' words back at them to expose lies. Steam notes that trials use timing and reflex-based systems.

Best for: players who want investigations that end in trial showdowns.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (Capcom; HD version 2023) flips the premise: you are the victim. As the ghost Sissel, you possess and manipulate objects and rewind time, solving puzzles to uncover who killed you. It is more puzzle game than interrogation game, but the mystery drives everything.

Best for: players who want an inventive twist on the whodunnit.

How do murder mystery games handle the accusation?

The moment of accusation is where murder mystery games differ most:

Assembling conclusions: Detective Grimoire has you put the detective's thoughts together into a conclusion.
Structured trials: Danganronpa turns accusations into class trials where you use a suspect's words against them.
Consequences that stick: in Lamplight City a case can become unsolvable, and the story adapts instead of resetting.
Self-directed investigation: The Painscreek Killings gives no hints, so reaching the answer depends on your own notes.

If you prefer to rebuild the whole sequence of events rather than name a culprit, see Best Games About Reconstructing a Crime.

Which murder mystery game should you start with?

You like puzzles mixed into the mystery: Tangle Tower, Detective Grimoire or Murder by Numbers.
You want mature themes and lasting consequences: Lamplight City.
You want to explore at your own pace: The Painscreek Killings.
You want trials and drama: Danganronpa.
You want something different: Ghost Trick.
You play mainly on a phone: Danganronpa, Ghost Trick and Detective Grimoire have iOS versions.

Is there an upcoming murder mystery game focused on interrogation?

Murder Book: The Art of Interrogation is an upcoming narrative-driven interrogation game from Gungrounds, an independent studio in Zagreb, Croatia. At the centre of each case is the story a suspect tells. The game is inspired by real police footage and psychological interviews, and asks players to examine unreliable accounts for narrative gaps, avoidance, behavioural changes and contradictions.

Development screenshots show why this matters for a murder mystery: a case select screen that records results, including a "not guilty" outcome, and a branching case map with multiple endings and a completion percentage. A case can end in more than one way. 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. See How Murder Book Turns Interrogation Into Gameplay.