Case File 057 · Games by Player Preference

Detective Games for Puzzle Fans

Detective games matched to the kind of puzzle you enjoy, from logic-based deduction to classic puzzles set inside a murder mystery.

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

The best detective games for puzzle fans turn the mystery itself into the puzzle, or build a case out of logic grids, object puzzles and deduction screens. If you enjoy puzzle games and want a crime story around them, start with:

Return of the Obra Dinn: a first-person mystery based on exploration and logical deduction.
The Case of the Golden Idol: reconstruct 12 deaths by filling in names, motives and events.
The Rise of the Golden Idol: 20 connected cases, with a new puzzle type at the end of each chapter.
Murder by Numbers: solve pixel puzzles to find clues, then question witnesses.
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective: possess objects and rewind time to solve your own murder.
Tangle Tower: explore a mansion, question suspects and solve puzzles.
The Painscreek Killings: logic puzzles in an abandoned town, with no hints.

Upcoming Murder Book offers a different kind of puzzle: finding where a suspect's story stops adding up.

Key takeaways

Detective games for puzzle fans range from pure deduction to puzzle-adventure hybrids.
Deduction puzzles ask you to prove what happened; hybrids mix classic puzzles into an investigation.
Some picks here have no hint system, so expect to get stuck and work it out.
Contradictions in testimony can be puzzles too, not just locks and codes.
Murder Book is an upcoming interrogation game with 5–10-minute cases, planned for the end of Q2 2027.

What kind of puzzle fan are you?

Some puzzle fans love logic, where every answer must be proven. Others prefer hands-on puzzles, where you move objects and see what happens.

Logic and deduction: Return of the Obra Dinn, The Case of the Golden Idol and The Rise of the Golden Idol.
Classic puzzles inside a mystery: Murder by Numbers, Tangle Tower and Ghost Trick.
Hard, hint-free investigation: The Painscreek Killings and Scene Investigators.

If pure deduction is what you want, our list of Best Deduction Games for Mystery Fans goes deeper on that style.

Detective games for puzzle fans at a glance

Game	Developer	Puzzle type	Platforms confirmed
Return of the Obra Dinn	Lucas Pope	Logical deduction about a ship's crew	PC, Mac, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
The Case of the Golden Idol	Color Gray Games	Fill in names, motives and events	PC, Mac, Linux, consoles, iOS, Android
The Rise of the Golden Idol	Color Gray Games	Key-term deductions and end-of-chapter puzzles	PC, Mac, iOS, Android
Murder by Numbers	Mediatonic	Pixel (nonogram-style) puzzles plus questioning	PC, Switch
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective	Capcom	Object possession and rewinding time	PC, iOS, Android
Tangle Tower	SFB Games	Clues, questioning and puzzles in a mansion	PC, Mac, Switch
The Painscreek Killings	EQ Studios	Logic puzzles in a semi-open world	PC
Scene Investigators	EQ Studios	Reasoning from reconstructed crime scenes	PC

Return of the Obra Dinn

Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope, 3909, 2018) casts you as an insurance investigator boarding a merchant ship that has drifted back into port with no visible crew. Steam describes it as a first-person mystery adventure based on exploration and logical deduction.

Best for: logic-puzzle fans who want to prove every conclusion.

The Case of the Golden Idol

The Case of the Golden Idol (Color Gray Games, Playstack, 2022) presents twelve strange deaths as scenes to examine. Steam says you observe closely, reconstruct each scene and deduce the suspect, motive and weapon. It is available on PC and consoles and on iOS and Android, where the App Store lists a single purchase that unlocks the scenarios.

Best for: puzzle fans who enjoy completing a picture from scattered clues.

The Rise of the Golden Idol

The Rise of the Golden Idol (Color Gray Games, Playstack, 2024) is a standalone sequel with 20 cases set in the 1970s. Steam says you click to collect clues, gather key terms from observations and witness testimony, and, at the end of each chapter, solve a new type of puzzle that revisits past deductions.

Best for: players who finished the first game and want more of the same structure.

Murder by Numbers

Murder by Numbers (Mediatonic, The Irregular Corporation, 2020) is the most direct match for classic puzzle fans. Steam says you solve pixel puzzles to find clues, then use those clues to question witnesses in a 1996 Los Angeles murder mystery. It is on PC via Steam and on Nintendo Switch.

Best for: nonogram fans who want a lighter, comedic mystery around them.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (Capcom, HD remaster 2023) starts with your own death. As the ghost Sissel, you possess and manipulate objects and rewind time to solve puzzles and uncover who killed you. Steam notes it was directed by Ace Attorney creator Shu Takumi. It is on Steam, iOS and Android.

Best for: players who like cause-and-effect puzzles more than logic grids.

Tangle Tower

Tangle Tower (SFB Games, 2019) is a point-and-click mystery. Steam says you explore a strange mansion, discover clues, interrogate suspects and solve puzzles to work out who murdered Freya Fellow. It is on Steam and Nintendo Switch, among other platforms listed by SFB Games.

Best for: a playful, fully voiced mystery with puzzles along the way.

The Painscreek Killings

The Painscreek Killings (EQ Studios, 2017) is a murder mystery in an abandoned town. Steam describes logical puzzles that do not hold your hand, with no quest markers or hint system, and encourages you to take notes and photograph clues.

Best for: puzzle fans who enjoy being left to figure things out.

Scene Investigators

Scene Investigators (EQ Studios, 2023) is a set of eight reconstructed case scenarios. Steam calls it a "hardcore deductive reasoning game" aimed at fans of detective films, true crime and escape room puzzles, with no handholding or hints.

Best for: escape room fans who want a crime-scene twist.

Are contradictions a kind of puzzle?

Yes. In many detective games the real puzzle is not a lock or a grid but a statement that does not fit the evidence. Courtroom games and interrogation games build whole systems around this. If you want that style of challenge, see Best Games About Solving Contradictions, and for the design side, read How Games Turn Contradictions Into Puzzles.

A good mystery puzzle also has to be fair. Our piece on how mystery games hide clues without cheating looks at how designers give you everything you need without making the answer obvious.

Is there an upcoming detective game built on story puzzles?

Murder Book: The Art of Interrogation is an upcoming narrative interrogation game from Gungrounds, an independent studio in Zagreb, Croatia. Its puzzles are the stories people tell. You examine unreliable accounts for contradictions, narrative gaps and avoidance. Development screenshots show an evidence board that links a suspect's statements to a fabricated description, and a casebook of behaviours such as Fabrication, Stonewalling and Emotional Fading.

Unlike a logic grid, reading behaviour involves uncertainty, and no single behaviour proves a lie. Cases are designed for focused 5–10-minute sessions, so each one works like a compact puzzle. Murder Book is in development for PC (Steam) and mobile, with release currently planned for the end of Q2 2027. See Why Murder Book Cases Are Designed for 5–10-Minute Sessions.