Games Like Pentiment With Historical Mystery and Investigation

Historical mysteries and choice-driven investigations for Pentiment fans, compared by setting and how you investigate.

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

If you enjoyed Pentiment, the closest matches are mysteries set in the past, where you gather information and reach your own conclusions instead of fighting. Good picks include:

The Case of the Golden Idol: reconstruct a chain of deaths as an 18th-century detective.
Return of the Obra Dinn: investigate what happened aboard a merchant ship lost at sea in 1803.
Aviary Attorney: take on cases in 1848 Paris, illustrated with 19th-century caricatures.
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles: murder trials in late 19th-century Japan and England.
Mask of the Rose: build murder theories in a gothic, alternate-Victorian London.
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments: name the culprit, then decide their fate.
Disco Elysium – The Final Cut: a dialogue-driven detective story shaped by your choices.

Each game was checked against its Steam listing or official website.

Key takeaways

Pentiment combines a historical setting, an illustrated art style and a murder investigation driven by conversation and choice.
The Case of the Golden Idol and Return of the Obra Dinn are the strongest picks for historical deduction.
Aviary Attorney and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles move the investigation into 19th-century courtrooms.
Mask of the Rose and Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments suit players who liked choosing what to conclude and what to do about it.
Murder Book is an upcoming interrogation game where your judgement shapes how a case ends.

What makes Pentiment a historical mystery?

Pentiment (Obsidian Entertainment, published by Xbox Game Studios, 2022) is a narrative-driven game set in early 16th-century Bavaria. You play Andreas Maler, an illustrator caught up in a series of murders in the town of Tassing and nearby Kiersau Abbey over 25 years. Its art is inspired by illuminated manuscripts and the earliest printed books. You choose Andreas's academic and social background, conduct your own investigation and decide the fate of the community, and your decisions have consequences that play out over generations.

A good "game like Pentiment" usually shares some of these qualities:

A setting in the past that shapes the people you meet and what they know.
Investigation through conversation and observation, not action.
Your own conclusions, with consequences for the people involved.
A distinctive visual style tied to its setting.

Games like Pentiment at a glance

Game	Developer	Setting	How you investigate	Platforms (examples)
The Case of the Golden Idol	Color Gray Games	The 18th century	Examine frozen scenes and fill in who did what and why	PC, Mac, consoles, iOS, Android
Return of the Obra Dinn	Lucas Pope	A merchant ship, early 1800s	Explore the ship and use logical deduction to assess what happened	PC, Mac, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Aviary Attorney	Sketchy Logic	Paris, 1848	Interview witnesses, collect evidence and argue cases	PC, Mac, Switch
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles	Capcom	Late 19th-century Japan and England	Examine evidence, cross-examine witnesses and present contradictions	PC
Mask of the Rose	Failbetter Games	An underground, alternate-Victorian London	Use a storycrafting system to build theories about a murder	PC, Mac, Linux
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments	Frogwares	Six cases for Sherlock Holmes	Question suspects, name the guilty and decide their fate	PC
Disco Elysium – The Final Cut	ZA/UM	A fictional city	Investigate a murder through dialogue and skill checks	PC, Mac, consoles

Platforms were checked against Steam, official sites or official store pages. Where we could not confirm a platform, we left it out, so some games may be available on more systems than shown.

The Case of the Golden Idol

The Case of the Golden Idol (Color Gray Games, 2022) casts you as an 18th-century detective uncovering the mystery behind 12 strange deaths, spread across decades and connected to a cursed aristocratic family. You examine frozen scenes, gather clues and fill in names, motives and events to reconstruct what happened.

Why it fits: like Pentiment, it tells a long historical story through a series of connected deaths, and asks you to work out the motives yourself. See Games Like The Case of the Golden Idol.

Return of the Obra Dinn

Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope, 2018) begins in 1807, when the merchant ship Obra Dinn, declared lost at sea, drifts into Falmouth with no visible crew. As an insurance investigator for the East India Company, you board the ship and prepare an assessment of what happened. It is a first-person mystery built on exploration and logical deduction, which Steam describes as "an insurance adventure with minimal color".

Why it fits: a historical setting, a visual style that defines the game, and a mystery you solve by careful reasoning. For more, see Games Like Return of the Obra Dinn.

Aviary Attorney

Aviary Attorney (Sketchy Logic, 2015) is set in 1848, with Paris on the brink of revolution. You play the bird lawyer Jayjay Falcon, who takes on clients, interviews witnesses, collects evidence and argues cases. The game uses art by the 19th-century caricaturist J. J. Grandville and music by Camille Saint-Saëns. Steam says decisions have consequences, leading to three different endings.

Why it fits: like Pentiment, it borrows its look from the art of its period and puts a mystery against a backdrop of political upheaval.

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (Capcom, 2021) collects two games set in late 19th-century Japan and England, with 10 murder-mystery episodes in total. As rookie lawyer Ryunosuke Naruhodo, you speak to witnesses and examine evidence, then cross-examine witnesses in court and present evidence that contradicts their claims. The official site estimates more than 50 hours of content on average.

Why it fits: a long, historical, dialogue-heavy mystery for players who enjoyed spending time with Pentiment's characters.

Mask of the Rose

Mask of the Rose (Failbetter Games, 2023) is a visual novel set in Fallen London, where London has sunk into a vast cavern and Victorian society is fraying. The first murder victim since the Fall wants justice, and your housemate is the prime suspect. You can try to solve the murder, pursue relationships or do something else entirely, and a storycrafting system lets you develop theories about the crime. Steam notes that you might find the true murderer on your first play-through, but the reason behind it is "a deeper secret".

Why it fits: a period setting, community life and a murder you interpret through the theories you build.

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments (Frogwares, 2014) contains six cases, including murders, missing persons and thefts. You choose which lines of enquiry to follow, interrogate suspects, name the guilty parties from your deductions and decide their fate. Steam says your decisions affect your reputation and have consequences elsewhere.

Why it fits: the moral weight of reaching a verdict, which is central to Pentiment's investigations.

Disco Elysium – The Final Cut

Disco Elysium (ZA/UM, 2019; The Final Cut in 2021) is not historical, but like Pentiment it is a detective story told almost entirely through conversation. You investigate a murder with 24 skills that speak up during dialogue and dice-roll skill checks that decide outcomes. There is no combat in the traditional sense.

Why it fits: a text-rich, choice-driven investigation where who you are shapes what you find. See also Best Dialogue-Driven Mystery Games.

Which game should you play first?

Want historical deduction? The Case of the Golden Idol or Return of the Obra Dinn.
Want a 19th-century courtroom? Aviary Attorney or The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles.
Liked deciding what happens to the guilty? Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments.
Want the most conversation? Disco Elysium – The Final Cut.

Is there an upcoming mystery where your judgement decides the outcome?

Murder Book: The Art of Interrogation is an upcoming narrative interrogation game from Gungrounds, an independent studio in Zagreb, Croatia. It is not historical, but it shares Pentiment's interest in reaching a conclusion from what people tell you. Murder Book is inspired by real police footage and psychological interviews: you question suspects and weigh unreliable stories, avoidance, narrative gaps and contradictions. Development materials show a branching case map with different endings, and a case select screen that includes a "not guilty" result. 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. Learn more in How Murder Book Turns Interrogation Into Gameplay.