Games Like Tangle Tower and Detective Grimoire

If you enjoyed Tangle Tower or Detective Grimoire, look for mysteries where you question a colourful cast, collect clues and solve puzzles to name the culprit. Good next picks include:

• Detective Grimoire: SFB Games' earlier mystery, if you have only played Tangle Tower.
• Jenny LeClue - Detectivu: a young detective tries to clear her mother of murder.
• Murder by Numbers: pixel puzzles uncover clues for questioning witnesses.
• Aviary Attorney: bird lawyers take on cases in 1848 Paris.
• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy: investigate cases, then fight them out in court.
• Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective: a ghost solves his own murder by manipulating objects.
• The Case of the Golden Idol: reconstruct strange deaths from frozen scenes.

Every game below was checked against Steam, official store pages or the developer's own site.

Key takeaways

• Tangle Tower and Detective Grimoire mix exploration, questioning suspects and puzzles in a hand-painted, fully voiced world.
• Detective Grimoire is the natural next step, since Tangle Tower followed it.
• Jenny LeClue and Murder by Numbers share the character-led, mystery-plus-puzzles approach.
• Ace Attorney, Aviary Attorney and Ghost Trick suit players who enjoyed the humour and the dialogue.
• Murder Book is an upcoming interrogation game with short, focused cases.

What do Tangle Tower and Detective Grimoire have in common?

Both are murder mysteries from SFB Games, a British studio founded by brothers Tom and Adam Vian. Detective Grimoire (App Store 2013, Steam 2014) sends the detective to a tourist attraction in a swamp, where the owner seems to have been killed by the mythical creature the attraction is based on. You explore, inspect the crime scene, question suspects, solve puzzles and assemble Grimoire's thoughts into conclusions.

Tangle Tower (2019) builds on the same approach. According to SFB's press sheet, development began in 2015 after "the mild success of the previous Detective Grimoire game". Freya Fellow has been murdered in a strange mansion, and the lead suspect is a painting. You explore the tower from its gardens to the crime scene at the top, collect clues, interrogate suspects and solve puzzles. Both games have a fully voiced and animated cast and an orchestral soundtrack.

A good game like these shares some of the same qualities:

• A contained location full of odd suspects to question.
• Clues you actively collect and use in conversation.
• Puzzles mixed with deduction, rather than pure logic grids.
• Humour and personality, even when the case is a murder.
• No combat.

Games like Tangle Tower at a glance

Tangle Tower itself is available on PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch and iOS, among others. Platforms were checked against Steam, official sites or official store pages. Availability can change, so check the store before buying.

Detective Grimoire

If you came to SFB Games through Tangle Tower, Detective Grimoire is the obvious place to go next. Designed with mouse and touch in mind, it mixes investigation with puzzles. You explore the swamp, grill suspects and piece together Grimoire's thoughts to reach conclusions about the case.

A note on platforms: the game is on Steam and the App Store, but the Google Play link on the official site no longer loads, so we do not list an Android version.

Why it fits: the same studio, the same blend of questioning and puzzles, and the case that came before Tangle Tower.

Jenny LeClue - Detectivu

Jenny LeClue - Detectivu (Mografi, 2019) follows a young detective in the town of Arthurton whose mother is accused of murder. During dialogue scenes, Jenny can look around and observe the person she is talking to for visible clues about their guilt or innocence. The story is framed as a story within a story, and Steam says your choices help shape it.

Why it fits: a hand-drawn, character-driven mystery that rewards players who poke at everything.

Murder by Numbers

Murder by Numbers (Mediatonic, 2020) is set in Los Angeles in 1996. Honor Mizrahi, an actress on a TV detective show, finds herself a suspect when her boss is killed. With a robot called SCOUT, you solve nonogram-style pixel puzzles to find clues, then use those clues to question witnesses.

Why it fits: like Tangle Tower, it alternates between puzzles and questioning, with what Steam calls a "wild range of weird and wonderful characters" to interrogate. See more picks in Detective Games for Puzzle Fans.

Aviary Attorney

Aviary Attorney (Sketchy Logic, 2015) is set in Paris in 1848, on the brink of revolution. You play Jayjay Falcon, a bird lawyer who takes on clients, interviews witnesses, collects evidence and argues cases. It uses art by the 19th-century caricaturist J. J. Grandville, and Steam lists four chapters and three endings.

Why it fits: an illustrated mystery with dozens of characters to meet and interview.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy (Capcom, 2019 collection) gathers the first three Ace Attorney games, covering 14 episodes. As defence attorney Phoenix Wright, you investigate each case, then fight to save your clients in a court of law.

Why it fits: an investigation-then-trial structure repeated across 14 episodes, each with its own mystery to solve. For more, see Games Like Ace Attorney.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (Capcom; HD remaster 2023) is directed by Ace Attorney creator Shu Takumi. You play Sissel, who wakes up as a ghost with no memory and only until sunrise to find out who killed him. You possess and manipulate objects and rewind time to solve puzzles.

Why it fits: a puzzle-led mystery full of odd characters, for players who liked Tangle Tower's puzzles as much as its questioning.

The Case of the Golden Idol

The Case of the Golden Idol (Color Gray Games, 2022) works differently. You examine frozen scenes of 12 deaths, gather clues and fill in names, motives and events to reconstruct what happened. There are no suspects to talk to, but the pleasure of spotting the detail that breaks a case is similar.

Why it fits: for players who want the deduction to be entirely their own. See Games Like The Case of the Golden Idol.

Which game should you play next?

• Want more from SFB Games? Detective Grimoire.
• Want the closest mix of puzzles and questioning? Murder by Numbers.
• Enjoy exploring and noticing small details? Jenny LeClue - Detectivu.
• Want courtroom drama? Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy or Aviary Attorney.
• Want a tougher deduction challenge? The Case of the Golden Idol.

Is there an upcoming game about questioning suspects?

Murder Book: The Art of Interrogation is an upcoming narrative interrogation game from Gungrounds, an independent studio in Zagreb, Croatia. Tangle Tower spreads its investigation across a whole mansion. Murder Book narrows the focus to the conversation itself: you question suspects and study their stories for fabrication, avoidance and narrative gaps. Development screenshots show an evidence board for linking statements that do not fit together, and a case select screen that tracks results and completion. Its 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 Why Murder Book Cases Are Designed for 5–10-Minute Sessions.

Sources

1. Tangle Tower on Steam
2. Tangle Tower press sheet, SFB Games
3. Tangle Tower on the App Store
4. Tangle Tower on the Nintendo store
5. Detective Grimoire on Steam
6. Detective Grimoire on the App Store
7. Jenny LeClue - Detectivu on Steam
8. Murder by Numbers on Steam
9. Aviary Attorney on Steam
10. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy on Steam
11. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective on Steam
12. The Case of the Golden Idol, official site
13. Murder Book press sheet, Gungrounds