Case File 052 · Games by Player Preference

Mystery Games With Unreliable Narrators

Mystery games where the account you are given cannot be taken at face value, and working out what really happened is the game.

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

Mystery games with unreliable narrators hand you a story you cannot take at face value, then make working out what really happened the core of the game. The account might come from a suspect, a recording, lost footage or even you. Strong examples:

Her Story: one woman's police interviews, searched clip by clip.
Telling Lies: secretly recorded conversations that Steam frames around "one big lie".
IMMORTALITY: footage from three unreleased films and an actress who disappeared.
Unheard - Voices of Crime: audio of crime scenes, with Steam asking "Can you trust what you hear?"
Contradiction: Spot The Liar: interview characters and catch their statements out.
Paradise Killer: an investigation that asks whether facts and truths are the same.
Overboard!: you are the killer, and the lies are yours.

Upcoming Murder Book builds its cases around suspects whose stories shift under questioning.

Key takeaways

In a mystery game, the unreliable narrator is often a witness, a suspect or a piece of recorded media rather than the main character.
Fragmented formats, such as searchable clips, make you assemble the account yourself, so your own assumptions become part of the puzzle.
An inconsistent account is not automatically a lie; people misremember, avoid and simplify for many innocent reasons.
Some games flip the idea and make you the one who deceives.
Murder Book is an upcoming interrogation game about unreliable stories, narrative gaps and contradictions.

What counts as an unreliable narrator in a mystery game?

In fiction, an unreliable narrator is a storyteller whose version of events cannot be fully trusted. Mystery games stretch the idea. The person telling the story might be a suspect in an interview, a witness under pressure, or a video clip you only see out of context. The game's job is to give you enough to question the account without simply telling you the answer.

This list describes each game's setup as its developer presents it, and avoids plot twists. For how designers build this effect, see How Games Use Unreliable Narrators.

Mystery games with unreliable narrators at a glance

Game	Developer	Whose account you question	Format	Platforms (confirmed)
Her Story	Sam Barlow	A woman interviewed seven times by police	Searchable FMV clips	Windows, macOS, iOS, Android
Telling Lies	Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid	Four people in secretly recorded video conversations	Searchable FMV clips	Windows, macOS, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, iOS
IMMORTALITY	Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid	Footage from three lost films	FMV, match cuts	Windows, macOS, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5
Unheard - Voices of Crime	NEXT Studios	Voices recorded at crime scenes	Audio	Windows, macOS
Contradiction: Spot The Liar	Baggy Cat	Village residents and suspects	FMV adventure	Windows, macOS
Paradise Killer	Kaizen Game Works	Suspects on a surreal island	Open-world 3D	Windows
Overboard!	inkle	Yourself, and everyone you mislead	Narrative, replayable	Windows, macOS, Switch, iOS, Android

Her Story

Her Story (Sam Barlow, 2015) gives you access to a police database of seven interviews from 1994, in which a British woman is questioned about her missing husband. You type search terms and only see the clips in which she speaks those words, so you never receive the account in order. You build the timeline yourself, and deciding which parts to believe is the game.

Best for: players who like to study one person's story in fragments. See also Games Like Her Story.

Telling Lies

Telling Lies (Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid, 2019) widens the approach to four people whose lives are linked by one incident. You search a stolen NSA database of secretly recorded video conversations, typing words and watching the clips where they are spoken. Steam sums it up as "a game where you decide the truth".

Best for: players who want several competing perspectives.

IMMORTALITY

IMMORTALITY (Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid, 2022) centres on Marissa Marcel, a film star who made three movies that were never released before she disappeared. You move through footage from those films using match cuts. The only way to learn what happened to her is through scenes that were scripted and performed for the camera.

Best for: players interested in how stories are shaped by the people telling them.

Unheard - Voices of Crime

Unheard (NEXT Studios, 2019) lets you "hear every word spoken at the scene of a crime" and use those voices to identify suspects. Its store page asks directly: "Can you trust what you hear?" You judge people purely by what they say and when.

Best for: players who want to focus on words without faces.

Contradiction: Spot The Liar

Contradiction: Spot The Liar (Baggy Cat, 2015) is an all-video murder mystery. You interview characters about the evidence you have collected and spot contradictions in their answers. Steam says you can pair two contradictions and "watch them try to worm out of it".

Best for: players who want catching inconsistent accounts to be the core mechanic. Related: Best Games About Solving Contradictions.

Paradise Killer

Paradise Killer (Kaizen Game Works, 2020) sends investigator Lady Love Dies to solve a murder on an island "outside of reality". You gather evidence, interrogate suspects and build a case for trial. Steam frames the problem neatly: "What are the facts? What are the truths? Are they the same?" You can accuse anyone, but you have to prove it.

Best for: players who want to decide for themselves when an account has been disproved.

Overboard!

Overboard! (inkle, 2021) reverses the usual setup. You committed the murder, and you have eight in-game hours aboard the SS Hook in 1935 to make sure someone else takes the blame. Steam lists lying, befriending, betraying and eavesdropping among your options. Here, you are the narrator nobody should trust. Steam says a play-through lasts about 30–45 minutes.

Best for: players who want to see deception from the other side.

Is every inconsistent story a lie?

No. Research shows that people are poor at spotting lies: a large meta-analysis found average accuracy of about 54%, only slightly better than chance. Truthful people can also give accounts that shift. A gap may be deception, or it may be confusion, embarrassment or simple forgetting. For more, read Why Truthful Accounts Can Still Be Inconsistent.

Is there an upcoming game built around unreliable accounts?

Murder Book: The Art of Interrogation is an upcoming narrative-driven interrogation game from Gungrounds, an independent studio in Zagreb, Croatia. It is inspired by real police footage and psychological interviews and breakdowns. Its focus is the unreliable story itself: fragments that do not fit, narrative gaps, avoidance and contradictions that emerge as a suspect talks.

Development screenshots show an evidence board that links statements, for example connecting "I NEVER met her!" and "I had no idea" to a fabricated description of a gun. They also show an in-game casebook of behaviours such as Stonewalling, Emotional Fading and Fabrication. Naming a behaviour is not the same as proving a lie, and that uncertainty is what makes an unreliable account worth examining. Cases are designed for 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 Designing Unreliable Stories for Murder Book for more.