Case File 030 · Interrogation and Detective Games

Best Police Procedural Games

Games that follow the process of police work, from patrols and crime scenes to lab analysis and running a department.

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

The best police procedural games put you inside the routine of police work, from patrols to crime scenes, lab results and questioning, rather than just handing you a badge and a gun. Strong picks:

Police Simulator: Patrol Officers: start with parking tickets and work up to accidents, emergencies and witness questioning.
This Is the Police: run a city police department as its chief, with crime, corruption and a ticking retirement clock.
L.A. Noire: work cases as a 1940s LAPD detective, from crime scenes to interviews.
Scene Investigators: train as an investigator by studying reconstructed crime scenes.
Nobody Wants to Die: a futuristic detective reconstructs murders with time-manipulation technology.
Criminal Case: a mobile detective game built around a scene, lab, suspects and arrest loop.

Coming later, Murder Book is an upcoming game inspired by real police footage that focuses on one stage of the process: the interrogation.

Key takeaways

A police procedural game is about process: following steps, gathering proof and working inside an institution.
Some picks put you on patrol, others behind a chief's desk, at a crime scene or in a lab.
Only one pick here, L.A. Noire, is confirmed to include chases, fistfights and gunfights.
Realism varies widely, from simulation to stylised or futuristic takes on police work.
Murder Book is an upcoming game inspired by real police footage and psychological interviews.

What is a police procedural game?

In crime fiction, a police procedural follows an investigation step by step through the eyes of the police, with an emphasis on method rather than a lone genius's intuition. A police procedural game does the same with mechanics. Instead of a single brilliant deduction, you work through stages: responding to a call, securing and reading a scene, analysing evidence, interviewing people and building a case that will hold up.

Real homicide investigations generate a great deal of structured paperwork. The Los Angeles Police Department's Murder Book format, for example, organises a case into 28 indexed sections, from the chronological record to witness statements and search warrants. You can read more in What Is a Murder Book?. No game reproduces that level of detail, but the best ones capture the feeling that an investigation is a process with rules.

Police procedural games at a glance

Game	Developer	Your role	Stage of police work	Platforms (examples)
Police Simulator: Patrol Officers	Aesir Interactive	Patrol officer	Patrols, traffic, emergencies, witness questioning	PC
This Is the Police	Weappy Studio	Police chief	Managing officers, emergencies and investigations	PC, Mac, Linux
L.A. Noire	Team Bondi	LAPD detective	Crime scenes and questioning suspects	PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch
Scene Investigators	EQ Studios	Trainee investigator	Studying reconstructed crime scenes	PC
Nobody Wants to Die	Critical Hit Games	Detective	Reconstructing what happened at crime scenes	PC
Criminal Case	Pretty Simple	Detective	Scene search, lab analysis, suspects, arrest	iOS, Android

Police Simulator: Patrol Officers

Police Simulator: Patrol Officers (Aesir Interactive, astragon Entertainment, 2022) is the most literal procedural on this list. You join the police force of Brighton, a fictional American city, and start with citing violations and giving out parking tickets. As you gain experience, you unlock more neighbourhoods and duties, including car accidents, emergency callouts, drug deals and graffiti.

It is not a murder mystery. Its investigative side comes through an Intuition System that, according to Steam, helps your officer pick up clues during witness interrogations. There is a Simulation mode for players who want authenticity and a casual mode for a more relaxed patrol.

Best for: players who want everyday police work rather than headline cases.

This Is the Police

This Is the Police (Weappy Studio, THQ Nordic, 2016) puts you in charge of the Freeburg police department as chief Jack Boyd. You manage staff, respond to emergencies and investigate crimes while the mafia and a scheming mayor pressure the department. Steam describes the goal bluntly: make $500,000 in 180 days before Boyd retires. It also mentions dodging questions in the press room and occasional cross-examination in the witness box.

It is a strategy and adventure game about the institution, not just the case. Choices shape what happens to Boyd.

Best for: players interested in the politics and pressures behind police work.

L.A. Noire

L.A. Noire (Team Bondi, Rockstar Games, 2011) casts you as Cole Phelps, a detective in the 1940s LAPD. Cases move through crime scene investigation and questioning suspects, and Steam highlights facial-capture technology in its performances. It is also the only pick here with confirmed chases, fistfights and gunfights.

Best for: players who want a period police drama with a mix of investigation and action. See Games Like L.A. Noire.

Scene Investigators

Scene Investigators (EQ Studios, 2023) turns the crime scene itself into a training exercise. As a trainee investigator, you examine reconstructed crime scenes and answer questions about what happened by observing details and reasoning from them. The official FAQ lists 8 case scenarios.

The procedure here is observation, and the test is whether your conclusions are supported by what is actually there.

Best for: players who want the forensic, scene-reading side of police work. See Games Like Scene Investigators.

Nobody Wants to Die

Nobody Wants to Die (Critical Hit Games, PLAION and Deep Silver, 2024) is set in New York in 2329. Detective James Karra uses a time-manipulation augmentation and advanced technology to reconstruct what happened before each murder. The setting is science fiction, but the core is familiar procedural work: study the scene and establish a sequence of events.

Best for: players who like science fiction and scene reconstruction.

Criminal Case

Criminal Case (Pretty Simple) is a free-to-download mobile game whose App Store description follows a clear procedural loop. You search crime scenes for clues against the clock, send findings to the lab to analyse samples and match fingerprints, bring suspects in for questioning, and arrest the killer when the evidence is solid. The listing says the city of Grimsborough holds 56 murder cases.

Best for: players who want a repeatable case structure on their phone. See also Best Detective Games for Mobile.

How realistic are police procedural games?

Most are simplified, and that is usually a design choice rather than a flaw. Real investigations generate a lot of documentation, as the Murder Book format shows. Games compress that into moments of decision:

Simulation-led games such as Police Simulator focus on routine duties.
Management games such as This Is the Police focus on resources and pressure.
Scene-led games such as Scene Investigators and Nobody Wants to Die focus on reading evidence.
Drama-led games such as L.A. Noire focus on cases and characters.

One stage that games often compress is the interview. If you want to understand the difference between gathering information and pressing a suspect, read Interview Versus Interrogation.

Is there an upcoming police procedural game about interrogation?

Murder Book: The Art of Interrogation is an upcoming narrative-driven interrogation game from Gungrounds, an independent studio in Zagreb, Croatia. Where the games above cover patrols, scenes and management, Murder Book concentrates on the interview room. It is inspired by real police footage and psychological interviews.

Development screenshots show a technique menu with options including Build Trust, Bluffing, Baiting and Confrontation. The only technique with an official description so far is Build Trust: "fostering an environment where the suspect feels comfortable and secure enough to communicate openly". An in-game casebook documents behaviours such as Stonewalling, Non-Response and Stress Response, and 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 Real Police Footage Inspired Murder Book.