Black Closet
Are you good enough to get into a prestigious college?
Well, you better hope you are, because that’s your ultimate goal as Black Closet’s main character Elsa Jackson. Actually achieving that goal requires a successful term as president of your school’s student council, and achieving that goal requires putting the lid on several potential scandals without damaging your own credibility too badly. Let me tell you, there are a lot of potential scandals, and other forces at work may end up making your life more difficult. But first you need to identify and neutralize the traitor within your ranks…
– Real player with 104.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Detective Strategy Games.
Black Closet is one of my favorite games. The characters are interesting and sometimes complex, the story is entertaining and contains some interesting branches, and the gameplay is a really fun application of resource management to solve mysteries.
Elsa, the player character, is the president of the student council and must strategically deploy her “minions” (the other student council members) to resolve various crises so that their fancy private school remains respected while also trying not to ruin the student council’s reputation with the rest of the student body. These crises vary from mundane (the daughter of someone important might be failing a class) to serious (a student has gone missing). You need to assign the right minion for various investigative tasks that match their personal skills (for example, you don’t want to send the nice friendly girl to yell at a culprit or send the introvert to gather info via a friendly chat with a suspect) while also balancing your minions' needs because they will be temporarily unavailable if their workload causes too much stress. The cases are randomized, so this is great for replayability!
– Real player with 66.2 hrs in game
Jenny LeClue - Detectivu
Note: When I wrote this review, Jenny LeClue had no voice acting, which is why the review doesn’t mention it. The game recently updated with the voice acting. It is extremely good, and on this replay, I can’t imagine going back to no voices. It turned a great game into an exceptional one.
Jenny LeClue is positively adorable. The eponymous hero, yes- exceedingly so- but also the game itself is just overall incredibly charming.
As far as gameplay goes, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before. There’s a lot of conversations between Jenny and the various residents of Arthurton, as she walks about a 2d world, flicking switches and pushing boxes. There’s some neat investigation sections that will feel very familiar to fans of Danganronpa or Phoenix Wright.
– Real player with 22.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Detective Mystery Games.
I first learned about Jenny LeClue a few years ago through Adventuregamers, after it had already been funded on Kickstarter. I followed the progression of the game through the developer’s page and eagerly awaited the arrival of this beautifully animated detective game, led by a young girl no less!
I regret to say that even though the developers obviously put a lot of effort in this game, it’s poorly constructed in terms of gameplay, plot and pace. After spending 21 hours of my life on it, which I’m never getting back, I feel a bit outraged – so forgive my long review and negative rant. I really regret being a completionist since I otherwise would have deserted the game maybe an hour after trying it.
– Real player with 21.7 hrs in game
Marlon’s Mystery: The darkside of crime
Join Abby Marlon to solve the riddles in this captivating mystery and hidden object game. If you enjoy playing detective games, Marlon’s Mystery will test your skills as an investigator. Embark on an enigmatic adventure and discover the darkest secrets of the Taylor family.
Abby Marlon and Jared Evans are recruited by the Taylor family to investigate a murder case: the youngest daughter, Eleanor, has murdered her father Edward and has got away with the inheritance money.
Abby and Jared have to trail Eleanor through different places to find her, but to do so, they will have to solve a mystery surrounding the family.
-
Crime and mystery game. Discover a detective story where nothing is what it seems.
-
Collectible content. Interact with the characters and get objects to customize your detective board.
-
Extra content. Immerse yourself in the secondary plots that involve the 14 characters.
-
More content and updates of the game. Crime never sleeps.
Download it now and start your adventure as an investigator.
Be part of the Marlon’s Mystery story - Download now!
Read More: Best Detective Crime Games.
The Mysteries of Ranko Togawa: Murder on the Marine Express
An excellent murder mystery visual novel for both young reader and adults alike. Recommended for parents or teachers to give it to their children/students. Educational with a lot of famous historical female figure mentioned. The plot isn’t too disturbing, serious - bringing the mention of murder, revenge, sexual abuse - yet also light and fun with it’s comedy and characters chemistry. The pixel art and the music are sure to delight the reader, and the text are easy to read. Characters are easy to love. The only thing I find lacking, which could be my personal bias, is the lack of rollback features which I find in a lot of visual novel (though this doesn’t mean it’s necessary; I just prefer to be able to see the previous dialog in case I miss click or something) and how small the game box is. Overall as I said in the beginning, an excellent game.
– Real player with 17.5 hrs in game
A nice and intriguing short story with a memorable, quirky cast, Murder on the Marine Express is a good starting point for a very promising series of mystery novels.
While its main murder plot is indeed interesing, this game really shines at interactions between characters. They’re full of personality and their exchanges make both excellent comic relief and food for thought.
– Real player with 5.0 hrs in game
Art of Murder - Cards of Destiny
I wasn’t really sure how to rate this, but overall, I don’t think I’d recommend it, for only one reason.
Gameplay was fine, graphics were good, puzzles were a little unbalanced (some too easy, some only solvable with save-scumming), which made the pacing a little awkward.
My one true problem with the story was the main character was a… something I’m not going to say where children might read it. I think they were going for strong-capable/lone-wolf or something… but it came off more of a total-mother-of-puppies. She was rude to her partner, even cussing him out at one point (he wasn’t exactly congenial, but at least he could keep his temper), condescending to… basically everyone, openly belligerent on multiple occasions in the game, and seemed to have no problem breaking laws herself, all in the name of “I’ve got work to do”.
– Real player with 18.9 hrs in game
The most fun I had playing this game was trashing it with my sisters. It’s nearly impossible to get through with out a walkthrough, unless you take the time to try out every possible item combination. And even then she makes a comment each time you guess wrong and you have to be holding a specific object to use on the other one. The dialogue is bad, but I assume they just directly translated it, which may explain the poor voice acting, but doesn’t excuse it. The plot is pretty interesting leading up to the end, but the ending leaves many plot holes and the clunky dialogue doesn’t help to clear things up really. Luckily, I bought it and the rest of the games in the series on sale, but I wouldn’t pay full price for it. That said, I did really like the background music, I thought it helped set the tone and gave the game a sense of danger, particularly in the swamp. The background music also tends to drown out the dialogue, but that’s a plus in my opinion.
– Real player with 11.3 hrs in game
Virginia
Worst outcome from the entire affair is the more I look into them and play them, less tolerance I have for walking simulators as such. Which is a shame because Virginia is honestly quite a good one. High production values all-around and obvious effort went into this project. It’s also a walking simulator seemingly hellbent on setting your pace and putting its intentionally jumbled narrative ahead of everything else it may have had to offer.
So, what’s cooking? We step into the shoes of one Anne Tarver, fresh FBI graduate who just got her first case assignment. Paired up with a more experienced partner the two embark to a fictional town of Kingdom where they are to investigate a missing child case. Twist is Anne’s superior instructs her to keep a close eye on her new partner, Maria Halperin. She may have some secrets of her own. That’s the premise and what we have to work with for a while, but as the game itself quickly reveals, there’s more underway and you can’t tell WHEN a lot of it is happening. So don’t let anyone tell you there’s no story in Virginia because there sure is. It’s simply told in this fragmented fashion where everything will only click towards the finale as you get context for game’s multiple events.
– Real player with 4.2 hrs in game
As much as I’m an old school action, adventure and RPG gamer from ‘85 onward, I got heavily into point n’ click/investigative mystery games as time went on. Even in more mixed offerings from the genre like The Suicide of Rachel Foster or the pretty ho-hum Call of Cthulhu redux I can usually find enough mystery elements to stay engaged.
Virginia is a detective game where I didn’t feel like a detective the entire playthrough. I didn’t even feel like I was the janitor on hire to clean out the department’s bathrooms. The Twin Peaks' vibes are strong with this one, there’s a touch of Kubrick happening as well but juvenile, thuddingly heavy-handed cliches and plot twists so insulting the ending may as well be the main character f*rting in your face, absolutely destroy any momentum that the game might have worked up.
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
A Case of Distrust
𝗔 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗼𝗶𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝟮-𝟯 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀.
My favorite two aspects of the game were the art and the story.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝘁, 𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰, 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀' 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗼𝗱𝘀. Never did it feel like it was missing something as it definitely fit the format.
Now, the story took me by surprise. 𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗜’𝗱 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝘁 𝘂𝗽 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘃𝘆 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘂𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻; it’s sort of reminiscent of Agatha Christie stories, where you’re presented with a handful of characters connected to the case and you have to use every tiny piece of information you get to come to conclusions.
– Real player with 4.7 hrs in game
Introduction
I like detective stories and video game adaptations of crime novels. It’s no secret that my favorite game of all time is LA Noire and that my nickname is a wordplay on one of Agatha Christie’s most elusive antagonists, U.N. Owen. Unknown until the appropriate moment, as any worthy mystery should be. A Case of Distrust is the Steam debut of Ben “The Wandering Ben” Wander, a gaming industry professional (not quite vetern yet) which left the AAA standard and its various limitations/pressures for the overall freedom offered by the indie scene. A wise choice, no doubt.
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
Art of Murder - FBI Confidential
I know I gave this game a positive vote and I stand by that recommendation, but this game is absolutely terrible. There is no attention to simple details, such as the fact that telephone numbers (which actually play a huge part in the game) are not in a North American format, despite the game supposedly taking place in the USA. A minor detail, but still detracts from the immersion hard. The dialogue was obviously not written by a native English speaker. Nobody talks like that. Nowhere. Ever. Not in the US. Not in Canada. Not in the UK. Not in Australia or anywhere people actually speak English. Not even in movies or TV. THE VOICE OF THE MAIN CHARACTER IS ALSO THE WORST ONE IN THE GAME. Aside from the language and speech issues, the puzzles are maddeningly stupid. Do you know how electricity works? Do you know how a fuse functions? (These are rhetorical questions. You do not know how even basic stuff makes the fun and exciting world you inhabit keep on keeping on). Good game though. Woo.
– Real player with 14.8 hrs in game
A pretty good point and click game with an interesting plot. It plays very much more like a tv detective drama than a movie one and that’s okay. Both are entertaining in their own way. The story is linear, which I appreciated. This game is about 6-8 hours depending on how fast you catch on to the objectives you need to do.
The game strongly encourages just following the plot instead of going your own way. It prevents you from collecting every item you can click on, stating you don’t know what to use it for just yet. There’s a very handy dandy hint system I recommend you using. It dictates what can be examined/picked up.
– Real player with 10.4 hrs in game
Chimeras: Mortal Medicine Collector’s Edition
As with all the Chimeras games, this is fun to play, smoothly running from one scene to the next. Some entertaining hidden object scenes (slightly on the easy side) and lots of actual game play in between. The story line, as you would expect, is rather silly, but who cares?! I have now played all 6 Chimera games and would recommend you buying them in the bundle, try one and see for yourself. Simply amusing, relaxing games highly recommended for whiling away a few hours.
– Real player with 4.1 hrs in game
You are a detective hired to recapture a convicted murderer. Said murderer is accused of poisoning the town’s children and killing his own daughter. But is that what happened?
HO scenes are fun, minigames challenging, and the plot engaging. Recommend in the bundle, just for ease of purchase.
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
Easily the weakest from all of them, even than UDG.
Dull soundtrack with few exceptions, shallow characters, interesting premise of truth and lies thrown entirely in the trash when you get to the last chapters. The ending wasn’t even that bad or hard to understand, my problem with this entry is the lack of any foundation whatsoever, it has so many back-and-forths that it feels like it doesn’t know where it wants to go with the story, especially chapter 5.
This one is a port from PS4, so it runs better than the PSVita counterparts, right? Wrong, it has a myriad of technical issues, it feels worse and slower than playing any of the other games in the series.
– Real player with 130.3 hrs in game
⠀⠀⠘⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ GONTA TRUE⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡜⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠑⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀ GENTLEMAN⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⡔⠁⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠢⢄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⠴⠊⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⠀⠀⠀⢀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⡀⠤⠄⠒⠈⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠘⣀⠄⠊⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠿⠛⠛⠛⠋⠉⠈⠉⠉⠉⠉⠛⠻⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠋⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠛⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⡏⣀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⣤⣤⣤⣄⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⢿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⢏⣴⣿⣷⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣟⣾⣿⡟⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⢢⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⠀⡴⠄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣿
⣿⣿⣿⠟⠻⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠶⢴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣿
⣿⣁⡀⠀⠀⢰⢠⣦⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄⠀⣴⣶⣿⡄⣿
⣿⡋⠀⠀⠀⠎⢸⣿⡆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠗⢘⣿⣟⠛⠿⣼
⣿⣿⠋⢀⡌⢰⣿⡿⢿⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠀⢸⣿⣿⣧⢀⣼
⣿⣿⣷⢻⠄⠘⠛⠋⠛⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢿⣧⠈⠉⠙⠛⠋⠀⠀⠀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
– Real player with 117.4 hrs in game