Was looking for some more good mystery games myself when I stumbled upon this thred and while unfortunatly Ive played many of these already I do have a few less conventional recomendations that come to mind that others looking for a mystery may like.
Typical Who-dun-it:
Crimson High: A detective gets called to solve a murder mystery at a school and finds a lot more than they bargned for. Though the initial murder is solverd in the first week of the game the mystery elements stay strong with a misterious staker, a traficing ring, and my personal favorite; who was the mc's mother really and who killed her when he was a child.
I keep Dying in Another World -What the hell, Goddess!: I know the title is off putting but give it a chance. From a dev who usuly produces total slop comes: a letitimatily well writtian mystery. Some poor shmuck gets abducted by a goddess and told that he needs to stop the cold blooded murder of a girl before it happens that evening or the world will end... problem is he needs to stop himself from getting killed first. As a bonus its completed and only a few hours long so you can play it in one night if you choose.
Eldritch Highschool: Its... not great... but it IS a murder mystery.... so here it is. Supernatral murder mystery where you are tracking down an eldritch killer. Unfortunaly I didnt feel very
~mysteried~ Legitimatly though it you want a good mystery feel I would reccomend any of the ones
below in the next section over this.
Strong Mystery Elements: (would almost certinly get the tag if it existed)
Demons of the Hearth: It dosnt start out as a mystery game, not a first. But it becomes one. A boy is posessed by a deamon and gains some strange powers and a mission: Kill the King. The plot quicky spirals into political conspericy and intrige, with not one but many shadow orginizations going around pulling strings, you
never know who to trust and who may try to kill you. Oh and you know, theres a seriel killer on the loose going after lone men at night, do try not to fuck her by accident yeah? The mc even joins a group specifically devoted to mystery solving at one point, I would have put this in the above catagory but theres actully just too much going on to call it a true who done it.
Network Euphoria: I NEED another update for this because it hooked me. A boy seeks refuge at hes uncles manor after some strage goings on, and the questions begin. Where is your uncle and aunt andwhy is the place empty? What happend to your parents? Why does it seem like that place was searched for something? Are you SURE youre alone? Why are parts of the house sealed off? The camers seem to be acting funny? and what the hell is in the basement?
MIST: A strage fog has rolled in on the moutain you were staying at, and with it everything changed. Something is out there. But what? and why does it seem you cant find get in contact with any other people anymore? And my, What strange deams youve been having... Completed game and a 10/10 seriously play it.
Automaton Story: I dont think this was supposed to be a mystery. And the earlier builds certinly were not, but now it seems to have unintentionally absoutly beccome one, and a origionally chill and happy go lucky slice of life has completly disolved seemingly unintentionally into oddly dark places. Featuring: A mysterious girl with no memory, An attempted triple homicide via mysteriously haked automaton, A runaway theif, A sawmill masacre that doomed a small town, A school where everything just seems wrong.. so very very VERY wrong, A totally innocent candy store, Govenment banned history books, Technology that should not exist, A factoy owner with too much to hide, A sanwich dealer?, A fucking lost civilization,
Strage mutterings, Disappering people, a
god, a society in general that shoud not fuction at all but does, and what I strongly suspect to be a stalker with an unhealy obsession (the mc has commented about how she know things multiple times but brushes it off). Did I mention the school because it is.. just.. so..
off.. I was starting to be legitimatly uncomfotable at points, as it gets weirdly fucked up though always out of the corner of your eye. The mc can be down right foul at times fair warning but I mean that in a well writtian kind of foul he is a great charicter but who he is as a person, not so much, my guy is probably making more mysteries from the perspective of others Be warned this game is 4 years in and I still have answers to
None this, I am legitamatly worried this is going to get considerably darker as this really started out as an escapism comfot game for me... but it is still excellent.
Ripples: Time traveling murder?/disaster?/abduction? mystery story, potentally a murder mystery but at this point wether or not there were even murders is actully a mystery as well. Everything is unclear, nothing is absolute, can time really even be changed? No idea to any of it, and thats why I like it so much. 10/10 so far just play it, for real.
Between Beasts: Game is in its very early stages but, The mc is killed by lightning and shifts to another dimension, but how, why, and are you absoutly sure it was lightning that killed you? Supernatral mystery where you try to figure out what you are doing here and
Redacted be warned though the mc is a total blockhead and gets distracted too easily for my tastes.
Another Chance: This didnt seem like a mystery at first but after some slow burn was most certinly ment to be one. A loser gets a mysterious offer to redo his life and wakes up back in his senior year, at first all is normal and it seems like a standard redo-fantasy. But slowly things start seeming
off. This is subtle at first and you may not initally notice or write it off a comedic antics, but it builds and builds as more and more things arent quite how the mc's memory says they shoul be. This spirals hard as it continues and leaves you questioning everything going on. Why would the happiest girl on earth throw herself off a roof after all? A word of advice, save often as there are routes dependent on choices which each contain very different information and puzzle pieces. I played all of them currently avalble and still dont have a clue, I like that though.
Once in a Lifetime: There is way too much to unpack here, A totaly normal town with
no dark secrets at all. Same dev as
Eternum so if you liked that then just play it, it is vey very good.
Goodbye Eternity: The mc is sent back to the past for another chance at life, Its a murder/abduction mystery in the way that he wants to stop them before they happen in a town with seemingly nothing wrong and no idea where to start. Best art I have ever seen in a game as a side note.
MalOvent: I wast expecting a mystery at all, I was expecting horror, I got both. In a college town where students regularly go missing our mc has aquired himself a new stalker, and thats only the surface. Not much there at the moment but what is there is truly exceptional work, I need an update because I have no Idea what will happen next. Save often. Choices matter more than you might think at first.
A Town Uncovered: The mc finda a portal in town that leads to another reality where noting bad can happen to him whatsoever. At times Im not sure if this is a genuine mystery or just incredably confusing, the writing going forward will tell. But assuming it is intentional than it is well done as I have no idea what any of the happenings in town mean or how they are connected, but I have a feeling that everyting is connected some how. Warning though: I find the mc detestable and not in a well writtien charicter way.
I Have more that I am definatly forgetting as well tbh, and I should probably put this in the other like 2 looking for mystery threds at some point, but nah.
