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Looking for easygoing/casual detective titles
Hey all,
First, thanks so much for this community existing! I’ve found so many great recommendations just poking around reviews and other topic titles.
So I made the bad/great mistake of playing Telltale’s Law and Order title which is janky but a hell of a lot of fun to “catch” the killer. Most critically, my girlfriend LEAPT at the chance to get involved and start guessing about who the killer was.
I’m kinda shocked to have found something that keeps her attention (and gives us something to do together). However, I’m not looking for anything too intricate.
What other basic, commonly derided as “too easy” murder-mystery titles should I be on the lookout for? What I love more than anything is investigating a crime scene and then using those clues to follow the trail.
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I picked up the Murder She Wrote games on Big Fish and they’re super fun to burn through and a new favorite of my girlfriend’s. I also loved playing stuff like Criminal Case or the newer CSI hidden object titles - but can’t stand the freemium aspect. If there are titles that do roughly the same things but don’t have massive microtransactions I’d play them in a heartbeat. Since the courtroom half of Law and Order apes Phoenix Wright I’m looking forward to diving in to that series - and picked up the spiffy HD trilogy for my Switch.
Here’s an exhaustive list, apologies for the longwindedness.
Stuff I’ve played:
LA Noire: (Seriously though, I LOVE investigating a crime scene)
Heavy Rain: Despite some weird motifs, I like that Heavy Rain keeps thing relatively grounded. So many Hidden Object/Casual titles go straight into the land of supernatural trappings and that’s just not really for me.
Wolf Among Us: Telltale’s finest title by a country mile, I love me some noir.
Nintendo DS’ CSI Titles: Basic as hell, and next to no real deduction. Still, confronting suspects with evidence is just a damn fun time. The second title in particular (Unsolved) has some great premises including the death of a fading rock star and a murder that takes place on a live reality TV show.
Unsolved Crimes (Nintendo DS): Poorly reviewed, with terrible graphics. Still, each case takes you to a location where you gather clues and then answer multiple choice questions about possible motives and deductions. The translation is shaky, but some moments are genuinely compelling as you piece together contradictory testimony and reconstruct the crime scene.
Murder, Soul Suspect: A great premise is almost entirely wasted on a by-the-numbers plot. Along the way there are some excellent mini-mysteries that should have been the focus of the game. One example: A ghost is wracked with guilt, thinking he drove drunk and killed his friends. Head to the nearby gas station and piece together what occurred
Memoirs of Murder: One of the bajillion Big Fish HOPA titles. Its not supernatural, huzzah! Just a fun little who-dun-it in a sleepy town, I had a great time playing through this during a heatwave that kept me indoors.
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Tracked down, but haven’t played:
Erica Reed, Cognition: I hear this leans a little heavy on supernatural stuff, so I’m hoping it doesn’t go for a “the devil did it” mystery. I’ve also read enough good things that this could be right up my alley.
Telltale’s CSI entries: My PC is currently busted, so I haven’t had a chance to dig in.
Frogware’s Sherlock series: Oh hell yes, I’m almost holding off on these because I think I’ll devour them.
Return of the Obra Dinn: The hype is real, may it be justified.
Enigmatis: Popped up on a bunch of great HOPA lists, I’m cautiously optimistic.
Danganronpa: Waiting for a sale, but the premise alone sounds rad.
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Crimes & Punishments gives you casual experience, quite an easy game.
Recently finished: Four Last Things 4/5, Edna & Harvey: The Breakout 5/5, Chains of Satinav 3,95/5, A Vampyre Story 88, Sam Peters 3/5, Broken Sword 1 4,5/5, Broken Sword 2 4,3/5, Broken Sword 3 85, Broken Sword 5 81, Gray Matter 4/5\nCurrently playing: Broken Sword 4, Keepsake (Let\‘s Play), Callahan\‘s Crosstime Saloon (post-Community Playthrough)\nLooking forward to: A Playwright’s Tale
The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game
If you love investigating scenes and looking for clues Return of the Obra Dinn is a must-play. Yes, the hype is justified.
The Dame Was Loaded is an old one, available at GOG. I don’t know how well it has stood the test of time, but it’s noir and if my memory serves me well not very hard.
Her Story. Unique gameplay, not hard, and it’s about a murder. No investigation stuff though and I’m not sure it’s what you’re looking for, but worth checking out.
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
Return of the Obra Dinn is a jewel, and exclusively about investigating, but it’s not exactly easy.
Danganronpa is indeed excellent, and quite easy, but it’s also very long and full of reading, so playing it as a couple might be difficult. That’s what I did, though, so it is possible, you just have to have a lot of time (and patience) on your hands as a couple.
Return of the Obra Dinn is a jewel, and exclusively about investigating, but it’s not exactly easy.
It’s all about paying attention to details and the OP loves investigating scenes, so I’m sure he’ll be good at his job as an insurance adjuster.
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
Sinking Island
The Agatha Christie games
Moebius: empire rising
Detective Grimoire
Return of the Obra Dinn is a jewel, and exclusively about investigating, but it’s not exactly easy.
It’s all about paying attention to details and the OP loves investigating scenes, so I’m sure he’ll be good at his job as an insurance adjuster.
He also asked for games that are “commonly derided as too easy murder-mystery titles”. Obra Dinn isn’t overly hard, but it’s far from being too easy. It requires time and concentration, and is a long shot from a bunch of the other more casual titles that were listed in the OP.
I do agree that it’s a must play for fans of investigative games, though, in fact it’s the best I’ve ever played by quite a margin.
While the puzzles aren’t very strongly connected to the narrative, the Professor Layton games are themed around solving grand mysteries, are generally great and you can skip (or get progressively more helpful in-game hints for) most of the harder puzzles if you want and then come back to them anytime. This subgenre also has the Puzzle Agent games, Telltale’s take which is shorter, weirder, a bit easier but great in its own ways.
For more classical investigation I also recommend Layton Brothers Mystery Room for mobile (very weakly connected to the Professor Layton games, seen mostly in visual style).
The golden age of mathematics - that was not the age of Euclid, it is ours. -Cassius Jackson Keyser
It looks like you have a DS so Hotel Dusk would fit into the “easy murder mystery” requirement.
I immediately thought of the Agatha Christie games that eddyc mentioned, especially the ones with Poirot (Evil under the sun and Murder on the orient express). They’re simple, can be corny at times and haven’t aged very well, but they retain some kind of charm and I like them for what they are - budget detective games from some ten years ago with a lovely early 20th century setting and all the usual clichés.
There’s another, more recent Poirot game called the ABC murders, but frankly I found it much lighter and more linear. It may still be enjoyable though.
There aren’t many murder mysteries in the Nancy Drew series, but some games might fit the bill, like The Deadly Device (you have to solve the murder of a scientist). In typical ND fashion, you get to snoop around a lot, find clues and interrogate suspects. And it’s targeted at teens so it’s fairly easy. If you or your girlfriend ever fancies some childhood reading nostalgia.
There are some excellent titles featuring Sherlock Holmes, I’m thinking of the Rose Tattoo and the Serrated Scalpel, but they’re not especially easy (the first challenge being finding a copy of the games ). The more recent Frogware games are much more laid-back. Crime and Punishment (as mentioned by diego) has a collection of cases that play pretty easily. The Devil’s Daughter strays a bit too far with QTEs and annoying action sequences, but other than that the cases themselves are not particularly hard. They both feature a “deduction” mechanism which you might enjoy if you like connecting clues, retracing events and deciding on who’s the culprit and why.
And you always have the older games in the Adventure of Sherlock Holmes series. None of them is stellar, but they’re rather easygoing, and you’ll get to have fun with Creepy Watson in SH Nemesis.
Also, it’s not particularly easy and it can be completely out there, but since you mentioned Danganronpa, what about Phoenix Wright?
The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game
Yes! It doesn’t get much more laid-back than this!
If you like amphibian detectives, you might also like to try Investi-Gator:
https://gamesbybees.itch.io/
If you like amphibian detectives, you might also like to try Investi-Gator:
https://gamesbybees.itch.io/
Ooh, is it a sequel to The Investigator Cases? They seem to have a strikingly similar protagonist but a completely different art style. By the way, this collection of three short games is free, easygoing and quite amusing if you don’t mind your humour a little dark.
edit: so it appears they are two completely unrelated things. I just played the demo to Investi-Gator and it’s a whole different kind of humour - but I like it
It’s a detective game set in an alternate 19th century where you have to investigate crime scenes and interrogate suspects. No inventory combination puzzles, and each case has multiple leads and suspects, so you have to think about the clues you’ve gathered, since the game won’t automatically deduce things for you.
The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game
Yes! It doesn’t get much more laid-back than this!
If you like amphibian detectives, you might also like to try Investi-Gator:
https://gamesbybees.itch.io/
Frogs are amphibian but alligators are in the class of reptiles
Member of the NAALCB - (North American Anti- Lobster Cop Brigade) since 2019.
The Painscreek Killings might fit your parameters. Adventure Gamers review
Life is too short to drink bad wine…
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