What Makes a GREAT Detective Game?

Back in 2017 I made a video about detective game design. And I had to dig deep to find good crime-solving games to talk about - like old PC games from the 90s and obscure indie titles on Itch. But in the last five years we’ve seen an explosion of great detective games - so it’s time to revisit the topic and ask, again, what makes a good detective game? GMTK is powered by Patreon - Read this as an article on Substack - === Chapters === 00:00 - Intro 01:42 - Deduction Style 05:26 - Contradiction Style 07:40 - Investigation Style 12:15 - The Accusation 14:14 - Tester Design 19:07 - Assisting the Player 21:30 - Other Games 22:27 - Outro === Games Shown === L.A. Noire (2011) The Wolf Among Us (2013) Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments (2013) Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective (1991) The Blackwell Legacy (200) Return Of The Obra Dinn (Demo) (2016) Her Story (2015) Return Of The Obra Dinn (2018) Shadows of Doubt (In Early Access) Lucifer Within Us (2020) The Case of the Golden Idol (2022) Scene Investigators (Unreleased) Detective Grimoire (2014) Telling Lies (2019) Tangle Tower (2019) Disco Elysium (2019) Lost Judgment (2021) Frog Detective 1: The Haunted Island (2018) The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (2023) Murder by Numbers (2020) Murdered: Soul Suspect (2014) Strange Horticulture (2022) Riley & Rochelle (2022) Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaire’s Conspiracy (2017) Contradiction: Spot the Liar! (2015) The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (2021) Papers, Please (2013) A Hand With Many Fingers (2020) Do Not Feed the Monkeys (2018) Hypnospace Outlaw (2019) Outer Wilds (2019) Immortality (2022) Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (2010) Paradise Killer (2020) Whispers in the West (2023) Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter (2016) Detroit: Become Human (2018) Gotham Knights (2022) Discworld Noir (1999) Pentiment (2022) Overboard! (2021) Silicon Dreams (2021) Among Us (2018) Mind Diver (Unreleased) AI Tech Preview: The Portopia Serial Murder Case (2023) === Credits === Music from L.A. Noire, by Andrew and Simon Hale Music from Disco Elysium, by Sea Power Music from Return of the Obra Dinn , by Lucas Pope Music from Layton’s Mystery Journey, by Tomohito Nishiura Music from Lucifer Within Us, by FX Bilodeau Music from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies, by Noriyuki Iwadare Music from Shadows of Doubt Music from Her Story, by Chris Zabriskie Music from Paradise Killer, by Barry Topping === Subtitles === Contribute translated subtitles - TBA