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[Superb Joe]

hello dear friends. recent;y i have been watching the tv show "bosch" which is about a large multinational electronic company headquartered in germany. just kidding. it's actually a meandering detective show that moves at a glacial pace, but like the best of video games after you invest 5000 hours into it you start to vaguely enjoy it.

some years ago i played policenauts. it was good, i enjoyed it. but it is also made by sexually insane perverts and as a game isn't really very good. are there any "detective" games that aren't point and click adventure games? i feel like they're good at developing a sense of place but not good at developing the sense of a physical world that the character inhabits. i bought la noire when it released but i didn't enjoy it. i was just curious if there are any other detective games that break out of the typical mould.

thank you

[Thaumaturge]

Am I correct in guessing that the problem is with the presentation--i.e. two-dimensional and often screen-based--and not the mechanics? If so, then there are a few first-person 3D detective games, I believe. Two examples that come to mind are the series of Sherlock Holmes games by Frogwares, and the recent Call of Cthulhu game, which was pretty much a detective game.

[Superb Joe]

Am I correct in guessing that the problem is with the presentation--i.e. two-dimensional and often screen-based--and not the mechanics? If so, then there are a few first-person 3D detective games, I believe. Two examples that come to mind are the series of Sherlock Holmes games by Frogwares, and the recent Call of Cthulhu game, which was pretty much a detective game.

i think that's part of it. i'll check it out, thanks. but i dunno, generally im just interested in detective stuff that exists outside of the point and click context.

[Türbo Bröther]

You can tell that Contact Sam Cruise on the ZX Spectrum is going to be a gumshoe game in the classic sense because it's called Contact Sam Cruise. Being a Spectrum game it'll take some getting used to but it's about as different as you're going to get, being a Spectrum game. The 'Cover Art' section on Mobygames has manual scans so you won't need to search around for a playguide in theory, it is a Spectrum after all so you might as well do that anyway.

Alone In the Dark (the good DOS game from the nineties not any of the awful console games from the two thousands) can be considered a detective game purely because you play as a P.I. investigating a creepy old mansion because it's your job and not just because you were chased there by a pack of starving dogs but then I guess you gotta take all survival horror games of the classic type as detective games.

...the recent Call of Cthulhu game, which was pretty much a detective game.

But what Cthulhu mythos game isn't. Dark Corners Of the Earth is the one that always gets brought up but it's pretty shakey on its feet so it might die before your character does and it only really has one stand-out moment which is so tense it's suffocating but it still makes for an interesting maybe even compelling first person experience.

I also consider Deus Ex a bit of a detective game and not just because your guy likes trenchcoats and wearing dark glasses at night whilst he monologues his way through everyday conversation but the whole sneaking around getting into places you don't belong to unearth major conspiracies and leaning on people in seedy bars is basically investigation 101. I have serious doubts that Phillip Marlowe or Hercule Poirot ever had to gas a secret military base in order to make the skill points necessary to upgrade their swimming skill though.

[Superb Joe]

good call on Deus Ex

which call of cthulu game was the one on the xbox with j Edgar Hoover or whatever who gets stuck in a cage lowering into lava, and he gives you voiced instructions on how to save him, which eventually becomes him getting frustrated and just telling "I'M GONNA FUCKIN DIE HERE, JACK" if you take too long. I thought that was really funny

[Thaumaturge]

i think that's part of it. i'll check it out, thanks.

It's my pleasure--I hope that you enjoy whichever of those you go for. ^_^

but i dunno, generally im just interested in detective stuff that exists outside of the point and click context.

I'm curious--and confessedly a little confused--as to what mechanics you have in mind, if not point-and-click. After all, detection is essentially puzzle-solving of a sort: finding clues, talking to people, and so on and so forth.

Unless you're looking for games that aren't mechanically about detection, but which are detective-themed, perhaps?

Oh, one possibility does come to mind: The Council is, as far as I'm concerned, essentially an RPG--but instead of focussing on combat-skills as most (I feel) do, it focusses on social skills. You navigate a variety of historical (and otherwise) characters attending a secret convocation on a remote island, trying to find your missing mother, who is a high-ranking member of a secret society.

While there are puzzling elements, a significant portion of the gameplay consists of conversations, in which your choice of skills determines what paths are available to you.

There's even a mechanic that I feel analogises a boss-fight: "confrontations" see you attempting to achieve some goal in a tricky conversation with someone. Blunder too many times and you fail the confrontation; succeed and you may gain information or aid. Naturally, you have your skills and items to aid you; but be careful that you choose wisely, as the person with whom you're talking has their own weaknesses and immunities to those skills.

I'm perhaps not describing it well--from what I've seen, it's really interesting.

[Tanner]

check out hypnospace outlaw, return of the obra dinn, and her story.

they're all more non-traditional takes on detecting, but they nail the actual act of deduction better than any other games i've played.

[Thaumaturge]

Fair point; I'd forgotten about Obra Dinn and Her Story. Indeed, there are a few games like the latter, I think.

Come to think of it, there are likely some visual novels that fall into the detective genre, too.

[Superb Joe]

thank you the obra dinn game is a really good suggestion

[quantumpotato]

break out of the typical mould.
thank you

Hello Superb Joe,

[Superb Joe]

break out of the typical mould.
thank you

Hello Superb Joe,

not what i am looking for but i know a big board game fan who will be interested so thank you!

[Raptor85]

How about semi-point-n-click/VN/minigame?   The Danganronpa series is FANTASTIC

[Alevice]

thank you the obra dinn game is a really good suggestion

her story is pretty good too

[mks]

Judgment is an action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective. The game is a legal thriller set in the Yakuza world of Kamurocho and follows private detective Takayuki Yagami as he investigates a serial murder case.

I‘ve only watched my wife playing the japanese demo a while ago, but what I saw was very Yakuza; game releases june 25 in the west iirc

https://youtube.com/watch?v=sJFeZrmIPZk

[Superb Joe]

Judgment is an action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective. The game is a legal thriller set in the Yakuza world of Kamurocho and follows private detective Takayuki Yagami as he investigates a serial murder case.

I‘ve only watched my wife playing the japanese demo a while ago, but what I saw was very Yakuza; game releases june 25 in the west iirc

https://youtube.com/watch?v=sJFeZrmIPZk

congratulations, you cracked the case

[chetana]

thank you the obra dinn game is a really good suggestion

her story is pretty good too

Yes, Her Story is really good mystery game to play. Good narrative.

[woodsmoke]

Max Payne?

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

there's no investigation or detective work gameplay involved in any Max Payne games as far as a recall.

Play as detective Kaname Date on the case of an elusive serial killer in this thrilling, sci-fi murder mystery.

seems to be part visual-novel part exploration/investigation

[omnilith]

ghost trick is kewl

[Superb Joe]

tig source game "disco elysium" aka "no truce with the furies" looks pretty good to me