What Makes a Good Detective Game? | Game Maker's Toolkit
Note! This video contains puzzle spoilers for Life is Strange, The Shivah, and Discworld Noir.
Detective video games promise to turn us into Sherlock Holmes - but why do so many of them bungle the execution? In this video I mine ancient DOS games, forgotten mobile apps, quirky indie titles, and games that aren’t even about solving crimes, for good murder mystery mechanics.
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Games shown in this episode (in order of appearance)
LA Noire (Team Bondi, 2011)
KGB (Cryo Interactive, 1992)
Assassin's Creed Syndicate (Ubisoft Quebec, 2015)
Murdered: Soul Suspect (Airtight Games, 2014)
Kona (Parabole, 2016)
The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief (King Art Games, 2013)
Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter (Frogwares, 2016)
Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream, 2010)
Police Quest: Open Season (Sierra Entertainment, 1993)
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments (Frogwares, 2014)
Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios, 2015)
Condemned: Criminal Origins (Monolith Productions, 2005)
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (Eidos Montreal, 2016)
The Wolf Among Us (Telltale Games, 2013)
Layton Brothers: Mystery Room (Level-5, 2012)
Detective Grimoire (SFB Games, 2014)
The Trace (Relentless Software, 2015)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations (Capcom, 2004)
Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment, 2015)
Agatha Christie - The ABC Murders (Artefacts Studio, 2016)
Contradiction: Spot the Liar! (Tim Follin, 2015)
Papers, Please (Lucas Pope, 2013)
Discworld Noir (Perfect Entertainment, 1999)
Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (Capcom, 2009)
The Shivah (Wadjet Eye Games, 2006)
Her Story (Sam Barlow, 2015)
Blackwell Convergence (Wadjet Eye Games, 2009)
Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective (ICOM Simulations, 1991)
Eagle Eye Mysteries (Stormfront Studios, 1993)
Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope, Unreleased)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (The Astronauts, 2014)
Splatoon 2 (Nintendo, 2017)
Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios, 2015)
Sonic Mania (Sega, 2017)
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (Naughty Dog, 2017)
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (Starbreeze Studios, 2013)
Music used in this episode
00:00 - Love Theme (LA Noire, Andrew Hale)
01:28 - Resolution (Hotel Dusk)
01:57 - Love Theme (LA Noire, Andrew Hale)
02:20 - Resolution (Hotel Dusk)
03:47 - Bigby’s Apartment (The Wolf Among Us)
05:22 - Investigation (Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies)
06:05 - Trial (Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney)
06:49 - Golden Hour (Life is Strange)
07:56 - Deceptive Proof (Last Window - The Secret of Cape West)
08:44 - Suspense (Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies)
08:57 - Glass in One Hand (Last Window - The Secret of Cape West)
10:01 - Ankh Bar (Discworld Noir)
11:06 - Rabbi Stone’s Office (The Shivah)
12:28 - CGI Snake (Her Story, Chris Zabriskie)
13:33 - Stare Into The Heart (Last Window - The Secret of Cape West)
15:28 - Trial (Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney)
17:55 - Love Theme (LA Noire, Andrew Hale)
18:45 - Streets Have Memory (Last Window - The Secret of Cape West)
Other Credits
Mystic River © Warner Bros
Sherlock © BBC
Homicide: Life on the Street and The Wire © HBO
Dragnet © Various