Best Mystery Games

Why it's here: The best mystery on PS5, and two of them at once. FBI agent Saga Anderson works a string of ritual murders in Bright Falls while the lost novelist Alan Wake tries to write his way out of a nightmare, and the two stories keep reshaping each other. The recurring complaint in PlayStation Store reviews is confusing navigation and backtracking. It holds 4.62 from about 66,500 player ratings, rated Mature, on PS5 only. Start here if you want the genre at full budget, and expect to get lost on purpose.

Why it's here: The most-rated game on this list, and still the choice-driven mystery to beat. A missing student in a coastal town becomes Max's case once she finds she can rewind time and test every decision before living with it. Steam reviews praise the story and characters almost without exception, and the recurring complaint is a final choice that can undercut what came before. Rated Mature, 4.69 from more than 120,000 player ratings. Play it for the investigation and for Max and Chloe, and go in unspoiled.

Why it's here: A whodunit where the suspects and the victims are the same eight friends. Any of them can die on a choice you did not know mattered, and working out what is hunting them on the mountain is half the game. Steam reviews rate the story and the weight of its decisions, and the recurring complaint is slow, clunky movement between the big moments. This is the 2024 PS5 version: 4.59 from 3,000 player ratings, rated Mature 17+. Play it with a group that argues over every decision.

Why it's here: The highest-rated game on this list, and a mystery with no suspects and no dialogue trees. You are the newest recruit of a small space program, exploring a solar system stuck in an endless time loop and piecing together why from the alien ruins scattered across it. Steam reviews say the discoveries stay with them long after the credits, and the recurring complaint is clunky controls. Rated Everyone 10+, 4.74 from about 12,700 player ratings, on PS5 and PS4. Read nothing about it before you play.

Why it's here: The camp-counselor horror mystery, and the pick for a couch full of people. Nine counselors, one last night and a local legend to piece together before it thins the group, with choices that branch into many endings. Steam reviews are polarized: the story and performances get real praise, and the recurring complaint is slow pacing with long cutscenes. At 4.26 from about 18,000 player ratings it sits in the bottom three here, rated Mature 17+. Treat it as a movie night you steer, not a game you master.

Why it's here: The quiet one. You are a fire lookout alone in the Wyoming wilderness, with a voice on the radio for company and growing signs that someone is watching you. Steam reviews praise the atmosphere and the dialogue, and the recurring complaint is an ending some players found unsatisfying. It holds 4.5 from 39,000 player ratings, rated Mature. It is short, mostly walking and talking, and best finished in one or two sittings.

Why it's here: The most inventive short game on this list. The last surviving Finch walks through the family home, and each sealed bedroom tells how one relative died through its own small game with its own rules. Steam reviews call the storytelling profound, and the one recurring complaint is length: most players finish in two to three hours. Rated Teen, 4.55 from about 28,000 player ratings, on PS5 and PS4. Buy it as an evening, not a campaign, and it earns every minute.

Why it's here: The action pick. You walk into a government bureau that studies things which break reality, housed in a building that rearranges itself, and you investigate it with supernatural powers in hand. Steam reviews praise the atmosphere and the combat, and the recurring complaint is a story that is hard to follow. It holds 4.39 from nearly 48,000 player ratings, the third-most here, rated Mature 17+. Choose it when you want a mystery you fight your way through.

Why it's here: The newest pick, and the one for puzzle players. You explore Mt. Holly, a manor whose rooms shift, choosing which room appears behind each door as you search for the rumoured Room 46. Steam reviews praise the puzzle design, and the recurring complaint is how much rests on luck in the rooms you are offered. It holds 4.21 from about 12,700 player ratings, rated Everyone 10+, and it is the only game on this list included with PS Plus Extra. Download it there before you decide whether to buy.

Why it's here: A ghost story told entirely in conversation. A group of teenagers tune a radio on an abandoned island and open something that answers, and you steer the night by choosing what to say while your friends talk over you. Steam reviews praise the dialogue system and the writing, and the recurring complaint is the slow walking pace. Rated Teen, 4.56 from 4,800 player ratings. It runs short and it branches, so one playthrough is not the whole story.

Why it's here: The pick for a group that likes to vote. One motel robbery in 1998 turns into thirty years of fallout for two families, told in painted stills rather than animation. Steam reviews praise the storytelling and the weight of its choices, and the recurring complaint is a cliffhanger ending that leaves questions open. It holds 4.52 from 1,000 player ratings, rated Mature 17+, on PS5 and PS4. Know going in that it stops before it resolves.

Why it's here: The strangest mystery here, with the fewest ratings on this list. An actress made three films that were never released, then vanished; your only tool is the footage, which you scrub through and cut between by picking out a face or an object. Steam reviews split hard: the performances and the ambition are admired, and the recurring complaint is a lack of direction that leaves players confused. Rated Mature, 4.49 from about 350 player ratings, on PS5. It suits patient players who like to work without a map.

Why it's here: A time-loop thriller in one apartment, and the lowest-rated game on this list. A man relives the same few minutes of a violent evening, and each loop you use what the last one taught you. Steam reviews credit the concept and the cast, and the recurring complaint is an ending many players found disappointing. At 4.18 from about 740 player ratings, rated Mature, it is the gamble here. Try it only if the loop idea itself is the draw.

Why it's here: The small-town mystery with the most to say. A college dropout comes home to a fading mining town where her friends have changed and something is wrong at the edges. Steam reviews praise the writing and its handling of mental health, and the recurring complaint is slow pacing with little action. Rated Teen, 4.63 from 6,900 player ratings, the third-highest score here. Come for the characters and let the mystery arrive late.