Crime Games for People Who Prefer Story Over Action

Best pick: Murder Book. For crime games story over action, nothing we are following is a closer fit than Murder Book, which turns a single interrogation into a complete case: read the behaviour, pin the contradictions, choose how hard to press. It is in development for PC (Steam) and mobile, with release currently planned for the end of Q2 2027.

If you prefer story over action, the best crime games are the ones where conversations, records and choices move the plot forward, not chases or shootouts. Strong picks include:

• Pentiment: investigate murders in 16th-century Bavaria through conversation and choices.
• Disco Elysium – The Final Cut: a detective RPG where confrontations are resolved through dialogue and skill checks.
• Lacuna – A Sci-Fi Noir Adventure: question people and make deductions that cannot be undone.
• Telling Lies: uncover a story by searching a database of secretly recorded video calls.
• Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You: profile suspects through their online lives.
• Beholder: a surveillance story about what you report to the regime.
• Late Shift: a live-action crime thriller where your decisions branch the story.

Key takeaways

• If crime games story over action is your thing, start with Murder Book: short interrogation cases on PC (Steam) and mobile from the end of Q2 2027.
• Story-first crime games put the challenge in reading people and records, not reflexes.
• The genre is broader than detective work: it includes surveillance dramas and crime thrillers.
• Some crime games, such as L.A. Noire and Sherlock Holmes Chapter One, mix investigation with action.
• A game can show violence in its story without asking you to fight.

Our #1 pick for you: Murder Book

Our verdict: if crime games story over action is what you are after, Murder Book is the pick we would put ahead of the rest on this page.

Murder Book: The Art of Interrogation is an upcoming narrative interrogation game from Gungrounds, an independent studio in Zagreb, Croatia. It is inspired by real police footage and psychological interviews. Each case plays out through a suspect's account rather than through action. You examine unreliable stories, behavioural changes, narrative gaps and contradictions, using an in-game casebook to recognise behaviours such as avoidance and fabrication, then choose how to press. Cases are designed for focused 5–10-minute sessions.

Murder Book is in development for PC (Steam) and mobile, with release currently planned for the end of Q2 2027. Read What Is Murder Book? for an overview.

What counts as "story over action"?

For this list, a crime game puts story first if progress depends on what you notice, say or decide, not on aiming, fighting or chasing. Many of these games deal with murder, surveillance or state violence, so their stories can be dark. What they share is that the outcome turns on your judgement.

That makes this a wider list than Best Detective Games Without Combat, which focuses on solving cases. Here you will also find games where you play an informant, a surveillance analyst or someone caught up in a crime.

Story-driven crime games at a glance

Games where you investigate

Pentiment

Pentiment (Obsidian Entertainment, Xbox Game Studios, 2022) is a narrative adventure set in 16th-century Bavaria. As the artist Andreas Maler, you investigate murders through conversations and choices.

Best for: players who enjoy history, character and ambiguity.

Disco Elysium – The Final Cut

Disco Elysium (ZA/UM, 2019; The Final Cut in 2021) is a detective role-playing game in which you investigate a murder. There is no combat in the traditional sense: 24 personality skills speak up in conversation, and dice-roll skill checks decide outcomes. It is long and very text-heavy.

Best for: players who want a deep story told almost entirely through dialogue.

Lacuna – A Sci-Fi Noir Adventure

Lacuna – A Sci-Fi Noir Adventure (DigiTales Interactive, 2021) casts you as agent Neil Conrad. You question people, collect evidence and make deductions. Steam notes that wrong answers are not undone and the story branches on your choices, which gives every conclusion weight. It is on Windows through Steam and on iOS.

Best for: players who want their decisions to stick.

Paradise Killer

Paradise Killer (Kaizen Game Works, Fellow Traveller, 2020) sets a murder investigation on a surreal open-world island. You explore, gather evidence and interrogate suspects before building your case. There is no fighting; the story unfolds through the people you question.

Best for: players who like open-ended investigation and a strong visual style.

Games about surveillance and secrets

Telling Lies

Telling Lies (Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid, Furious Bee Limited; published by Annapurna Interactive, 2019) gives you a stolen database of secretly recorded video conversations. You type words to find clips where they are spoken, then assemble the story yourself. Annapurna's page lists Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Mac, iOS and GOG.

Best for: players who like to piece a story together at their own pace. See also Games Like Telling Lies.

Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You

Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You (Osmotic Studios, Daedalic Entertainment, 2016) puts you in the role of a government surveillance researcher. After a series of attacks, you search web pages, social media, chats and private files, then decide which information reaches the security forces. The story is about the power of that choice.

Best for: players interested in privacy, judgement and consequences.

Beholder

Beholder (Alawar Stargaze, Alawar, 2016) makes you a state-installed landlord who bugs apartments, searches belongings and decides whether to report tenants. It is more a moral surveillance drama than a detective game, and Steam mentions several possible endings.

Best for: players who want a crime story told from the uncomfortable side.

Crime thrillers you direct

Late Shift

Late Shift (CtrlMovie, Wales Interactive, 2017) is a full-motion video crime thriller set during a London heist. You make choices as the film plays, and Steam counts over 180 decision points and seven endings. It has no combat mechanics, but choices happen without pausing, so it is not entirely pressure-free.

Best for: players who want to steer a crime film.

Which crime games mix story with action?

Some crime games have strong stories but also ask you to fight:

• L.A. Noire combines crime scene investigation and questioning with chases, fistfights and gunfights.
• Sherlock Holmes Chapter One is an open-world investigation, but Steam notes that "Weapons might help you in a pinch".

Both can still appeal to story-focused players, as long as you know what to expect. If you want your choices to shape a crime story, Best Choice-Based Crime Games goes further, and Best Dialogue-Driven Mystery Games focuses on conversation.

Sources

1. Pentiment official website
2. Disco Elysium – The Final Cut on Steam
3. Lacuna – A Sci-Fi Noir Adventure on Steam
4. Telling Lies, Annapurna Interactive
5. Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You on Steam
6. Beholder, Alawar
7. Late Shift, Wales Interactive
8. Late Shift on Steam
9. Paradise Killer on Steam
10. L.A. Noire on Steam
11. Sherlock Holmes Chapter One on Steam
12. Murder Book press sheet, Gungrounds