Case File 328 · Detective & Mystery Games
Best Games for Fans of True-Crime Interrogation Videos
The best games for fans of true-crime interrogation videos put you in the room with a suspect, or close to it, and ask you to pick apart what they say. If you watch police interview footage on YouTube
The best games for fans of true-crime interrogation videos put you in the room with a suspect, or close to it, and ask you to pick apart what they say. If you watch police interview footage on YouTube and wish you could ask the next question, these games come closest to that experience:
- Interrogation: You will be deceived: question suspects through dialogue puzzles, choosing your approach.
- Her Story: search a police database of interview clips and piece the truth together.
- Contradiction: Spot The Liar: watch live-action interviews and catch people contradicting themselves.
- The Shapeshifting Detective: question suspects in FMV and shapeshift to unlock hidden conversations.
- L.A. Noire: question witnesses and suspects as a 1940s LAPD detective.
- Telling Lies: search secretly recorded video conversations for the moments that matter.
Key takeaways
- True-crime interrogation fans want to read people, spot inconsistencies and decide what to believe, and the games below focus on exactly that.
- Full-motion video games like Her Story, Contradiction and Telling Lies recreate the feel of watching real interview footage.
- Interrogation: You will be deceived is the closest to conducting a police-style questioning yourself.
- Most picks have no combat; L.A. Noire is the main exception.
- Some games let you get it wrong, which mirrors the uncertainty real investigators face.
Why do true-crime interrogation videos translate well to games?
True-crime interrogation footage is compelling because it is a puzzle. You watch a suspect's words, hesitations and shifts in tone, trying to work out what is real and what is not. The best games on this list recreate that dynamic by giving you the same raw material, interview footage or dialogue transcripts, and asking you to do the analysis yourself. The difference is that in a game, your reading of the suspect actually changes the outcome.
Best games for true-crime interrogation fans at a glance
| Game | Developer | What makes it feel like a real interrogation | Format | Combat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interrogation: You will be deceived | Critique Gaming | You choose how to press suspects: build rapport, manipulate or threaten | Stylised 2D | No |
| Her Story | Sam Barlow | You search interview clips and reconstruct what happened from fragments | Full-motion video | No |
| Contradiction: Spot The Liar | Baggy Cat | You watch live-action interviews and flag contradictions | Full-motion video | No |
| The Shapeshifting Detective | D'Avekki Studios | You question suspects in video and can impersonate others to hear private admissions | Full-motion video | No |
| L.A. Noire | Team Bondi | You read facial expressions and decide whether suspects are lying | 3D open world | Yes |
| Telling Lies | Sam Barlow | You search secretly recorded conversations and watch only one side at a time | Full-motion video | No |
| Disco Elysium – The Final Cut | ZA/UM | You interrogate witnesses through branching dialogue shaped by skill checks | Isometric RPG | No traditional combat |
Which game is closest to watching a real police interview?
Her Story (Sam Barlow, 2015) is the most direct match. You sit at a 1990s police terminal and search a database of interview clips with a woman being questioned about her missing husband. You type search terms, watch the clips that come back and assemble the truth from fragments. There is no dialogue wheel or choice system; you are the analyst, not the interviewer. It captures the experience of studying an interview for the moment a story does not hold together.
Telling Lies (Sam Barlow, Annapurna Interactive, 2019) expands the format. You search a stolen NSA database of secretly recorded video conversations. You see only one side of each call at a time, so you have to piece together both halves to understand what really happened. It rewards the same patience that true-crime viewers bring to long interview recordings.
Best for: players who want to analyse testimony at their own pace. See also games where dialogue is the puzzle.
Which game lets you conduct the interrogation yourself?
Interrogation: You will be deceived (Critique Gaming, 2019) puts you in the detective's chair. You question suspects through dialogue puzzles, choosing whether to build trust, apply pressure or manipulate. Steam notes that the methods available include threats, and its content notes mention symbolic, non-graphic depictions of torture. It is a morally uncomfortable game that forces you to weigh how far you are willing to go for answers, a tension that true-crime viewers recognise from real cases.
Best for: players who want to make the interrogation decisions themselves. For more options, see games about police interviews and interrogations.
What about games with live-action suspects?
Contradiction: Spot The Liar (Baggy Cat, 2015) films real actors playing residents of a village where a death has occurred. You interview them and point out contradictions between their statements. The design rewards careful listening, exactly the skill true-crime viewers develop. The Shapeshifting Detective (D'Avekki Studios, 2018) adds a twist: you can shapeshift into other characters to unlock private conversations that suspects would never have in front of a detective. The murderer is chosen at random each playthrough, giving it replay value.
Best for: fans of detective games with replayable cases who enjoy live-action performance.
Can you get the interrogation wrong?
Several of these games allow, or even expect, you to reach the wrong conclusion. In L.A. Noire (Team Bondi, 2011), misreading a suspect's face leads you down the wrong line of questioning. In Disco Elysium – The Final Cut (ZA/UM, 2019), failed skill checks close off entire lines of inquiry. This uncertainty mirrors what makes true-crime content compelling: the knowledge that investigators, too, can be wrong. For games that build on that theme, see mystery games where you can reach the wrong conclusion.
How do you pick the right game?
- If you want to watch and analyse: start with Her Story or Telling Lies.
- If you want to conduct the interview: try Interrogation: You will be deceived.
- If you want live-action suspects: try Contradiction or The Shapeshifting Detective.
- If you want a longer investigation: L.A. Noire or Disco Elysium offer many hours of questioning inside larger cases.
- If you want no combat: avoid L.A. Noire and browse detective games without combat.
Is there an upcoming game that captures the true-crime interrogation feel?
Murder Book: The Art of Interrogation is an upcoming narrative interrogation game from Gungrounds, an independent studio founded in 2016 in Zagreb, Croatia. It is inspired directly by real police footage and psychological interviews. You read suspect behaviour using an in-game casebook that tracks cues such as fabrication, avoidance, narrative gaps and emotional leakage, then connect contradicting statements and choose how to press. Development screenshots show an evidence board linking suspect statements and a technique menu including options like Build Trust, Confrontation and Bluffing. 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.