Games Like Sarawak

No criminal has ever been a match for you, and everybody is looking forward to a description of your brilliant deductions. There is just one small problem. One tiny detail that makes it different this time. A mere trifle, really. This time you have no idea who did it.

Why similar: Text-Based 17.8%, Interactive Fiction 15.8%, Detective 11.1%, Choose Your Own Adventure 10%, Investigation 9.5%

Famous detective Kosuke Kindaichi's first case, the Honjin Murder Mystery. Honjin descendant Kenzo Ichiyanagi and his new wife Katsuko Kubo lay dead in a bed of blood on the night of their wedding. Kosuke Kindaichi searches for the truth about this locked room murder mystery. However...

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 18.6%, Text-Based 13.9%, Detective 13.1%, Mystery 11.8%, Investigation 10.9%

Every story ever written has an alternate world that coexists with ours. When a large number of parallel universes are suddenly destroyed, Billie Beetleneck sets off on his hardest case yet in this interactive visual novel.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 17%, Text-Based 16.2%, Detective 14.8%, Investigation 12.8%, Visual Novel 10.3%

「ナカノ人格移植研究所」は、周回型ミステリー2Dアドベンチャーゲームです。 それぞれの周回でプレイヤーが憑依する対象の登場人物を選択することで、その登場人物を主人公としてストーリーを進めながら謎を解き明かします。 プレイヤーは本ゲームの中で 4 つのパートを行き来しながらストーリーを進めます。 ノベルパートでは、クリックしながら物語を読み進めます。 探索パートでは、画面上のアイテムをクリックしながら物語を読み進めます。 移動パートでは、再度ビューでプレイヤーを操作し、船の中を探索します。 会議パートでは、他のパートで集めた手がかりを利用して他の登場人物と会話します。

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 18.8%, Choose Your Own Adventure 13.9%, Text-Based 12.5%, Detective 11.4%, Visual Novel 9.6%

Kamilia is a story-driven, choices-matter detective mystery. Follow a talented painter who finds himself wrapped up in an unsolved case, as he tries to unveil a hidden truth that has been buried for years.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 13.2%, Mystery 12.7%, Detective 11.8%, Dialogue Heavy 10.5%, Visual Novel 10.5%

Authentic Mystery ADV Alice49 Episode 0 Diamonds and Cream Puffs An adventure game to solve a mystery hidden in a mystery novel.

Why similar: Text-Based 23.3%, Mystery 19.8%, Choose Your Own Adventure 18.3%, Visual Novel 12.1%, Detective 12%

Your job is to make humanity happy. Observe the people living in your assigned district and make the best choices to ensure everyone's happiness.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 22.2%, Text-Based 22.1%, Choose Your Own Adventure 17.6%, Visual Novel 11.3%, Dialogue Heavy 10.8%

Summer Story: An adventure game where you investigate and make choices that shape the story.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 20.2%, Text-Based 15.1%, Choose Your Own Adventure 14.8%, Visual Novel 10.7%, Investigation 8%

Who killed your best friend?! Find out the truth before 4 suspects frame you instead! Death Becomes You is a mystery visual novel where you untangle the dark secrets and relationships between your fellow magic university students.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 17.7%, Text-Based 14.4%, Choose Your Own Adventure 11.2%, Mystery 10.8%, Investigation 10.5%

A fantasy adventure visual novel with humor and heart, by acclaimed adventure game writer Lori Ann Cole. Starring the voice of Zehra Fazal as Tilly, a mischief-making rogue at Hero-U, the school for heroes.

Why similar: Text-Based 17.7%, Interactive Fiction 16.2%, Dialogue Heavy 15.4%, Choose Your Own Adventure 10.6%, Visual Novel 9.7%

What do mirror reflections do once they have no one to repeat after anymore? Play as Iris, quite a sarcastic reflection torn between the urge to unravel the mystery of death of her “prototype” and the need to find her place in a mirrored world.

Why similar: Text-Based 16.6%, Interactive Fiction 15.1%, Choose Your Own Adventure 11.2%, Investigation 9.9%, Dialogue Heavy 9.9%

Suhoshin is a 2D Visual Novel set in the medieval Joseon period of Korea. While investigating a series of mysterious murders, you will have to make choices that will lead you down different paths toward different endings.

Why similar: Text-Based 15.2%, Interactive Fiction 13.3%, Mystery 11.4%, Visual Novel 10.9%, Detective 9.3%

A School Prefect has been pushed out of a window, and everyone's blaming YOU. Can you find the culprit - or someone to take the fall - before you get EXPELLED? Mystery with a wicked twist, from the creators of Overboard!, 80 Days, Heaven's Vault and A Highland Song.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 17.5%, Investigation 13.3%, Dialogue Heavy 11.8%, Detective 9.6%, Mystery 9.3%

This game is based on the theme of love & light reasoning. Even if you choose the wrong option, it will not lead to game over. It is very suitable for casual players who like love reasoning but don't want to waste their brain cells.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 24.4%, Investigation 18.7%, Text-Based 17.8%, Dialogue Heavy 13.9%, Visual Novel 13%

An idol livestreamer is searching for her missing partner. You are not just watching her stream. Interfere with her broadcast, investigate clues on and off stream, and uncover the truth behind her partner’s disappearance.

Why similar: Text-Based 14.4%, Mystery 14.1%, Choose Your Own Adventure 13.2%, Investigation 13.1%, Detective 12.8%

A sci-fi detective game where you interrogate the brain scans of crime victims. Uncover the hidden truth behind the dystopian regime by any means necessary.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 24.7%, Detective 13.9%, Investigation 11.6%, Adventure 10.9%, Text-Based 10.4%

[Telltale - Casino Murder] is a full-voice indie mystery game with the youngest lawyer, Kang Ho-yeon, who reveals the truth of the casino murder case and achieves innocence at trial.

Why similar: Mystery 17.6%, Detective 16.9%, Text-Based 14.9%, Investigation 13.9%, Dialogue Heavy 11.2%

Alchemy, puzzles, and a crashed starship. Old-style interactive fiction — a classic text adventure. No graphics! No dialogue trees! No point-and-click! You type your commands, and read what happens next.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 36.6%, Text-Based 35%, Choose Your Own Adventure 15%, Adventure 6.3%, Indie 4.3%

Ranko and her friend Astrid must investigate the vanishing of a girl from their school. Learn about the secrets of St. Joachim to find her, but be cautious! A bad step may lead you towards an ugly end...

Why similar: Text-Based 18.1%, Detective 15.5%, Choose Your Own Adventure 13.6%, Visual Novel 11.4%, Mystery 10.4%

"Someone must have been telling lies about Josef K., he knew he had done nothing wrong but, one morning, he was arrested." Story about life, choices and a Man vs the System. This unique interactive literature adaptation. A game, brought to You in early visual novel, text-adventure style.

Why similar: Text-Based 20.7%, Interactive Fiction 18.9%, Choose Your Own Adventure 12.8%, Mystery 11.3%, Visual Novel 11.1%

Rumor Reporter is a Golden Age whodunit mystery. Play as senior reporter Veronica Chase as you explore Greyhaven Island in the Celtic Sea, 1920s. Choose where to investigate, who to question, and what to publish. Your report shapes public opinion, drives arrests, and changes the island’s future.

Why similar: Detective 17.1%, Mystery 14.2%, Investigation 13.9%, Interactive Fiction 13.2%, Choose Your Own Adventure 10.5%

A narrative investigation game played across multiple sessions. Read corporate documents, cross-reference fragments, and build a persistent Dossier as an AI uncovering the conspiracy — and the murder — at the heart of the network it lives in. Knowledge is the only progression.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 16.9%, Text-Based 15%, Detective 12.7%, Choose Your Own Adventure 12.5%, Investigation 10.5%

Vanakan is the journey of Tadevos - a priest, who travels the 500s Armenia to find the monastery that suits for his goal of becoming spiritually closer to Jesus Christ. He meets different people on his way and makes choices which will define his future and that of the country.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 29%, Text-Based 25.4%, Choose Your Own Adventure 18.2%, Adventure 12.7%, Story Rich 4.8%

A detective noir puzzle deduction game. Explore a non-linear timeline as a clairvoyant investigator in 1941 Borneo. Jump between time and locations to uncover motives and discover what truly happened in the Goodwill tobacco plantation that fateful night on the eve of the WW2 Japanese invasion.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 22.1%, Detective 19.7%, Text-Based 16.6%, Visual Novel 8%, Adventure 7.7%

GET AWAY WITH MURDER. Highly replayable detective game where you're the one whodunnit. From the creators of 80 Days and Heaven's Vault.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 16.4%, Text-Based 14.2%, Detective 13.5%, Dialogue Heavy 11.2%, Choose Your Own Adventure 10.9%

《墨心》是一款将古代中国幻想元素和悬疑科幻相融合的国产视觉小说。男主（你）从昏迷中醒来丧失了记忆，发现自己和另外两女一男困于巨轮密室中。面对匪夷所思的船体变异，恐怖致命的巨型怪物，你们能否成功逃脱？而这超自然的现象，似乎跟一件千年前的战国墨家宝物有关......

Why similar: Text-Based 17.5%, Investigation 12.8%, Interactive Fiction 11.7%, Dialogue Heavy 11.1%, Choose Your Own Adventure 10.7%

A detective game where you fiddle information to your advantage. As an owner of a small bar, listen to visitors of your establishment, overhear their gossiping, collect information and then use to manipulate their thoughts and actions.

Why similar: Text-Based 15.7%, Interactive Fiction 13.9%, Detective 13%, Choose Your Own Adventure 12.3%, Visual Novel 9.1%

A hand-illustrated visual mystery adventure that can be beaten in one sitting.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 16.3%, Investigation 12.1%, Text-Based 12.1%, Dialogue Heavy 11.2%, Stylized 9.5%

A story-rich coming-of-age experience told through a 2004 desktop, where friendships, music, and late-night conversations shape who you become. Explore chats, drama, mini-games, and the early internet in a branching story about growing up, making mistakes, and finding your place.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 22.9%, Text-Based 19%, Dialogue Heavy 14.3%, Visual Novel 13.9%, Choose Your Own Adventure 8.4%

Pine Hill is a quiet Midwestern college town. Quiet enough that nobody seemed to hear Ginny Nicholson die. Alone with the thoughts in your head, now you just want to know one thing: why?

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 21.6%, Text-Based 20.9%, Dialogue Heavy 11.2%, Visual Novel 11.1%, Choose Your Own Adventure 10.9%

This choices-matter visual novel is narrative-heavy, filled with beautifully illustrated characters, intricate stories, and two distinct endings.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 23.6%, Choose Your Own Adventure 14.4%, Visual Novel 12.1%, Adventure 10.3%, Detective 9.7%

A Pentiment-like set in 19th-century Malaysia, featuring pirates, East Indiamen, headhunters, a locked-room murder mystery, a blade of meteoric ore, a tarot deck, a mountain of light, and a tiger. It’s time to put your thinking cap on; as for those voices in your head – probably best to ignore them.

Why similar: Text-Based 15.8%, Interactive Fiction 15.2%, Dialogue Heavy 12.7%, Investigation 12.6%, Detective 10.2%

这是一款以中式校园为背景的推理类文字游戏，你将扮演一名高中生司空茂，在开学第一天目击密室杀人事件的现场，并经过调查和推理解决案件，找出真正的犯人和真相背后更深的阴谋。但在享受侦探游戏的同时，请千万不要忽视学习。保持情绪稳定，尽量维持活下去的念头...记住，你的成绩，永远比案件要更重要。

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 20.2%, Text-Based 18.7%, Detective 17.7%, Choose Your Own Adventure 15.2%, Visual Novel 10.7%

Roadwarden is an illustrated text-based RPG that uses isometric pixel art and combines mechanics borrowed from RPGs, Visual Novels, adventure games and interactive fiction.

Why similar: Text-Based 35%, Interactive Fiction 18.4%, Choose Your Own Adventure 11.2%, Adventure 6.5%, Story Rich 6.2%

Determine the fate of Ventreville! Play as six protagonists with unique abilities and stories, their arcs tied to each other by the sudden murder of the Avidines. Make your choices count! The final protagonist, the interrogating detective, will only know as much as your previous characters know…

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 17%, Text-Based 16.6%, Detective 11.4%, Choose Your Own Adventure 11.2%, Visual Novel 9%

A puzzle-detective game set in 1990s China: play as a forensic artist, interview witnesses, drag and drop testimony and documents, sketch suspects from clues, and piece together evidence to solve mysterious crimes.

Why similar: Detective 18%, Interactive Fiction 17.7%, Investigation 14.7%, Mystery 13.4%, Choose Your Own Adventure 10.6%

Wax Heads is a cozy-punk narrative sim about working in a struggling record store. Chat to quirky customers with unique tastes, explore a handcrafted record collection, fall in love with bands (and their drama!), or just slack off with your colleagues - whatever gets everyone’s groove back!

Why similar: Dialogue Heavy 17.6%, Text-Based 15.1%, Stylized 14.7%, Interactive Fiction 13.3%, Detective 10.2%

Ironic point & click adventure where a once brilliant detective quits his trade and lands a job in IT to make a living. But even in the seemingly mundane world of office life, there are secrets to be uncovered. Navigate through puzzles, quirky colleagues, and intrigues to crack corporate mysteries.

Why similar: Text-Based 17.2%, Detective 17%, Investigation 13.5%, Interactive Fiction 12.6%, Mystery 10.7%

A humorous sci-fi text-driven adventure where you play a support engineer sent to fix system failures in a secret research complex. Explore strange labs, investigate bizarre incidents, solve absurd problems, talk to depressed robots, and make choices that lead to multiple endings.

Why similar: Text-Based 21.6%, Interactive Fiction 16.3%, Visual Novel 10.5%, Choose Your Own Adventure 10.3%, Investigation 9.8%

A unique adventure, where every choice shapes your fate. A classic gamebook brought to life, with countless paths to discover.

Why similar: Text-Based 23.5%, Interactive Fiction 23.1%, Choose Your Own Adventure 18.1%, Visual Novel 11.8%, Story Rich 6.8%

In a world of fairies, a childhood friend suddenly calls Beatrice back to her old hometown. Yet when she arrives, her friend is mysteriously missing.

Why similar: Dialogue Heavy 18.4%, Detective 15.4%, Mystery 13.3%, Investigation 11.9%, Visual Novel 10.5%

Turn on your ghost detector and join your new pals in a funny, thrilling, and lovingly-presented interactive text adventure. Brain-teasing puzzles, a cartoon visual style, and engaging audio design - Delete After Reading weaves a delightful interactive tale.

Why similar: Text-Based 17.7%, Interactive Fiction 16.5%, Detective 13%, Mystery 11%, Choose Your Own Adventure 10.7%

A narrative puzzle-thriller that blurs the lines between games and books, reality and fiction, puzzles and storytelling.

Why similar: Text-Based 15%, Detective 14%, Interactive Fiction 13.7%, Investigation 11.9%, Stylized 8.9%

You went to the desert to rest. You crushed a worm. Now it talks to you in dreams.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 18.1%, Text-Based 13.4%, Visual Novel 12.1%, Mystery 11.2%, Dialogue Heavy 10.6%

Peek into the sins and memories of five personalities through surveillance cameras──This is an immersive, mystery adventure game that unravels the thoughts of the dark past that lie dormant inside Sofia,a suspect in the murder of a presidential candidate, and uncovers the truth behind the crime.

Why similar: Text-Based 24.6%, Choose Your Own Adventure 17.1%, Visual Novel 14.9%, Investigation 12.3%, Mystery 12%

Need more stress in your life? Meet Laura Silver, a paranoid and insomniac detective tasked with researching Slavic mythology. Do you know anything about the Vodnik? Neither does she. Unfortunately, her incompetence won't be your biggest problem in Czechoslovakia.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 16.9%, Choose Your Own Adventure 12%, Detective 10.9%, Text-Based 10.6%, Mystery 9.7%

Detective Red July must stop a serial killer who patterns his murders after optical illusions in this mystery visual novel set in the world of Methods.

Why similar: Text-Based 18.4%, Interactive Fiction 18.1%, Detective 13.3%, Visual Novel 9.6%, Stylized 9.5%

After being cursed to never leave, Ember must eat all of the food she can in order to find the one that will break the curse!

Why similar: Text-Based 16.1%, Interactive Fiction 14.1%, Dialogue Heavy 11.4%, Investigation 10.7%, Visual Novel 9.2%

Choose, explore, interact, fight, solve, gather, trade! Rise to rebel in this immersive text-based fantasy story that seamlessly merges the best elements of RPGs, choose-your-own-adventure stories, visual novels, and interactive fiction.

Why similar: Text-Based 24.4%, Interactive Fiction 18.2%, Choose Your Own Adventure 14.2%, Visual Novel 11%, Mystery 9.3%

This year's Desire Hierarchy has begun. The stakes are now deadly. Hop into The Specter's Desire, a Visual Novel in which you play against the city's top talents to save your parents. Includes puzzling gameplay that has you tearing down arguments, hatching schemes, and revealing the truth!

Why similar: Text-Based 19%, Interactive Fiction 18.5%, Choose Your Own Adventure 13.3%, Detective 12.2%, Visual Novel 10.2%

CLOSED HANDS is a groundbreaking work of interactive fiction that explores the tangled intertwined stories of five people thrown together by a fictional terror attack.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 31.7%, Text-Based 30.2%, Choose Your Own Adventure 19.2%, Adventure 14%, Indie 3.1%

Twelve years after Senior Inspector Jeon Gyeong's retirement, she is visited by a young police officer: a woman who pleads with her to reexamine Seowon's case. But with each uncovered memory, only one thing becomes clear: everyone in Seowon's vicinity was lying.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 20%, Text-Based 17.6%, Investigation 14.8%, Detective 11.4%, Visual Novel 10.7%

Decipher interstellar transmissions encoded via substitution ciphers aboard Eremite Station. In this choice driven narrative, uncover secrets from planetary factions while conversing with crewmates to reveal their stories and troubles. The ripples of your choices may be felt throughout the galaxy.

Why similar: Text-Based 23.3%, Interactive Fiction 21.7%, Mystery 10.5%, Dialogue Heavy 10.1%, Choose Your Own Adventure 10%

A gritty, semi-kinetic visual novel about broken people and notorious gangsters, featuring six individualized routes with six different endings.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 20.8%, Text-Based 17.8%, Detective 15.7%, Visual Novel 11%, Stylized 8.7%

When you start the game, the narrator will instruct you to “close your eyes.” At that moment, whether you actually close them or keep them open will change the course of the story. Listen carefully to the voice as you proceed, and find your way to the truth.

Why similar: Interactive Fiction 21.3%, Text-Based 17.1%, Visual Novel 12.3%, Choose Your Own Adventure 10.9%, Dialogue Heavy 9.8%

A sound, a flash, a portal… A pirate emerges, bringing a deadly threat. Five friends stand before him, and one of them is the target. But which one? Even they don't know.

Why similar: Text-Based 26.7%, Interactive Fiction 25.7%, Mystery 12.4%, Choose Your Own Adventure 8.9%, Dialogue Heavy 6.3%

A narrative-driven psychological visual novel where every floor of an elevator reveals a key moment from your past. Face your regrets, uncover forgotten memories, and make choices that shape your future. Will you find closure, or remain trapped in your own mind?

Why similar: Text-Based 29.7%, Interactive Fiction 26.7%, Visual Novel 15.7%, Choose Your Own Adventure 7.3%, Choices Matter 6.9%

Medical clerk Manami Sorano discovers a medical record of a non-existent patient. The next day at a hot spring inn, a murder occurs—the victim’s name matches the record. Coincidence or fate? Using her skills and medical records, she unravels the truth in this mystery adventure!

Why similar: Text-Based 29.1%, Choose Your Own Adventure 24.2%, Visual Novel 16.3%, Mystery 14.7%, Adventure 9.3%