Mystery Games vs. Puzzle Games: What's the Difference?

Despite being a mystery game fan and developer for so long, I only learned the answer this year -- and it shocked me

Happy Mystery Monday!

When I began writing about mystery games last year, I had to ask myself a question: what exactly is the definition of a mystery game?

The definition of mystery, according to dictionary.com, has several interpretations. The word can range from any kind of secret that remains unexplained, to anything that is so obscure it arouses curiosity, and even to a number of religious (particularly Christian) interpretations.

But the definition that naturally comes to all of our minds is the following: “a story whose plot involves a crime or event that remains puzzingly unsolved until the end.”

This definition, alongside many months of researching and playing dozens of games, led me to a satisfying conclusion: a mystery game is a cross between a story game and a puzzle game.

But the use of the word "puzzle" in this definition had me wanting to dig deeper.

After all, does this mean that every puzzle game is also a mystery game?

That would seem absurd — but the next question is, where and how do we draw the line?

Mystery Games vs. Puzzle Games

The key difference between mystery games and puzzle games (as the definition would imply) is the emphasis on story.

In many puzzle games, story exists merely as a backdrop or an excuse for the gameplay.

It provides reasons to introduce new mechanics or move the player from one level to the next, but it’s rarely essential to the experience.

For example, in a puzzle game that introduces different environments or abilities, the story might be used to explain why these changes occur without actually driving the player to engage with the narrative on a meaningful level.

Some puzzle games omit the story altogether to focus purely on the mechanics, offering a streamlined experience where the only objective is to solve each puzzle.

Other games might be a legitimate blend of story and puzzle, but no one would really consider them mystery games because the story exists separately from the puzzle-solving itself.

Mystery games, on the other hand, fully integrate story and puzzle.

In a mystery game, the story is the puzzle — every game object, every environment, and every gameplay mechanic serves the larger goal of uncovering the hidden truth about the story.

The story is not a statement, but a question — and your job as the player is to seek out its answer.

As a result, mystery games offer a distinctly unique experience from pure puzzle games.

Puzzle games like Tetris or Sudoku lack a story. So while it might be a mystery as to which blocks or numbers should go where, those games are not mystery games.

A game like Ace Attorney is obviously a mystery game because it’s about understanding the narrative of events related to a particular set of court cases.

The Zero Escape series features a number of escape rooms, and the clues found inside each room (which are required to solve each puzzle) not only add depth to the setting but also reveal pieces of the overarching story.

Games like Her Story, Return of the Obra Dinn, and The Case of the Golden Idol are about reconstructing a narrative through unique gameplay mechanics.

And games like Firewatch, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, and Gone Home are all about exploring a 3D environment to unravel mysterious events.

These games all vary in genre and style so much, but can all be considered mystery games — because their stories are all puzzles.

If you start to analyze every game individually, you will still find that some games have more mystery elements than others — but that is a conversation for another time.

The best kind of litmus test is to ask if the puzzles and gameplay are designed in a way that uncovers the truth behind an obscured set of narrative events — the what, who, where, when, why, and how of a story.

If so, then you’ve found a mystery game.

Why Blend Story With Puzzle?

With all that out of the way, some of you might be asking: Why should I add story to my puzzle game? How does that benefit the player?

So, here are 7 ways a mystery game stands out from the typical puzzle game:

1. Strong Emotional Connections

Puzzle games, with their focus on abstract problems, typically lack any characters or roles for players to immerse themselves in.

As a result, much of the incentive to play a puzzle game comes from wanting to solve the next puzzle, rather than wanting to see what happens next (or to influence what happens next) in the story.

Mystery games, on the other hand, introduce players to complex characters with motives and secrets, encouraging players to form attachments and emotional investments.

Players may also take up a specific role (such as a detective, lawyer, or police officer) that deepens immersion.

This role-playing element helps players feel like active participants in the story, driving a sense of purpose and identity within the game world.

2. Holistic Experience

In mystery games, puzzles are often embedded in real-world situations and require deductive reasoning based on the story’s context.

They challenge players to connect different elements (like timelines, alibis, and witness statements) within a narrative framework.

Players must analyze evidence, consider motives, and piece together clues in ways that mirror real investigative thinking.

This adds complexity and variety to problem-solving, making it feel more like a holistic experience than a disconnected series of abstract challenges.

Instead, each puzzle encourages deeper, layered thinking that’s directly tied to the storyline.

3. Exploration and Discovery

In mystery games, players explore environments, talk to characters, and uncover information piece by piece, which can feel more rewarding than simply moving through a sequence of puzzles.

An entire world is brought to life: the time and place and the characters in it.

The player curiously wonders what’s around the next corner — what might be hidden in the darkness or buried underground.

A good environmental puzzle in a mystery game will use the puzzle as a way to reveal some information about its environment — or in story terms, its setting.

Each revelation is not simply given away for free, but instead driven forward by the player’s own curious mind.

This journey of piecing together information creates a sense of progress and immersion beyond what’s possible in a purely mechanical puzzle game.

4. High Stakes

Mystery games leverage suspense to draw players in and keep them on edge.

The stakes can feel high, especially in murder mysteries or thrillers, where a player’s investigation has serious consequences.

After all, the reason why a mystery often revolves around a crime (especially a murder) is because the consequences are so dangerous and so irreversible.

Mystery games often include choices that can affect the outcome, like deciding who to trust or how to approach a suspect.

Players might also return to see how different choices affect the story, or to gain further insight after understanding the full mystery.

The less connected a puzzle is to the story, the lower its stakes, and the less incentive the player has to solve it.

5. Moral Complexity

Again, why do so many mysteries revolve around crime?

If the player’s goal is to seek the truth, then the game’s goal is to hide it.

And who would want to cover up the truth more than someone who has done something morally wrong?

Mystery games can become especially interesting when the player’s pursuit of truth conflicts with his or her own moral values.

Players are forced to think critically about their own values and judgments to make difficult moral decisions that impact the story.

Mystery games also delve into themes like deception, justice, and human motivations, allowing players to explore the psychology behind actions and events.

While pure puzzle games deal mainly with logic, math, and other programmatic mechanics, mystery games uniquely deal with the human condition.

6. Cross-Genre Appeal

You can add a mystery to any genre of game (or story, for that matter).

Outside of games, mysteries are a hot genre, so you can enhance the appeal of your game simply by turning an ordinary story into a mystery to be solved.

Although many game genres also incorporate pure puzzles, they might feel disconnected because they interrupt the game's flow, or even feel like a waste of time (filler content) because they lack any relevance to the game's story.

On the other hand, it can be relatively straightforward to integrate mystery elements into any genre of game, simply by transforming a statement into a question.

Rather than telling or even showing elements of the story, mystery games leave them as secrets for players to unravel for themselves.

7. Narrative Closure

Finally, mystery games often leave players with a memorable narrative, as they remember not just the mechanics but the story, characters, and the emotional highs and lows.

Solving a mystery is inherently satisfying because it brings closure to a narrative arc, tying together clues and resolving plot points.

A series of puzzles might eventually become boring — but when they are tied together by a meaningful narrative, they become individual bumps on a rollercoaster ride.

This sense of resolution provides an emotional payoff that goes beyond simply solving a challenging puzzle, and it also leaves a stronger and longer-lasting impression.

Conclusion

As usual, these are really just my own thoughts, so feel free to comment below if you think differently.

However, every time I sit down and think about it, I’m truly convinced that a mystery game really is a game where the story is the puzzle.

It honestly blows my mind, because I never thought about it that way before starting Mystery Gamedev.

I love stories, but I get bored if there aren’t any questions to think about.

I also love puzzles, but I get bored if there isn’t a narrative context for them.

And that’s why I love mystery games so much — they’re the best of both worlds!

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