Steam Detective Fest and the Golden Age of Mystery Games
With all eyes on the genre, we need keep this momentum going strong.
Today marks the start of the Steam Detective Fest, an event celebrating detective games that runs until next Monday, January 19th.
During this time, you can find over 1,000 detective-themed games, either on sale or at least showcased in the event, with over 300 free demos to try out.
Yes, there really are over one thousand games in the fest!
When I was just starting out making mystery games 15 years ago, it was hard enough to find even a handful of indie devs making similar kinds of games.
And, admittedly, creating a detective game in the first place served as its own unique selling point.
So now, with such a large number of similar games being made, it’s definitely a lot harder to stand out.
But this isn’t a bad thing — in fact, it’s a sign that things are finally moving in the right direction.
The fact that Steam decided to host its own Detective Fest shows they know that it’s a hot genre with a lot of growing demand.
One glance at the Detective Fest page shows all the big hits that everyone talks about, from classics like Ace Attorney and Danganronpa, to indie experiments like Her Story and Return of the Obra Dinn, to more recent successes like The Case of the Golden Idol, The Roottrees are Dead, and even Blue Prince.
All of these games are similar, yet also different. They all appeal to essentially the same audience, yet each one is an entirely unique experience.
And so, Steam’s Detective Fest isn’t just another themed sale. It’s a sign that we’re living in a new era of mystery games — not those defined by their story, but those defined by their gameplay.
Detective Games vs. Mystery Games
First, let’s be clear about what detective games actually are.
All detective games are mystery games, but not all mystery games are detective games.
Think of it in terms of layers.
Surface-level mystery games feature detectives as nothing more than tropes (if they’re in the story at all). But deep-level mystery games turn detective-work into actual gameplay mechanics.
So, mystery games can have a mysterious atmosphere and pose many interesting questions. But if the player isn’t actively deducing the answers, it isn’t a detective game.
This fundamental distinction stems from the fact that games are interactive experiences.
Books and movies are classified in terms of their story genre, but games have always been classified by their gameplay genre — what the player does:
In a platformer, you jump across platforms
In a shooter, you shoot in fast-paced combat.
In a detective game, you make deductions to solve mysteries
So, when a game is described as a detective game, it’s carrying both the narrative connotations of the mystery story-genre, but also the gameplay connotations of actual detective-work.
Look again at the games in Steam Detective Fest, and you’ll now see the core connection. Being a detective isn’t just a surface-level theme, but a deeper gameplay role that the player actively takes on.
Right now, the conditions all exist for detective games to thrive:
Lower barriers to entry for new developers
Mainstream genre visibility on store pages and fests
Clarity about what “detective gameplay” truly means
And these conditions are the perfect storm for an explosion of growth, innovation, and success.
“Detective” as a Marketing Lens
Beyond discounts, demos, and discovery, Detective Fest also plays an important marketing role that benefits developers as much as it does players.
By grouping games under this label, the fest subtly shifts what the word “detective” communicates. It’s not just flavor text. It signals a type of interaction — a promise that the player will be asked to engage mentally, not to simply absorb a story.
And so, as the detective genre become more visible, marketing clarity matters more.
Players know that they’re going to be investigating — the only question that remains to answer is how.
All of these detective games share the same initial idea: that a mystery should be investigated by the player. But it’s up to each individual game to determine specifically how the mystery-solving process occurs.
Over the past two years, I’ve conducted my own investigation into the mystery game genre, and I’ve learned so much about all the different game mechanics that can be used.
There are consistent design patterns that all kinds of mystery games utilize in order to make the player actively take on the role of a detective.
And I’m going to dive deep into all of those mystery game mechanics in upcoming newsletters.
But here’s what you need to know right now: the mystery game landscape is ripe with opportunity. And it’s never been a better time to get involved.
The Golden Age of Mystery Games
I’m far from the only developer noticing just how many mystery games are being created. We’ve seen hit after hit in recent years, and even more games are taking the (reasonable) approach of trying to clone those hits and achieve their own success.
It’s a popular (and maybe even trendy) genre, and everyone wants to get in on the rush.
But I think we’re still actually very early.
Most people only see the surface-level detective aesthetic. Only some will notice just how many possibilities there are in terms of immersion and gameplay.
If you look at the history of mystery stories, even the earliest authors considered them to be a kind of game. It was always an interactive experience between author and reader, and they did their absolute best with the tools they had (pen and paper).
Now we have computers, and the Internet, and so much more. We can build simulations of worlds that actually allow the player the take actions, discover clues, and come to their own conclusions. We can create highly immersive environments, infinitely replayable content, and non-linear outcomes that branch based on the player’s own detective abilities.
The mystery genre has evolved so much over the past 100 years. And now we can build things that the authors of the Golden Age of detective fiction couldn’t even imagine.
There’s a resurgence of interest in mystery stories, and a newfound appreciation for how players can interact with gameplay systems in order to solve them.
We can’t let this sudden popularity fizzle out.
The last official Steam event for mystery games — Mystery Fest — was three whole years ago. We had no clue for years when there was going to be another mystery-themed fest, and by this time next week we’re going to be in that exact same position.
So, it’s important to grab hold of this momentum, and keep consistent mystery-themed sales and events running year-round.
That’s why I’ve previously hosted the Mystery Game Jam twice already (and will be again this year for a third time). That’s also why I hosted the Cold Case Jam, to actually encourage finishing the mystery games that developers have started.
And that’s why I’m consistently writing newsletters on the topic, creating new tools and resources, and even interviewing successful mystery game developers.
If we want to keep this going, we need to work on it together.
How We Can Keep Momentum Strong
And so, I’m announcing — alongside my already busy schedule — the intent to create our own mystery-themed Steam event. To be clear, there is a strict process that I need to follow in order to make it happen, and it’s not entirely within my control, so I can’t guarantee that it actually will.
But in the next few days, I’m going to start asking the developers in our Discord server if they would like to take part. And if there is enough interest, then we’ll have our own event on Steam sometime later this year.
What will set our event apart is the focus on indie devs who have been passionate about the genre, but haven’t had traditional means for marketing their games.
Unsurprisingly — like I said at the start of this article — the Detective Fest page is plastered with the biggest hits on the front. Discoverability is crucial for small, indie devs, and competing against even 1,000 other games is still a tall order.
I would like to spotlight what I consider to be the hidden indie gems of the mystery game world. Those games that are legitimately fun and passionately made, but otherwise aren’t able to gain the visibility that they need.
If you’re interested in this planned event, then please be sure to join the Mystery Gamedev Discord Server so that you can show me your interest and help get it approved as a real event on Steam.
Again — if we want to make this happen, we have to do it together.
Remember that right now, we’re at a pivotal turning point.
There’s a lot of energy and excitement for mystery games right now.
But it’s up to us — fans and developers alike — to keep that momentum going, and create our own Golden Age. Let’s make it happen!
Thanks for reading!
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