On Fri, 21 Jan 2022 22:21:09 -0700, PW
<iamnotusingonewithAgent@notinuse.com> wrote:

>I watch Perry Mason once or twice a week even if I have seen it before
>a couple of times. I listen to old radio classics like Johnny Dollar,
>Dragnet, and Dragnet TV shows. Not much on these days like those.

>I used to love Columbo when it was on (dating myself!!) and love the
>old black and white murder mysteries and detective shows and movies.

>Is there any game like that? I have some Sherlock Holmes, and keep
>thinking about booting up LA Noire again (it has been years since I
>started it but didn't get far)

>Any suggestions? Not too old.

Despite your 'not too old' request, I'm gonna start by recommending
some old games. Don't disregard them right away; a number of them have
had re-mastered versions that update the graphics, and others remain
solid games despite their age.

- He's not technically a detective, but you might enjoy the Gabriel
Knight series (especially the first one, which has a distinctly noir
feel to it). It was recently re-mastered, but even the original holds
up quite well if you take into consideration that it was released in
1993. Still, the re-mastered has improved graphics and you needn't
worry about running it through DOSBox.

- The first "Broken Sword" game (a.k.a., "Shadow of the Templars",
a.k.a., "Circle of Blood") has similar tone and gameplay, although it
similarly verges a bit into the supernatural and the protagonist isn't
nominally a detective. But its delightful - and re-mastered - visuals
and modern setting make its mystery appealing, despite a few gameplay
missteps (yes, I'm talking about that damn goat!) and it's considered
one of PC gaming's classics for a reason.

- "Blade Runner" is slightly more modern, albeit only by a few years
(as opposed to the others, which were written for DOS, "Blade Runner"
was designed for Windows 95). However, it too has seen a recent
re-master which improved the visuals and made it run on modern PCs.
The game excellently captures the look and feel of the movie it was
based on, and while it verges slightly more towards "adventure game"
tropes than the others, it is still an excellent title, especially if
you like the franchise.

- The "Last Express" is another late-era DOS game that had a
re-mastered version released in recent years. It places you in the
1920s on the Orient Express trying to figure out a murder and
conspiracy. It's a real-time game (as in, things happen on a schedule,
whether you're there to witness them or not) and slower-paced action
aren't to everyone's liking, but it is an excellent and challenging
mystery.

- A few other DOS era games worthy of mention: The Tex Murphy series
plays hard and true to the hard-bitten noir detective trope (albeit in
a vaguely sci-fi setting), which are their main appeal. The visuals
and hammy acting are definitely mid-90s though, so if that's a major
downside, I wouldn't recommend. Similarly, "Ripper", "The Dame Was
Loaded", "Jack the Ripper" are all solid adventure games but the aging
visuals and gameplay (again, they are all mid-90s DOS games) may put
you off. Still, I urge you not to at least consider them.

Moving to the Modern Era...

- The "Return of Obra Dinn" has you piecing together the disappearance
of the crew of the eponymous boat. It uses a very stylistic monochrome
visual style, but the gameplay is extremely solid.

- Of course, Sherlock Holmes is the definitive detective, and -
unsurprisingly - there have been a lot of games based on the
character. I've always been rather fond of the ICOM Simulations
"Consulting Detective" series, largely because I felt they captured
the era so well. Their age (the games are from the early '90s) and
gameplay probably put them outside of your comfort zone, so I'm only
mentioning them and not recommending them. The 2014 Sherlock Holmes
game, "Crimes and Punishments", is probably considered one of the
better modern interpretations. Meanwhile, "The Devil's Daughter" seems
to be one of those games that is given away as a freebie quite often,
so you may have it already.

- A more modern take on detectives is "Hypnospace Outlaw", which is as
much hacker as private investigator. You need to piece together the
clues gathered from a simulated early-2000s version of the Internet.
It's no Columbo, but the core conceit of gathering information to make
your case is there. "Her Story" and "Telling Lies" are similarly based
on pulling together evidence from archived data stores (usually in the
form of video-calls or interviews) and figuring out how it all hangs
together, but the video-heavy gameplay wasn't to my liking.

- It's fairly light on its gameplay, but "Murdered: Soul Suspect" has
a unique twist on the genre (you're a ghost trying to figure out your
own murder). It's fairly light on the detective aspects (you basically
stumble upon the clues) but its investigatory tone may appeal.

- Likewise, "What Remains of Edith Finch" isn't properly a detective
game, but the goal of the game is to piece together the history of the
eponymous 'Edith Finch' through a variety of walking-sim style
mini-games, each one exploring the personality and life of a different
member of her family. Maybe consider it a palette cleanser between
more serious detective games.

- One game I can't recommend is "L.A. Noir", even though superficially
it is the best detective game of the lot. It captures the setting -
1940s Los Angeles - perfectly, and the gameplay is nothing but
detective work: finding clues, interrogating witnesses, even some
action chases. I just don't think the game is actually all that much
fun to play. There's no heart or warmth to any of the characters, the
world feels lifeless despite all the detail, and the gameplay is
repetitive and unexciting. It's a game I /want/ to love, but just
can't get into.

Those are just a few off the top of my head. Hope it helped.

Am 24.01.22 um 00:08 schrieb PW:
> So many good looking titles Spalls! Enough to keep me busy for hours
> just researching them.
Another one: Blues and Bullets where you play an aging Eliott Ness:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues_and_Bullets

Am 25.01.22 um 04:58 schrieb PW:
> On Mon, 24 Jan 2022 21:48:03 +0100, "Werner P." <werpu@gmx.at> wrote:
>
>> Am 24.01.22 um 00:08 schrieb PW:
>>> So many good looking titles Spalls! Enough to keep me busy for hours
>>> just researching them.
>> Another one: Blues and Bullets where you play an aging Eliott Ness:
>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues_and_Bullets
>>
>
> *--
>
> Here is one review. I am not sure I should bother:
>
> "Wow, this was a big letdown. I even kind of liked the first Episode,
> however I remember performance being abysmal. There was a lot of time
> between releases of the first two episodes and it was apparent that
> the developer did not have the funds to finish the game. The result...
> only 2 out of 5 episodes were released.
>
> I could comment on the game itself. It's noir style, the characters
> and more.. but what is the point? The game is not finished and it will
> never be finished. So if you happen to stumble upon this title.. just
> don't."
The performance is not great but this is not a fast paced action game
anyway ... so I acutally did not notice any huge performance problems
when I started it the first time at the weekend to test my Linux setup.
This has been in my pile of shame for ages, but so far it looked quite
interesting.
(Testing currently how many of my steam games run in Linux, so far it
looks quite good, I had only one game which literally crapped on me, and
even that would have been fixable by a bigger intervention in the
loading stack)