Skip to content
indielist (beta)

The best detective indie games, ranked by reviews

5 min read for players

detectivegenre-guidedata-reportrecommendations

Data report Assembled from live indielist data on 2026-06-06. Rankings update as data changes.

indielist tracks 26 detective indie games on Steam, holding 988,737 reviews at an average of 92% positive. This list ranks them by Steam review count, the most reliable public sales proxy, with a white-box sales estimate behind every title. The most reviewed is Phasmophobia with 676,875 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are modeled estimates that each expand into their full formula.

The ranking

  1. Phasmophobia · 676,875 reviews · 95% positive · 2020
  2. Disco Elysium - The Final Cut · 114,817 reviews · 93% positive · 2019
  3. Return of the Obra Dinn · 31,275 reviews · 97% positive · 2018
  4. Chants of Sennaar · 27,634 reviews · 98% positive · 2023
  5. Contraband Police · 24,005 reviews · 95% positive · 2023
  6. Demonologist · 18,497 reviews · 85% positive · 2023
  7. Shadows of Doubt · 17,368 reviews · 82% positive · 2024
  8. Raging Loop · 10,122 reviews · 96% positive · 2017
  9. Back to the Dawn · 10,078 reviews · 95% positive · 2025
  10. The Roottrees are Dead · 8,578 reviews · 97% positive · 2025
  11. Duck Detective: The Secret Salami · 6,524 reviews · 95% positive · 2024
  12. Tangle Tower · 6,119 reviews · 95% positive · 2019
  13. Hypnospace Outlaw · 5,430 reviews · 97% positive · 2019
  14. GNOSIA · 4,878 reviews · 94% positive · 2022
  15. Perfect Heist 2 · 4,614 reviews · 93% positive · 2021
  16. The Rise of the Golden Idol · 3,944 reviews · 93% positive · 2024
  17. This Bed We Made · 3,070 reviews · 91% positive · 2023
  18. Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping · 2,614 reviews · 97% positive · 2025
  19. Zoochosis · 2,340 reviews · 61% positive · 2024
  20. West Hunt · 2,152 reviews · 83% positive · 2023

How this list is built

Games are ranked by Steam review count, the most reliable public proxy for sales when actual figures are private. Each title links to its indielist page, where the white-box sales estimate expands into the full Boxleiter formula, so you can audit the number rather than trust a black box. Review counts come from Steam; sales figures are modeled estimates, not official sales data.

Want the underlying estimate for your own game? Try the sales estimator, or browse the full game directory.