We have compiled our 2019 list of best crime, mystery, and thriller games for Xbox One with one goal in mind: To provides players with an amazing experience when it comes to gaming in this genre.
A master collection of old and new titles, our picks include titles such as now classic Grand Theft Auto and Mafia, as well as new releases such as Red Dead Redemption 2 and Just Cause 4.
For our other coverage of thriller and action games, please see Best PS4 Games: 2019 Action And Thriller Edition.
38. True Crime: New York City (2005)
Marcus gets the call to go undercover and becomes obsessed with finding Terry’s killer. If he has to, he’ll take on every gang and mob in the city to do it. Navigate over 25 miles of Manhattan — select from any number of undercover vehicles, or borrow one from the citizens.
Prepare for the nightmare of NYC traffic GPS-accurate streets of Manhattan, complete with subways, hundreds of interiors, internationally recognized landmarks and real neighborhoods from Harlem to Chinatown to Times Square.
37. Batman: Arkham Asylum (2011)
Batman: Arkham Asylum features an original story penned exclusively for the game by famous Batman author and five-time Emmy award winner, Paul Dini, whose credits include “Lost” season one and “Batman: The Animated Series.” As the game begins Batman is personally delivering his nemesis, The Joker, to the asylum at Arkham Island, but he is uneasy.
Although the Arkham asylum is well fortified, he has a nagging feeling that all is not well, which proves to be the case when seconds after turning The Joker over to the guards, the master criminal breaks free of his captors. Even more surprising than this quick turn of events is the revelation that it was never The Joker’s intent to escape the vault-like facility, but instead to trap Batman there.
Surrounded by an asylum full of dangerous criminals, many of which he put there and all at the beck and call of the Joker, can Batman survive and discover what is behind the Joker’s intricate plot?
36. Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments (2014)
His Skills, Your Wits. Crimes and Punishments is a finely detailed investigation game. Each case has a unique and complex storyline, and it is up to the player to put the pieces of each case together in order to make final conclusions and seal the fate of your suspects.
You will use the amazing skills of the legendary Sherlock Holmes as you embody the unconventional detective in this groundbreaking investigation game. Unlike any other of its kind, Crimes and Punishments puts all control in your hands. You decide whom to interrogate, which clues to collect, and how to put facts together to build a case.
You can even imprison the wrong person should you choose. However, unexpected consequences may arise where you least expect them if you make the wrong decisions. In Crimes and Punishments you will take on a number of fascinating crimes, including murders, thefts, and missing persons.
There are 6 full-length cases, each with a variety of possible endings. In each case you must examine the crime scene, find clues, conduct historical research, locate suspects, run interrogations, examine the evidence, and come to an educated conclusion. Exquisite graphics and true-to-life scenery compliment the gritty realism of Crimes and Punishments.
35. Red Dead Redemption (2010)
Red Dead Redemption is a Western epic, set at the turn of the 20th century when the lawless and chaotic badlands began to give way to the expanding reach of government and the spread of the Industrial Age. The story of former outlaw, John Marston, Red Dead Redemption takes players on a great adventure across the American frontier.
The Legends and Killers Multiplayer Pack: Adds to the Red Dead multiplayer experience with nine additional active Competitive mode map locations tailored for multiplayer action, 8 playable characters from Red Dead Revolver, the devastating Tomahawk weapon and more.
Sleeping Dogs is an open-world action game set on the exotic island of Hong Kong with brutal martial arts combat, thrilling street races and a celebrated, gripping story.
In this open world game, you play the role of Wei Shen, an undercover cop trying to take down the Triads from the inside out. You’ll have to prove yourself worthy as you fight your way up the organization, taking part in brutal criminal activities without blowing your cover. Torn between your loyalty to the badge and a criminal code of honor, you will risk everything as the lines between truth, loyalty and justice become permanently blurred.
A dark and violent crime thriller set against the backdrop of 1940’s Los Angeles. Amid the post-war boom of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Cole Phelps, an LAPD detective is thrown headfirst into a city drowning in its own success. Corruption is rampant, the drug trade is exploding, and murder rates are at an all-time high.
In his fight to climb the ranks and do what’s right, Phelps must unravel the truth behind a string of arson attacks, racketeering conspiracies and brutal murders, battling the L.A. underworld and even members of his own department to uncover a secret that could shake the city to its rotten core.
Utilizing revolutionary facial animation technology that captures every nuance of an actor’s facial performance in astonishing detail, L.A. Noire blends the breathtaking action of chases and shootouts with true detective work for an unprecedented interactive experience. Solve brutal crimes, plots and conspiracies inspired by real crimes from 1947 Los Angeles, one of the most corrupt and violent times in L.A. history.
Search for clues, chase down suspects and interrogate witnesses as you struggle to find the truth in a city where everyone has something to hide.
Metro Exodus is a first-person shooter game with survival horror and stealth elements. Set in the post-apocalyptic wasteland of the former Russian Federation, the player must cope with the new hazards and engage in combat against mutated creatures as well as hostile humans.
The player wields an arsenal of hand-made weaponry which can be customized through scavenging materials and a crafting system. The game features a mixture of linear levels and sandbox environments. It also includes a dynamic weather system, a day-night cycle, and environments that change along with the seasons as the story progresses.
Resident Evil 2 is a survival horror game developed and published by Capcom. Players control police officer Leon S. Kennedy and college student Claire Redfield as they attempt to escape from Raccoon City during a zombie apocalypse. It is a remake of the 1998 game Resident Evil 2.
30. True Crime: Streets of LA (2003)
The game tells the story of Nicholas Kang, an uncompromising Los Angeles police officer who is recruited into the Elite Operations Division in order to investigate a series of bombings in Chinatown. As he delves further into the case, he discovers it may be connected to the disappearance of his police-officer father twenty years previously.
The game features a 240-square-mile (622 km2) re-creation of a large part of Los Angeles, including most of Beverly Hills and Santa Monica, with most street names, landmarks and highways reproduced accurately.
Hitman: Absolution is a stealth video game in which the player assumes the role of a hitman named Agent 47. Presented from a third-person perspective, the gameplay centers around completing set objectives within a series of levels.
Objectives can range from simply reaching the end of the level, to killing specific individuals. Players choose how to complete each level, taking branching paths to get to a target or location. Players may use pistols, bottles or bricks, assault rifles, shotguns, fiber-wire, or steel pipe against enemies if opting for the action-oriented approach, or avoid enemies altogether, not being seen, using disguises, blending into the environment, and only attacking the set target(s), if using the stealth-oriented approach.
Agent 47 also has the ‘Instinct’ ability that lets the player monitor enemies more easily. There are also environmental ways to kill or distract individuals; players can use poison to spike coffee, pull switches to make a disco ball fall and break, cause a massive explosion at a gas station, pull a switch to cause scaffolding to fall down, cause fires, or set off fireworks.
Players complete chapters in order to progress through the story. The player journeys to various locations, including a mansion, library, strip club, gun store, wrestling arena, courthouse, and hotel during the story.
Mafia’s storyline gameplay consists of driving, mainly easy city cruise between different locations, as well as chases and races; the rest of the game is based on third-person on-foot navigation and shooting – all inter-connected with cut-scenes. In addition to city and countryside, detailed interiors like the city’s airport, a museum, a church, a hotel, an abandoned prison, restaurants and Don Salieri’s bar are included.
This game is a 5-episode series set before the events seen in the first Fables (DC Comics/Vertigo), an award-winning comic book series, it is an often violent, mature and hard-boiled thriller where the characters and creatures of myth, lore and legend are real and exist in our world.
This game is the third installment of the Gears of War series. Gears of War is a video game franchise created by Epic Games, developed and managed by The Coalition, and owned and published by Xbox Game Studios. The series focuses on the conflict between humanity, the subterranean reptilian hominids known as the Locust Horde, and their mutated counterparts, the Lambent & the Swarm. The franchise consists of five third-person shooter video games, which has also been supplemented by a comic book series and five novels.
Freeze will face off against Detective Williams and his deadly partner, Maria Mendoza, a pair of police officer who work to bring the gang down. Witness the gritty lifestyles of police Task forces, or strive to survive as a gangster fighting your way out of the streets.
24. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation – Deadly Intent (2009)
Team up with the new cast of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 9 to solve Sin City’s most gruesome crimes. Explore five brand new, shocking cases written with CSI writers and bring the guilty to justice.
Perform the tasks of a CSI detective: Collect evidence at the crime scene, dust for fingerprints, search for items that might be related to the case, unveil hidden evidence through observation, interview a variety of witnesses and suspects, utilize an improved interrogation system for more realistic character interactions, ask the right questions and use evidence collected at the crime scene to get the truth.
23. Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018)
America, 1899. The end of the wild west era has begun as lawmen hunt down the last remaining outlaw gangs. Those who will not surrender or succumb are killed.
After a robbery goes badly wrong in the western town of Blackwater, Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang are forced to flee. With federal agents and the best bounty hunters in the nation massing on their heels, the gang must rob, steal and fight their way across the rugged heartland of America in order to survive. As deepening internal divisions threaten to tear the gang apart, Arthur must make a choice between his own ideals and loyalty to the gang who raised him.
From the creators of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an epic tale of life in America at the dawn of the modern age.
22. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2012)
Call of Duty: Black Ops II is a First-Person Shooter (FPS) that revolves around unique gameplay that propels the Call of Duty franchise into a world of future warfare, and back again to the modern era.
The game is a sequel to the 2010 release, Call of Duty: Black Ops, and features returning Black Ops characters Sgt. Frank Woods and Agent Alex Mason, joined by a wealth of new characters. Additional features include: two distinct yet linked playable time periods, advanced weaponry, branching storylines created by player choices in Strike Force missions, exciting multiplayer options, and more.
21. Condemned 2: Bloodshot (2008)
This is a psychological survival horror video game, developed by Monolith Productions and published by Sega and Warner Bros. Games and is the sequel to the 2005 game Condemned: Criminal Origins.
The game features bare-fisted hand-to-hand combat, combat with melee weapons, and first person shooting. The game also has adventure game elements in the forensic investigation of crime scenes.
Unlike the first game, Condemned 2 allows for hand-to-hand combat with the player’s bare fists, with the left and right triggers controlling the player character’s left and right fist respectively.
Additionally, the player is now able to chain together attack combos, as well as perform various finishing moves executed via quick time events. The game also features context-sensitive “environmental kills” (such as shoving an enemy’s head into a TV or a spiked wall).
The Walking Dead is a five-part game series set in the same universe as Robert Kirkman’s award-winning comic book series. Play as Lee Evertt, a convicted criminal, who has been given a second chance at a life in a world devastated by the undead.
19. Crime Life: Gang Wars (2005)
Delve into modern-day urban gang culture as Tre struggles to survive and rise to the ranks of the Outlawz gang. But watch your back on the streets because the rival and more powerful Headhunterz crew is ready to fight and die for street supremacy.
Garrett, the Master Thief, steps out of the shadows into the City. In this treacherous place, where the Baron’s Witch spreads a rising tide of fear and oppression, his skills are the only things he can trust. Even the most cautious citizens and their best-guarded possessions are not safe from his reach.
As an uprising emerges, Garrett finds himself entangled in growing layers of conflict. Lead by Orion, the voice of the people, the tyrannized citizens will do everything they can to claim back the City from the Baron’s grasp. The revolution is inevitable. If Garrett doesn’t get involved, the streets will run red with blood and the City will tear itself apart.
In today’s hyper-connected world, Chicago has the country’s most advanced computer system – one which controls almost every piece of city technology and holds key information on all of the city’s residents. You play as Aiden Pearce, a brilliant hacker, whose criminal past lead to a violent family tragedy.
16. Condemned: Criminal Origins (2005)
Condemned: Criminal Origins allows players to experience the unnatural, as they track down serial killers and bring them to justice. Play as Ethan Thomas, an FBI agent in the Serial Crimes Unit (SCU), whose pursuit of relentless serial killers leads him through detailed urban environments filled with sociopaths who lurk on the edge of humanity.
Condemned maintains an intense, focused pace — Players can never be sure what waits around each corner. Meticulously crafted 5.1 surround-sound will cue players to the location of offscreen enemies Next-generation lighting, mapping, and filtering techniques provide for environments of unprecedented detail and visual quality.
15. Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018)
Experience Lara croft’s defining moment as she becomes the Tomb Raider. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Lara must master a deadly jungle, overcome terrifying tombs, and persevere through her darkest hour. As she races to save the world from a Maya Apocalypse, Lara will ultimately be forged into the Tomb Raider she is destined to be.
14. Grand Theft Auto IV (2011)
What does the American dream mean today? For Niko Bellic fresh off the boat from Europe, it is the hope he can escape from his past. For his cousin, Roman, it is the vision that together they can find fortune in Liberty City, gateway to the land of opportunity.
As they slip into debt and get dragged into a criminal underworld by a series of shysters, thieves and sociopaths, they discover that the reality is very different from the dream in a city that worships money and status, and is heaven for those who have them and a living nightmare for those who don’t.
Rogue agent Rico Rodriguez journeys to Solis, a huge South American world home of conflict, oppression and extreme weather conditions. Strap into your wingsuit, equip your fully customizable grappling hook, and get ready to bring the thunder!
Two brothers Sean and Daniel Diaz, 16 and 9, are forced to run away from home after a tragic incident in Seattle. In fear of the police, Sean & Daniel head to Mexico while attempting to conceal a sudden and mysterious supernatural power. Life on the road is tough and now totally responsible for his much younger brother, Sean begins to realize that his decisions will impact their lives forever.
Reclamation Day, 2102. Twenty-five years after the bombs fall, you and your fellow Vault Dwellers—chosen from the nation’s best and brightest – emerge into post-nuclear America. Play solo or join together as you explore, quest, build, and triumph against the wasteland’s greatest threats.
The year is 2084. If you somehow survived the Nanophage, odds are you were killed in the War. Those who live have turned to drugs, VR, neural implants— anything to distract themselves from this new reality. You are Daniel Lazarski, an elite neural detective known as an Observer, and part of a corporate-funded police unit whose purpose is to hack and invade suspects’ minds. In this future, anything you think, feel, or remember can be used against you in a court of law.
When you receive a mysterious message from your estranged son, a high-level engineer for the almighty Chiron Corporation, you journey to the seedy Class C slums of Krakow to investigate. But as you hack into the unstable minds of criminals and victims to look for clues, you are forced to relive their darkest fears. How far will you go to discover the truth?
With cyberpunk legend Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner) as Detective Lazarski, >observer_ is a first-person psychological horror story that focuses on a dark, dystopian setting. Developed by Bloober Team, the creators of Layers of Fear, >observer_ is a horror experience meant for mature audiences. What you see will disturb you.
From Shinji Mikami, The Evil Within 2 takes the acclaimed franchise to a new level with its unique blend of psychological thrills and true survival horror. Sebastian Castellanos has lost everything, including his daughter, Lily.
To save her, he’s forced to partner with Mobius, the shadowy group responsible for the destruction of his former life. For his last chance at redemption, the only way out is in.
8. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands (2017)
This is a tactical shooter game set in an open world environment and played from a third-person perspective with an optional first person view for gun aiming. Players play as members of the Delta Company, First Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, also known as “Ghosts”, a fictional elite special operations unit of the United States Army under the Joint Special Operations Command.
It does not feature the futuristic setting used in Advanced Warfighter and Future Soldier, but instead adopts a modern-day setting, similar to the original Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon. As a result, the equipment featured in the game is based on weapons and gear commonly used by military forces around the world.
However, it features some original equipment, such as drones that can be used to tag enemies and show objectives. These drones have limited abilities until upgraded. The game is the first entry to feature an open world environment, which consists of nine different types of terrain, such as: mountains, forests, desert, salt flats, and also introduces a dynamic weather system as well as a day-night cycle.
Completing missions during day-time allows players to spot enemies easily, while completing missions at night grants players a tactical advantage, as the night offers players better concealment and easier infiltration due to some guardsmen being asleep. Players are tasked with making observations before carrying out missions. A variety of vehicles, such as dirt bikes, helicopters and dune buggies are featured in the game. Unlike its predecessors, Wildlands features several side-missions.
“Quantum Break” is part hard-hitting video game, part thrilling live action show featuring a stellar cast, including Shawn Ashmore as the hero Jack Joyce, Aiden Gillen as his nemesis Paul Serene, and Dominic Monaghan as Jack’s genius brother William.
“Quantum Break” is full of the vivid storytelling, rich characters and dramatic twists Remedy Entertainment are renowned for. Choices in-game will affect the outcome of the fast-paced fusion between game and show, illustrating one story perceived in many ways for a completely unique entertainment experience.
6. Tom Clancy’s The Division (2016)
The game is set in a near future New York City in the aftermath of a smallpox pandemic; the player, who is a Special Agent of the eponymous Strategic Homeland Division, commonly referred to simply as “Division”, is tasked with helping the group rebuild its operations in Manhattan, investigate the nature of the outbreak, and combating criminal activity in its wake.
The Division is structured with elements of role-playing games, as well as cooperative and player versus player online multiplayer.
Hitman is a third-person stealth video game in which players take control of Agent 47, a genetically enhanced assassin, travelling to international locations and eliminating contracted targets. As in other games in the Hitman series, players are given a large amount of room for creativity in approaching their assassinations.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan has brought a new edge to the Cold War, and in 1984, a one-eyed man with a prosthetic arm appears in the country. Those who know him call him Snake; the legendary mercenary who was once swept from the stage of history and left in a coma by American private intelligence network Cipher. Snake is accompanied by Ocelot, an old friend who saved him from attack when he finally awoke.
Now, Snake’s former partner Kazuhira Miller is being held by the Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Snake must undertake a solo mission to rescue Miller and prove to the world that the legendary mercenary is not dead and gone. That first step will lead to a path of vengeance against the very Cipher that slaughtered so many of Snake’s men, and to a battle that will embroil the whole world…
What started in Ground Zeroes must finish with “V”.
In the Wasteland it’s every man for himself. Playing as reluctant warrior, Mad Max, you must embark on a treacherous journey to build the ultimate war vehicle, and leave the madness behind.
2. Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China (2015)
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles is a series of video games in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. The series consists of three games developed by Climax Studios and published by Ubisoft.
China takes place after the short film Assassin’s Creed: Embers. The game takes place in 1526 China and focuses on the female protagonist, Shao Jun. After being trained by legendary Italian assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Shao Jun returns to her homeland to exact vengeance against the Templar group Eight Tigers, who wiped out the Chinese brotherhood.
Shao Jun’s quest takes her through Macau, Nan’an, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, as she kills the Tigers one by one and finally assassinates the final target, Zhang Yong. Years later, Shao Jun, who becomes an Assassin Mentor and has rebuilt the brotherhood, plots the assassination of Jiajing Emperor by sending him an elixir of life, which is actually lethal mercury.
In the game, players fight against enemies using The Director’s Pistol, which is a firearm which can be transformed into different shapes. The pistol can also be upgraded to enhance its combat efficiency. In addition, players will have access to various supernatural and telekinetic abilities.
For instance, she can use debris to form a defensive shield and hurl objects towards enemies, using them as weapons. Players can acquire Objects of Power by completing side quests or exploring the game’s world. They are items which can be used to unlock new skills, such as the ability for Jesse to levitate in air.
