Looking for mystery solving games with little to no threat

My daughter isn’t really much of a gamer but she just played (and finished) Homesick and she’d like more in the same vein.

Specifically she’s looking to explore and solve mysteries, preferably with a horror theme but without threat, or at least without combat. Apparently you can fail sections of Homesick but can immediately replay them with the knowledge of what to do - she’s fine with that. She also prefers first person.

Oh, as another reference she also really enjoyed What Remains of Edith Finch.

This isn’t really my area of gaming (although I did suggest The Last Door which I think she’s interested in), so I’d be grateful for any suggestions. Thanks in advance!

THe obvious answer for me is Gone Home & Vanishing of Ethan Carter. I’ve started on Everyone has gone to the Rapture, but got bored and never finished it.

Soma with that no enemy setting. But it’s a terrifying game, with or without some silly puppet trying to catch you every few hours. Also might haunt your sleep for quite a while (possibly the rest of your life).

Pretty much anything by Wadjet Eye Games. Their recent Unavowed is great.

If you want something cheesy but fun, Contradiction.

Less cheesy, Her Story.

Woah, the Wadjet Eye games are hardcore on the puzzle front. That’s a major threat to me!

Nobody said anything about puzzles being disallowed.

And if they’re not, probably the ultimate mystery solving game is The Return of the Obra Dinn.

I would also be remiss if I didn’t say the Phoenix Wright games.

Yeah, that’s the first thing that springs to mind. No threat, lots of mystery. Really great game.

Well I wouldn’t recommend a point & click game with crazy puzzles to somebody who’s not a gamer, call me too sensible ;P

Until Dawn and the Dark Pictures series sound like they might fit. Horror-themed, no combat to speak of, puzzly, lots of hidden stuff to find.

I was gonna say… ghost trick as well

True, though in Ghost Trick you don’t really solve the mystery, it solves itself while you play the game. Still, it’s fantastic.

I feel like any actual mystery involved in the Phoenix Wright games are kind of ancillary to the experience. Not to say they’re bad games, I enjoy them a lot, but they’re much more traditional adventure games in that you’re finding things and figuring out where and when to use them, talking to people with dialog trees, moving the plot forward. But, that may be what this person is looking for.

I also think the Frogware Sherlock Holmes games are pretty good, at least as far as presenting mysteries for you to solve. They generally don’t involve a lot of supernatural elements, though some of them do.

I dunno. The PW games are definitely about solving, or at least unravelling, mysteries if you ask me. It’s true your agency in doing so is pretty limited. You very much have to do the things it wants you to do in the order it wants you to. But that’s also true of, say, Gone Home or Edith Finch. They just give you slightly more illusion of freedom.

The distinction may be too narrow for someone who hasn’t played a lot of adventure games, but I think the agency part is a big piece of it. I think Obra Dinn is much more open-ended in how you approach and solve its mysteries, and therefore in my opinion a little more satisfying. But as I say, stuff like Phoenix Wright and also Gone Home or Edith Finch are also great experiences, just scratching a different itch.

Kathy Rain is my recommendation. It’s point-and-click, but the puzzles are very straightforward and not of the syrup cat-hair mustache variety.

Oh! And the story is pretty good, and the mystery pulls you along nicely.

Kathy Rain also has the virtue of being on PC Game Pass, if you’re a member.

Gorogoa? It’s the opposite of first person, it’s all about altering and using changed POV to reframe, explore, and solve puzzles.

Portal / 2
Journey
Firewatch?

Absolutely. It’s one of the very few games where the player really does the solving in a remotely “real” way.

It’s not a computer game, but MicroMacro Crime City is great if you can find a copy.

Call of the Sea is another first-person puzzler on XGP with no combat and some interesting themes and revelations about the main character.

Firewatch is also a decent suggestion, noted above. But not much in the way of horror or even horror-adjacent themes.