Role-playing games often feature compelling mysteries, with investigations woven into their worlds and stories. These side quests challenge you to examine clues, question people, and make decisions that impact the narrative. They often go beyond fighting and talking, using things like crime scenes, investigation techniques, and logical reasoning. Here are twenty-five particularly memorable cases that require you to gather evidence and solve the puzzle yourself.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
In the Novigrad quest ‘Carnal Sins,’ you investigate a serial killer preying on people connected to the city’s criminal world. The investigation involves examining a morgue, analyzing injuries, and checking alibis. You’ll work with a priest, a doctor, and an artist, each offering unique insights. By performing an autopsy and finding a handwritten clue, you can narrow down the suspects, ultimately leading to a final confrontation. Crucially, your decisions about who to believe will determine the fate of several characters and impact their future storylines.
Baldur’s Gate 3
The Open Hand Temple Murders starts when bodies are found in Rivington, leading investigators into the city’s underbelly. Players gather evidence, identify a mysterious poison, and decipher clues from a hidden basement. The investigation reveals a connection to a secret group that keeps records of unsolved killings. Solving the murders opens up new areas of the city and impacts future battles in the sewers.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
In the Harvester side quest, you investigate a crime scene in Prague that’s similar to previous murders. You’ll collect blood, examine implants, and piece together what happened using security footage. You’ll need to sort through the differing accounts of two main suspects, checking them against evidence from the lab and a secret apartment. Making the right deductions will affect how characters talk later on and how the city’s residents respond to the events.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The ‘Blood on the Ice’ quest begins with whispers around Windhelm and bodies turning up in the graveyard. You’ll investigate a suspect’s house, carefully record your findings, and discover a weapon linked to one of the city guards. How you proceed will determine if the investigation hits a dead end or leads to a dangerous trap at the market. Ultimately, successfully identifying and arresting the killer – known as the Butcher – depends on how thoroughly you collect evidence.
Fallout: New Vegas
In Beyond the Beef, you investigate disappearances at the luxurious Ultra Luxe hotel. Your search takes you through the kitchens and a secret cellar, where you find a mask and a record of food orders. After questioning the anxious head waiter, you uncover a plot involving a banquet that requires a unique ingredient – and a hidden prisoner. How you resolve the situation – whether you expose the scheme or convince the family to change their ways – will affect your standing with different groups and your access to the casino.
Fallout 4
The ‘Long Time Coming’ quest revisits a cold case involving Nick Valentine and a man named Eddie Winter. You’ll search the Commonwealth for recordings that contain clues to the location of a hidden bunker. These recordings uncover a tangled history of blackmail, secret codes, and past offenses, all connected to Nick Valentine’s life. Successfully opening the bunker solves the case and significantly impacts Nick’s personal story and how he views the world.
Cyberpunk 2077
In Dream On, you investigate a break-in at the Peralez penthouse, where nothing seems to be missing. You discover a hidden transmitter, analyze drone footage, and track a signal to a suspicious van. This leads you to uncover evidence of neural manipulation, making you question the reliability of everyone’s memories. Your report to the clients has unexpected consequences, altering future communications and subtly impacting the city’s political landscape.
Cyberpunk 2077
In The Hunt, you’ll partner with River Ward when a loved one disappears. You’ll analyze a braindance recording – looking at timestamps, signs, and sounds – to find a rural location. This leads to a search of a farm, but you’re working against the clock, pressured by recordings left by the kidnapper. How well you investigate determines if the rescue comes in time and how the family’s story unfolds.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
The House of God is investigating incidents at the Sasau monastery construction site. You’ll need to interview workers, verify their stories at the local tavern, and search for clues – like damaged tools and a secret hiding place. Your investigation reveals the sabotage is linked to a mercenary group and a client who wants the construction to fail. Ultimately, your report will decide who is held accountable, who receives payment, and whether the site can be secured for continued work.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
The investigation starts in Santa Monica with disturbing messages left by a serial killer and expands to several locations. You’ll gather newspaper articles, decipher a coded message, and connect the victims to a rundown hideout. Evidence at the scene, along with a disturbing collection of trophies, reveals how and why the killer operated. How you handle the final confrontation will impact future events on the streets and what you see reported on the news.
Starfield
In the Burden of Proof mission, you collect evidence – like data slates and audio logs – while infiltrating the Crimson Fleet. Each piece of evidence helps build a case file with your undercover contact. As you submit milestones, you’ll unlock debriefings that detail the crimes of key Fleet leaders. Gathering a complete set of evidence alters the mission’s outcome and increases your rewards.
The Outer Worlds
In The Doom That Came to Roseway, the game begins with a hidden distress call that the corporation wants to keep secret. You’ll investigate by finding lab records, talking to anxious scientists, and collecting notes about strange creatures. You can then choose what to do with the evidence: sell it, hide it, or give it to a broker who rewards you for uncovering the truth. These decisions will affect who you can trade with and the future of the research outpost.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
In Cloak and Dagger, you’ll follow a lead from an undercover officer looking into a drug pipeline run by the Belltower organization in Detroit. This involves tracking a hacker using stolen login information, gathering intel from an informant, and searching a storage unit for shipping documents. You’ll uncover a file that reveals who ordered a hit and explains why someone disappeared. Depending on whether you hand over the evidence or make a deal, this case will significantly impact the officer’s career and your standing on the streets.
Mass Effect
A crime is reported near the Emporium: a Volus claims a Quarian stole something. You investigate by reviewing security footage, analyzing the stolen device, and using a diagnostic kiosk to determine who actually committed the theft. Your choice of how to resolve the situation impacts your Paragon or Renegade score and how C-Sec responds to you later on.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
In A Tangled Web, you’ll meet a seemingly friendly newcomer in Canneroc who hides a secret. As you investigate, you’ll uncover a network of spies operating within the village. After finding a double agent’s codebook, you must decide which contact to trust. Your choice determines who leads the local spy cell and what rewards you ultimately receive.
GreedFall
In The Prince’s Secret, you’ll investigate the history of a key ally. This involves interviewing people of noble rank, digging through old records, and comparing official documents with potentially falsified evidence. As the quest progresses, you’ll uncover concrete proof of their ancestry, shifting the focus from speculation to facts. Your discoveries will impact relationships within the capital and change how future diplomatic events unfold.
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
In All Costs plunges you into a trade dispute in Neketaka, starting with a suspicious delivery. You’ll investigate by following paperwork, uncovering a fake shipping document, and secretly listening to a meeting at the docks. With solid evidence, you can choose to support one company or report both for wrongdoing. Your decision will affect the prices merchants offer you and how the city guards behave towards you in that area.
Shadowrun: Hong Kong
In Out for Blood, you’re investigating a series of disappearances connected to a secretive group operating within the Walled City. Your investigation involves collecting statements from witnesses, tracking communications, and analyzing ritual objects discovered in an apartment building. You uncover a hidden room and a schedule that reveals who the group is targeting next and where. How you handle this situation will impact one of your contacts and make a future job either easier or harder.
Pathfinder: Kingmaker
In The Scythe Tree’s Curse, you investigate a series of murders happening near a famously haunted location. Evidence like footprints, ripped clothes, and strange residue suggests the killings are connected to local legends and happen in a repeating pattern. Your investigation will uncover a supernatural deal that explains this pattern. Breaking the curse will safeguard the surrounding communities and forge alliances with creatures of the forest.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
A settler has been murdered on Dantooine, and you’re tasked with solving the case. You’ll investigate a body, a potential weapon, and interview two neighbors who both had reasons to commit the crime. By comparing witness statements to physical evidence – like footprints and data from a droid – you can piece together the events and determine who was the last person to leave. Careful questioning and logical deduction will lead to a confession, and solving the case will impact the local community’s opinion of you and earn you a small reward.
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Missing Magisters starts in the town of Driftwood with the discovery of uniforms lost during patrol. As you investigate, you’ll track blood, talk to locals, and cross-reference clues found in a note with records from the town sawmill. This leads you to a secret base that holds information about both prisoners and those who captured them. Whether you choose to rescue the captives or try to bargain with the base’s crew will impact the town’s safety and what items are available from merchants.
Elden Ring
Diallos’s journey begins with a missing family treasure and soon becomes an investigation into Lanya’s death. You’ll search Liurnia’s hotels and backstreets, eventually connecting a suspect to a manor far away. Through letters and conversations, you uncover who moved the body and the reason the evidence leads to a specific estate. This leads you to understand Diallos’s motivations and discover clues in a nearby village.
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
Thorak needs you to investigate who was practicing forbidden magic in Flotsam. You’ll gather magical residue, examine a workshop, and compare diagrams to known illegal materials. The evidence you find will be used to formally accuse – or exonerate – the dwarf involved. Your decision will impact the town’s leaders and whether you’ll be able to access shops in the future.
Wasteland 3
In Little Vegas, you investigate a nightclub owner suspected of involvement in several disappearances. Your investigation involves obtaining employee emails, setting up surveillance in the club’s office, and connecting a financial ledger to a secret room beneath the stage. Presenting your evidence can lead to several different results, from an arrest to a more discreet resolution. Whatever you decide will affect how different groups perceive you and how police patrol the area.
Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
In the quest ‘Chasing Shadows,’ you secretly follow someone in Gran Soren, discovering a hidden meeting and the people involved. Reporting where the meeting took place affects which characters are arrested and unlocks new quests. The papers you find serve as evidence and help advance the story in town.
Share your favorite case files and the one clue that made it click for you in the comments.
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2025-11-19 05:52