The Hidden Objects genre is diverse. While the gameplay mechanics remain the same from game to game, with only a few variations in between, avid players of hidden object games online will notice that there are many sub-genres within the Hidden Objects genre itself. One of these genres is the investigative sub-genre.

From the name of the genre alone, you can infer that these games deal with investigations in their storylines and that the HO puzzles that you’ll have to solve while playing these titles contain clues that are essential to the investigation in the story. To further understand investigative HO games, here are three of the most popular titles in the sub-genre.

Who wouldn’t know what Criminal Case is? The game caused quite a stir in Facebook last year. It even earned a distinction or an award in 2014 for being the best new game, or something like that. Well, from the name itself, you can find out what the game is all about. At the beginning, it features a detective named Jones and an unnamed protagonist, played by you, chasing clues in various chapters, each of which is covers a single investigation.

Each chapter has its own sub-chapters, which represent a step forward into the chapter’s narrative. These are all HO puzzles, which you have to solve within a certain amount of time. What makes the game enjoyable is the leaderboards feature, a competitive mechanism that somehow drives you to play more as you try to beat your friends’ scores or to keep yourself at the top.

Criminal Case was also praised for its narrative, which critics compared to TV crime dramas. It was so popular that a new team was introduced in later chapters of the game.

The second game, Castle: Dangerous Game, is a game adaptation of an American crime drama featuring the characters of Detective Beckett and Richard Castle. Just like Criminal Case, Castle: Dangerous Game lets you investigate murder scenes to find clues that can nab a suspect and subject him/her to interrogation by Detective Beckett. Each murder case has its own chapter, and set of sub-chapters, which you have to solve within a certain period of time.

The main difference between the two, however, is that Castle: Dangerous Game allows you to decorate your NYPD office in order to increase its comfort level.

Last but not the least, we have Psychic Clues. This one has a very interesting premise. When you play the game, you’re essentially taking on the role of a psychic who must solve a series of cases in order to get to the bottom of the attempt on his/her life (the game is vague on this one). Aside from solving Hidden Object Puzzles, you’ll be asked to solve mini-games to find further clues. These mini-games are initiated when you use the protagonist’s paranormal gifts.

Just like the two aforementioned games in this list, Psychic Clues involves timed HO puzzles, and score cards.

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