Objection! The best courtroom games for catching liars

You can't write about this genre without starting here. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy collects the first three games in HD, and it's still the gold standard. As defence lawyer Phoenix Wright you investigate crime scenes, collect evidence and then face the prosecutor in court. The loop is simple: press the witness on each statement, then present the item that exposes the contradiction. Objection!

Players love the absurd humour (yes, at one point you cross-examine a parrot), the memorable characters and the soundtrack. Many say they wish they could forget it and play it fresh, and a few even say it inspired them to study law. The downside? Now and then a case wants one exact piece of evidence, even when you're sure another one proves the point too. And stay away from wikis until you're done, because even character names can spoil twists. Expect 40 to 60 hours, for a low price.

Already done with Phoenix? The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles moves the courtroom to late 1800s Japan and Victorian London, with rookie lawyer Ryunosuke. Two clever twists: a jury you have to sway as well as the judge, and the great detective Herlock Sholmes, whose wild deductions you have to correct on the fly. Players call it one of the best in the series, and its story stands alone, so newcomers can start here too. It's also the longest of the lot at 50 to 70 hours, and very wordy.

Finished the original trilogy and still want more? Good news: there's a lot more.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy bundles games four, five and six. You play rookie lawyer Apollo alongside his mentor Phoenix, and the new tricks are all about reading people: spotting a witness's nervous habit during testimony, or noticing when their emotions don't match their words. It assumes you know Phoenix's story, so don't start here. Fans mostly say more Ace Attorney is always welcome. Just know what you're signing up for: 60 to 80 hours and a lot of reading.

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection flips sides. You play prosecutor Miles Edgeworth, and instead of a courtroom you corner witnesses on location, using a Logic mechanic to connect facts in his head. The second game had never been released in English before, and fans who waited 13 years for it are thrilled. Honestly, the reviews barely mention any complaints, apart from the length and the fact that it expects you to know the main trilogy's cast.

Now imagine Ace Attorney, but the courtroom is a death game and the defendant is one of your classmates. Enter Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. Sixteen students are locked inside a school by Monokuma, a cheerful robot bear, who promises freedom to anyone who kills a classmate and gets away with it. After each murder you investigate, then argue it out in a Class Trial, where you literally shoot down lies with evidence. Players love the bizarre, darkly funny tone and the twists. The violent premise won't suit everyone, though, and you really shouldn't look anything up until you finish. Expect 25 to 35 hours.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair moves the killing game to a tropical island. Many fans call it the best in the series, with a stronger cast and cases that keep surprising. The trials mix evidence debates with fast mini-games, and that's also the main gripe: Hangman's Gambit and a Tetris-like logic game frustrate quite a few players. It spoils the first game, so play them in order.

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony starts over with a new cast. Players say the first trial surprises even veterans who thought they'd seen every trick. The ending, on the other hand… let's just say it famously splits the fanbase. Play it after the first two, and make up your own mind.

Not every game here has a judge and a gavel. These two keep the core idea, catching false theories with evidence, and dress it up differently.

Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE Plus comes from the creator of Danganronpa, with the same character designer and composer. You play amnesiac detective Yuma in a rain-soaked city, partnered with a death god called Shinigami. Instead of a Class Trial you enter the Mystery Labyrinth, a stylised mind dungeon where clues become weapons against false theories. Fans call it a worthy successor and love the shameless Shinigami. Critics say it lacks the emotional punch of Danganronpa's cases, where you actually cared about the victim and the culprit. If you haven't played Danganronpa yet, start there.

Murder by Numbers is the lighter option. It's 1996 Los Angeles, a TV actress teams up with a memory-wiped robot, and you solve picross puzzles to reveal clues before pressing witnesses and suspects Ace Attorney-style. Players love the 90s mood and the art. Fair warning though: the picross doesn't really solve the mystery, and the investigation is light. Buy it if you love nonograms.

Anime lawyers not your thing? These two are about as far from spiky hair as you can get.

Contradiction: Spot The Liar is a live-action FMV murder mystery. As Inspector Jenks you walk around a small English village, interview suspects on video and catch them out by setting one statement against another, or against a clue. The title says it all, really. Players love the 90s-style FMV and especially Jenks, whose over-the-top performance next to a straight-faced cast became a fan favourite. Several couples and families played it together on the TV over a few evenings. Some contradictions are a bit of a stretch, and the story leaves you few real choices. Six to ten hours.

The Darkest Files is the serious one. It's West Germany in 1956, and you play Esther Katz, a young prosecutor building two cases based on real Nazi-era crimes. You read files, question witnesses, replay their accounts in a mind's eye view that may show lies, and then argue the charges in court. One player compares it to Ace Attorney with the jokes replaced by history. Pleasant? No. Memorable? Very. The courtroom has the familiar flaw, though: when several documents prove the same point, it only accepts the one it wants.

Last stop: three smaller games that are all about telling truth from lies, just without the trial at the end.

Mindcop gives you five in-game days to find a killer in a small town, and every action costs time. Its hook is a puzzle where you dive into a suspect's mind and sort their memories into truths, uncertainties and lies. Players enjoy the dark humour and the pressure of not being able to chase every lead. The catch: there's only an autosave, so running out of time on day five means starting over.

Legion Was Here turns the whole thing around. This time you're the liar. You study evidence about a target, sculpt a matching face, then survive an interrogation where people quiz you on what the real person should know. Players call it a reverse Papers Please, and compare it to studying for an exam and then sitting the test. Clever, right? It's short at three to six hours, and it sometimes tests details you didn't write down.

Dupery: A Game of Solo Deduction is Werewolf or Mafia for one player. Each board is a group of characters with hidden roles, many of whom lie, and you use their statements to work out who's innocent and who belongs to the syndicate. Players describe it as Minesweeper mixed with Mafia. It's hard, and some boards end in a forced 50/50 guess, which not everyone forgives.

You might also see PARANORMASIGHT and AI: The Somnium Files recommended to Ace Attorney fans. Both are great mystery visual novels, but neither has trials or cross-examinations, so they're not really on topic here. The same goes for Paradise Killer, which ends with a trial but is mostly about exploring. You'll find it in our detective and deduction games guide. And Murders on the Yangtze River, a very Ace Attorney-like detective story in early 20th-century China, is covered in our escape-room visual novels list.

In the end, a good courtroom game is about one moment: the second you spot the lie and know exactly which piece of evidence breaks it. Ace Attorney built a whole series on that moment, and everything else on this list is a variation on it.

New to the genre? Start with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy, no doubt about it. Like your mysteries darker? Danganronpa. Only got a few evenings? Contradiction or Legion Was Here. Either way, keep your evidence close and your finger on that objection button ;)