#64. Indie Game Detective Stories (Mermaid Mask, Desktop Explorer, Galley House)

About this episode

So far, 2026 has been a busy old year for some of our favourite genres here at Indieventure! You may remember Rebecca's deep dive into life sims a few weeks ago, and now Rachel's here with her own focussed topic: detective games. To celebrate the recent releases of The Mermaid Mask, The Incident at Galley House, and Desktop Explorer, your intrepid hosting trio are here to have a good old natter about detectives, mysteries, and investigations in indie games – and since it's probably the area of interest all three of us overlap on the most, we've got plenty to say! In addition to spoiler-free overviews of those latest releases, expect to hear about some classics of the genre, hidden gems we want to highlight, personal favourites, and loads more. We also don't necessarily contain ourselves just to video games on this occasion, since of course mysteries abound in books, films, and TV shows too, and this is one of those narrative genres where the conventions found in different media can really inform one another. As always, we end with our latest hyperfixations, and it's a three-for-two deal this week since Liam and Rachel are of course both all about the new Charli xcx album: Music