People play video games for all sorts of different reasons, but whether it’s for fun, interaction with others, or a challenge, most titles function as an immersive form of escapism. Many video games take place in fantastical worlds that are absolutely impossible in real life, but other games intentionally skew towards grounded realism and the dangers that fill the world.
Crime is a rich concept for video games and it fuels titles and franchises in some drastically different ways, depending on what side of the law the game puts players behind. Accordingly, here are the 10 best crime-based video games.
10 L.A. Noire
L.A. Noire is Rockstar Games' epic love letter to the film noir genre. It's a vast title that tries to get the player lost in this retro world. The story, missions, and the amount of options that are available when it comes to making decisions are all reasons to love L.A. Noire.
The game actually has something to say, but it's presented in an immaculate package that's a powerful culmination of Rockstar's previous work. Despite the game’s huge size, it’s recently been ported over to the Nintendo Switch so a whole new audience can appreciate its moody storytelling and gameplay.
9 Mafia III
All of the Mafia games are huge explorations of corrupt societies and the tug of war between police and criminals. Mafia III has its flaws, but it’s a sequel that makes up for them with the strong decisions it makes in its story.
The game looks at a veteran who’s out for revenge against the Italian mob, but the questions that it asks about race and responsibility really push the game into more complex psychological territory. Mafia III is a thorough dive into crime, but it’s also so more much than that.
8 The Warriors
Video games that are adaptations of movies can always be risky business, but the situation with The Warriors is very atypical. The Rockstar Games title immerses players into the evocative '70s film and gets a lot of mileage out of the property. This game is made out of a love for the film more than anything else. At its core it's just a busy beat-'em-up game, but the way in which it expands on the film's universe and throws such eccentric characters at the audience makes it a surprisingly fun title that's easy to overlook.
7 Fist Of The North Star: Lost Paradise
Fist of the North Star is a popular anime franchise that has been around for decades, but Lost Paradise is a PlayStation 4 game that applies a modern makeover to the exaggerated series. Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise does an excellent job with its representation of the crazy fighting style that Kenshiro uses. Enemies are frequent and come in large groups in a way that feels accurate to the anime. This is still a fun and heightened look at crime and the seedy underworld, even with no existing knowledge of the Fist of the North Star franchise.
6 Batman: Arkham City
Rocksteady Studios knocked it out of the park with all of their Arkham video games. They're not only excellent takes on the Batman universe, but they're just dense and satisfying titles that provide an exaggerated take on what crime would be like in a place as chaotic as Gotham City. All of the entries in the series are good takes on the crime genre, but Batman: Arkham City perhaps gets the most out of the formula. It expands the sandbox beyond Arkham Asylum and shows a city in ruin.
5 Red Dead Redemption 2
Rockstar is a frequent name on this list, but they're a company that have perfected the art of open-world crime games, regardless of when in history they take place. The Red Dead Redemption series marked a departure of sorts that gave people some pause, but the pivot hasn't caused the company to struggle at all. Red Dead Redemption 2 is even bigger and better than its predecessor and it's enlightening to take on crime and justice in a much more old fashioned period of time.
4 Judgment
Judgment is a suspenseful take on the crime genre that's put together by the same accomplished team behind the Yakuza series. Judgment hinges around a series of yakuza murders that prompts an investigation into who is behind these deaths. It's a deep game that uses problem solving just as much as it does combat. It’s a different spin on the corrupt stories that this team is used to telling. One of the best things about Judgment is how the protagonist is a private investigator and former lawyer, but very out of his league once he digs into this dark underbelly.
3 Sleeping Dogs
Sleeping Dogs tackles some tense material as it doesn't just explore a tense world of crime, but an undercover police officer's infiltration of the Chinese Triad. This makes the gameplay quite suspenseful and conjures a Departed-like energy. Sleeping Dogs is excellent when it comes to shooting and fighting, but it's the stealth and exploration that help set it apart. It's also one of the few crime games available with a robust parkour system. Square Enix team behind the title and so it shouldn’t be surprising that the game’s story is just as fulfilling as the gameplay.
2 Yakuza Kiwami
Sega has done incredible work with the Yakuza series and they've kind of taken a lot of the best aspects from the contentious Shenmue series and turn it into a gripping and massive crime story. Yakuza Kiwami tells a powerful revenge story that deals with larger questions of morality and redemption and pushes the player into genuinely uncomfortable territory. The attention to detail in these games is on a whole other level and even though the crime stories and tense combat sequences are the highlight, there are plenty of other areas to appreciate as well.
1 Grand Theft Auto V
There’s not much that needs to be said about the Grand Theft Auto series at this point. Every game in the series becomes a defining title for consoles that packs titles full of content and leaves players a rich community that’s thriving for years after its release. It’s the most celebrated and crazy look at crime gone out of control and with the news that the iconic title is going to be ported to the PlayStation 5, there’s no better time to re-visit the influential game.