Best and New Hidden Object Mobile Games to Play in October 2026

October is Halloween month in the hidden object genre, and the big live-service games have already started. Three of them rolled out seasonal content in the first week, and the month's most interesting new release has just finished arriving on both platforms.

The Posthumous Investigation has you solving your own client's murder over and over in 1937 Rio de Janeiro, and it's now on iOS as well as Android. Sherlock sends Holmes to Dracula's ball, Seekers Notes opens the Gremlin Feast, and Mystery Manor starts a new season with a forest trip and a Halloween funfair.

Here's the full list.

Best and New Hidden Object Mobile Games to Play in October 2026

Recently Launched and Gaining Ground

The Posthumous Investigation

Release: 17th September 2026 (Android), iOS from late September

Brazilian studio Mother Gaia Studio and publisher Critical Leap brought The Posthumous Investigation to Android and Nintendo Switch on 17th September, after the PC version arrived in March. The iOS version followed within days, so both mobile platforms now have it. You can play the prologue free and unlock the rest with a single purchase.

You're a private investigator in 1937 Rio de Janeiro with an unusual client: a dead businessman who wants you to find his killer. You have one day, and that day repeats. Each loop you keep what you learned, so you can follow a thread you missed, test a theory, or catch someone contradicting themselves.

Fourteen suspects move around the hand-drawn city on their own routines, and you can watch them, question them and nudge those routines to open up an opportunity. Evidence goes on the Thinking Board, where you reconstruct the timeline. The structure comes from Machado de Assis's 1881 novel The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, where death gives the narrator the freedom to revisit his own story. Pocket Gamer's first impressions piece picked out the art style and the game's sense of humour.

Coming in October

Sherlock

Update: 6th October 2026

G5's Halloween case for Sherlock is the Dracula Book, and it takes Holmes to Dracula's grand ball, where the villains have gathered to fulfil a prophecy and the night itself is the trap. Getting out of the endless revelry is the problem.

The new Phantom Hall scene plays either way, so you can search for objects or match gems depending on what you're in the mood for. The Endless Halloween event has 32 quests, with the Jack-O'-Lantern 6th grade as the reward, and there's a new Storm Orb mechanic for the match-3 side. The update counts 74 new quests and 12 collections in total.

Seekers Notes

Update: 6th October 2026

Mytona opened the Gremlin Feast in Seekers Notes on 6th October, and it arrives with the Charmed event and its own rewards and creatures to collect.

The Halloween side is well covered. There's a Halloween Captive offer featuring Sunny the Cat, who is no longer soggy, a Twilight desk effect to decorate with, and a new Fur Baby Salon event. Barney the Puppy is the new desk guardian.

Elsewhere, the Colorful Adventure event now lets you use standard tools, and the Grim Fairytale expedition, the Treasure Path event and the Magister's Path guild competition are all still running.

Mystery Manor

Update: 1st October 2026

Game Insight started a new season in Mystery Manor on 1st October. It turns on a set of mysterious deaths that could be madness or dark rituals, and you work it out by decrypting diary entries.

There's a trip out of the manor too: a hike and a campsite in a forest full of adventure, with Patrick Wilkinson keeping everyone safe. For Halloween you can put on a costume and head to the Amusement Park, where the Harlequin and a cast of undead characters are waiting.

Mystery Files

Update: 25th September 2026

Do Games' latest event for Mystery Files went live at the end of September and runs into October, so it's one to pick up now rather than later.

It continues the Darkwood story from last month's harvest case. This time you're tracking vengeful spirits and trying to stop the red rye before it spreads through the city, with a hint that something else is behind it. Do Games is explicit that the event is only around for a limited time.

On the Horizon

Moonvale

Expected: TBA (Episode 4 in development)

Moonvale is Everbyte's murder mystery, from the studio behind Duskwood, and it's told episode by episode. Episode 3 is the current one, released at the end of July alongside a Duskwood side story.

Everbyte publishes a progress tracker for the next instalment, and as of early October it has Episode 4's story at 81%, programming at 63% and graphics and media at 49%. The studio hasn't given a release date, so there's no window to plan around yet — the tracker is the thing to watch.

That's where the genre stands in early October. Hidden City and The Secret Society both run on a monthly cycle and their October cases hadn't landed at the time of writing, so check back for those. We'll have the full picture in November's roundup.