Play Order (Release = Chronological)Recommended
0 / 6 playedRelease order. Play oldest to newest; the story and tech both build across eras.
Access Software: the early cases
- 1 Mean Streets Flying car detective work in a partially open San Francisco. Rough but short.
- 2 Martian Memorandum Tex hunts a missing heiress on Mars. First traditional point and click entry.
The FMV trilogy
- 3 Under a Killing Moon Tex investigates a cult planning to reshape the world. Best entry point for most players.
- 4 The Pandora Directive A missing friend case splits into two paths with multiple endings.
- 5 Tex Murphy: Overseer Tex retells his first case to his neighbor Chelsea. Prequel style revisit of Mean Streets.
The Big Finish return
- 6 Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure Crowdfunded sequel set years later. Latest released entry.
About Tex Murphy
Tex Murphy is a hardboiled detective series set in post apocalyptic San Francisco. Chris Jones plays Tex in live action scenes across decades of cases about mutants, cults, and lost technology, from Access Software originals to the Big Finish revival.
This play order follows release order. The early games are short and crude by modern standards, while the mid 90s FMV trilogy is the heart of the series. New players short on patience can start with Under a Killing Moon (1994); purists should begin with Mean Streets.
Good to know
Overseer (1998) retells the Mean Streets case inside a new frame story, so release order still holds. The Poisoned Pawn, once planned as game seven, was cancelled in 2021. Series novels continue the story, including Tex Murphy and the Romanov Enigma (2024). Big Finish has announced a Pandora Directive remaster with no date, and endorses the fan made Killing Moon Rising remaster.
