From developer ‘Critical Hit Games’ and publisher ‘Plaion’ comes Nobody Wants To Die a truly one of a kind stunningly beautiful Neo-noir detective thriller set in the far future.
In a time when modern video games have become stale, woke and broken on launch it’s refreshing to see an indie developer creating a game that quite literally outshines any AAA game released this year.
Yes, that’s a strong statement but I stick by it.
There have been a lot of games released this year and in the past few years to which I own and have yet to finish. This is due to me losing my drive to keep playing to the end. However in the case of ‘Nobody Wants To Die’ I was constantly hooked to my controller and for the first time in a while completed a game and sat through the credits.
So why do I hold ‘Nobody Wants To Die’ in such high regard?
Well, let’s take a look.
The story of ‘Nobody Wants To Die’ is a simple one yet both complex and deeply engaging all at the same time.
Set in the far future in a very futuristic and overcrowded New York city, you are introduced into a world where death is but a thing of the past and immortality is the new norm. Using a substance called ‘Ichorite’, humans can essentially live forever allowing their consciousness to be transferred to a different body once the old body is no longer able to function due to death or aging. Think of this game as ‘Blade Runner’ meets ‘Altered Carbon’.
Permanent death can still happen in this world, but only if the Ichorite is pulled from the old body and destroyed before it has a chance to transfer the consciousness over to a new body.
This is where you come in. You play as James Karra, a detective in the New York mortality department. James is a very complex and compelling character, having lived through multiple bodies and starting out as a sportsman before moving over to detective work. We meet him at a tragic point in his life, having recently lost his wife, being involved in a horrific train derailment and also struggling to synchronize properly into his new body.
He is asked to go to the scene of the suspicious death of Mr Green, a politician and the pioneer of Ichorite technology. Karra isn’t alone though, his chief appoints him with a police liaison to help remotely aid Karra with his visit to the crime scene (while he is still not on official active duty). This constant companion and secondary character is Sara Kai. The back and forth dialogue is very well written between these two and you really start to care about each character during your playthrough.
Once at the crime scene, Karra decides to investigate the cause of death when he finds that Green’s Ichorite has been pulled causing him to permanently die.
This then opens up a whole new innovative and immersive gameplay element which I’ll get onto in a minute but the story gets much more deeper, complex and riveting from there on out.
We find out that a serial killer is at play which you need to hunt down all while Karra is suffering from deadly synchronization issues with his new body, causing him to see hallucinations of his dead wife Rachel. The pay off of this and the entire story is very rewarding and very engaging.
So go find out for yourself as I don’t want to spoil a damn thing.
Before I move onto the gameplay I just want to mention the graphics. Nobody Wants To Die is stunningly beautiful to look at. Almost pushing you to uncanny valley territory with its visuals and lighting. Each location in this game feels authentic, living and breathing. Like they’re a character of their own. The set design down to the last minute detail has been perfectly crafted to make this world engaging for the player.
Green’s building portrays that of a rich socialite drunk on power. Karra’s apartment shows the life of a man clutching to the past and holding onto that pain and Sara’s abode shows the difference in class in this futuristic society.
It really is a stunning game to look at and a true next-gen game, really pushing the ‘Unreal Engine’ to its potential with fantastic results.
Now I mentioned earlier that the gameplay is innovative and I want to explain further. While on paper it’s simple detective work in the style of ‘L.A. Noire’, following clues to form an idea of how the crime took place, the tools Karra has at his disposal make the clue-solving that much more engaging.
First off is the best tool at Karra’s disposal, the reconstructor. This allows him to piece together events in the past by analyzing clues to show a visual playback of the event. You do this by holding down either the left or right trigger when prompted to rewind the event to initialize its playback and add it to the event sequence. It’s a very useful tool as it helps you visually piece together the timeline of the crime scene to help you move towards solving the case.
The other tools at your disposal are a black light that allows you to see blood stains and follow blood trails and the X-Ray device that allows you to see through bodies and walls and piece together bullet trajectory.
With all these tools at your disposal, it makes you feel more involved and makes you feel like you are Karra, there at the crime scene.
Yes, you have a gun as well but you rarely use it as Nobody Wants To Die is more about the detective work and less about the gun hoe shooting that other games take you down.
You also have the ability to make choices which open up new branches of dialogue and show different events unfold.
Finally, I just want to point out the excellent sound design and music. The soundtrack is beautiful and really has that 1940s noir detective feel to it.
It helps draw you in and the sound design makes the world feel lived in. I personally love the music and the sound of the reconstructor piecing together an incident.
Overall ‘Nobody Wants To Die’ is a stand-out game and a welcomed surprise. With its next-to-no marketing I only found out about Nobody Wants To Die from a Facebook ad, and I’m so glad I clicked on it as it truly is my favorite game of this year.
‘Nobody Wants To Die’ is available now on Xbox Series S & X, PlayStation 5 and PC.
Nobody Wants To Die Launch Trailer
This review was based on a Xbox Series X playthrough.
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