Within the opening minutes of the new cyberpunk noir game Nobody Wants to Die, the protagonist blazes through a series of genre clichés at lightning speed. He downs a bottle of pills, takes a swig of alcohol from his flask (with another unopened bottle of moonshine in the background), mourns his deceased wife, and muses about being a disgraced detective who bends the law. All of this unfolds before he receives a call from the police chief informing him of his reinstatement for a high-profile case. I'm enthralled by it.

Nobody Wants to Die, developed by Critical Hit Games, is a heartfelt tribute to classic noir films. Although the game is set in a retro-futuristic New York City filled with floating cars and science that grants immortality, at its core, it remains a pulpy crime thriller. It doesn't seek to subvert the genre's tropes; rather, it embraces them to deliver a captivating, trope-laden mystery that plays it straight. Critical Hit has crafted a wonderfully gritty noir world here, one that's worth exploring.

The narrative kicks off with the death of a man named Green, the architect of this futuristic city's greatest achievement: immortality. In Nobody Wants to Die, people can transfer their consciousness between bodies. Even when a body perishes, one can purchase a new one, although it's costly. Now, Green is dead, and the murder was executed so meticulously that he won't get a chance to return. From this point, the five-to-six-hour story races toward its climax. The short runtime is a blessing, perfectly suited for the pulpy adventure.

As the disgraced yet temporarily reinstated detective James Karra, you visit a series of crime scenes to unravel a grand conspiracy. What initially appears to be a suicide quickly reveals itself to be something more sinister, involving the upper echelons of New York society. In this respect, Nobody Wants to Die offers its own spin on noir classics like Chinatown, and it succeeds admirably. Naturally, the story includes sci-fi detective tools, allowing Karra to rewind crime scenes and reconstruct events. This becomes the primary task: sifting through crime scene events in search of clues that piece together the mystery.

Multiplatform

Nobody Wants to Die

• Back Of The Box Quote

  "The only thing that could make it more noir is if the game was in black-and-white."

• Type Of Game

  Narrative detective game

• Liked

  Detailed world with unique visual aesthetic and fascinating world-building.

• Disliked

  Doesn't quite land the ending, controls can be finicky at times.

• Developer

  Critical Hit Games

• Platforms

  PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC

• Release Date

  July 17, 2024

• Played

  Five-and-a-half hours to roll credits.

Several other tools are at your disposal (a UV lamp to reveal old blood trails, an X-ray to discover hidden compartments, etc.), but the gameplay remains straightforward and somewhat guided. I don't mind this, as each clue serves as a catalyst for Karra and his partner Sara to discuss the case's intricacies, providing new information. You're given just enough tasks to stay engaged without detracting from the central appeal, the complex mystery at the heart of the game. Most of my time at crime scenes was spent attentively listening to dialogue and trying to comprehend the case.

Crime scenes also represent Nobody Wants to Die's most visually striking moments. This holds true even in the game's first major set piece, a vast penthouse with a grand staircase and a towering cherry tree at its center. Upon your initial arrival, the entire room is engulfed in flames, including the tree. As you reconstruct the timeline, you can rewind and witness the flames flicker and extinguish in reverse as color returns to the tree's leaves. It's truly spectacular. A floating bar and a secretive sex club also make appearances, each serving as a delightful playground to explore, even if only to admire the intricate details while listening to the dialogue. The dialogue is also exceptionally well-written. Karra and Sara handle the majority of the conversation, consistently hitting on noir tropes without making them feel stale.

This visual splendor extends throughout Nobody Wants to Die, becoming an integral part of its identity. The game's entire world is crafted with a stunning aesthetic that marries 40s flair with Blade Runner grit. It's a fusion of art deco design and purely industrial metal. It's incredibly evocative, much like BioShock's Rapture. The path you traverse through the world is as directed as the gameplay segments at crime scenes, yet it never feels constraining due to the incredible attention to detail in every area you explore. Everything in Nobody Wants to Die contributes to a larger tapestry, whether it's the conspiracy you're unraveling or the city of New York itself. The game's conclusion (or conclusions, as there are multiple) doesn't quite wrap up all the fascinating threads and world-building with the same precision as the rest of the narrative, but it doesn't leave a bitter taste. I had a great journey, even if the finale was somewhat underwhelming.

The most surprising aspect of my experience with Nobody Wants to Die was its profound lore. The concept of a future without death isn't merely a superficial premise that initiates the mystery; it's a moral and ethical dilemma that Critical Hit Games explores at every turn. In 2329 New York, bodies are discussed as literal government property. This is as horrifying as it sounds, and the game delves into this with further details such as the illegality of drinking and smoking to preserve bodies for future owners, a subscription fee to use your body, and the emergence of a new death kink for wealthy individuals who can afford to buy poor bodies and inhabit them solely to experience a quick high before returning to their original body. It's a poignant allegory of wealth inequality and how the affluent view the less fortunate as mere commodities to control. Discovering more about this world is one of the most rewarding aspects of Nobody Wants to Die, and the flavor text you encounter is filled with intriguing details that enhance your understanding of the central crimes. This game took me by surprise, but its tightly paced film noir mystery is built on such a fascinating world that it has quickly become one of my favorite sleeper hits of 2024.