Nobody Wants to Die Review – Old Fashion Noir

When I first saw the reveal trailer for, Nobody Wants to Die I was captivated by its Cyberpunk meets Bladerunner aesthetic. The world was futuristic yet old-timey in a classic Noir sense. On paper, the game is an adventure game with light puzzle detective-based mechanics. I was also very interested in the fact that it was being developed on Unreal Engine 5 by Critical Hit Games. This is a new studio founded in 2020, so this was going to be their first release. Even with its flaws, Nobody Wants to Die is an experience that easily will be loved by fans of the genre.

Developer & Publisher // Critical Hit Games, PLAION

Platforms // PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S

MSRP & Release Date // $24.99, July 17th, 2024

Reviewed On // PC

You Could Live Forever

The year is 2329 and immortality is available for those who can afford it. Bodies have subscriptions services, so Death only targets the poor. This is possible through inchorites which is essentially the storage of an individual’s consciousness. That reality isn’t perfect though. For example, If the previous body’s owner was a drug addict, you will suffer the same fate. Also, inchorites can be damaged which then would mean that consciousness would be gone forever.

You play as recently reinstated Detective James Karra. He is a man with a troubled past that he can’t remember. Karra drowns himself in pills and booze to ease the pain of his past life. As the story unfolds, you learn that James has many complicated layers to him. This is because he is a man that often doesn’t play by the rules and is mostly driven by the pain he feels. Also, I found the ending of the game I achieved during my playthrough to be a worthy conclusion to the main character. I felt this way because it ultimately granted peace to Karra in a way that’s fitting for him. The game has a rather limited cast of characters, but I found James to be the most interesting overall.

Dark City in Nobody Wants to Die

One of the strongest aspects of the game is the world design. Its old-school meets new-school vibe is a real treat, and I found myself often stopping to take in the scenery. The world is filled with futuristic tech such as flying cars, but at the same time, they resemble vehicles out of the 1950s. Another example is you will encounter keypads that have a rotary dial. While you explore, you’ll find all kinds of items to inspect to help you connect with James and the overall world around him.

Outside of the aesthetic though, the game is extremely linear. The game clocks in at a tight 5-8 hour experience. You don’t even have a HUD that guides you. Only small markers will pop up from time to time. This didn’t really bother me since the overall pacing felt tight. I was always doing something, especially during crime scene investigations.

GO…GO…Gadget!

Without a doubt, the crime scene investigation loop is where Nobody Wants to Die really shines. During these moments there is a flow state you eventually get into. The key to investigations are the gadgets. For instance, the reconstructor allows you to manipulate time to examine the crime in different moments. That could lead to moments like using your X-ray scanner to follow the trajectory of a bullet or wires that lead to the next clue.

Also, there is a gadget that is a UV light that James will often use to examine blood. These moments can be a little annoying though due to the excessive handholding during the investigation process. Often taking away some of the extra fun that could be had but having to explore and think a bit more. Regardless of that, I found these to be enjoyable to complete.

During the second half of the game, the investigation leads you back to the first crime scene you encountered. Without giving spoilers, this room will eventually be expanded upon, and it made this area one of my favorites in the game.

Let’s Connect the Dots in Nobody Wants to Die

There is another part of that process that takes place via the evidence board. When you first encounter this in Nobody Wants to Die, it looks very confusing. This is also because it does a poor job of explaining what exactly you should do. It tries to guide you with some dialogue between characters. After a quick Google search, I found players feeling the same way so, I know it wasn’t just me that felt this.

The goal of the evidence board is to match the clue that best answers the question. Doing so will cause branching paths to continue this process. If by chance you connect the wrong options, there is an in-game prompt to break that chain to reset it.

Voices In My Head

I’ve been a sucker for gritty cop video game voice acting since playing Max Payne back in 2001. In this department, outside of a few moments, Nobody Wants to Die pretty much stuck the landing. It was fantastic and I even felt this way when it came to the main character speaking on the loading screens. I would almost always sit on them until all the dialogue was exhausted before proceeding. This was played by Philip Sacramento who by far had the best in-game performance.

When it comes to conversations, dialogue choices are another big part of the gameplay flow. Some will matter to the overall story more than others. For example, some may lead to unique conversation options that you wouldn’t have otherwise. For example, let’s say you said something that didn’t lead the conversation down a certain path, some options could be blank or locked. Others will affect the overall story and will dictate the ending of the game.

The game has four unique endings. Unless you choose to back up your save at a certain point, multiple playthroughs would be required if you wanted to experience them all. Since the game doesn’t have any type of chapter select option.

Performance

The performance of Nobody Wants to Die was great. It was constantly running at 60FPS or beyond depending on my settings. My rig consisted of an AMD Ryzen 9 5900x, Geforce RTX 3080, and 32GB DDR4 RAM.

Music & Accessibility Options

The music in Nobody Wants To Die acts as a fantastic backdrop to the world around you. In my opinion, none of the music is in your face and instead acts as an additional emotional filler to what is going on at the moment in time. The original score for the game was created by Polish composer Mikolai Stroinski. He worked on some high-profile games such as The Witcher 3.

When it comes to accessibility options the game doesn’t really have much. The only things to consider in that regard would be things like changing crosshair color, and size or limiting overall flashing in the game.

Final Thoughts on Nobody Wants to Die

Despite a few issues that will bother some players more than others such as game length, some quality-of-life issues, or linearity, Nobody Wants To Die is a great first game for a new studio. Overall, the game is a beautiful and interesting world with stellar voice acting. With so much good here at an affordable price it’s easy to recommend for a gritty futuristic Noir experience.

Final Score 7.5/10

Pros

• Beautiful World Design
• Fantastic Voice Acting
• Affordable Price

Cons

• Linear Gameplay Flow May Bother Some
• Some Gameplay Elements Not Explained Well
• Game Feels Too “Hand Holding” at Times

Author Credit: Alex Patsy.