LA Noire is one of those games that is always fair been there for me. It was my favorite as a teenager, and I subsequently wrote my master’s thesis on it – wherever I’ve been in my life, Cole, Jack, Elsa and the crew have followed. While some are crossing their fingers and hoping for a sequel, I’ve always argued that we don’t need an LA Noire 2; in fact, a sequel would completely ruin the first game. But I’m all for a spiritual sequel, and Nobody wants to die from Critical Hit Games might be exactly what I was looking for.
You are James Karra, and this is New York City in 2329. The dark, rain-soaked streets are illuminated by pulsating neon lights, channeling the moody dystopian aesthetic of Cyberpunk 2077. But in this preview of Nobody Wants to Die we can look down on the city from a high-rise apartment, soft 1940s-style music in the background as a burned man hangs lifelessly from a huge, gnarled cherry tree. It’s quite an opening, believe me.
At its core, Nobody Wants to Die is a detective game with extra spice, but that’s not a bad thing. Where Cole Phelps had his old-fashioned notebook and pencil, you have a hip heads-up display with a scanner. One look at the unfortunate victim tells you that he’s, well, dead, but a second check with the scanner reveals that the Ichorite in his body – a mysterious substance that appears to be the literal lifeblood of this strange new world – has been oxidized , and he’s even deader than he looks.
But Karra only has one question: “Why did the tree burn?” If the oxidation of the Ichorite killed our poor victim, why did the tree have to catch fire? That’s where the Reconstructor tool comes into the picture. Where LA Noire are champions who engage the criminal underworld of the City of Angels to piece together the crime, Nobody Wants to Die effectively lets you turn back time and see how the incident happened. could be happened before your eyes.
The Reconstructor and our handy x-ray tool (reminiscent of Detective Mode in the Arkham games) lead us to a transformer under the floor, where it looks like Green (our charred high-flyer) has been destroyed by himself. It’s the very same cables that ultimately tied him to the tree, leaving Karra to wonder if “someone had him do that.” The plot thickens, but Green is still very, terribly dead.
While all this is happening, Karra discovers what appears to be a golden bottle with a snake carved into it. The loaded companion in our ear loses its visual feed and the screen begins to distort and stutter. Whatever this thing is, it’s not good. Everything distorts; ice blue veins intertwine like roots under the floor. A woman in red walks by and calls out in an ominous, ghostly voice, “come back to me, James.”
And then we’re taken back to the present, with your supervisor angrily informing you that you better get out of there or leave it to your own devices. After a quick lie claiming that you’re “in trouble” and that you’re already gone, you turn around and take the elevator down, and the scene goes black.
It’s a short but exciting look at the complex world of Nobody Wants to Die. Combining the 1940s feel and gritty detective mechanics of LA Noire with Cyberpunk 2077-style technology and aesthetics, Nobody Wants to Die was already at the top of my wish list, but now it’s an absolute must.
And we don’t even have to wait that long to get our hands on it: Nobody Wants to Die’s release date is set for Wednesday, July 17. If, like me, you’re way too excited, you can wishlist it on Steam.
In the meantime, though, we have a list of the best police games if you want to press Alternatively, we have a look at all the upcoming PC games of 2024, and it’s shaping up to be a great year.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC gaming news, reviews and guides, or use our PCGN deals tracker to score some bargains.