Игрок 5194·Не рекомендует·6 ч в игре

Noir Syndrome is an interesting game. It tries to bring in something new to the Rogue-lite market, by putting you in the shoes of a private detective. From there, you have several places to visit to gather clues and suspects, while trying not to step on the wrong faction's toes. While the concept is fantastic, the game's scope is much more modest. I was expecting much more from it, and it's not what it was trying to deliver. Sessions last about 15 minutes. There is a rampant murderer in the city (for cult reasons), and you can visit every landmark freely, spending one day to explore each area. I was expecting a bit more FTL or WeirdWorlds influence, with a deep lore that one could discover by playing it over and over again, but this is purely a mechanical game. Unfortunately, its mechanics are not robust enough to carry it, in my opinion. Presentation The game's artstyle is not beautiful, nor unique. You can probably get that from the screenshots. But it's functional, and to be honest, it didn't prove very relevant in my enjoyment of the game. A great artstyle would certainly make it more enjoyable, but I could distinguish everything of important here, so it's fine. The Music, however, was pretty neat! As you would expect from a Noir game, it features a lot of Jazz, with a bit of chiptune influences at times, and also Classical music in a couple of places (expensive hotels and the hunting club, for example). But for the most part, it's jazz. And it fits the detective vibe perfectly. It's not something I'd listen to on my own time (it's simple, and not a lot of variety), but I didn't feel like turning it off while playing the game! Now that this is out of their way, I'll explain how the game works. You have 14 days to explore the city and find out who the culprit is, and bring him to justice. You have various different areas of the city to explore. You can explore one each day. In those areas there are objects and people. In a restaurant, for example, you can speak to people there, and also explore the seats and tables for clues. Each area functions similarly. This exploration phase plays like a 2D side-scroller. People can be either of 2: normal people, and sellers. Normal people can give you suspects (or give a very generic and not very convincing argument against them being a suspect... just flavour text), while vendors will try to sell you Food, Lockpicks or Bullets. Examinable objects can also give you Locks, Bullets, Money, or Clues. You'll need Locks to open doors or steal from vaults, and Bullets to... well... kill people. More on that later. Clues are a bit more interesting (although not too much). For your deductive reasoning, you'll have to find suspects that fit certain criteria. After you learn about a person, you'll know all of their attributes. Clues will provide you with the killer's attributes. Each person has a faction, an occupation, a gender, and a name. The faction includes Police, Mob, and Civillian. Occupation can go from Artist or Chef to Tailor or Driver. Once you think you've found who the killer is, you check him on your notebook, and his location will be shown on the map. Every clue is about the killer. This is very important (and also a big issue). No matter where you find it, the clue is always about the murderer. Also, the clues are Binary. A gun holster, for example, tells you (s)he's either from the Mob, or the Police. An ornate fabric tell you (s)he's either a Tailor, or a Dancer. And so on. There can't be contradictory clues, so you'll end up collecting just enough to find which aspect is common between them. If no one fits those traits, you'll need to speak to more people to get more suspects. --- This is a very uninteresting way of making you a detective, isn't it? There's barely any brainwork from the player! It's just about running around the place, inspecting every random background object (because that's where you get clues), and then finding the right choices. It doesn't feel like you're playing a detective, and every game ends up playing too similarly. Since every clue is about the killer, you don't really need to go to the crime scenes or follow leads to find anything about him(her). You can just explore any place that's convenient to you, and you'll easily succeed. This is probably the biggest issue I have with it. There's not a lot of thinking in this game, and it completely takes the "detective" part out of the game. --- On the City, there are different possible events. There are Civillian Gatherings, Police/Mob takeovers, Crime Scenes, and fishy places. About he latter, I have no ideia... You get that information from the people, but there is nothing different in those areas. The first 3 are areas dominated by said faction. This is relevant when you killed someone from the Police/Mob and left witnesses, or stole from either, as factions can then be hostile towards you, and shoot on sight. On Hard mode, there's always an hostile faction from the start. CrimeScenes are areas without people, where you can look for clues, without the risk of getting murdered. Other than that, one important aspect is the Hunger Meter. Yes. This has a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hunger meter. I'm sorry, that's rude. But seriously... Why?! The game has nothing to do with survival, except for the fact that you have to buy food not to die. Each time you examine something, or open doors, you'll lose 3 points. A piece of food can give you from 100 to 300, depending on the price. I guess this puts a stop to spamming Z constantly, but it doesn't feel necessary to have such a "feature". --- This is a good segway! The game is far too easy. There aren't too many suspects, and it's easy to find his attributes from the clues. Normal mode is not challenging at all. Hard Mode, can be fairly challenging, but for the wrong reasons. Food could be one of them, but you learn to play with it. The main reason is the factions that's trying to kill you. You have very limited bullets (1-2, usually), so you can't just kill everyone, which is good. However, while finding clues is very easy, finding all the suspects can take more effort, especially, when there's a faction that will kill you immediately, and there may also be hitmen on you, that seem to spawn randomly. You can literally enter an area and just die, because he was right in front of you, and you couldn't escape. This helps the game having challenge, but still doesn't feel like being the detective was the focus. The detective part is a very thin layer, surrounded by all these other systems trying to keep you from examining it closely. --- I think I've covered most of it. It's a purely mechanical game, of getting clues and suspects, and then arresting them. Killing them ends the game, but not with a victory. There are some special systems, like stealing from factions (that piss them off) or killing everyone in an area not to leave witnesses, but those play a very minor role in the overall game. This is because the game isn't hard at all! When you die, it's mostly out of your control. The only narrative, is present in the murderers appartment, where there are random logs (6), with a passage of his Egypt-mythology related killing spree. Nothing substancial at all, though. There are no interesting plots throughout the city, no lore, no interesting random events, nothing of the sort. It was what I was mostly looking forward to, unfortunately... Conclusion. It's not an awful game. It's actually pretty solid, for what it is. If you're looking for a very simple game (perhaps a good first project), then go ahead. I enjoyed the game, but I don't consider it great at all. Lots of wasted potential, but an interesting effort nonetheless. Only higher from here!

Игрок 8093·Рекомендует·6 ч в игре

Игра простенькая, играем за детективов расследующих убийства и вычисляющих убивцев по показаниям свидетелей и уликам. Свидетели могут дать нам имена подозреваемых, улики - приметы (мужчина/женщина, гражданский/гангстер/полицейский, род занятий), чем больше улик - тем лучше ибо арестовать можно и невинного человека, за что устраивают расстрел. На поиск убийцы уходит крайне мало времени (можно меньше минуты потратить если повезёт) и можно снова жать нью гейм. Музыка соответствует названию. Графика - очередной пиксельный высер, однако меня пикселями не напугаешь.

Игрок 1810·Рекомендует·1 ч в игре

Noir Syndrome is one of those games that falls into the quirky category of "For its price, it's pretty good." In spite of the claims of the developer, to say that each playthrough of Noir Syndrome generates a new and unique procedurally generated Murder Mystery story is a bit of a stretch. That being said, it's still a fun puzzler that mixes in enough demand for quick reflexes, gut instincts, and the ability to bluff with confidence to make it a very worthwhile experience. In Noir Syndrome, you play an anonymous flatfoot who wakes up one day to a city under siege from the mysterious murderer Anubis. You are given 14 days to explore the city, interviewing citizens for tips and suspects, searching through garbage cans and police desks for clues, and avoiding the bullets of the police and the mob (assuming you were rude enough to tick off either party somehow). Over time, Anubis will strike again and again, reducing your score but also helping weed out suspects. Visiting crime scenes burns through your valuable time, but searching for clues and chatting with citizens burns calories, so between the actual detective work you'll need to scrounge up funds and get a bite to eat. You can also spend cash on tips from the mob, lockpicks to aid in your more "thorough" investigations, and bullets for taking out those who take offense at your methods. Once you have enough clues and suspects, you'll be able to narrow down the names and know for certain who your man is. Of course, if time's running short, you might be forced to make an educated guess and hope for the best; given the choice between walking into a nest of furious gunmen and placing your faith in a coinflip, sometimes half-baked detective work is really your best bet. Each game takes about 20 minutes to complete, so it's not like you aren't committed to success, but at the same time losing isn't exactly the end of the world. Eventually, the game will get a touch dull; there's only one city layout, and the number of variables they can flip around really isn't that huge. Fortunately, there are three difficulty settings which drastically affect the experience, 30 in-game Achievements to acquire that provide you with bonuses for future cases, and an alternate Dinner Party play mode that forces you to find your man in a fraction of the time of a normal game, and which unlocks a variety of goofy costumes (always a solid selling point). Noir Syndrome accomplishes all this with a presentation better suited for an NES than a radio serial broadcast. It might not scratch any authentic murder-mystery itches, but it's a clever little puzzler that's well worth the price of admission.

Игрок 9687·Не рекомендует·1 ч в игре

Noir Syndrome isn't a terrible game, but it lacks in-depth gameplay. In this game, you solve cases by asking questions and finding clues, but the way you do so is redundant. How do you find clues? Rather than actually looking for a clue, you just press the 'Z' button whenever you stand near something interactable and hope you get lucky enough to get a clue. In other words, you don't find clues in this game; you just wait until the game decides to hand you a clue. How do you get information out of people? The same exact way. Press 'Z' and hope they give you information. No story, no dialogue options, just a 'Z' button. A successful detective game needs to make the player feel like they are actually solving the case themselves. Make them find the clues; make them interrogate suspects. Don't reduce everything a good detective game needs to one simple button. This game is playable, but the shallow gameplay will ultimately lead you to let the game sit in your library untouched for a long time.

Игрок 8289·Не рекомендует·2 ч в игре

Upon playing Noir Syndrome, I did question the meaning of “procedurally generated”. When I think of procedural generation, I think of something like Diablo, or Don’t Starve, not to mention all the rogue-like games out there. The point of procedural generation in games is to create a world which varies just enough to allow re-playability. The way this works is very simple. You talk to people and collect a list of suspects. Once you have enough evidence, and through the process of elimination, you can arrest some one on your list. That is essentially the game. It reminds me somewhat of Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego, where you gather descriptors of your villain to finally arrest them. Asides from the main mystery, you can try to complete challenges (for example, use a lockpick five times), collect costumes, hunt bounties, as well as ensuring you are well-fed (using money you gain from bounties or find in the world). You can also use your gun if need be. But these are all little things that have been added to the game in an attempt to create depth without actually doing so. When it comes down to it, all this extra is for naught. When you solve the case, game over. If you want to replay, you start from scratch, with the killer being randomly generated, along with all the suspects and evidence. In reality, this game is not procedurally generated, rather it has a randomly generated outcome. In effect, the world, the mystery, and the story do not change from one game to the next, only the clues you use to solve them. I think the effort put into making this game procedurally generated has, in turn, detracted from any of the noir-ish qualities it should have. Because it’s procedurally generated, characters don’t have personalities, or even distinguished faces (the pixel graphics are far from slick). While an intro sets the serial killer up to be some Egyptian cult fanatic, nothing more is ever mentioned or resolved around it. Setting something in the mid-20th century, with Speakeasys, diners and the mob are not enough to make something “noir”. It’s the cynicism of the protagonist, the fatalism of the femme fatale, or the moral ambiguity of the resolution. Noir Syndrome does not have a story at all, let alone any of these things. The “noir” concept is a skin applied to a simple puzzle game. But the soundtrack is at least jazzy. Noir Syndrome is a little puzzle distraction in the same vein as Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?. There is not a huge amount of depth to the puzzle, to the world, or to the re-playability, so I would hold off on buying the game for full-price, or perhaps buy the Android version instead.

Игрок 1563·Не рекомендует·1 ч в игре

This game has a great concept, but it unfortunately really falls short, almost feeling unfinished. The game has huge potential in its mechanics and the idea of procedurally generated mystery in general, but it needs the story element (the mystery genre's strength) to be interesting. The atmosphere is enjoyable (the soundtrack and art style are very nice), but the gameplay totally took me out of the mood. At first, I completely didn't understand what I was supposed to be doing. It is not intuitive, and there isn't a very good introduction/explanation of the controls. You have to focus so much on figuring out how the game works that it's impossible to get immersed in it. The story elements don't link up at all with the gameplay, which is a big part of why it's so confusing to figure out. For example, you're no more likely to find a clue at the crime scene than in ANY other place in the game. A lot of things feel very luck based, and it's frustrating to realize a lot of things you were trying to do were just a waste of time and resources. The game does give you a lot of freedom in what you can do, but there aren't logical consequences for every type of action. Everything you do in the game is done the same way (selectively spamming the interact button until you have enough data) and then solving a simple Guess Who logic puzzle. Before you understand how it works, it's confusing and jarring, and once you do, it's overly easy. There are a lot of interesting elements (like hunger meter and managing resources, factions, etc.) but without narrative to contextualize them, they feel empty. It seems like the game is mostly figuring out how the game works, instead of actually playing the game. The Dinner Party mode is a condensed version (1 night in a house vs. a week in the whole city), which I actually found a lot more enjoyable. There's more of a real-time pressure, and it's easier to get immersed because the investigative style makes more sense on this scale. The "madness" mechanic (essentially, the other characters will sometimes want to shoot you) makes you stay in the moment and keep moving throughout the house. However, again, once you figure out how it works, it gets old quick. If I'm a little harsh on this game, it's because it has such fantastic potential and concept that got me really excited, and it simply doesn't deliver. I wish the devs kept it gestating a little longer, and spent as much time on integrating story as they did with coming up with (frankly really interesting) game mechanics. Yes, you can play over and over. Unfortunately, it doesn't really make you /want/ to.

Игрок 4254·Рекомендует·2 ч в игре

Прошёл (довёл раскрываемость до 90%) Noir Syndrome. Прежде чем оценить игру хочу уточнить кое что: когда диктор запинается в слове "госсанэпиднадзор" мы раздраженно закатываем глаза, а когда младенец картавя и шепелявя произносит первые невразумительные слоги - умиляемся. Когда симфонический оркестр выказывает неслаженность - мы разочарованно вздыхаем, а когда собака лупит по клавишам пианино - рады до безумия. У нашей оценки есть много критериев и контекста. Так вот, Noir Syndrome - действительно хорошая игра в жанре Cluedo, если учитывать, что она сделана шепелявой собакой.

Игрок 2092·Рекомендует·3 ч в игре

The thing I really liked about this game, is that I as I got to understand the dynamics of the gameworld / exploration elements, I started finding the clues I needed faster, and succeeding more. Like Binding of Isaac, it's less about a single play that weaves a story, as the way different failures lead up to a run where everything falls into place, and you realize you've developed the skills to make use of it. I would recommend this game, but be aware that the action and story elements are very minimalistic. Like a lot of classic and retro titles, it's the limits and balance of the game that make it a unique and enjoyable experience.