Blues and Bullets
Game is dead like a beached whale.
My personal experience is probably a lot like most people on here. When a sale season hits, you go out a buy a crap-tonne of anything and everything that has had a price reduction on your wishlist. Like a hungry vacuum cleaner sucking up your wallet, purse, handbag, life savings, superannuation and assorted licorices, you just buy buy buy! without really looking at the forums or the latest info or even if the game is finished yet.
Which brings me to my point. This game wasn’t finished, and never will be.
– Real player with 8.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Noir Story Rich Games.
I do not really review episodic titles without having all episodes at hand with a complete walkthrough. With Blues and Bullets I did an exception as the title with its heavy noir atmosphere kept calling me. “A Crowd of Monsters” made an interesting and enjoyable game and I’m sure we’ll hear more about them in the future.
In the center of the game we have Eliot Ness who is based on the real Eliot Ness - an agent who enforced the Prohibition in the early 20th century and was famous for being part of the so-called Untouchables, a group tasked with getting Chicago rid of its corruption and - most notably - putting Al Capone behind bars. Here, the story is fictionalised - Eliot has already retired when he gets a visit from one of Capone’s henchmen. The kingpin wants to bury the hatchet and offers the agent a job most unexpected: finding his granddaughter as Sofia Capone was kidnapped.
– Real player with 6.2 hrs in game
Chinatown Detective Agency: Day One
‘‘There simply must be a corpse in a detective novel, and the deader the corpse the better.’’ - S.S. Van Dine
Chinatown, Singapore in the year 2032 - Amira Darma is the female protagonist operating her first day as a Private Investigator in a dystopian cybernoir world where she feels her detective skills can flourish outside of the financially crippled Criminal Investigation Department that she once worked for under the command of Superintendent Justin Koh.
The 3 Cases, characters and the puzzles
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Noir Dark Games.
“Chinatown Detective Agency - Day One” is a prologue for the main game due sometime in 2021, and gives a first impression of what to expect.
In short: I found the game to be interesting and it’s definitely got potential - hence my thumbs up. But it still needs some a lot of work.
The low-down
CDA is a retro-styled cyberpunk/noir-themed whodunit which plays much like a classic point-and-click-adventure with some light elements of life-sim and puzzle-games. From what I hear it is strongly inspired by the Carmen Sandiego-franchise with its chasing after clues and travelling to places all over the world.
– Real player with 3.2 hrs in game
Dark Grim Mariupolis
Dark Grim Mariupolis creates a point and click adventure branch of it’s own with it’s interesting theme and dialogue. Aside from the mythology, mysticismm, and pseudo-dystopian society world you can easily found yourself wrapped up in interest as you control the footsteps of Thor in this crime noir adventure. Aside from the two color simple yet elegant art style and intriguing story line this game really excels with excellent sound design. The pattering of the rain combined with the calm yet unsettling smooth background music sets the tone as you are playing a pseudo-detective role.
– Real player with 4.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Noir Atmospheric Games.
Its a pretty simple point & click adventure at the first glance
but then its so much more
best described as a piece of art.
And even to the gameplay doesn’t feel smooth at times I just fell in love with the dystopian feel, the references to mythology and the noir athmosphere.
– Real player with 4.9 hrs in game
Dirty Land
Dirty Land is a game about real estate, crime, and desperation, inspired by classic sales movies of the 80s and 90s.
Step into the shoes of Frank Marsh, a newly hired salesman for Pure Sky Properties, a real estate office where coffee is for closers and the status quo is hawking swamp land to unsuspecting buyers for a tidy profit. Will you cast aside your ethics for a quick buck, or will you take the high road and find a way to scrape by honestly?
Something New Every Day
Welcome to your new job. At the start of every day, you begin out front of an unassuming, drab strip mall, where Pure Sky Properties is tucked away. Every day brings new characters to meet, new events to experience, and new stories to be told. What will it be tomorrow?
Choose a Lead, Go on a Sit, and Close ‘em!
These are the new leads. You’ll probably close one of your leads today, but can you close two leads a day? You’re gonna need some caffeine for that. But you know what salesmen say about coffee… you better prove your worth if you want that cup of joe!
Every day you’ll have chances to make a sale. Learn what they like, study their habits, memorize what you can about them, and get them to sign on the line which is dotted!
The Birth of a Salesman
You are Frank Marsh. You’ve made a mistake that has ruined your family. You can’t change your past, but you can change your future!
Will you take the high road and stick to your principles, or take the low road and chase the easy money? Whichever path you take, you’ll discover multiple endings based on the choices you’ve made and whether you succeed or fail in those choices.
On top of those choices, you’ll need to balance your family life with your work life. Will you be a model father and go home and play with your kids? Or will you go out on another sit and close that elusive buyer? Go too far down one path and there will be consequences… your choice will change Frank’s story - at work and at home.
Make Friends First, Sales Second
An office is a place where dreams come true. A place to meet lively new people. A sociopathic manager. An elusive owner. An opportunistic coworker out to steal your money. A flamboyant salesman with no concept of failure. A seductive hairdresser. An intrepid drycleaner. A neglected wife. A pair of dumb mob thugs. A ripped-off customer. A brutal detective. A homeless derelict with clues to a mystery. A rival firm across the street. And many more…
Always Be Closing
The money is out there. All you gotta do is reach out and grab it! How many leads can you pitch and sell? Can you bag the top leads? Will you take advantage of easy prey, or tackle deals with honor?
Play the Sleuth
Do I have your attention? Good. Because it’s not just sales numbers that you need to keep your eye on. You need to keep your wits about you, because in an office full of backstabbers, anything can and will happen. Including the surreal!
Clearly you’ve been framed. But by who?
Solve Murder Mysteries
In a desperate world you’ll meet desperate people. Dangerous people. People who will do anything to make rent. To not get fired. To make that promotion. To secure those juicy leads. From unsavory characters to hilarious charmers, they all have secret motives to uncover… you’ll need to gather clues and piece together the truth to gain the upper hand in this double-crossing world!
Everyone is a suspect! Especially you!
And this murder won’t be the only one…
Emerald City Confidential™
Emerald City Confidential is an enjoyable romp through the land of Oz, set 20 years after Dorothy’s initial visit to Oz. In those 20 years, a number of things have changed, and although a number of the character names will be familiar, their personalities and motivations have changed.
You take the role of Petra, a Detective, who is initially hired to find a missing person. That goal expands throughout the game. There also is ANOTHER underlying more personal case for Petra that spans the entire game. As Petra, you will not only visit the Emerald City, but you will also visit other lands of Oz as well
– Real player with 19.8 hrs in game
I can’t recommend this hidden gem enough.
Pros:
Setting, the game is set in a dystopian adaptation of the Wizard of Oz. Many years after the adventure of Dorothy Gale and her ragtag group, the city of Oz and the surrounding world has taken a very dark turn. The Ozian empire suffered a catatrosphic attack by foreigners that nearly destoryed the country, magic has been outlawed and punished harshly (even death in some cases) and the world has become corrupt and dark. Many of the characters well loved in the original story have become tainted. New characters added could have been in the original story as they fit into the universe perfectly.
– Real player with 12.6 hrs in game
Face Noir
Not a bad game until the ending, and the voice actor is terrible. He is not the right choice for a hardboiled Raymond Chandler type detective. His voice is effeminate to the extreme and his diction is too precise for someone just out of prison and working on their last dollar during the Depression. And that actor as an Italian? How insulting to Italians everywhere. How many times do we need to hear dannazione? It was a piss poor performance. Even the guy playing the Irishman Sean was awful. His accent degenerated as the game wore on. At first his accent was passable, but by the end he must have gotten tired because he was unable to hold it together at all. He started saying “da” instead of “the.” I think he forgot who he was supposed to be because he suddenly sounded Swedish at certain points in the game. Just total amateurs! Both lead actors almost killed it for me until I turned the voice volume way down and tried to enjoy the game without them.
– Real player with 52.8 hrs in game
I rarely leave reviews for games, but felt that with the mixed reviews, I should give my input concerning this rather unique Point-N-Click.
What makes this game unique? Having played a number of other P&C games, I liked the refreshing approach in this game to selecting/using items. Unlike most selections of this genre where items are viewed & selected from a 2 dimensional panel or menu, Face Noir allows the option to view & select items in a separate closeup 3-D view, where the main character holds each item individually, and of course provides witty banter concerning each one. Another refreshing difference in this game is the ability to use some of the items via moving the mouse in strategic directions, thereby increasing the interactivity of this piece beyond the traditional “Point & Click” mechanics. These of course are not deal makers/breakers as far as the core substance of the game, but certainly add their charm thereto.
– Real player with 15.1 hrs in game
Jack Orlando: Director’s Cut
Do NOT buy this game!
edit: I still don’t recommend it but if you want to finish the game, there are workarounds at the end of this review.
This version of the game isn’t worth 10 cents. It’s a wine prefix with major issues. Jack Orlando is an old pal who, unfortunately, aged very very badly.
Pros:
- used to be a decent point&click (when it run as intended)
Cons:
-
bugged stereo support and no mono option
-
bugged resolution support
– Real player with 6.7 hrs in game
Because I’m a fan of the noir genre and adventure games, I was curious about Jack Orlando; though, even as I’m writing this after spend six hours on it, I still do haved mixed feelings about it.
I’ll explain the pros and pros before giving my final thoughts on it.
But first, a brief summary:
Jack Orlando is an African-American (don’t let the cover art fool you, the protagonist is black and I found it very refreshing!) private detective in the 1930s, just after Prohibition ended. One night after drinking his sorrows away, Jack unwittingly stumbles onto the scene of a murder - and the blame is immediately placed on him due to the lack of witnesses and evidence. He’s given two days to find the real killer; thus, he soon finds himself tangled in an elaborate conspiracy.
– Real player with 6.6 hrs in game
Murder In Tehran’s Alleys 1933
This would be a decent short point and click adventure title were it not so… slapdash. The English translation is pretty engrish, though the voice acting isn’t that bad. Some locations have two music tracks accidentally playing on top of another and the game characters have entirely different design and looks during in-game and cutscenes. (The protagonist alternates between having a black three-day stubble and a shaved face with silver moustache – and gains about 20 years of age!)
Puzzles can be roughly divided into two categories – there’s item-using puzzles that fit the world, and random bouts of sudoku and tic-tac-toe that seem there just for filler. And I had the tic-tac-toe glitch on me. It’s just so half-hearted and I’m willing to give historical adventure titles quite a bit of leeway.
– Real player with 33.3 hrs in game
I liked it, thought it was worth a couple of bucks. I wish the captions/writing would be proofread & fixed. The characters are good. The story is good, except that some of the pieces of the plot do not fit together because of the poor translation. Overall I was glad I played it, if you like old school point & clicks it’s worth a shot. I really wish the developer would fix the captions/writing, that would really improve the game for very little money.
– Real player with 13.8 hrs in game
Nick Bounty and the Dame with the Blue Chewed Shoe
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Review by Gaming Masterpieces - The greatest games of all time on Steam.
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Is this game a masterpiece? Nope, you get a short indie detective adventure with a similar control scheme than the Telltale (RIP) games, although the pathfinding is awful. While the case revolves around a young woman who has been murdered, the game doesn’t take itself very seriously. The 4th wall is broken a few times, the dialogues and descriptions are of a slightly puerile humor. It has it’s charm, but don’t expect a game for mature readers. There are many references to classic film noir detective movies, but the game itself certainly doesn’t spread out any film noir atmosphere. It did make me chuckle a few times, though. When my female sidekick told me she is aroused by the smell of gunsmoke… anyway. You play the role of a juvenile detective who decided to solve his first real case and begins to investigate the first murder he runs across after listening to police radio traffic. Everything very plausible, and so the story goes on… from his automatic evidence analysing computer to the behaviour of the police and the suspects… you have to take the game for what it is - a parody. Then it is ok, especially when you like to solve mysteries and if you are a fan of classic noir movies.
– Real player with 8.2 hrs in game
Στα [+]
• Τά ασπρόμαυρα γραφικά.
• Η ανάπτυξη τής ιστορίας.
• Οι περιορισμένοι στά εντελώς απαραίτητα διάλογοι.
Στα [-]
• Μέ σχετικά ευθύγραμμη εξέλιξη, τήν δράση νά υποδεικνύεται από τόν πρωταγωνιστή, καί μέ λιγοστούς γρίφους, περιορισμένους στήν αναζήτηση κάποιων αντικειμένων.
• Η έμπνευση τού δημιουργού νά γεμίσει τό παιχνίδι μέ κάθε είδους “αστειάκια”. Τό χιούμορ του είναι πολύ κακής ποιότητας καί σέ πολλές περιπτώσεις βρίσκεται εκτός τόπου καί χρόνου. Φτάνοντας δέ στό τέλος, μένεις μέ τό στόμα ανοιχτό εξ αιτίας του (κι όχι,δέν είναι από ευχαρίστηση…).
– Real player with 6.8 hrs in game
Renoir
Renoir is an afterlife noir themed puzzle platformer that could be considered the lovechild of The Swapper and The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom. The puzzle mechanic relies on recording actions for a level specific set of ghosts which in turn have to help navigate the protagonist through deadly sources of light and around obstacles. While sounding basic at first, the game requires both planning, timing as well as some thinking around the corner.
The art design and soundtrack are amazing, the puzzles themselves ore both intuitive as well as creative. Only the story is mildly on the light side, but considering all the other outstanding features, Renoir is a bonafide puzzle game and ranges among the better half of them.
– Real player with 40.8 hrs in game
Introduction
Renoir is developed by Black Wing Foundation and published by 1C Company. Dev team has been active on Steam for the past two years and this can be seen even in the case of the reviewed game today. It’s both in a polished state and also features the noir subgenre along with some of its tropes. I’m still a fan.
Gameplay
Biased or not, Noir films and literature weren’t always a favorite topic of mine. I guess they really are an acquired taste and it involves some degree of maturity, since the themes present in this subgenre are usually bleak and gritty. Definitely not light-hearted as the vast majority of platformers found on Steam. This is a crucial element of distinction and at the same time, the saving grace of a rather repetitive game otherwise. From the perspective of its story, the game emulates the narrative thread from Murdered: Soul Suspect. In Renoir we also have a ghost detective attempting to solve his own murder. The puzzle platforming genre is sadly more unidirectional than an open world environment. Progression is always to the right side of the screen. Still, between you and your escape door to the next level, is always one constant enemy: Light. Whether we talk of street lamps or windows, apparently your ghostly form can’t pass through light sources and from this obstacle, the puzzles themselves emerge. You can simultaneously control up to 5 ghosts, including yourself and maneuver them towards electrical switches which manipulate trap-doors, elevators and the such.
– Real player with 10.6 hrs in game