Nobody Wants to Die
Developer: Critical Hit Games
Publisher: PLAION
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed), PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $24.99 – Available Here
Overview
A cigarette tip burns dimly in a dark alleyway as a grizzled detective stands over a corpse of an unfortunate victim. A crime he’s grown all too familiar with in his decades on the force and as the rain beats away at the pavement, the scene fades to gray then black with dramatic jazz. This type of stylish take on crime solving and film noir always felt like a perfect fit for one another but yet rarely have they been combined lately when it comes to video games. Now here we have Critical Hit Games that is looking to put a bit of their own spin on these classic themes. Take the worn-out detective, murders, and dark and dingy world that looks like its set in the ‘40s and put a futuristic spin on things with holographic billboards and you have Nobody Wants to Die. Is this blend of a futuristic setting with familiar themes a worthwhile story to unravel?
Story
In the far off future of 2329 humanity has found a way to seemingly conquer death, but not only does it come with a cost, it just so happens that that cost is so high only the rich are able to take advantage of it? Set in New York, players take on the role of James Karra, a former baseball player who has since taken on the role of being a detective after losing his original body and taking on a new form. Now, over a century old and seemingly in a fairly recently swapped body that is riddled with issues, James has been given a task by his police chief despite the fact that he is meant to be on “leave” following a disastrous train incident prior to the game’s beginning.
The mission may seem simple over the radio, head the location where a suicide has happened, record anything of note, and retrieve their Ichorite so they can be brought back to life, and close the case like nothing happened all while the seemingly rookie assistant Sara works alongside James as his partner through an ear-piece. Of course, things are never that simple, especially when it comes to James’ no nonsense approach to the job (unless players want to have a bit of nonsense) as this gruff detective quickly deduces that this is far from a suicide. This is a rather drastic and elaborate murder set up not only to make it look like one of, if not the wealthiest man, in New York committed suicide, but he did it in a way that managed to kill himself permanently, destroying his Ichorite at the same time.
Despite his chief’s insistence to log the event away as a suicide and forget all about it, James continues to investigate the murder with the potentially reluctant help of Sara who helps him navigate things that he can’t access such as official police documents, computer systems, and background checks all while he is out in the field investigating the crime scenes themselves. As James continues his investigation the pair find themselves discovering even more horrifying truths than what is already laid bare to the world as a whole as well as just how awful the ruling rich have become in this world where immortality is all but assured as long as there is enough cash on hand.
Nobody Wants to Die tells a shockingly gripping narrative that is unfortunately a bit too short for its own good, though what it does have to tell is an enthralling noir style detective tale where many of the classic tropes of this old genre come to life in new ways thanks to its futuristic setting. This is partially thanks to how well-paced and written the investigations are and how well-realized the world and James are. While we don’t want to give too much away in regards to the theming and nature of the story, Nobody Wants to Die’s future is a bleak one where despite having flying cars that are stuck in ‘40s design and seemingly conquered death, the caveat to it is that it is mandatory. In this world, when someone reaches the age of 21 they must pay a fee to the government to keep their body and continue living. If not, they are “killed” and have their Ichorite, which is essentially the essence of everything that is their mind and soul, extracted and put into a bank until someone can pay for them to obtain a new body, and it might even be a worse one than what they had to begin with, all while their original body is given to someone else.
In a future world such as this where hopes have now potentially turned into nightmares it only makes sense that people have become numb to life. As such, while this may be a bit too on the nose, James’ portrayal as a grizzled detective as true to the noir genre as they come and seeing the world through his eyes, experiencing the horrors that he has to experience while haunted by the ghosts of his long distant past all while in a body that isn’t even originally his makes the character feel all the more impactful to this type of world. It also helps that the game’s dialogue choices do help develop the story in various ways. Sure, players cannot make major choices outside of a few specific ones throughout the title that will determine how the ending goes, but James’ responses to other characters, especially Sara, can help sculpt him a bit in the player’s own way.
Whether it is helping warm Sara up to him or being scared of UV lights despite carrying one in his pocket and regularly smoking, these little choices can prompt extra dialogue and even unlock extra choices as the story progresses. That being said, it is a bit unfortunate that for a game with different ending variations such as this one has, there is no real way to quickly navigate through the game again as there is only one save file available, no chapter select, or anything similar that will help speed things along beyond being able to skip some of the longer dialogue sections. Sure, this may help a bit, but those wanting to experience every element of the game’s story, and the many variations that James can bring to the table with the dialogue options, will need to start from scratch every time.
Gameplay
As James, players will find themselves traveling to a number of different crime scenes, entirely in first person, and examining them using his various detective tools to uncover the truth, or about as close as he currently can, about what happened there. Some minor tools happen to be an X-Ray device that is generally used to track wiring to activate electronics and occasionally something else but it, alongside the UV flashlight which is used to trace blood trails as well as other chemical patterns feel like they get paltry use compared to James’ main futuristic gadget, the Reconstructor. This powerful device is the central focus of Nobody Wants to Die’s investigations as players will use it to rewind time and see how certain events happened, or at least he will eventually.
Despite these being the core puzzles that players are meant to solve they aren’t really difficult. In fact the game even highlights where players will need to stand to find an aberration with the Reconstructor’s data and analyze it, fixing the timeline and revealing the next step of the investigation which will similarly be pointed out. In fact, after we completed the game we noticed that there is even a hint button to literally highlight exactly what players need to do next. This means that the puzzles, while interestingly set-up and can vastly change the way a crime scene looks as they are solved, are a bit too simple for their own good even if they are incredibly flashy. Instead, players will find that most crime scenes have a slew of other items players can interact and look at, either for in world lore and unique conversations between James and Sara or even dialogue choices that less thorough players might miss.
Outside of the crime scene investigations and dialogue choices players will occasionally need to come up with a hypothesis for what actually happened using the clues they’ve gathered and what Sara might be able to provide depending on their standing with her. This is played out as a grid-game where questions are asked such as “How was the victim killed?” and players can select clues from their evidence pile and drop them into the slot with a correct choice moving things on smoothly. Ironically there are some fun mistakes players can make when linking evidence together that will offer some new comments from either James or Sara and there’s no punishment for making any mistake as they can be easily corrected.
Audio & Visuals
The world design of Nobody Wants to Die finds the perfect blend between futuristic dystopia and retro aesthetic. Flying cars floating across perpetually gray skies in front of holographic billboards advertising body replacements all while the cars themselves are modeled after those from the ’40s and most buildings and technological aesthetics remain tied to the same time. These elements are just lovingly crafted and exploring every scene to see what it contains is one of the best parts of the game, the gorgeous detail in this ugly world. The character models themselves are handled well enough but can be rather rough when compared to the scenery surrounding them which is a bit of a surprise.
The voice work for the characters is handled perfectly for a game looking to take the noir genre as seriously as they can. James and Sara make for an interesting pair and do wonders to help add to the story. The soundtrack also happens to feature some of the classic type of music one would expect in a jazzy noir crime game, though while fitting there isn’t anything too special in the background music.
Overall
Nobody Wants to Die takes the noir genre and puts a fresh sci-fi spin on it to make an engaging and thrilling mystery. The storyline may be a bit on the shorter side and there is no easy way to replay it but the story and world building that Critical Hit Games have crafted here is absolutely wonderful and it is all set to a gorgeously dystopian world with a fitting main character, it’s just a bit of a shame the puzzles along the way feel more like going through the motions at times just to hit that next great part of the storyline.
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