Noir Syndrome

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.

A tiny little WhoDunIt. Perfect for when you want to solve a mystery in 5 minutes.

В ДЕТСТВЕ Я ЛЮБИЛ ГЕРОЕВ...И САМ МЕЧТАЛ СТАТЬ ГЕРОЕМ...А ТЕПЕРЬ...ПОНИМАЮ ЗЛОДЕЕВ.

Keywords: pointlessness, ennui, detective, private eye, .38 special, clue-hunting, broke, orderlessness, usual gang of tropes, gangland, tick-tock, brass knuckles I hate this city, and I hate everything in it. Not such a feat when you can consider what little little there is to this burg, but it makes an honest stab at living simple turn into simply miserable. I originally set up shop here for what anyone could've easily mistaken for decent reasons: it's cheap, low-maintenance and reminded me of an easier time in my life that, upon reflection, may or may not not have actually been. But you spend long enough here and you'll come to recognize the oppression hiding behind those inviting overtures. And to someone who once did time, the oppressive hymn of marking off your calendar is a familiar one. You leave your house in the morning thinking that the promise of a new day will grant you a gift of the unexpected. Well, expect this: randomness. Nonsensical happenstance, and you walk pell-mell into this miasma of superficial chance as broke and as clueless as you ever were and when the clues eventually do come to you, they lead nowhere. Like I said: "nonsense." Not worth the money I don't have, and not the worth the time I need. There's got to be better places to make a living than here. I hate this city.

gun and talk/action keys are right next to each other talk/action on the left and gun on the right, well on the screen your gun is shown on the left and talk/action on the right. so anyway, i killed the first person i saw in game easy fix by remapping the keys 1st game starved to death cause i never found food thought i would give dinner party a try and everybody keeps killing me for no reason and i still starved to death on my 3rd try no sprinting its got music to fit the aesthetic i like the idea of the game but this luck and chance that has me starving to death 90% of the time cause i dont start with $ or food kills it for me

TLDR: Not bad, just not as good as I’d hoped. [b][u]General Thoughts/Overview:[/u][/b] Noir Syndrome (NS) is an excellent idea executed with extremely limited success. The base idea of the game is you are a detective hunting a serial killer. The twist in this case being a short tight gameplay loop with randomised characters. The villain is different every time, the scenes are different every time, and the evidence is different every time. The idea is to produce a theoretically endless set of investigations and each investigation takes 5-10 minutes. There is some progression to be had, with ingame ‘badges’ being cumulative, and every few badges giving permanent perks, such as lockpicks, bullets, or cash. Sadly, the result isn’t great. In some ways there is too much randomisation, in others, not enough. We are limited by time, but time flows unequally. We are limited by hunger, but our fullness depletes based on actions, which are limited by scene. We are limited by scene investigations, but evidence can be found literally anywhere, as can the pool of suspects. We are limited by destination choices, but the city remains forever unchanged, and only different ‘events’ at each location effecting the volume and type of evidence you can find. [b][u]Pros:[/u][/b] [list][*] The gameplay loop is compelling, but unfortunately extremely repetitive. [*] The music provides atmosphere and is enjoyable for a few games, but it gets old very quickly and I found myself turning it off. [*] There is a range of freedom and events. You can get people gathered, you can rob a safe, you can shoot folks, you can collect evidence and eliminate suspects, and you can make educated, or even blind guesses. NS doesn’t try and force a ‘correct’ way of playing on you. It will, however, give you the consequences of your actions. Sometimes swiftly and at the end of a gun. [/list] [b][u]Cons:[/u][/b] [list][*] So repetitive. The game is great for a short sharp couple of rounds, but it gets real old real fast. This is doubly effected by the lack of variation. Even though the game boasts theoretically thousands of combinations, really the gameplay only provides few ways of dealing with the situations. [*] The evidence collection, time and hunger limitations, and even the purchasing systems are super basic. There is no nuance to the game and it’s basically one button does it all, with a secondary shoot button so you don’t accidently murder your informant. [*] There is no story and no actual investigation. You’re not going to feel like a genius splicing clues together, and if you get enough cash you can literally buy a hint for the first letter of one of the killers’ names. Why you can’t get the entire name is beyond me… but it is what it is. [/list] [b][u]Suggested improvements:[/u][/b] [list][*] A complete overhaul of the mechanics to better fit the setting and make more sense. I propose that the hunger system be essentially identical, but it dictates how many interactions you can do over the course of a single day. Food needs to be purchased and consumed, and the quality remains different, but it gives you more or less interactions each day. This would allow the game to be have more choices, better hide the killer, allow different scenes to provide different information in a more consistent manner (such as not finding clues in random places), and make the player feel smart when they start to work out how to scour the map for stuff. I acknowledge this could stretch the gameplay dependent on the number of actions possible in a day. [*] Mix the map up. Have primary key locations, infrastructure locations, and secondary locations. They can overlap in function, but it would give each game a unique feel, while changing very little. Just a few different ‘rooms’ which can connect procedurally as well would also give the map locations character, and could provide secondary stories to the player investigating. [*] More music, just a few more noir themed tunes could really breathe some life into the game. [/list] [b][u]Overall Recommendation:[/u][/b] Overall I don’t think I recommend NS. It was made almost a decade ago and the devs have had a huge amount of time to build on the very solid foundation this game provides but don’t appear to have. It is quite cheap, though, and if this has piqued your interest then you could do worse. I think NS is good for a person after short adventures and with limited time and low expectations. I don’t think you’d enjoy this if you’re looking for an [i]actual[/i] investigation or detective game. I might come back to NS, from time to time. It has a little charm and its short gameplay loop means I can gently grind the badges down over time, slowly getting a more favourable start and faster at solving the crimes. As such its value has the potential to grow, for me, maybe it would for you too… I’m still not convinced it’d be worth it, however.

A small puzzle game that tries too hard to be something more. The result is something more likely to annoy you than provide entertainment as the added game mechanics either get in your way or allow you to do really basic actions like robbery for a small reward. Not worth the time to play it and I wish there was more effort into developing the gameplay rather than guess the murder to extend your time while baiting people to play more with unlockables.

Without very many logic-deduction style crime games to choose from, Noir Syndrome fits snugly into a largely unrepresented subgenre of mystery. It has the basic logic features down, it has badges (in-game achievements), challenges (which aren't always in tandem with solving the mystery), plenty of choices in locations to explore, and most importantly - replayability. The main jest of the game is collecting a list of possible suspects and then narrowing them down based on gender, law affiliation and occupation/hobby. Once you know how the game works, you can easily deduce the culprit with the right clues. The game may sound tame so far, but it goes a step further by adding a few tension elements: The killer can kill off the other suspects, the killer moves around, the killer can kill you, you can kill the killer or anyone else, you need bullets to use the gun, you need to eat to keep going, you need lockpicks to unlock doors, and there's a time limit. There's also a 'Dinner Party' mode, which has the basic gameplay of the main game, but with a few twists: you start with a list of all the suspects, you're all confined to one house, they're all in disguise and look almost all alike, they take turns going crazy and will shoot you if you're nearby. This last bit actually is more important than you may think at first. In all, if you're a fan of the more traditional style mysteries that existed before CSI, you may like this. It fits mostly in the noir/gumshoe category of mystery (hence the name), but not too far from the detective qualities of Clue, Holmes and Christie. Edit: fixed typo.

Noir Syndrome is a metaphor for everyday life. You go through the same basic routine each day, but it never plays out exactly the same. You need to eat to stay alive, ask questions to gain suspects and not piss off anyone so you end up getting killed by a hitman. 10/10

[h1]Summary:[/h1] Noir Syndrome isn't the best detective game, but it's one of the more interesting takes on the genre. I can't honestly say there are any other games I know of that can distill a whole organicly woven detective story into a few spare minutes, and that's something this game manages to achieve in a way that's also replayable. Noir Syndrome won't last you long in a single sitting, as repetition can set in after subsequent playthroughs in a row, but I've found it's a comforting and unique little gem to return to when I want to kill a few glorious minutes as a private eye. [h1]Full Video Review:[/h1] http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1187299364