| Genesis Noir | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Feral Cat Den |
| Publisher(s) | Fellow Traveller |
| Engine | Unreal Engine 4 |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | March 26, 2021 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure, puzzle |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Genesis Noir is an adventure game developed by Feral Cat Den and published by Fellow Traveller. The game follows the main character, No Man, as he visits different parts of the universe while trying to save his love. The game was released on Windows, macOS, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch on March 26, 2021.
Genesis Noir is a point-and-click adventure game, played out across a number of vignettes. The player is prompted to move their character or interact with the scene through various on-screen prompts. [1]
Genesis Noir plays as a metaphorical narrative between a film noir-style detective movie and aspects of the creation and potential destruction of the universe. It plays out the events of the Big Bang as a metaphor for a broken romance between No Man (representing time) trying to stop Golden Boy (representing energy) from killing Miss Mass (the mass of the universe). [1]
No Man, a watchmaker, has fallen into depression after breaking up with Miss Mass, a nightclub singer. He tries calling her and hears her crying for help, and racing to her apartment finds that she is about to be shot by Golden Boy, the saxophone player from her band. After touching the spent bullet casing with a strange spiral marking, No Man finds he can pause time, and determines he can stop Golden Boy's bullet by creating a black hole. He then proceeds to track down more of the spiral symbols through events that would occur without the black hole and turn them golden; these are told through various vignettes that follow the creation of the universe and stages of life on Earth to obtain these. Among these, No Man befriends the Huntress, the Ronin, the Musician, and the Scientist. Further, these vignettes reveal that Golden Boy has found his fame through Miss Mass, and became jealous of when No Man started a relationship with her.
Eventually collecting enough spirals, No Man converts their energy to create a black hole that begins consuming all of reality. A white figure, an amalgamation of the Huntress, Ronin, Musician, and Scientist, appears to comfort No Man and shows him he can see all the possibilities in time, and that he does not have to save everyone. With this revelation, No Man returns to the point where he first had his encounter with Miss Mass and forces himself to turn away, changing the timeline to allow Golden Boy to kill Miss Mass, and allowing the universe to be created.
According to the creative lead Evan Anthony, the idea of Genesis Noir came about around 2013 after he and Jeremy Abel, the game's technical lead, had read Italo Calvino's Cosmicomics . They spent about two weeks in 2014 to create the initial prototype for the game. The prototype got a positive response from other members of the indie game community, leading them to plan out expanding the game. [2] [3] The early prototypes for the game was created in Unity which had various animation issues, leading to the development team to switch to Unreal Engine in 2015. [4] They continued to work part time on the game through 2016, after which they had enough personal funds to continue full time development on the game. [3]
The game was originally announced with a teaser in February 2017. [5] A Kickstarter for Genesis Noir was launched on January 17, 2018, with a funding goal of $40,000. [6] The game was originally set to be released in fall 2020, but was delayed to early 2021. [7]
In addition to Calvino's works, the game's art style was influenced by animation studios Buck, Giant Ant, and Golden Wolf,, artwork by Kevin Huizenga and Marc-Antoine Michel, [3] and the video game Windosill . [8]
The game's music is provided by Skillbard, a London-based duo that has provided compositions for other indie game developers. [3]
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | (PC) 77/100 [9] (NS) 81/100 [10] (XONE) 81/100 [11] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Destructoid | 8.5/10 [12] |
| Edge | 8/10 |
| Eurogamer | Recommended [13] |
| Jeuxvideo.com | 13/20 [14] |
| Nintendo Life |   [15] |
| PC Gamer (US) | 76/100 [16] |
Genesis Noir received "generally favorable reviews" on Metacritic, ending up with a score of 77 based on 18 reviews for the PC version and a score of 81 for both the Nintendo Switch as well as the Xbox One version. [17] Critics praised the visuals and story, but criticized the puzzles as being confusing.
Malindy Hetfeld of Eurogamer praised the game's visuals, writing that "The art style itself may not look like much in still images, but brilliant whites, beautifully smooth animations and occasional yellow accents combine into something overall quite memorable. There is simply no other game that looks like Genesis Noir right now." Hetfeld also enjoyed how the game taught the player using visual cues instead of tutorials. "It never tells you what to do... You're completely left alone to work out how to proceed, and the fact that this is even possible with zero hand-holding feels like a substantial game design achievement to me." [13] Rock Paper Shotgun 's Nate Crowley noted that there wasn't much actual gameplay in Genesis Noir "there’s not that much playing in this game... It is, in essence, an animated film, with bits where you borrow the main character in order to tackle strange, cosmic minigames." Crowley liked the aesthetic of the game, writing that the visual style was unique, comparing its unique art style favorably to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse . He additionally criticized some of the game's puzzles as being confusing. "there were some failures of intuitive design, where I was left aimlessly clicking around the screen". [18]
Nintendo Life gave the Nintendo Switch version of the game 5 stars out of 10, calling it "a bad way to play a good game" while citing the awkward control scheme, visual and audio glitches, and poor performance as issues that hindered the port's quality. [15]
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | NYS Game Dev Challenge | Independent Developer | 1st Place | [19] |
The Journey Down is an episodic adventure video game for Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, iOS, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 by Skygoblin. An Android version is currently in development.
Dead Synchronicity is an episodic point-and-click adventure game set in a post-apocalyptic future. The game was partly funded through the Kickstarter crowd-funding website, with the first episode released in April 2015.
The Banner Saga 3 is a tactical role-playing video game developed by Stoic and published by Versus Evil for macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It is the final installment in a trilogy of games that began with The Banner Saga (2014) and The Banner Saga 2 (2016).
Crossing Souls is an action-adventure video game developed by Spain-based indie development studio Fourattic and published by Devolver Digital. The game was released on 13 February 2018 for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux PlayStation 4 and 26 July 2018 on Nintendo Switch.
ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove is the fourth entry in the ToeJam & Earl series of video games. The game was developed by HumaNature Studios, founded by series creator Greg Johnson, and published by the studio on March 1, 2019.
Bear with Me is a point-and-click adventure game developed by Exordium Games. It is described as an "episodic noir adventure game", and was released in three episodes, first in August 2016, final in October 2017. A prequel, The Lost Robots, was released in July 2019. The game draws inspiration from film noir and features Amber and her friend - detective Ted E. Bear, who are set on an adventure to find Amber's missing brother Flint. Bear with Me: The Complete Collection, a compilation of the first three episodes, was released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Linux, MacOS, and Microsoft Windows on July 9, 2019.
Knights and Bikes is a cooperative action-adventure game inspired by The Goonies and Secret of Mana. It is created by Foam Sword, a British indie game development company made up of former Media Molecule staff.
Kona is an adventure video game developed by the Canadian studio Parabole and published by Ravenscourt. Set in October 1970, the game centers on Carl Faubert, a private investigator, who arrives at a snowy town in Nord-du-Québec, only to find the place deserted with something that is lurking around. A sequel, Kona II: Brume, was released on October 18, 2023.
Black Book is an adventure role-playing video game, developed by Morteshka, which created The Mooseman, and published by HypeTrain Digital. The game was released on August 10, 2021.
ATOM RPG is a post-apocalyptic role-playing video game, which takes place on the territory of the USSR in an alternative world after a nuclear war. The game was developed and published by the independent studio Atom Team. The game was released on December 19, 2018, through the online digital distribution services Steam and GOG.com, for the gaming platforms Microsoft Windows, macOS and Linux.
Narita Boy is a 2021 action-adventure video game developed by Spanish team Studio Koba and published by Team17. The game is an action platformer that follows the titular Narita Boy as he tries to save the Digital Kingdom from the Stallions. The game was released on March 30, 2021 for Windows, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and for Amazon Luna on April 29, 2021.
In Other Waters is a 2020 adventure game for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Nintendo Switch. Players take on the role of an AI that assists a xenobiologist in exploring an alien world.
Lonely Mountains: Downhill is a 2019 sports video game developed by German developer Megagon Industries and published by Thunderful. The game is a third-person biking game, where the player tries to complete courses on different mountains. The game was released on October 23, 2019 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. A Nintendo Switch port was released in May 2020.
Tails Noir is a noir role-playing indie video game developed by EggNut and published by Raw Fury. It was released for Microsoft Windows in June 2021, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in October 2021, and on Nintendo Switch in February 2022. A prequel, titled Tails Noir Preludes, was released in February 2023 on Windows.
Gamedec is a point-and-click adventure role-playing video game published by Anshar Publishing. It released for Windows on September 16, 2021, and was released for the Nintendo Switch on July 1, 2022. The game takes place in Warsaw and features a cyberpunk universe and themes of film noir, tech noir, and transhumanism. Players control a "game detective" or "gamedec" and participate in solving mysteries related to virtual-reality games, collecting clues and making deductions in order to drive the story forward.
Night Call is a 2019 noir-inspired adventure video game, co-developed by MonkeyMoon and Black Muffin, and published by Raw Fury. It was released worldwide on July 17, 2019, for PC platforms, and on June 24, 2020, for Xbox One and the Nintendo Switch. In Night Call, player assumes the role of a Parisian taxi driver who survived the actions of a serial killer, and is compelled to solve a murder mystery following his awakening from a coma. Aside from pursuing interactions with the driver's passengers as the conceit behind the investigation, the gameplay of Night Call also incorporates aspects of a management simulator, which reflects Houssine's need to make a living as a taxi driver.
Wytchwood is an adventure video game developed by Alientrap and published by Whitethorn Games and Whisper Games for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The game was released on December 9, 2021.
Silt is a surreal underwater puzzle-adventure indie horror game developed by Spiral Circus and published by Fireshine Games for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, in which the player controls a deep-sea diver who can possess the diverse marine life that enters their vicinity. It was released on June 1, 2022.
Ghost Song is a 2022 video game developed by Old Moon and published by Humble Games for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Beautiful Desolation is a point-and-click adventure game by The Brotherhood. It uses an isometric perspective and is set in a post-apocalyptic version of South Africa. When alien technology teleports two brothers into the future, they must find a way back home.
