X-Noir

X-Noir by ArtBane and Volrath is an action detective RPG with Noir and Sci-Fi elements set in an unnamed, slightly dystopian city. Structured in 6 chapters called "cases", the game follows private investigator and ex-politician Eddie Humphrey, who once successfully brought down a criminal syndicate but has long since descended into depression and alcoholism.

After a short introduction chapter set in the past, the player is thrown into the life of the protagonist in his current unstable state. But then a small-scale investigation of a case of theft unexpectedly marks the point at which Eddie gets dragged into a whole series of incidents, which all seem to be connected to a mysterious green substance. Soon, the weary detective is forced to employ all his brains and brawn to survive, and must confront problems he tried to bury many years ago.



X-Noir focuses on both the more general level of (city) politics and corruption as the overarching theme as well as Eddie's psychological issues and development on the personal level. While thankfully never graphically violent or explicit, due to the modern setting with dystopian elements the game deals with many difficult and quite mature themes, which are addressed both in satirical and serious ways. They include but are not limited to depression, suicide, corruption, prostitution and drug abuse. It also affects the use of language, which is quite frequently very crude (though never in immersion-breaking or immature ways), so if this bothers you, you might want to have a good amount of *bleep*s ready.


Now don't be modest, Eddie.

The Good (Positive qualities that justify an increase of score):
- The storytelling in X-Noir is continuously amazing and shows a lot of attention for details, both in terms of writing and setting up the corresponding atmosphere. The game takes its heavy subjects very seriously while also incorporating enough humorous moments to prevent the plot from becoming a downer. The story itself initially revolves largely around the personal and professional struggles of the protagonist, but soon a pattern that connects the seemingly unrelated cases starts to emerge. This way, suspense and the player's curiosity are constantly kept at a high level until the story reaches its climax. The main themes and concepts of the plot are explored in clever and meaningful ways, and are sure to break some typical expectations.



- The most effective and memorable aspect of the game is its rich and colourful cast of fascinating characters. As the story progresses, the player can observe the development of protagonist Eddie Humphrey, learn about his psychological struggles, self-doubt and death wishes, the turning point in his past that ended his political career, but also about the help and support he receives.
Among the other characters that accompany Eddie on his path, some even during his investigations, are: Alex Munoz, a likeable police officer who fought against the corruption in the police forces and put down the gangster Big Jimmy together with Eddie; Katharine, Eddie's neighbour who suffers from agoraphobia and hasn't left her apartment in years; Dr. Lana Stanwyck, a very competent therapist Eddie regularly visits and whose character dialogue is extremely convincing; and even two people you might be familiar with if you have played another game by the same creators.



Even less important characters like local politicians, Eddie's clients and people you question have distinct personalities and motives. An extra source of both information and entertainment are the numerous NPCs that inhabit the city and often provide humorous references or satirical comments. Their dialogue also usually changes with every new case, so this alone is reason enough to roam around the city.


Lovely. Just lovely.

- Gameplay consists of three major elements, namely investigations, combat and puzzles. In order to gather evidence or information, Eddie must often visit different places in the city, the majority of which can be freely explored right from an early stage in the game on. Important parts of investigations are searching areas for clues and questioning involved people. In order to do this, the player can ask certain questions and then decide whether to believe the person or to accuse them of lying. A wrong decision usually has no major impact on the story (which is sometimes a bit of a missed opportunity), but does result in increasing the depressed detective's "Anxiety", so thinking critically is encouraged.



At some points, however, Eddie has to let the bullets do the talking. Combat in X-Noir takes place directly on the map, and generally consists of lining up with enemies in order to shoot them, thereby consuming ammunition. Enemies meanwhile try to approach Eddie to engage him in melee combat or ready their own ranged weapons, which the player must avoid. They also often have some special abilities that require the player to change their strategy. A variety of guns becomes available over the course of the game, each with its own special properties, advantages and disadvantages. Most ammunition is found in abundance, which somewhat defeats the resource management aspect, and the battle system is not extremely complex, but it is generally fun and very fast-paced compared to typical RPG combat. Boss battles, which occur at the end of every case, are additionally challenging and more complex than usual fights.


Run 'N Gun!

Another great strength of X-Noir's gameplay are the many puzzles and minigames that have to be solved to advance. Some of them, such as the lockpicking minigame, are short and simple, other puzzles are longer and more sophisticated, but they are always cleverly designed, test the player's reflexes and logical thinking skills and provide nice and enjoyable additional experiences between the searching and the shooting. (Also, there is this one arcade machine with a very special game...)


Moving boxes around is hard work. Especially when it's a puzzle.

- On the visual side, X-Noir predominantly uses modern and futuristic tilesets with some edits and custom additions and rarely some RTP mixed in. Maps are generally well-designed and reflect the somewhat moody atmosphere of the setting. The game also features beautiful face graphics drawn by Ronove (creator of Star Stealing Prince and Homework Salesman) and some amazing on-screen picture clues by Enkur (who designed most custom graphics for Master of the Wind). These assets are used to great effect and strongly enhance the player's immersion.
- Equally powerful is the music in X-Noir, most of which was created by well-known RPG Maker music pack composer Joel Steudler. The tracks vary from gloomy and calm to rhythmic and action-focused, and all do a very good job at capturing and supporting the mood of the respective scenes. (My personal favourite was the Final Boss track which not only fit perfectly but also got stuck in my head for literally a week.)





The Bad (Minor issues and nuisances that usually only decrease the score if they come in large numbers):
- There are a few little graphical issues in X-Noir that are slightly annoying but not of large importance, such as enemies' health bars that sometimes don't immediately disappear when switching to a different map, the slightly wobbly cars that drive around the city and look like they drive into Eddie when he touches them, small passability or priority errors and little oddities in map design.
- Also, there are a few very small bugs present that usually have no real impact on the game, most of them related to dialogue being repeated more than once or not being updated.
- One thing that has been a personal pet peeve of mine is the fact that when shooting and hitting no enemy during combat, ammunition is consumed but no sound or other notifier indicates this. Since ammunition is displayed on screen and is not hard to come by, it's not a real problem, but it can be a bit annoying.


Some cops are bastards.

The Ugly (Major problems or very frustrating aspects that lead to a decrease of score):
- In the early development stages, the battle system was very flawed and received a lot of criticism, even removing it entirely was briefly considered. By now, the most jarring issues (most notably the infamous "shooting through walls") have long been resolved, which is a major improvement. Still, some problems remain that are too severe to be ignored, such as enemies sometimes being able to attack you while a textbox pops up, leaving you defenseless as you can't act in the meantime. Despite things like these, combat is rarely challenging due to the very easily accessible and powerful healing items and the fact that enemies are usually extremely easy to outsmart or trap in specific points on the map.
Since I think that despite everything the battle system in itself was a good idea and has been handled well especially in the last few cases, it's a bit sad to see it in such an imperfect state. It reduces the potential fun factor, and I believe it would be worth it to go back and improve the system, since it is a major part of the gameplay and deserves to be treated as such.
- Especially in regard to the later cases, one thing can be noticed easily: The game feels somewhat unfinished. Mechanics are not thought through or only cosmetic (anxiety, investigations), resources are apparently missing, cutscenes have light errors, there are some lingering bugs and instructions are not present where they should be expected. Also, the final boss battle was never implemented (which, due to previous story developments, is not a major problem but still a pity). In general, a lack of polish is very obvious, making parts of an otherwise well-constructed game feel rushed. This unnecessarily compromises the experience.


Wait... So why do dead rats drop money and ammo again?


Conclusion:
I really wanted to give X-Noir an even higher rating, because I feel this is what the game would deserve - if it were as consistent as it seems to have originally been planned to be. However, in its current state, while it is a very enjoyable game, just too much of its potential remains unused. I still highly recommend giving this game a shot. But both players and creators should be aware that with some work, X-Noir could be much greater than it is right now.