Well, here is something fun - mixing RPGs, the gravelly, cigar smoking voice of a noir detective, pixel art, and gameplay you can fit on a tablet. I tell you, the modern gaming world is coming up with some wonderful things, thanks to the push of Indie game development and Kickstarter. Lots of games that merge and twist standard genres and mixes of thematic elements.
Pixel Noir is another one of these games in a line of new gaming that takes genre and theme and throws them in the blender until its something new, and trust me, its yet another game that seems to be doing it well.I didn't get a whole lot of time at their booth at PAX East, as it was at noon, and the crush of people pushed me as if a current through the indie mega booth, but this was a game I could truly appreciate. While I am not one that immediately starts to fawn over pixel art games, this one turned my head because of what they were trying to do with it - recreate a noir feel and vibe.
Coffee to refresh yourself? Fits right into Noir.
What is it, exactly, that makes something noir? One of the classic check marks is making your main character a private eye detective; double the thematic if its a man in a trench coat who also seems to like smoking cigars or cigarettes, or hang out in bars. Lets cue in the dark past that is shrouded in mystery or distain. Lets shade everything a little darker, make the alleys a bit grimier... Then lets add monsters.
Wait, what?
Never saw anything like this in black and white film...
Lets be honest: the classic noir setting where Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon reign supreme has a very, very small window of what is considered classic. It was a genre created before the explosion of video games, or even fantasy literature that spawned modern fantasy and science fiction fan bases. Some co-opting has to be done to be sure to bring this into the modern setting, and it has been happening, right under our noses. A lot of people would say Supernatural on television is a great mixture of noir, monsters, and a bit of buddy-cop show. The comic Constantine channels the vibe very well.
Gaming, however, its still more a flavor than an all out setting. One notable except from the recent year - Bioshock Infinite has the underpinnings of noir in the character of Booker, and in their DLC content Burial at Sea, they play that theme up to the hilt, setting it back in Rapture (during the correct era), adding the right music, the gravelly voice and darker twist of tone. It was wonderful to feel, but it left me wanting more.
This was some great game DLC to play, but still wanted more
Pixel Noir is going to give me that, if its Kickstarter succeeds. Its been built from the ground up to have this feeling of suspense and unease, to melt the noir setting style with the ability to build your characters to fight back against the creeping darkness. I will be honest, I have a little bit of trouble still jumping onto retro pixel games; Then as I saw the great black-and-white cut scenes they plan on having in the game, or I got to listen to some of the fantastic music they have already generated early on once I got home to research the game further.
I'm getting this game, and you should too, if you are a fan of RPGs, or just the setting. There is a level of polish here that is very promising, even this soon in their development of the game. They are being bold in creating such a mash up, and I'm more than happy to help spread the word about what they are trying to accomplish. They have a lot of levels to back at, and have some very cheap ones that give two copies of the game, while as usual with Kickstarter, the later levels start piling on additions... like that wonderful soundtrack. What's great is that they are developing it for both PC and mobile platforms like Ipad, which feels like a win-win in my book.
If it succeeds, the gaming community will be a little richer for having another push of something different. If we are even luckier, we might see a little more noir in other games to come.
-Wyatt
