We can all agree that slight variants of recycled ideas saturate the video game sphere, but Genesis Noir by developer Feral Cat Den appears to buck that trend by offering a genre clashing cosmic point and click adventure, the likes we are pretty sure we’ve never seen before. A new trailer unveiled at E3 2019 appears to confirm Genesis Noir is indeed treading an original path.
The gist of Genesis Noir is a romantic entanglement that requires the player to effectively halt the Big Bang and, by extension, the expansion of the universe. Earth is shrapnel from the Big Bang – a cosmic gunshot from pre-creation – headed straight for the heart of a god, No Man’s love. He must stop it at all costs in a visually rich story of love, creation, and destruction.
Diving in a bit deeper, the lead protagonist, a watch salesman known as No Man, travels to earth, scattered parts of the universe, and even other dimensions uncovering clues to reverse the moment of creation by solving clever generative art-based puzzles.
Time also plays its role, with action take place before, during, and after the Big Bang. The game is broken down into a mixture of starscapes and vignettes that can be altered.
Many of the puzzles are based around tactile interactions, pattern recognition, and good old experimentation. Creativity plays a central part as players can toy with cosmic particles, change landscapes, tinker with celestial bodies, and so on to carve out an abstract universe.
Taking the noir aesthetic and marrying it to a hand-drawn art style, Genesis Noir succeeds in capturing a distinct mood that seems fitting to its surreal cosmic ambitions, jazz-backed tunes, and distinctly sci-fi timbre. The cast of characters is equally alluring from a jazz singer to a narcissistic artist alongside a cast of gods.
It’s hard to pin down what Genesis Noir is, yet it seems the developer’s know precisely what they want it to be, as perplexing as that may be. That’s partly why it is so enticing. The presentation style, the fluid sense of scale and setting, an excellent three-part interactive prologue on Feral Cat Den’s website, and a successfully funded Kickstarter campaign amalgamate and cough up one of the most intriguing indie titles we’ve seen in a while.
As it stands, Genesis Noir is slated for a 2020 release on PC and Mac. No inkling about whether it will hit other platforms though.