Nobody Wants to Die Review (PS5)

What would happen to humanity if death had no meaning? Nobody Wants to Die, a narrative noir adventure experience developed by Critical Hit Games and published by PLAION, builds a world around this premise. Through a futuristic noir setting, Nobody Wants to Die weaves deep philosophical and political questions about the nature of humanity, our relationship with mortality, and the power of deep-rooted corruption into a detective mystery thriller.

The experience is clouded by unengaging gameplay and awkward dialogue that breaks immersion. Despite these hiccups, the Blade Runner-inspired world is worth exploring especially for fans of detective dramas or narrative experiences. 

Murder and Mystery

In Nobody Wants to Die, you take on the role of James Karra, a detective with a history of breaking the rules and ignoring regulations. You receive an off-the-books assignment from the police chief to investigate the suicide of a highly influential and politically connected elite. Paired up with a younger assistant, Sara Kai, you explore the neon city uncovering secrets and revealing deep corruption.

The narrative is core to the entire experience. It follows a linear path as you discover more about the great mystery. As scenes play out, players will have the opportunity to make decisions that will impact the story. Some choices are major and will affect how other characters act toward you and the direction the story will go. Others are more minor such as, while investigating a rich penthouse, you can uncover a cabinet full of fancy cigars giving you the option to take one or leave them alone. If one is stolen, you will be given the option to smoke it instead of a regular cigarette later on in the story. Some options are completely locked away depending on choices you made earlier in the game. 

Though I never fell in love with the characters of Detective Karra and Sara, they did eventually grow on me. Their relationship and banter is charming enough to keep my attention which is key given that they will be the only voices you hear for a majority of the experience. The dialogue is written largely well and the performances were convincing, especially during key emotional moments. However, there were multiple moments in which the dialogue could come off as awkward or disjointed as if the developers did not anticipate how certain combinations of dialogue choices would string together. 

The mystery itself was what really kept my attention. Discovering and learning what exactly is going on in these murder scenes, how they all connect together, and what it all means from a political and philosophical perspective was truly compelling. Some choices made throughout the game gave me pause as I considered what choice I was comfortable with. With up to four different kinds of endings (two major endings and two that are similar but with slight differences), there is plenty of variation for subsequent playthroughs.

A Futuristic Dystopia

Neon lights, flying cars, massive holograms, and drab skies color this dystopian future New York. Though set in 2329, the aesthetic takes heavy inspiration from the 1940s. Fedoras, striped ties, and classic style vehicles are intertwined with futuristic technology and neon lights creating an atmosphere reminiscent of Blade Runner. The city also has a dark, muggy underbelly, shaded from the luster and bright lights of Times Square, closer in atmosphere to the Matrix. Skyscrapers tower so high and are so clustered together that there is no sky, no sunshine able to peer through the claustrophobic towers. Life outside humanity finds no safe harbor; digital holographic trees dot the landscape. It’s a dreary world that reflects a recurring theme of life having no meaning in a world in which everyone is immortal.

Developed in Unreal Engine 5, the graphical fidelity amplifies the style, granting it life and detail. On PlayStation 5 you can choose between the performance mode or a graphical mode. Due to the nature of this experience – you will spend most of the time walking and interacting with things – graphics mode is recommended as it allows all of the beautiful colors, detailed environments, and incredible lighting to shine.

In each new area you are greeted with a stunning view that is worthy of being framed on a wall. The accompanying musical tones underlying your adventure elevate the mood, transporting you back to the 1940s. Critical Hit Games rendition of a futuristic New York stands up to AAA games of the modern era with large teams and massive budgets. 

A Self-Driving Mystery

As a detective, your job is to explore the various levels and uncover the mystery of what happened there using high-tech futuristic tools. The most impressive, and the centerpiece for gameplay, is the Reconstructor. This fancy gizmo allows you to view a crime as it happened in real-time, giving you an intimate look into each grisly scene. You will utilize the other gadgets, such as the X-Ray and the UV Light, to uncover and analyze evidence around the crime scene, allowing you to piece together a fuller view of the crime. These gizmos are visually impressive and have the potential to create interesting puzzles for players to solve, but the game never quite allows the player enough control or interpretive freedom to utilize them to their fullest extent.

Nobody Wants to Die never quite gets you to feel like a true detective. The crimes solve themselves. You are never tasked with deciding which gadget would be most useful for uncovering a secret or asked to use the gadgets in an interesting way. Instead, once you get started, prompts appear that automatically pull out the correct gadget for the occasion, taking you on a clear linear path toward your next pit stop on the way to fully reconstructing the scene. You never feel like you just solved the mystery; you simply pushed Detective Karra toward the next spot so that he can solve it for you. 

There are periodic sections in which you place all your evidence on the table (more often an apartment floor) and piece together what happened. These sections serve as a nice recap for the story so far and are an opportunity to draw conclusions on your findings. However, even these solve themselves. The voices of James and Sara tell you if the connection you made between pieces of evidence are wrong or right. Piecing the puzzle together becomes more trial-and-error than an actual interpretive puzzle for the player to solve. For those who only want to see the story play out, this will not be an issue. For me, the lack of player input and engagement left me feeling less like an active participant and more a passive observer. 

Closing the Case

If a narrative, dystopian, neo-noir detective experience sounds compelling or interesting, then Nobody Wants to Die is worthy of your time and attention. The experience struggles with creating compelling gameplay even for an adventure title and fails to make the player feel like the detective that they play as. Thankfully, the atmosphere, picturesque visuals, and intriguing story propel the narrative experience forward into a worthwhile one. There is a ton of potential that just needed to be capitalized on more for the adventure to reach the greatest of heights. Nevertheless, Critical Hit Games has clearly revealed themselves as a highly talented and visionary studio able to execute on a promising vision. 

Nobody Wants to Die is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC for $24.99.