Nobody Wants to Die - PS5 Review

The feature image for the game Nobody Wants to Die. The image shows a man sitting on a ledge while smoking. A wrist device is seen glowing blue. In the distance buildings, neon light a flying cars are visible.

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Today I’m checking out Nobody Wants to Die, a new Detective Noir brought to us by the team at Critical Hit Games. Set in a futuristic-dystopian New York City, where society has achieved immortality through transferring the consciousness of a person into a new body, or now named “Vessels”. Nobody Wants to Die is available now on PlayStation, Xbox and Steam.

New Body, Old Problems.

James is looking in the mirror. The text below are of what he is saying. He is wearing green suit. — If you looked in the mirror, would you even recognize yourself?

In Nobody Wants to Die, we step into the shoes of our main character James Karra. After attempting to get back to his job as a cop, he instead gets offered to work an investigation for the Chief of Police “off the books”. This job leads James to look into an “accident” which then spirals into a whole conspiracy of life and death.

Gameplay

Whilst playing Nobody Wants to Die, a tool you will quickly get very familiar with is the Reconstructor. This device rewinds time to help James see crime scenes more clearly. When active, the Reconstructor will display a yellow bar on a particular space in which you can either forward or reverse time to investigate. James has two other tools at his disposal. An x-ray, that will aid in finding machines/wiring or injuries on bodies. And a UV light that you’ll use to follow blood.

The evidence board mini-game. In this gif you can see me move one clue to the question mark. other clues and already solved question can be seen. — Time to crack this case wide open!

Once you find all the clues in Nobody Wants to Die, and have left the crime scene, James can now begin putting the pieces together. When putting the clues together, the board will display a beige question mark. Connecting a clue to the question mark will display a red warning sign saying it’s incorrect. I find this zapped the overall fun of guessing since you can just break the hypothesis links until you select the right one. You can make dialogue choices in Nobody Wants to Die, and these will affect the story. For example, burning a document might cause conflict later in the game. Some dialogue boxes will also unlock under specific circumstances based on your previous actions and responses.

Graphics & Audio

There is so much to enjoy visually and audibly in Nobody Wants To Die. The noir inspired music is fantastic and helps sell the detective vibe, and the ambient music did a great job of setting the mood appropriately for the scene. Voice acting is also stellar, notably with the chemistry between characters as they spoke to one another. In particular, I thoroughly enjoyed James’ noir-like monologues. Though they are incredibly cheesy, they are incredibly entertaining and sometimes quite funny.

James is sat smoking on what seems to be a neon sign, he then looks outward to gaze at the dark city. — In a world where death is no longer an issue, people would die for a view like this.

The graphics really helped sew the complete experience together. Textures and lighting are superb, and I experienced zero issues with either. To me, the 50s aesthetic of the in-game time period, designs of posters, weapons and drugs era is heavily reminiscent of Bioshock, with other elements (such as the technology and city designs) reminding me of Cyberpunk.

A gif of a snake slithering out of a ornate flask. James reacts to both the snake going his arm and the neighbour speaking to him. Some blue vines are also visible pulsating. — And you think your neighbours are bad?

Some of the unique designs of concepts relating to the dystopian state of the in game world drew me in greatly and made me want to take in the details of the environments. One such example that sticks out to me is a rich man’s ‘Aromatherapy’ display, which had sealed glass tubes with foods on display no longer available in this world, such as chocolate and certain kinds of mushrooms.

Longevity

There are two endings available to unlock in Nobody Wants to Die. I finished this game in a little over seven hours. And from what I understand I unlocked the bad ending in that playthrough!

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed the investigations in Nobody Wants to Die, but I felt that one crime scene I will name the “Red Room” was a bit too dragged out. The way you can rewind time was excellent and reminded me of the game, Remember Me. Nobody Wants to Die, has fun dialogue and intriguing story to tell, while successfully doing the classic Noir-style. I wouldn’t mind a little action with some gunplay, but that’s just me nit-picking.

Honestly I wish I could rewind time a play for the first time again! And for that reason I’m awarding Nobody Wants to Die, the Thumb Culture Platinum Award.

Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.

About Author

Kyle McGrath

I’ve enjoyed video games for as long as I remember and I don’t think there isn’t a game I wouldn’t play. For reviews, I try my best to make them simple and easy to understand. With so many games released daily, I attempt to play them all.

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Nobody Wants to Die – PS5 Review