The Best Neo-Noir Games

Noir was a tremendously popular genre of film throughout the 1940s and the 1950s, centered around detective stories and focusing on gray morality and violence. Neo-noir came later, using the esthetic of noir, as well as its dark tones, and modernizing them. This resulted in more violent, more ambiguous stories and even science-fiction themes, as seen in Blade Runner.

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Neo-noir is hard to define, but it generally boils down to a bleak overall atmosphere and a gritty world that’s full of morally ambiguous characters and/or violence. Video games have also taken inspiration from this genre, from classics such as the 1997 Blade Runner adventure game, all the way to the original stories of Max Payne and Disco Elysium.

7 Tales Of The Neon Sea

Old-School Pixel-Art, Neon Imagery, And A Neo-Noir Atmosphere

• Platform(s): PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch, PC, iOS, Android
• Released: 2018
• Developer(s): YiTi Games
• Genre: Puzzle Adventure

This point-and-click cyberpunk adventure is drenched in neon imagery and neo-noir atmosphere, putting players in the shoes of a hard-boiled detective named Rex. The game’s cyberpunk environments are beautifully realized in old-school pixel-art, providing a cinematic setting for the often engaging narrative.

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This story centers around a murder case, but Tales Of The Neon Sea twists and turns enough to remain engaging regardless. Although the setting may appear cliché, the world of Tales Of The Neon Sea is a surprisingly fresh place to be.

6 Thimbleweed Park

A Humorous Take On Neo-Noir

Taking place in 1987 and featuring several protagonists with their own unique motives and personalities, Thimbleweed Park is a lighthearted and often humorous point-and-click adventure game that’s not afraid of breaking the fourth wall. The game takes place in the titular Thimbleweed Park, a sleepy suburb with a low population and a mysterious atmosphere. Thimbleweed Park’s plot is centered around a murder, and the game ties in a variety of clever puzzles to keep players engaged in its mysteries.

Thimbleweed Park also has a high pedigree, with iconic adventure game developers Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick as its creators. This game certainly isn’t the darkest of neo-noir stories, but the genre’s themes are present in its mysterious characters and the overwhelming sense that something isn’t quite right.

5 Blade Runner (1997)

An Immersive Neo-Noir Adventure In A Cyberpunk Dystopia

• Platform(s): PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch
• Released: 1997
• Developer(s): Westwood Studios
• Genre: Adventure

1982’s Blade Runner is a standout piece of science fiction and a brilliant combination of neo-noir and cyberpunk dystopia. Released over ten years later, in 1997, the Blade Runner game is a point-and-click adventure that plays similarly to the classics, but remains unrelenting in its faithfulness to the film source material.

The game’s visuals, atmosphere, and narrative contain everything that made the original film so memorable, providing fans with a truly immersive neo-noir adventure in Blade Runner’s iconic world. The game’s atmospheric lighting and attention to detail is remarkable, especially considering its age, capturing Blade Runner’s distinctive neo-noir flavor with its faithfully constructed environments.

4 Nobody Wants To Die

An Interactive Neo-Noir Adventure

Nobody Wants To Die is an interactive adventure game that combines elements of the puzzle-focused point-and-click adventures of old with stylish, immersive 3D environments and a cyberpunk setting. This allows Nobody Wants To Die to be a fresh, modern experience that plays like a classic, with a contemplative neo-noir narrative to boot.

Taking place in the slick neon streets of a dystopian New York in the year 2329, Nobody Wants To Die puts players in the shoes of a unique, futuristic detective on the hunt for a serial killer. The game’s world, as well as its narrative, are frequently dark, offering players a foreboding and often gritty neo-noir adventure.

3 Shadows Of Doubt

A Hard-Boiled Detective Simulator In A Neon City

Shadows of Doubt

Stealth

Adventure

First-Person

Systems

Released

April 24, 2023

Developer(s)

ColePowered Games

This hard-boiled detective simulator takes place in a procedurally generated neon city, offering players a neo-noir cyberpunk setting similar to that of Blade Runner. However, Shadows Of Doubt takes place in an alternate reality, rather than a hard sci-fi setting.

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Shadows Of Doubt is an open-world sandbox stealth game, brought to life by a variety of immersive sim systems and its fully-simulated city. Players are able to explore every dark corner of the world, and each citizen is richly detailed, with their own simulated routine and even their own homes.

2 Max Payne

A Gritty, Hard-Boiled Classic

Developed by Remedy Entertainment (the minds that brought fans Alan Wake and Control), Max Payne is famous for its stylish bullet time mechanics and slow-motion dives that emulate the action of the era’s Hong Kong action cinema. This iconic third-person shooter is also known, however, for its hard-boiled, neo-noir tone and narrative.

Max Payne has aged relatively well, thanks in large part to the presentation of its story (told through stylized comic-book panels) and fast-paced gameplay. Max Payne’s dark and occasionally psychologically thrilling story, as well as its excessive violence and the gray morality of Max himself, makes it a great example of video game noir.

1 Disco Elysium

Hard-Boiled Noir In An Urban Fantasy

This wild, wacky detective RPG features unique character creation and progression that emphasizes its psychological themes. Disco Elysium puts players in the shoes of a hard-boiled, morally ambiguous detective named Harrier “Harry” DuBois. However, the ambiguity of Harry’s morals is somewhat up to the player and their choices.

Disco Elysium is a hard-boiled neo-noir through-and-through, taking place in an urban-fantasy landscape – Revachol – packed with quirky characters and political unrest. There’s violence abound and a mysterious murder to solve, wrapped in beautiful presentation and written with a unique voice.

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