(Mini-Review) Nobody Wants to Die
This is a borderline recommendation. Nobody Wants to Die is a first-person, narrative-driven adventure game taking place in a Cyberpunk depiction of New York. In this world, people must pay a body subscription fee, which gives them the right to own their body. Failure to meet this payment results in your body being put up for auction, with a wealthier individual purchasing and taking it for themselves.
As far as dystopias go, it's a pretty brutal one. You play as a down-trodden detective whose new body originally belonged to a drug addict. As a result, he is struggling to acclimate, and suffers from hallucinations and depression. He has a bit of a reputation in the police academy, but he has been assigned an off the books case.
Edward Greene, once the wealthiest and oldest human alive, has been murdered. You and your new partner, Sara Kai, have been tasked with investigating his death. What starts off as a rather straightforward case turns into a much bigger conspiracy, as it becomes apparent very quickly that somebody is targeting the ultra elite.
This case takes you across the city, exposing you to the hopelessness of your surroundings. New York is completely unrecognisable, with buildings so tall they block out the sun. Everything is bleak and demoralising. If there's one thing I can say about this game for certain, is that its worldbuilding is utterly convincing.
Presentation is Nobody Wants to Die's biggest strength, but unfortunately, the rest of it struggles to stay on the same level. Its story starts off compelling, but over time it begins to get convoluted. It juggles with too much, and as a result, while still being decent, it loses sight of itself a bit.
I really enjoyed the gameplay loop for a while. Ever played the Batman Arkham games? Remember those segments where you would investigate a crime scene by looking for clues and building a timeline of events? That's what you do here as well, using tools such as the reconstructer, which allows you to rewind time in localised spots.
Jumping from clue to clue is really satisfying, and the nonlinear nature of your investigations gives you room to wander around and spot things you might easily miss. But they never really evolve past this. Mechanically, it's a very simple game. I don't necessarily mind that, but when you're playing as a detective, it's not unreasonable to expect more from its offerings.
It's still a recommendation from me, as I did enjoy the game overall, but it could've been a lot better. I only recommend purchasing it on a good discount.
If you want to see a more detailed version of this review, be sure to check out my video for it here:
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