Genesis Noir Review: A Convoluted Cosmic Tale

Genesis Noir might be one of the most aesthetically pleasing games I have ever played. It is a 1950’s cosmic acid trip that I absolutely fell for. I just can’t necessarily say it was fun or that I found it enjoyable. Its place in the medium might not be going for fun, but its poetic narrative of sorts still falls short for me. I found the narrative intriguing, but way too convoluted to follow as a whole. The game leaves me feeling underwhelmed, but not at the fault of not trying.

Story (Spoiler-free)

From what I can make out, which I need to preface could be wrong, you play as No Man. No Man is a watch salesman caught in a love triangle between someone I can only refer to as a singer in peril, or Miss Mass, and one known as Golden Boy. The game features a through-line focusing on the Big Bang. Yes, the moment our universe as we know it was created, but also a crime of passion between Golden Boy and Miss Mass. Either Golden Boy or an entirely different God, because Gods are involved too, learns of the supposed affair you and Miss Mass have and shoots her in her room. Yet, as Miss Mass is shot it is as if this shot acts as the Big Bang for this game. The game's whole crux; its creation. This metaphorical big bang is somehow stopped in time and you move outside of it in order to prevent your love from being shot all while exploring the history of the universe and black holes.

Are you still following? Yeah, me neither. The games' through-lines and plot are really hard to follow and I found myself struggling too much to keep it all in order. It is simply too convoluted and I hate that I couldn’t follow it, because it really seems like a poetic feat. Unfortunately, from these struggles I couldn’t pin down where the story was going to one surefire answer. Poetry is as the viewer sees fit, but I saw a magnitude of things that simply left me with a jumbled mess of a narrative and overall tone. This story features black holes, grief, civilizations, the circle of life, catastrophe, duality in choices, sacrifice, moral compasses, Mars, and even gods. It simply covers too much for a narrative told in this way, yet I want it to be known that it could all be chocked up to my poetic incompetence.

This review is spoiler free, but I could not in confidence purposefully spoil anything for players. I don’t know if my interpretation is accurate. Especially since the game features choices that have consequences, but these choices follow the same jumbled mess of a narrative. Therefore, the choices I ended up making were by the seat of my pants and not of any real moral decisions. Overall, Genesis Noir is chocked full of cosmic probabilities told through the lens of No Man and No Man doesn't seem to grasp the reality of it all any better than I did.

Presentation

Genesis Noir doesn’t execute on the narrative, but I cannot think of a single flaw in their presentation. I can wholeheartedly see this game’s aesthetic alone being enough to sell someone on it as a whole. A nice art style is always a plus, but Genesis Noir might have perfected their vision in this style. It's an artistic feat and the same can be said for the sound design. The jazzy music never overstays its welcome. I was living in this world of worlds and that isn’t easily accomplished in as simplistic of a style this game utilizes. I have nothing but praise for the look and feel of this game artistically.

You travel black and white landscapes as well as space-time all while the world itself acts as a minimal interface when the gameplay so desires it. Your perspectives change often whether it be top down, from the side at varying distances, etc. These changes never feel out of place as the acid trip aesthetic just supports practically anything you could think of. While I was lost in the narrative, I never cared all that much as the aesthetic drove my play more so than anything else. I will say, however, that the ending has a huge tonal shift featuring dancing, singing, and an array of colors. This tonal shift doesn’t operate outside of the current aesthetic, but it practically reinvigorates it to an extent that supports the mixed bag of a game everywhere else.

Gameplay

The gameplay in terms of progression utilizes the metaphorical big bang, or crime of passion, as a point of progression as you gather evidence and black hole mechanisms and return often. You move ever so closer to the bullet contacting Miss Mass as you play and discover your cosmic path within it. I thought the point of playing was to prevent Miss Mass from being shot, but that is never fully played out enough to assume that. It is thrown to the wayside near the end and left a hole in the messaging as a whole. 

A lot of the progression in segments or rather, how you play the game and complete tasks is never fully clear. A lot is trial and error, but not necessarily in a difficult way. I was easily able to decipher the next action as I played even if I couldn’t exactly make out how to describe each action. The trial and error never feel like a detriment, but it isn’t exactly fun either.

There are a lot of differentiating segments of gameplay. No one segment is like the other. Impressively fast load times assist in the transitions between scenes or gameplay segments a ton. One of these segments equips No Man with specific seeds. You are attempting to traverse a mountainous landscape with these seeds. You have seeds that grow from light energy and others from dark. Once you plant these seeds they will grow and feed off the energy in the area, clearing your path and allowing you to continue. Other sections consist of an artistic collectathon, a musical matching world of sorts, etc.

In each of these segments, the ways in which you play or interact aren’t exactly essential to your play time. Rather, a way to keep you engaged. It succeeds in keeping you engaged until it doesn’t and leaves you feeling like the actions ahead are merely a means to progress the convoluted narrative. This wouldn’t be all that bad if the narrative was compelling, but it's just too jumbled leaving these segments to share the same fate.

Puzzles, unfortunately, share the same fate as the narrative and moment-to-moment gameplay. The puzzles are random in nature, not helping the overall tone of the game and its lack of a cohesive element, but they aren't ever too difficult. Once again, however, they aren’t necessarily fun. Overall, the gameplay whether it be specific segments, puzzles, or collecting black hole mechanisms simply cannot hold your attention.

Breakdown

Game: Genesis Noir

Developer: Feral Cat Den

Availability: PC, Mac, Switch, XBO (Game Pass)

Reviewed on Xbox Series S

Runtime: Approx. 5 hours

Pros:

+ Impeccable Aesthetic & Art Style

+ Loading Times

Cons:

- Convoluted Story

- Isn’t Fun

- Tonal Shifts

Final Thoughts

Overall, Genesis Noir tried to do too much with its narrative. It is a mixed bag of elements that outside of the aesthetic and presentation as a whole doesn’t do much else cohesively. The artistic vision is what held my attention and really carried me through my entire playthrough. I was intrigued in the art style and impressed through the end, but everything else surrounding it quickly made my intrigue fade as I played. If the art style piques your interest, you won't be disappointed, but don’t look for too much more past that unless you have a more poetic eye than me.

Reviewed by Austin Ernst