Noir Syndrome, a Procedurally Generated Detective Game, Hits Steam Greenlight

Indie development team Glass Knuckle Games has submitted its intriguing, procedurally generated murder mystery Noir Syndrome on Steam Greenlight for approval. Developer Dave Gedarovich made the announcement via the game’s IndieDB page, and voting is currently ongoing as development of the game wraps up.

Noir Syndrome seems to draw some its influence from some hard-boiled detective stories and films, like The Big Sleep and The Naked City, a genre that doesn’t always work as well in games as it does in other mediums. Aside from the pixel art and jazzy soundtrack, Noir Syndrome’s more fascinating features include that the each play through is procedurally generated, offering “murder mystery scenarios with a new culprit and clues each time.”  Each unique playthrough, or murder mystery, also features permanent actions and NPC interactions that persist throughout each game.

Noir Syndrome also put each investigation on a timer, as wannabe sleuths are tasked with collecting clues, confronting suspecting, and consulting their notes before the clock runs down if they want to crack the case. Or, if you want, you can just ignore the case entirely and “live out your remaining time doing as you please – be it fighting the law, going after gang members, or just seeing the city.” 

The whole thing sounds pretty ambitious and has a ton of potential, and we’ll see how the final product turns out when it releases this spring for Windows PC, Mac, Linux, and Android. For now you can vote for the game on Greenlight, hit up IndieDB for beta info, or just check out the trailer below.