Genesis Noir begins its awards season run this month

Oh, goody. Another game blending puzzles, jazz, astrophysics and a quest spanning time and space...

Feral Cat Den, a team of artists from Brooklyn who dream of nesting in a derelict barn (we all have some secret ambition), has put together a new video game called Genesis Noir, and now that game is set to release on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PC. It will arrive on March 26, courtesy of publisher Fellow Traveller.

A press release issued to announce the event describes Genesis Noir as "a surreal noir adventure spanning time and space." At the heart of the story is a celestial love triangle that turned violent and prompted The Big Bang event. No, not the sitcom. The other one, generally credited by scientists with kicking off life as we know it.

Your job as the player is to jump into the universe and hopefully discover some way to destroy creation and save your love. So there appear to be conflicts in play. We're supposed to root for the guy who wants to destroy us all, just because otherwise he might not get some cozy time with the object of his affection?

Your name is "No Man." You are a watch peddler who will explore black holes, primordial Earth and, of course, jazz cafes. Those things come up in basically every story you've ever read along these lines. Have you noticed that?

"Witness the birth and history of mankind," suggests the press release. "Find comfort in a glass of gin. Become acquainted with the massive, the microscopic, and everything in between. Dial a rotary phone; destroy a civilization; plant a garden; improvise with a musician; create life--all in your search for a way to save Miss Mass."

That all sounds like my typical Monday morning, but I guess for some people it qualifies as unique entertainment. There's talk of the whole thing being "remembered come award season," and meanwhile, I'm over here kicking myself for not turning my life story into an NBC mini-series while all of the above still counted as fresh and exciting and worthy of attention from critics.

In any event, Genesis Noir will be available for $14.99 USD as a "base game." A more deluxe version, complete with a digital art book and soundtrack and interactive comic book will be bundled and available for $27.99 USD. Finally, those items will be available separately at higher price points, just in case you start by buying the game all by itself and later realize you had such a good time that you want to own the other stuff.

One final point worth mentioning is that Genesis Noir will be offered at 20% off during launch week, from March 26 through April 2. Which probably would be a good time to buy it, if you find yourself intrigued by the title and its premise. And you very well might. Stranger things have happened.

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Staff article by Jason Venter (March 16, 2021) Jason Venter has been playing games for 30 years, since discovering the Apple IIe version of Mario Bros. in his elementary school days. Now he writes about them, here at HonestGamers and also at other sites that agree to pay him for his words.