I’m a fan of film noir, supernatural horror, and adventure games so when I first heard about Nosebound I knew that I had to back it no questions asked. I didn’t even bother trying out the demo. At least not until now. I usually decide on whether I pledge to a project after trying out the demo (assuming that there is one to begin with) but I decided to give this one a shot before diving into it headfirst. And my first instincts seemed to be correct as I enjoyed playing the little bit that we have right now.
Here’s the deal. In Nosebound, at least in the first two episodes, you play as hardboiled detective Ray Hammond as he rudely gets interrupted by whatever he’s doing at the time by a phone call in the middle of the night. It’s an associate of an old friend and he’s desperate for our help. And it can’t wait until the morning. So, between a hefty promised payday and a desire to help a friend Ray heads on out of his office after grabbing his keys and trusty pistol.
Heading over to the apartment building, Ray interrogates a cleaning lady to get the correct apartment number and, finding the door unlocked, warily enters the room. Illuminated only by candles he has to find a way to get the lights to work so that he can see better. After fixing a burnt fuse he goes on to grab the down payment and then heads on to the bedroom. Of which he’s promptly surprised by a hideous sight. Whatever’s gone on here it’s certainly not pleasant.
Anyone at all familiar with the dark arts at all should instantly recognize the inverted pentagram, the corpse of a half naked woman hanging upside down from the wall, and newspaper clippings dealing with strange rituals. I had goosebumps seeing the carnage because I knew what most of the scene meant. And it’s not something that you’ll want to investigate for any amount of money if you value your sanity and life. Of course, this made me want to delve much deeper into the story. Unfortunately, the demo pretty much ends there.
Story aside, which if you’re at all into the occult or detective tales you’ll probably love, the gameplay is pretty much standard for point and click adventures. Hot spots are highlighted by a rotating cursor, left click to “look at” said hot spot, and right click to get or talk to said item. It did take me a while to figure out how to leave Ray’s office as the arrow pointer had to be clicked on at a specific spot. And the demo for Nosebound does contain a couple of minor puzzles which can be solved pretty quickly. I did have a little problem with deciphering the tarot lock, but that was mostly because the names of the cards were in French.
Despite being quite short (what demo isn’t), what little that I’ve experienced has led me to the conclusion that I will very much enjoy the entirety of Nosebound. Assuming it gets funded, that is. I’d love to see more noir games, especially ones that deal with more darker themes, and this one is worth watching one way or the other.
