“E no sétimo dia Deus terminou o trabalho que havia realizado; e ele descansou no sétimo dia de todo o trabalho que havia feito.”
GENESIS -2-2

Dito isto falo tranquilamente que conseguiram pegar um tema de jogo super interessante e transformar em algo monótono e confuso.

Genesis Noir conta uma história de amor interplanetária. O maior problema aqui é a forma que o jogo conta essa história. Ao mesmo tempo que o game tenta desenrolar um enredo cheio de metáforas sobre um crime cometido ele tropeça ao também tentar dar meio que uma aula sobre o universo e sua criação (“Ah Jackshow mas os temas se conversam” idai??? Não evita ser chato e maçante, meio que faz uma coisa atrapalhar a outra).

Os puzzles do game também não ajudam muito sendo a maioria deles simples demais. Os difíceis só são difíceis por não terem muito sentido ou explicação.

Elogio forte aos gráficos únicos do game e a sua trilha sonora, casando e conversando com a gameplay em vários momentos.

Infelizmente o jogo é cansado demais para os prós se destacarem

PRÓS:
- Trilha sonora boa.

CONTRAS:
- Ritmo de gameplay lento e cansativo.
- Puzzles sem muito nexo ou explicação.

Sights & Sounds
- There's an element of hand-paintedness to the visual style that's really appealing. I love the completely consistent color theming throughout the game as well. There's some serious design chops being shown off here
- The music is also outstanding. As the "noir" in the name implies, be prepared for quite a bit of jazz throughout the game. It runs the gamut from small trio improv to big band swing, so there's some tasty variety
- All in all, this game is a feast for the eyes and ears. It's oozing with style

Story & Vibes
- I'm going to be honest. As much as I loved the game's presentation, I'm having some trouble making sense of what appears to be a highly allegorical story
- The plot kinda makes sense. You're trying to prevent Miss Mass, the singer of a jazz band, from being killed by Golden Boy, the band's saxophone player. You go back in time doing so, seeing various parts of astronomical and human history
- It's heavily implied that saving Miss Mass will stop the creation of the universe. Why? No clue. I feel like there's some allegory that's flying directly over my head
- It is a pretty chill game in spite of all that drama

Playability & Replayability
- It's basically a puzzle game. There's a ton of variety to the puzzles, thankfully, so the game feels fresh and keeps you guessing a bit
- In spite of the variety, many of the puzzles are uncreative or tedious. The visual effects are stellar, but the simplicity of much of the gameplay diminishes the effect a little. Kinda feels like you're being disproportionately rewarded at some points
- It's really easy to get all of the achievements (there's a final choice at the end of the game, but you can just replay the chapter from the chapter select menu and switch your choice the second time). Because of that, I don't think I'll be back for a replay unless I want to reexperience the spectacle of the game

Overall Impressions & Performance
- The game has an excess of style and a questionable amount of substance. It could be that the game has a very deep message or lesson, but I couldn't tell for sure
- It's about 5-ish hours long, so take that into account when setting your price
- Ran really well on the Steam Deck, but might be worth playing on a bigger screen to take in more of the visuals

Final Verdict
- 6.5/10. It's an absolutely gorgeous game with mediocre puzzles, a slightly understandable plot, and a highly enigmatic message. I'd recommend it for the sights and sounds, but don't expect much more than that

Honestly, this has got to be the weirdest game I've ever played... I mean, I think I sort of understand the plot (after reading the Wikipedia page...), but most of the time I had no idea what was happening. Still, the visuals were really unique, for that alone I don't regret playing this. I feel like using a mouse instead of a controller would have made most of the puzzles much easier, and they aren't that challenging for veteran gamers, so... I guess it's an OK title. Not much replay value, though.

This game is more of an experience, but it's a game that thrives in that (at least till you get near the end and want it to end). But yeah, this game has AMAZING presentation in it's art design, music, and so forth.

One strength to this game is that it often changes the how of what you're doing, constantly changing things up to add a lot of variety to the game. This is not much of a replay-able game, but just save it before the final choice to get the multi ending achievements (very easily achievable)

Just a charming small game that'll last you for a handful of hours.

There are two sides to this story. The noir side of it is relatively shallow and used more as an aesthetic/framing device than anything. The other covers the history of the universe and humanity, and muses about their future. The marriage of the two works quite well, and makes for a completely unique and stunning experience. (N.B.: I think this game would be best completed in a couple of sittings. I divided it much more when I played it, and I feel I got an imperfect experience of the game because of it).

Esse jogo é uma obra de arte.
Perfeição.

Jogue.

-

Dito isto, baseado nas reviews desse jogo, e especialmente depois de ler a ótima review do colega @jacksh0w , sinto que seria de bom grado (afinal, por quê não?) dar uma leve destrinchada no que é Genesis Noir.

Não vou dizer do que se trata, sobre o que é o jogo ou o plot principal. O que vou dizer é o que você deve esperar e qual o tipo de mentalidade que você deve sintonizar para ter uma boa experiência.

Se estamos sintonizados no AM, receberemos AM. Se estivermos sintonizados FM, receberemos FM.

O que quero dizer com isso? Bem, um leiteiro e um bombeiro andam na mesma rua e veem ruas diferentes.

O leiteiro vai olhar os melhores lugares pra parar seu pequeno caminhão de leite, o tamanho da calçada, se tem onde por sua caixa de leite e afins.

O bombeiro vai perceber o posicionamento dos hidrantes, qual a distância da janela das casas e as calçadas. O nível da estrutura das construções e afins.

Se você for assistir Transformers esperando a experiência que você teria assistindo 1917, você vai provavelmente se decepcionar.

Por quê essa comparação? Bem, muitas reviews de Genesis Noir criticam (claro, em seu direito) seu ritmo mais devagar e a romantização de certos aspectos.
Acontece que esse jogo aborda certos tópicos e questões de maneiras um pouco não ortodoxas.
Nos primeiros 15 minutos de jogo você provavelmente vai perceber que ele é uma experiência "diferente".

Ele arrisca. Ele sai (e muito) da caixinha convencional.

E eu não digo isso como "Vocês não entenderam!!! Seus bobos!!" Não, eu mesmo, comecei o jogo absurdamente empolgado, e essa empolgação se manteve o jogo inteiro. Mais pro fim, mais especificamente nas últimas 4 "fases" do jogo eu às começava com uma certa vontade de terminar o jogo, mas no meio da fase eu mudava de opinião e começava a me deleitar.

Depois das 2 últimas fases meus olhos se abriram definitivamente.

Experimente esse jogo como um filme interativo. Não um "jogo de videogame", pode ser que assim sua experiência seja um pouco mais lucrativa.

Eu joguei Genesis Noir após terminar uns 3 jogos bem frenéticos, então ele se encaixou perfeitamente no meu flow de jogatina.

Os puzzles não são difíceis, a movimentação é devagar, as cutscenes são contemplativas e não há diálogos.

Não é uma experiência convencional, mas definitivamente foi uma das melhores que eu já tive nessa indústria.

You follow No Man as he travels through space and time to stop the Big Bang from ever happening in hopes of saving his girlfriend. See the universe unfold from the sun forming, to first life, all the way into a far future.

The story isn't really quite that solid or defined outside of the game description. In fact, it's pretty jumbled and convoluted, and lost me completely by the end.

Visuals

The striking artstyle of Genesis Noir is what originally caught my attention. It's unlike any other game I've seen. It's all black and white, with some gold thrown in for effect. It's extremely stylized, without much details, but you know exactly what is going on on screen. It's hard to describe, but you'll know if it's for you or not if you see it.

I do have to mention the flashing lights. The game does open with a warning, and it's not to be taken lightly. There are a lot of flashing lights, and sudden changes from dark to light and back again. It may look like a stark game, but it's extremely flashy. Especially the ending. Holy crap.

Sound Effects + Music

Genesis Noir has a unique soundtrack made up of primarily jazz tunes. It's exactly what you'd expect if you were watching a stereotypical noir film. The tone of the music does shift with the scenes and sounded very cool. I personally don't listen to jazz or any similar music, so I can't say that I loved the background music, but I did appreciate the commitment to the theme.

Sound effects are an important part of the gameplay as well. You'll get little noises that let you know if you've done something wrong or not. Some of the puzzles also use sound as part of the puzzle, but there's also visual hints if you're hard of hearing or just not playing with sound. If you can though, I do recommend playing with the sounds on since it adds to the experience.

Gameplay + Controls

Genesis Noir is a point-and-click, so you will be doing a lot of point and clicking. I did use my keyboard and mouse, but you can also use a controller if you prefer. You'll control No Man through several scenes. Hovering over items that can be interacted with will change the cursor to a magnifying glass, so you shouldn't get too lost. It's mostly a matter of figuring out exactly how to interact with the items once you find them.

There's a good variety of puzzle and mini game types, and most of them are quite quick. My favorite was the one where you're creating the first live organisms; it was really unique and fun o figure out! However, there were some that sound way cooler than they are, and definitely overstayed their welcome with how long and tedious they were, such as turning the sun into a super nova.

Replayability

Genesis Noir is a pretty linear game, since it's a point-and-click with a clear story to tell, which makes it less replayable. It is fairly short though, so it is an experience that's easy to repeat if you choose to. There are two endings, but they're only based on the final chapter, so you only need to replay that one and make a different choice.

Overall

Honestly, I liked the individual components of Genesis Noir better than I liked the game as a complete package. The artstyle and theming are top notch, but the gameplay was a mixed bag. I feel like it was going for unique and weird rather than focusing on a cohesive story and game.

Oh wow, this is such a strange thing, in both good and bad ways. And it’s so hard for me to structure this bunch of thoughts, so don’t expect fluidity here.

Firstly, the game shines in its visual design. It is extremely unique and enjoyable. Many moments can simply be hung in a frame. The game gradually develops it perfectly and the variety of scene direction pleases. Genesis Noir also boldly (and this is one of the key words to characterize the entire project) tries to mix noir and space, and in some places it turns out quite well. The game connects these seemingly distant genres in an interesting way, and this (as it becomes clear after the ending) at first glance strange decision works well for the final main idea. The story itself turns out to be quite ambitious and mixes classic noir romance with showing the history of the entire universe, from the Big Bang itself to the inevitable end.

However, the way the game reveals the story leads us to the main oddity of this project - the gameplay. Most of the game consists of episodes in which the main character obtains some important item and at the same time observes one of the stages of the development of the universe, and often directly takes part in them. Genesis Noir is largely abstract, and while this approach goes well with the visuals, the gameplay here is often just... boring? Perhaps, and at the same time often unobvious, primitive and sometimes even unnecessary. Often (especially in the first half of the game) it was not entirely clear what to do, where to move or how exactly to interact. The game tries, but overall doesn't do very well in the visual direction in the gameplay-oriented segments. In other moments, the game mixes elements of a quest(?) and a narrative platformer, which it does much better (though still at simple level). And initially it even seemed to me that this project should have been just an animated film (which changed by the end of the game). Another extremely strange thing for me is the almost complete absence of music. For a project that could go both in the jazz direction and in the direction of cosmic ambient music, this is almost criminally unacceptable. Up to a certain point, this can be partly explained by the narrative, but even after that the situation does not change. Even in episodes focused on music, it seems to be missing. Only very occasionally does jazz burst in for half a moment and it instantly becomes something dynamic and alive. I don’t understand at all the almost complete disregard for this aspect, because in my opinion, if the creators had made music one of the main elements of the game, each episode of the story would have become more special and memorable.

However, the plot saves a lot. At first it looks strange, too abstract, as if trying to cover too much at once and connect something too distant. And this is partly true. But once you understand a little about the structure of the game and enter its second half (or better yet, the last third), the picture of what the creators are talking about becomes a little more clear. Part of the plot is still a mystery to me (for example, I still find it difficult to firmly connect the noir part with the entire cosmic narrative), but this extremely ambitious and bold approach in a very non-obvious and slightly drawn-out way leads the player to (in my opinion) a wonderful final idea. The way this story managed to unite myths, faith, creativity and science into a single narrative about the entire history of the universe and our purpose in the world, about the eternal attempts to understand it, to find the most distant answers - is simply magnificent. This is really what makes the game worth playing for. And surprisingly, this game sparked my interest in science more than anything else in my life (which is quite strange). At the end of the game, the gameplay also perfectly complements the narrative, creating an epilogue that actually saves the game. It's quite strange that the game gives you two endings to choose from (and both are quite detached and poetically sad), but oh well okay.

Genesis Noir has aspects that are far from ideal (besides, I would like to see a slightly more polished technical state) and I understand the low ratings, but in the end, subjectively, the last half hour before the very end and especially the last text monologue are worthy of some of your not-so-best hours with a video game before. Still, Feral Cat Den are going in an interesting and original direction, and while they are stumbling over every third stone, I like the groundwork and I hope that they will reach the point. In the meantime - a fine myth, gentlemen!

"We give it a name. We call it The Constant"