Codex recommendations: A dark, noir game.

[ScrotumBroth]

I don't think there are many out there worth playing. I'm a huge fan of Max Payne 1 and 2. Masterpieces both.
So you get the idea of what I'm looking for. It has to be grimdark, adult, quality, interesting. Any genre counts.

L.A. Noire is not noir enough imho, and game mechanics often kill the pacing, but it's an interesting concept.
Gemini Rue is a nice, little indie game.
Heavy Rain/Farenheit/Omikron all have some elements, but not exactly what I'm looking for.
Wolf among us is meh, not really into it.

Black Dahlia fits the bill I think, but can't remember enough + it's not available anywhere.
Same goes for Blade Runner.

What else is there?

 

[Neanderthal]

New Vegas Dead Money.
The Legacy of Kain games have a certain dark, noirish appeal and are certainly grimdark enough.
The Punisher video game.

 

[Agame]

The Legacy of Kain games have a certain dark, noirish appeal and are certainly grimdark enough.

Second this, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain in particular is a masterwork of brooding dark aesthetic considering it was released in ye olden primitive times.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Realms of Arkania HD

 

[SerratedBiz]

Never played it but Darkest Dungeon is like teh grimmest.

 

[Ivan]

The Cat Lady

 

[Master]

Hitman Contracts, my friend

 

[Master]

Oh yeah, and Thief is kinda noirish too.

 

[Rahdulan]

Well, Discworld Noir, but it's also humorous because Discworld.

 

[Nathaniel3W]

Never played it but Darkest Dungeon is like teh grimmest.

Definitely dark, creepy, and depressing. Also an excellent game if you can tolerate having your best adventuring party go crazy, attack each other, and bleed to death or have their hearts explode, and then you lose not only your best adventurers but also all their gear.

I would also like to nominate Bioshock. It's what would happen if Ayn Rand built an underwater steampunk utopia, and then it all fell apart, and superpowered drug-addicted semi-human creatures started hunting people.

There is of course Diablo. You might also want to look into the Shadowrun games. And although it's very dated now, you might also consider Vampire: the Masquerade. I picked up The Darkness II for free somewhere. It's OK.

Edit: I've never played The Binding of Isaac, Dead Space, Dishonored, or Alien: Isolation, but those seem dark to me and I've heard good things about those games.

Edit 2: It seems I'm recommending a lot of dark games, but maybe they're not noir. When I think of noir, I think of private investigators who say things like "The dame was waiting in my office." I don't know too many games like that.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Grim Fandango is the best game I can connect to the "noir" "genre", although it's not particularly dark and edgy and dark and grimdark. That is to say, the themes, writing and overall mood are plenty adult-oriented, but there's a fair bit of comic relief and some pretty fantastical locations.

Another one I recently played is Tex Murphy: Mean Streets, which is harder to recommend as it's a bit dated and you don't really do an awful lot, but it's very Raymond Chandler-ish with a cool story. Dunno if the sequels are the same, but I bet they are.

 

[Mark Richard]

This is the Police 1 & 2. The first is more of a glorified visual novel, but its certainly a well-written one. Over two and a half hours of engaging cutscenes narrated by the voice of Duke Nukem, who plays a hard-boiled police chief trying to juggle his allegiances to the mob and the mayor, all while building a nest egg for his upcoming retirement. The actual gameplay takes place on a city map and involves dispatching police units to crimes in progress. A success or faliure result is generated by the number of police sent, their skill level, and a bit of random luck.

In the sequel the strengths and weaknesses of the series are reversed. The narration has been replaced by a meandering style of delivering dialogue that puts a damper on the cutscenes, but the gameplay is great. The city/town map is back, except this time success is dictated by a set of skills and equipment, with every crime having a multiple choice approach. There's more invested in individual officers, and a whole bunch of turn-based tactical combat missions to spice things up. If you were to combine the story of the first game and the gameplay of the second, you'd get perfection.

Here's the first game's signature song to get you in the mood:

 

[Jacob]

Sleeping Dogs. Any modern American setting is inherently inferior to Hong Kong in terms of grimdarkness because America is The Land of the Wuss past the 1950s. And the game mechanics is pretty enjoyable. Advice though, avoid taking motorcycles when possible, they drive like shit in this game.

 

[spectre]

Well, Discworld Noir, but it's also humorous because Discworld.

If being humorous is not a deal breaker, there's Grim Fandango.

 

[Jvegi]

Blade Runner.

 

[Carrion]

Nocturne, maybe? Haven't played it since I'm allergic to the genre, but it should fit the bill, 1920's trench coats and all.

And yeah, definitely Grim Fandango.

 

[tenki]

Maybes:
Tex Murphy series
Take-Two Interactive games (meant Ripper, Black Dahlia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberdreams
Black Mirror series
Wadjet Eye games
Kathy Rain | Whispers of a machine

 

[warpig]

DreamWeb has a very cool and dark atmosphere.

 

[Nano]

Blackwell series. Ghosts in New York City, noir abound.

 

[Swigen]

How ‘bout Chicago 1930: The Prohibition on steam?

 

[sputtering fart balloon]

Blackwell series. Ghosts in New York City, noir abound.

This. Also, Wadjet Eye has a newish game (released almost exactly one year ago) set in the same universe called Unavowed where you are investigating the edgier side of this lore, since a demon possesses you in the beginning and makes you go on a killing spree across the city. Been meaning to check this out but could be another thing for OP to look into. Blackwell is actually somewhat lighter hearted while this one seems pure edgy.

 

[tenki]

Noctropolis
PostMortem | StillLife | StillLife2
Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortals
Phantasmagoria2
BloodNet

Upcoming?: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacksad:_Under_the_Skin

Hmm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer_(video_game)

 

[Egosphere]

Don't buy Observer. Just watch an lp instead, because you won't miss anything.

 

[vortex]

No Truce with Furies (Disco Elysium) is coming to be noir RPG this year.

 

[deama]

deus ex