The world of Nobody Wants to Die terrifies me. Set just a few hundred years in the future, it imagines a dystopian society in which humanity has discovered the secret of immortality, but instead of eternal bliss, it paves the way for the government to have complete legal control over our bodies. The world is as fascinating as it is unsettling, and a high-profile murder becomes the catalyst for an engrossing (if not always actively engaging) mystery.
From Blade RunnerSince its release in 1982, iterations of the cyberpunk metropolis have been numerous and well-known. Nobody Wants to Die’s grim vision of New York City 2329 stands out as one of my favorites for its effective blend of Art Deco style. The game looks as if technology had exploded in the 1930s while still maintaining the aesthetics of the era; vintage cars soar over the polluted airways of the concrete jungle, and futuristic gadgets have Tomorrowland-style designs. In addition to the sturdy art direction, the graphical fidelity is top-notch, with attractive lighting illuminating the densely detailed cityscapes and interiors. Nobody Wants to Die is a wonderful game, and the clever introduction to its world is one of my favorite moments of the year.
The visuals drew me in, and the worldbuilding stopped me in my tracks. After developing the ability to transfer human consciousness into different bodies, humanity essentially solved the problem of death. People routinely live for centuries, transforming into novel, more desirable bodies, leading to a horrible system where citizens must pay a subscription fee to keep their original shells after they reach adulthood. Failure to do so results in government takeovers, where your consciousness is forcibly extracted and stored in a memory bank while your body is put up for sale. The less affluent 99% may have to settle for occupying aging or medically debilitated bodies. If you can’t afford a novel body, your conscious mind can be trapped in the bank for decades or longer. From Orwellian government promotions of hearty lifestyles to prevent citizens from becoming damaged goods to reintroduction parties where people introduce loved ones to their novel bodies, developer Critical Hit Games has created an intriguing culture around the concept. Every detail of the story, whether through novel newspaper headlines or radio broadcasts, added substance to the spice of the presentation.
The politics surrounding immortality mean that morally questionable politicians and celebrities can maintain their status and control for an indecently long time. In a world where true death is uncommon, the mysterious murder of one elite figure shakes the cages. Protagonist James Karra, a 120-year-old mercenary detective, is tasked with finding the culprit in an off-the-books case. In this first-person adventure, James visits crime scenes and uses a tiny set of high-tech forensic tools to gather clues and reconstruct sequences of events. Whether I’m using a portable X-ray machine to track the trajectory of a bullet, shining a UV delicate on hidden bloodstains, or, most often, using a time-manipulating glove to rewind and rewatch a cluttered moment, I enjoy assembling the pieces of smaller puzzles to create a bigger picture.
The detective work isn’t challenging, being less about deductive reasoning and more about digging around and uncovering each tricky element. I don’t mind the more focused approach, as finding clues can lead to insightful and amusing conversations with James’ partner, Sarah, who provides remote tech support in his ear. The two of them trade amusing, sarcastic banter, such as an optional exchange in which Sarah asks James to describe the smell of chocolate (which he no longer has). The performances, especially Sarah’s, are sturdy enough to make their relationship feel genuine and endearing. Their exchanges also add a welcome lightness, although James’s hard-nosed noir detective act means he often delivers long-winded monologues with metaphors that sometimes make restricted sense.
Connecting clues in a flow chart between investigations is a game of figuring out which evidence answers a given question. You can actually cheat this by simply inserting each clue until the right one fits, but I always wanted to actually deduce the answer. That said, Nobody Wants to Die is ultimately a narrative-driven adventure that uses detective-inspired gameplay as a tool to tell its story. You really can’t go wrong, so if you’re expecting real agency in your approach to solving this conspiracy, you’ll be disappointed.
You can, however, steer the story in different directions with choice-based dialogue and meaningful decision-making moments that add stakes to conversations. Some choices have time limits and can be as straightforward as deciding whether to drink on the job; a drunk James can open up an additional dialogue option. Bigger decisions, like deciding whether to kill a suspect or destroy or keep incriminating evidence, change the plot more. While this is a good incentive to replay the roughly five-hour adventure, you’ll have to play through the entire game again, as it lacks chapter selection, which is unfortunate.
Nobody Wants to Die juggles three main plot threads brilliantly: the aforementioned murder, James’ struggle to remember and come to terms with the traumatic event of his wife’s death, and a heartbreaking story involving Sarah that I won’t spoil. These plot points are sometimes inconsistent; I’d make a gigantic break in a murder case that I wanted to investigate immediately, only for the story to briefly shift its focus to James’s problems. The mysterious villain at the center of it all is initially menacing, but becomes too vague by the end. Perhaps it’s a result of my choices, but I’m still not entirely sure what the antagonist’s true purpose was, or even who he was. While the primary threat is a bit insipid, the story consistently engrossed me and peppered me with some effective plot twists and revelations that kept me guessing until the end.
Nobody Wants to Die offers several hours of gripping storytelling, effortless but well-presented puzzle-solving, and stunning vistas. It’s the perfect length, because it ends just when the long investigation segments start to feel repetitive because the toolbox never changes. While I couldn’t wear my detective hat as tightly as I wanted to, I enjoyed my journey through this cautionary vision of the future.
