Blacksad: Under the Skin
- November 14, 2019
- YS Interactive
- 11h median play time
Unaware of its absurdity, Blacksad: Under The Skin fails at much of what it attempts
Get on Steam
Get on Xbox Games StoreIn Blacksad: Under the Skin, you play as John Blacksad, a hard-boiled detective in a world of anthropomorphic animals. The game is a classic film noir style 3D adventure, where you'll investigate a series of murders in a corrupt city while dealing with your own inner demons. Through exploration, puzzle-solving, and dialogue choices, you'll uncover a deep and engaging narrative that delves into themes of racism, corruption, and the human condition.
Mac OS
Nintendo Switch
PC
Playstation 4
Playstation 5
Windows
Xbox One
Xbox Series X|S
PlayStation
Xbox
Reviews
- Engaging and well-written story with unexpected twists and turns.
- Strong voice acting and a captivating jazz soundtrack that enhances the noir atmosphere.
- Interesting deduction mechanics that make players feel like real detectives.
- Clunky controls and slow movement that can frustrate players during exploration.
- Numerous bugs and technical issues, including black screens and unresponsive interactions.
- Unskippable cutscenes and dialogue that can make replaying sections tedious.
- story2,600 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 46 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The story of "Blacksad: Under the Skin" is widely praised for its engaging narrative, rich character development, and noir atmosphere, drawing players into a complex detective tale set in a 1950s anthropomorphic world. While many players appreciate the plot twists and emotional depth, some criticize the pacing and technical issues that can detract from the overall experience. Despite these flaws, the story remains a significant highlight, making it a compelling choice for fans of narrative-driven games.
“I was quickly gripped by the story, being positively surprised by its twists as well as the eventual resolution.”
“The story is incredibly well written with how it treats the various elements of society and how they interact: race, gender, morals, beliefs, money, education, politics, appearances, etc.”
“The story then steamrolls with plot twist after plot twist that always keeps you on your toes, and the end outcome honestly surprised me as I definitely wasn't expecting anything like that.”
“However, despite these strengths, I feel that the story suffers from notable flaws.”
“The pacing can be uneven, with moments of narrative drag that slow the momentum of key story beats.”
“Additionally, the plot introduces a variety of subplots and characters that, at times, fail to converge in a satisfying way, leaving some story threads feeling underdeveloped.”
- gameplay712 mentions
- 22 % positive mentions
- 62 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Blacksad: Under the Skin" has received mixed reviews, with many players noting its clunky controls, slow pacing, and numerous technical glitches that detract from the overall experience. While the deduction mechanics and narrative elements are praised for their depth and engagement, the gameplay often feels tedious and unpolished, leading to frustration during exploration and quick-time events. Overall, the game is seen as more focused on storytelling than on delivering a smooth gameplay experience, making it a hit-or-miss for players who prioritize mechanics over narrative.
“While the gameplay is rather basic at times, it feels like a perfect fit for adapting the narrative style of the comics, doing a great job at getting you in the mindset of being John Blacksad.”
“The deduction mechanics are an enhancement over the corresponding Sherlock Holmes mechanics, since you can combine more than two clues to reach a deduction.”
“The gameplay is more on the casual side and has interesting mechanics regarding deduction-making and using feline senses to scan the environment.”
“The gameplay of Blacksad is unfortunately the weakest part of the entire game, being marred by several shortcomings that detract from the overall experience.”
“The gameplay feels very clunky; your character has the turning circle of a truck, you walk very slowly everywhere, it sometimes is near impossible to get your character to move to the small single angle you need to be to be able to trigger the investigation button and the system where you put clues together makes no sense way too often.”
“Gameplay sequences and QTEs are so bad it makes me feel like I'm wasting my life.”
- graphics530 mentions
- 42 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many praising the art style and visual adaptation of the source material, creating a vibrant and atmospheric experience. However, numerous players have reported technical issues, including graphical glitches, inconsistent animations, and subpar performance, which detract from the overall enjoyment. While some find the visuals charming and fitting for the narrative, others criticize them as outdated and poorly optimized, leading to a frustrating gameplay experience.
“Visually, the game does a good job of adapting its source material into a cartoonish yet detailed aesthetic, which I very much enjoyed.”
“Just like the comics had a lot of dedication to each panel, the game puts a lot of dedication to the visuals, with each moment being a feast for the eyes: from a back alley to a scenic vista.”
“The artwork is top-notch, totally nailing the noir feel, and the music is fantastic (if you like the genre, of course).”
“The game does show its rough graphics quite often with incomplete textures or heavy clipping.”
“At a point in the game, 5 hours in, the game constantly crashes for the graphics freeze while the game continues to play, rendering the game completely unplayable.”
“Unfortunately for the artwork, it's undone by the, frankly, embarrassing amount of bugs, glitches and graphical issues this game has.”
- music436 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 37 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The music in "Blacksad: Under the Skin" is widely praised for its exceptional jazz soundtrack, which effectively enhances the game's noir atmosphere and complements its 1950s setting. Reviewers note that the soundtrack adapts well to various scenes, adding emotional depth to the storytelling, although some players found the repetition of tracks over long play sessions to be a drawback. Overall, the music is considered a standout feature that significantly contributes to the game's immersive experience.
“Audio-wise, Under the Skin features some decent sound design that helps a great deal in making spaces feel alive, as well as a fantastic soundtrack that perfectly matches each scene, knowing just when to hold back and when to blast some killer tunes.”
“Rooted in jazz, the soundtrack perfectly complements the game's 1950s setting, evoking the classic mood of smoky detective stories.”
“The music also noticeably adapts fluidly to the scenes, whether you're solving clues or facing tense confrontations, ensuring the score enhances the emotional weight of each moment.”
“Now the real reason why it's 6/10 is the jazz music.”
“You might think from this comment that it's a joke or meme review, but no, this game has one music and only one music. It feels disrespectful when there are many ways and tones to play jazz. Don't get me wrong, I myself am a fellow jazz enjoyer, but imagine this: you bought the game and are ready to play, after the cutscene you get to play and a jazz music comes in. It sets you just the right mode to immerse yourself in, feeling excited you continue to play.”
“Sometimes the music will suddenly stop, and you'll be left in complete silence except for your character's footsteps.”
- stability330 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 99 % negative mentions
The game is plagued by numerous technical issues, including frequent graphical glitches, inconsistent animations, and occasional crashes, which significantly disrupt gameplay and immersion. While some players find the experience enjoyable despite these bugs, many report that the instability can make the game frustrating and at times unplayable. Overall, the game's stability is a major concern, with many reviewers recommending caution before purchasing.
“The PC version runs significantly better, with almost no glitches or graphic/rendering problems.”
“The game was plagued by abruptly cut dialogues, broken QTE events, stutters, crashes, uneven frames, various bugs, and glitches.”
“I really wanted to enjoy this game, being a huge fan of the comics, but this game is just so buggy and janky that playing it felt like a chore. When you make Telltale games look polished in comparison, you've screwed up as developers.”
“Unfortunately, the game feels poorly optimized for PC with graphical glitches, control issues, and occasional crashes.”
- atmosphere222 mentions
- 53 % positive mentions
- 45 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The atmosphere in "Blacksad" is widely praised for its immersive and richly detailed noir setting, enhanced by stunning visuals, fitting lighting, and a captivating jazz soundtrack that complements the storytelling. While some technical issues, such as graphical glitches and clunky controls, can detract from the experience, the overall ambiance and character development effectively draw players into the game's world. Fans of detective mysteries and noir aesthetics will find the atmosphere particularly engaging and true to the genre.
“The music in Blacksad is one of its standout features, elevating the game's noir atmosphere and adding depth to the storytelling.”
“The atmosphere and setting of the game is just, well, immersive to say the least and true to not just noir, but the time era it takes place in as well.”
“The noir atmosphere is beautifully rendered, the characters are funny, endearing, interesting and the game is nicely written.”
“All of this ruins the charming atmosphere and interesting case.”
“While it accomplishes creating the atmosphere it's going for, there are a few times where either animations, oddly synced audio, glitches, or just straight up counter-intuitive choices presented to the player as valid will cause your momentum to grind to a halt.”
“Game has all right atmosphere and plot going on, but after having it crash on me towards end of the game and corrupting the autosave I can't in good conscience recommend.”
- optimization124 mentions
- 10 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 31 % negative mentions
The optimization of "Blacksad: Under the Skin" has received significant criticism, with many players reporting numerous bugs, stuttering animations, and long loading times that detract from the overall experience. While some users noted that performance improved after patches, the PC port is generally considered poorly optimized, leading to frustrating gameplay issues such as desynchronized audio and visual glitches. Overall, the game's technical shortcomings overshadow its narrative strengths, making it a mixed recommendation for potential players.
“The game was made with the Unity engine and is optimized for a controller.”
“The gfx style and the performance is working well after already a few patches had been done.”
“Blacksad: Under the Skin is a pretty good game with some optimization issues generally.”
“This game is so unoptimized it’s a huge waste of time honestly, everything takes forever to load and movements are unpolished.”
“It's a shame, I was having fun with the game, but the game on PC seems to have been poorly optimized.”
“The constant bugs, stuttering, slow walking pace, and QTE mechanics break the immersion constantly and make this a bad game.”
- replayability60 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
The game's replayability is a mixed bag; while it offers multiple endings and collectible elements that encourage exploration, many players find the experience tedious due to long cutscenes and limited control options. Some appreciate the potential for different choices and outcomes, but overall, the consensus is that the game lacks significant replay value, making it more suitable for a single playthrough unless purchased on sale.
“The game even offers some replayability; your choices determine some minor details of the story, and there are 6 possible endings.”
“With the different endings, there is some replay value too, so adventure fans can give this one a try.”
“Replayability value is very high.”
“But if you're going to make your game have meaningful replayability, why make it so tedious and boring to play?”
“All in all, it is a very good game that I recommend strongly, but it has next to no replayability, which is (black)sad.”
“When you load to a previous checkpoint you're often forced to sit through tediously long sections of speech and it really limits the replayability of the game overall.”
- grinding54 mentions
- 6 % positive mentions
- 6 % neutral mentions
- 89 % negative mentions
The reviews highlight that grinding in the game is often perceived as tedious and frustrating, detracting from the overall experience. Players express dissatisfaction with slow movement, repetitive cutscenes, and clunky mechanics that make gameplay feel like a chore rather than an engaging adventure. While the story has redeeming qualities, the lack of options to skip or fast-forward through tedious sections significantly limits replayability and enjoyment.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“Reincarnation needed for grinding!”
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“It's a glaring oversight that severely impacts the overall gaming experience, turning what could have been an enjoyable adventure into a tedious and unrewarding chore.”
“However, there's no skip mode or fast forward on second plays which would make going for the other endings/achievements a bit of a tedious slog.”
“Although the game has replayability in its wonderful content and different possible endings, the actual controls and the inability to skip cutscenes is tedious and downright awful.”
- humor52 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is a mix of witty dialogue, visual gags, and dark comedic moments, often drawing comparisons to classic titles like Grim Fandango. While many players found the humor engaging and entertaining, some noted that certain gameplay mechanics could lead to frustrating yet unintentionally funny situations. Overall, the humor is described as nuanced, with a blend of quirky and dry elements that enhance the game's noir atmosphere.
“I also have to say, as a German, I was crying laughing over the voice acting of a supposedly German character. You can really tell it is not a German voice actor, but I enjoyed them nonetheless!”
“The dialogues are witty and funny, the graphics were very fitting for the narrative and I didn’t encounter any bugs, graphic errors, or any other issues common for gaming.”
“The noir atmosphere is beautifully rendered, the characters are funny, endearing, interesting, and the game is nicely written.”
- emotional48 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game effectively explores complex themes of corruption, betrayal, and moral ambiguity, providing significant emotional weight to the narrative. While the protagonist, John Blacksad, is well-developed, some secondary characters lack depth, which diminishes the emotional impact of certain plot points. The engaging story, coupled with adaptive music and unique voiceovers, creates an emotional rollercoaster that leaves players invested in the characters and their fates, despite occasional glitches and pacing issues.
“The music also noticeably adapts fluidly to the scenes, whether you're solving clues or facing tense confrontations, ensuring the score enhances the emotional weight of each moment.”
“Blacksad had me emotionally invested from start to finish, and I physically gasped a few times during some scenes.”
“Omg what an emotional rollercoaster!”
- character development44 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 43 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is generally well-received, with many praising its compelling narrative and engaging character designs that effectively capture the essence of noir fiction. However, some critiques highlight predictability and inconsistencies in character portrayal, suggesting that while the development is intriguing, it could benefit from deeper worldbuilding and clearer character distinctions. Overall, the combination of strong character design and a captivating storyline contributes positively to the game's immersive experience.
“The character development of the numerous figures is also quite compelling.”
“I love the storyline, the character development, and the animation style.”
“Great atmosphere, good character development.”
“This isn't helped by the fact that the worldbuilding is quite poor, the character designs are very confusing at times, and kind of inconsistent with how much animal vs human there is in them.”
“And then, if you decided to copy Telltale's system of character development, why not compare the character to the global stats?”
“There is definitely a compelling detective plot, which includes twists, moral choices, and okay character development, but it does have some predictable moments.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect of "Blacksad: Under the Skin" is primarily viewed as a promotional tool for its source material, the Blacksad comics, rather than a standalone financial model. Players appreciate the game for introducing them to the comic series, indicating that its value lies more in its connection to the original content than in its pricing or monetization strategy.
