Blacksad: Under the Skin
- November 14, 2019
- YS Interactive
- 11h median play time
Far from purr-fect, but still a paw-sitive experience
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.
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Xbox Series X|S
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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 character movement that can frustrate gameplay.
- Numerous bugs and technical issues, including black screens and unresponsive interactions.
- Unskippable cutscenes and dialogue that can make replaying sections tedious.
- story1,300 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 filled with twists and moral ambiguity. While many appreciate the depth and emotional weight of the plot, some critiques highlight issues with pacing, technical glitches, and the illusion of choice, which can detract from the overall experience. Despite these flaws, the game's storytelling and character interactions resonate strongly with fans of narrative-driven games, making it a compelling choice for those who enjoy immersive storytelling.
“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.”
“The story is engaging and keeps you on your toes, with a well-crafted narrative that draws you in and makes you invested in the characters.”
“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.”
- gameplay356 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, technical glitches, and slow pacing as significant drawbacks. While the deduction mechanics and narrative elements are praised for their depth and engagement, the overall experience is often marred by frustrating gameplay mechanics reminiscent of older point-and-click titles and quick-time events. Despite these issues, some players find the story compelling enough to overlook the gameplay shortcomings, making it more suitable for those who prioritize narrative over mechanics.
“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.”
“Gameplay feels clunky and buggy; your character has the turning circle of a truck, you walk very slowly everywhere, and the system where you put clues together makes no sense way too often.”
“The gameplay is annoying beyond belief, with clunky controls, aggravating mechanics, and plastic lifeless animation burying what would otherwise be an entertaining noir flick.”
- graphics265 mentions
- 42 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the unique art style and atmospheric visuals that effectively capture the noir aesthetic. However, numerous players report technical issues, including graphical glitches, inconsistent animations, and clunky controls, which detract from the overall experience. While some find the visuals beautiful 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.”
“The game does show its rough graphics quite often with incomplete textures or heavy clipping.”
“Unfortunately for the artwork, it's undone by the frankly embarrassing amount of bugs, glitches, and graphical issues this game has.”
“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.”
- music218 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 not only sets the mood but also adapts fluidly to various scenes, enriching the emotional experience. However, some players found the music repetitive over extended play sessions, suggesting a desire for more variety in the score.
“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.”
“Sometimes the music will suddenly stop, and you'll be left in complete silence except for your character's footsteps.”
“The controls are clunky as hell, for significant parts of the game access to the deductions menu is cut off leaving me to try and play catchup as soon as I caught a break, the detective narrates just when the action is at a crescendo, as is the music, so it both ruins the mood the devs were going for and leaves you wondering what the hell Blacksad said.”
- stability165 mentions
- 2 % positive mentions
- -1 % 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 these bugs are not universally game-breaking, they are prevalent enough to detract from the overall experience, making the game feel unpolished and frustrating at times. Players are advised to approach with caution, as the stability issues can hinder enjoyment, despite the compelling narrative and atmosphere.
“The PC version runs exceptionally well, with almost no glitches or graphic/rendering problems.”
“I appreciate the stability of the game; it rarely crashes and performs smoothly.”
“The game maintains a solid frame rate, making for a seamless gaming experience.”
“The game was plagued by abruptly cut dialogues, broken QTE events, stutters, crashes, uneven frames, and various bugs and glitches.”
“After reading through other reviews, I've discovered that I'm not the only person with this problem; it is inexcusable that something could have been released in such a buggy, unplayable state.”
“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.”
- atmosphere111 mentions
- 53 % positive mentions
- 44 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The atmosphere in "Blacksad" is widely praised for its immersive and richly detailed noir aesthetic, 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 its unique world of anthropomorphic detectives. Fans of the genre will find the game's atmosphere to be a standout feature, making it a compelling choice for those who appreciate detective mysteries and noir themes.
“The music in Blacksad is one of its standout features, elevating the game's noir atmosphere and adding depth to the storytelling.”
“Environments are richly detailed, from shadowy jazz clubs to gritty urban landscapes, using lighting and shadow to enhance the noir atmosphere.”
“The game's atmosphere is absolutely striking, the art style is fun and the characters are interesting.”
“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.”
“With the first one unfortunately there's just the atmosphere, because in any aspect of the game it looks more like a Telltale game, but more deep with more than a single final.”
- optimization62 mentions
- 10 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 31 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received significant criticism, with 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, many still experienced crashes, desynchronized audio, and poor frame rates, particularly on PC. Overall, the consensus is that the game is poorly optimized, making it a frustrating experience despite its engaging story and characters.
“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.”
“I recommend if you enjoy this sort of thing and have a higher performance computer to run it on.”
“This game is so unoptimized it’s a huge waste of time honestly, everything takes forever to load and movements are unpolished.”
“It's poorly optimized, and especially, there are tons of bugs and glitches that make the game unplayable.”
“The constant bugs, stuttering, slow walking pace and QTE mechanics break the immersion constantly and make this a bad game.”
- replayability30 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
Overall, "Blacksad: Under the Skin" offers some replayability through multiple endings and collectible stickers, but many players find the experience tedious due to long cutscenes and limited ability to skip dialogues. While the game has potential for those interested in exploring different choices, its short length and lack of significant replay value make it more suitable for a sale purchase rather than full price. Fans of narrative-driven games may enjoy the rich atmosphere, but the replayability is hampered by gameplay mechanics.
“For some replay value, there are a rather large number of stickers hidden throughout the game's scenes, used to complete a sticker album and unlock some lore on various star athletes from the Blacksad universe, which made me enjoy completing my collection quite a bit.”
“The game even offers some replayability; your choices determine some minor details of the story, and there are 6 possible endings.”
“Regarding the lifetime of the game, it's pretty average for the genre, but this one is replayable if you want to try different choices and see all the outcomes.”
“I'd get it on sale, as the game isn't long and lacks replayability, but I enjoyed it as a visual novel.”
“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.”
- grinding27 mentions
- 7 % positive mentions
- 4 % 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 tasks, and the inability to skip cutscenes, which collectively make gameplay feel like a chore rather than an engaging adventure. While some appreciate the story and replayability, the cumbersome mechanics and bugs significantly hinder enjoyment.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“Reincarnation is needed 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.”
“First and foremost this game has awful tank controls that make searching for clues tedious and boring, plus the walking speed is very slow.”
- humor26 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is a mix of dark and quirky elements, with many players finding the death scenes and character interactions amusing, reminiscent of classic titles like Grim Fandango. While some moments are genuinely funny, others can be frustrating due to unclear dialogue or gameplay mechanics that lead to unexpected fail states. Overall, the witty dialogue and humorous character portrayals contribute to a unique blend of comedy and drama, though some players felt it lacked the humor found in the original comics.
“Every time you do, you can retry, and I have to admit some deaths were pretty funny.”
“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.”
- emotional24 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 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 some minor gameplay 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 development22 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 36 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is generally well-received, with many praising the compelling detective plot and engaging character designs that enhance the noir atmosphere. While some reviews note that character development can be predictable and inconsistent, the unique anthropomorphic designs and moral choices contribute positively to the overall experience. However, there are mixed feelings about the execution, with some suggesting that the character development could benefit from deeper integration with the game's world and mechanics.
“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.”
“There is definitely a compelling detective plot, which includes twists, moral choices, and okay character development, but it does have some predictable moments.”
“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?”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization of "Blacksad: Under the Skin" effectively promotes its source material, the comics, appealing to fans of the genre while serving as a successful advertisement for the noir-themed narrative featuring anthropomorphic animals.
