Nobody Wants to Die

81%
Game Brain Score Based on 2,589 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • graphics
Nobody Wants to Die Game Cover
Nobody Wants to Die is an incredible experience.  Engaging detective gameplay, an incredible soundtrack, and a fascinating noir-yarn come together to create one of my favorite games in a long time.
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In "Nobody Wants to Die," play as Detective James Karra in a futuristic, alternate New York City of 2329, where immortality is a luxury for the wealthy. As a member of the Mortality Department, Karra investigates a series of murders targeting the elite, utilizing time manipulation abilities and advanced technology. The case uncovers dark secrets of the city's powerful figures as Karra works with young police liaison Sara Kai.

  • PC
  • Play​station 5
  • Windows
  • Xbox Series X|S
  • Play​Station
  • Xbox
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

81%
Audience ScoreBased on 2,589 reviews
story901 positive mentions
grinding30 negative mentions
  • Stunning visuals and atmosphere that create an immersive experience.
  • Engaging story with intriguing characters and multiple endings.
  • Excellent voice acting that enhances the narrative.
  • Gameplay is very linear and lacks meaningful detective mechanics.
  • The story can feel convoluted and leaves many questions unanswered.
  • No option to save at different points, requiring full playthroughs for alternate endings.
  • story2,114 mentions

    The story of "Nobody Wants to Die" is a captivating blend of cyberpunk and noir detective elements, set in a richly detailed dystopian world. While many players appreciate its engaging narrative and strong character development, some criticize the plot for being convoluted and the gameplay for being overly linear, with limited impact from player choices. Overall, the game is recommended for those who enjoy immersive storytelling, despite its pacing issues and occasional lack of clarity in the plot.

    • “The futuristic dystopian environment really hits the spot for cyberpunk fans, with a mix of neo-noir old school detective shades. This game gives you multiple choices to develop your story, having multiple endings.”
    • “Despite the caveats, I would highly recommend this game to anyone interested in a good story with fantastic acting, writing, and world-building in a beautifully crafted and unique universe.”
    • “The story is captivating and the visuals are really gorgeous.”
    • “The story, which revolves around a cyberpunk detective noir theme, is underwhelming and predictable.”
    • “The story unfortunately is often really illogical, feels like its missing pieces and jumps to irrational conclusions.”
    • “However, the plot and especially the finale feels a bit rushed.”
  • gameplay848 mentions

    The gameplay in "Nobody Wants to Die" has received mixed reviews, with many players noting its simplicity and linearity. While the game features intriguing mechanics like time manipulation for crime scene reconstruction, it often feels more like a guided walking simulator than a fully interactive detective experience, leading to repetitive gameplay and a lack of meaningful choices. Overall, players recommend it for its narrative and visual appeal rather than for engaging gameplay.

    • “You will be combing through crime scenes, reconstructing the events using a combination of QTE and a handful of classic futuristic detective tools including a UV lamp that looks like an ophthalmoscope and an x-ray powered magnifying glass, along with time-limited dialog responses and a few key decisions that will affect the gameplay.”
    • “The gameplay is fun and putting together clues makes your head think; the only thing I wish I could've gotten more out of the game is seeing more of the events take place rather than listening to them from another room, or behind a black screen.”
    • “The gameplay mechanics in 'Nobody Wants to Die' are intuitive and rewarding.”
    • “Gameplay is mostly non-existent and consists mostly of walking up to a highlighted objective and interacting with it.”
    • “That said, I found the gameplay itself to be the weakest point of 'Nobody Wants to Die', outshined on all fronts by the visuals, audio, and the themes.”
    • “The gameplay is very minimal; you basically just walk around and the game tells you what to do.”
  • graphics793 mentions

    The graphics of "Nobody Wants to Die" have received widespread acclaim, with many reviewers praising the stunning visuals and atmospheric design that effectively blend cyberpunk and noir aesthetics. The game showcases impressive art direction and technical fidelity, particularly with its use of Unreal Engine 5, creating a captivating world that draws players in. However, some users noted performance issues and optimization challenges, particularly on lower-end systems, which can detract from the overall experience despite the graphical excellence.

    • “The graphics rival that of AAA games and the lighting and set pieces are just stunning.”
    • “The first thing you will likely notice about this game is the gorgeous visuals, especially its rendition of a future New York City that blends the rainy evergloom of Ridley Scott's LA in Blade Runner with the verticality of Luc Besson's Fifth Element, with hints of Fritz Lang's Metropolis and yes, more than a few nods to Ken Levine's Rapture in the Bioshock series.”
    • “The graphics are absolutely stunning and someone spent a great deal of time getting the rewind to look correct and the sounds are just perfect.”
    • “It offers nothing other than a pretty face with its admittedly beautiful cyberpunk aesthetic, hiding a sloppy, boring, and pointless 'mystery' 'game'.”
    • “At first, the visuals and atmosphere of the game really captivated me, but after only an hour of playing the game, it started feeling dull and worn-out.”
    • “Looking past the gameplay, we have the graphics; while stunning, it is poorly optimized and I found even my beefy 4080 could not handle the game on the highest settings without massive tweaks.”
  • atmosphere329 mentions

    The atmosphere of "Nobody Wants to Die" is widely praised for its immersive and meticulously crafted dystopian-noir setting, blending elements of cyberpunk and 1940s aesthetics. Reviewers highlight the stunning visuals, exceptional sound design, and a soundtrack that enhances the overall mood, creating a rich and engaging experience. While the gameplay may be lacking, the game's atmosphere and world-building are considered its standout features, making it a must-play for fans of atmospheric storytelling.

    • “The atmosphere is one of the best I've experienced in years; the retro-futuristic world feels truly alive, beautiful, and miserable.”
    • “From the moment you step into this vividly crafted setting, you're enveloped in an atmosphere that feels both hauntingly familiar and refreshingly original.”
    • “Nobody Wants to Die features exceptional storytelling, a meticulously crafted dystopian-noir atmosphere, stunning visuals, outstanding sound and music design, detective mechanics flawlessly implemented, a compelling plot, and well-profiled and developed characters.”
    • “At first, the visuals and atmosphere of the game really captivated me, but after only an hour of playing, it started feeling dull and worn-out.”
    • “The dialogue often feels forced, and the overacting by some voice actors only adds to the unintentional humor rather than the intended atmosphere.”
    • “The story was ultimately disappointing in my opinion, but the atmosphere and setting are interesting enough to make it an enjoyable 6-ish hour experience.”
  • music180 mentions

    The music in the game is widely praised for its ability to evoke a 1940s noir atmosphere, blending seamlessly with the futuristic setting and enhancing the overall experience. While many reviewers highlight the soundtrack as emotive and fitting, some feel it occasionally lacks memorability or fails to align perfectly with gameplay moments. Overall, the combination of haunting melodies and jazz influences contributes significantly to the game's immersive world-building and emotional depth.

    • “The music wraps around you like a smoky jazz club after midnight, the visuals painting a grim picture of a city that’s seen better days.”
    • “Neon lights cut through the haze of a polluted city, and if that ain't enough, the soundtrack and sound design hit like a sax solo in a rainstorm—haunting and unforgettable.”
    • “All this wrapped in an amazingly crafted sci-fi noir atmosphere and music culminated in a very enjoyable experience from start to end.”
    • “The soundtrack is sadly not very memorable.”
    • “The music is alright, I feel like in some moments the music doesn't really hit very well with what's going on in the moment though.”
    • “It under delivers on every front outside of the visuals and music.”
  • optimization136 mentions

    Overall, the game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with many players noting significant performance issues, including stuttering and low frame rates even on high-end hardware. While some users report decent performance with modern upscaling solutions like DLSS, others find the game poorly optimized and demanding, leading to crashes and inconsistent experiences. Many agree that the game requires further optimization to fully realize its potential, despite its impressive visuals.

    • “The game has potential, but it was released too early and needs a lot of optimization.”
    • “Thankfully, all kinds of modern upscaling solutions from NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel are implemented to help with performance while maintaining visual fidelity.”
    • “The game’s performance is impressive given the quality of the visuals.”
    • “Lastly, the game's performance is pretty bad.”
    • “I have a decent rig that can run Cyberpunk well, but this game is so poorly optimized.”
    • “Performance is completely down the drain; usually, my PC can handle high-end games with relative ease, but this has had my PC crash and freeze up multiple times even with all graphics settings floored to the minimum. I would not recommend buying until it's fixed (if it does).”
  • replayability51 mentions

    Overall, the game's replayability is mixed, with some players noting that while it offers a few different endings and choices that can affect the story, the lack of substantial branching paths and a predictable narrative limits the incentive for multiple playthroughs. Many reviewers suggest that it is enjoyable for at least one run, but the experience may feel stale upon revisiting. Ultimately, while there are elements that encourage replay, such as dialogue options and decision impacts, the consensus is that the game does not provide enough variety to justify extensive replaying.

    • “Has great replay value and a really cool story.”
    • “Even though it stole ideas from many different sources, the mix is a wonderful short game of 5 hours of gameplay, but with high replayability.”
    • “Amazing on-rails dystopian detective story (more of a movie than a game) which has some replayability because choices you make affect the story and characters.”
    • “There isn't much replay value in this game at all, but I decided to 100% it because I was lucky I only needed 3 achievements in the second playthrough, 2 of which are decision-based and 1 that I just missed the first time around.”
    • “Not so much a game as a story, and although you can make some choices along the way, replay value is pretty much zero, since the basics remain the same.”
    • “Honestly, there isn't much replay value in the game so you won't really feel like replaying the thing all over again just to try to get a different ending.”
  • grinding34 mentions

    Overall, players find the grinding aspects of the game to be tedious, particularly in the detective mechanics and puzzle elements, which can become repetitive and convoluted. While some enjoy the initial gameplay loop, many feel that the experience drags in the latter half, making replaying the game less appealing due to the lack of meaningful choices and the need to redo lengthy segments for different outcomes. Despite these criticisms, some still recommend the game for its engaging story and short playtime.

    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “Altogether, replaying the game didn't feel compelling enough to do and sounds tedious.”
    • “The mechanics get very tedious, very quickly.”
    • “I just played through this game and it took about 5 hours to finish. My only problem with the game is the ending is a bit sudden, and there are multiple endings, but there's no way to go back to a certain point in the game and make different choices. To see a different minute-long cutscene, you have to play through the whole 5-hour game again, which in my opinion is very tedious.”
  • stability24 mentions

    Overall, the game's stability is generally praised, with many players reporting a technically polished experience with beautiful graphics and minimal glitches or crashes. However, some users did encounter occasional glitches and bugs, particularly during initial playthroughs, suggesting that while the game runs well for most, there are still some issues that may need addressing in future patches.

    • “Technically polished, beautiful graphics, no glitches, freezes, or bugs encountered during my playtime.”
    • “Yes, it is very short, but runs great right on release and I can't ask for much more than that.”
    • “Runs great, great graphics.”
    • “After restarting the game, I can no longer finish the loading screen because the game freezes up.”
    • “The visuals seem great at times, but the constant glitches (shadows and reflections glitch like hell, there's really few surfaces in the game which don't look like they have a huge noise texture flickering above them).”
    • “If Cyberpunk and Life is Strange had a baby with more glitches than their parents combined.”
  • humor22 mentions

    The game features a blend of humor that complements its dark noir themes, with many funny secrets and lighthearted banter that enhance the experience. Players appreciate the clever dialogue and amusing interactions, particularly with NPCs, which add depth to the narrative. Overall, the humor is described as light yet effective, contributing to a captivating and entertaining atmosphere.

    • “And I just loved that, unlike too many noir things, they didn't just make it pure dark but rather had a fitting amount of humor and lighthearted banter in it.”
    • “The conversations don't feel forced, the humor is light but convincing, and the ambiance is perfect (sitting on the neon sign smoking a cigar was a great moment).”
    • “Some of the dialogue with NPCs is funny too, and it's the first time I've seen the concept of a shared apartment bathroom which you call and then it comes to your apartment has been put to effective use.”
    • “If it was supposed to be funny, then any sort of humor is eradicated by the behavior of people following it.”
  • emotional20 mentions

    The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by its haunting soundtrack and a story that is both heartbreaking and heartwarming, deeply engaging players and making them feel invested in the characters' struggles. However, some players felt a lack of emotional connection to the characters and criticized the voice acting and pacing, leading to mixed feelings about the game's conclusion. Overall, while the game evokes strong emotions, it leaves some players with a sense of dissatisfaction due to its brevity and narrative choices.

    • “I cried at the end, like a baby.”
    • “The sound design, including the hauntingly beautiful soundtrack, further amplifies the emotional impact of the story and gameplay.”
    • “The story is both heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time; yes, the game is short but I was hooked the entire time.”
  • character development10 mentions

    Character development in the game is noted for its depth and purposeful integration into the narrative, with players engaging in detective work that enhances the protagonists' growth. However, some reviews suggest that the character development can feel superficial and overly explicit at times, while the progression system may disrupt the flow of storytelling. Overall, the game is praised for its strong world-building alongside character development.

    • “The game takes you through some genuinely interesting story-building and lore-building, doing detective work on a series of related incidents, while also doing a lot of character development for the protagonists.”
    • “Each action feels purposeful, contributing to the overall narrative and character development.”
    • “✔️ Good world building & character development.”
    • “The character development is skin deep and really on the nose.”
    • “The plot felt deep, as did all the character development, but the progression felt odd; like I was waiting to unlock new tools or choose the next mission, although I suppose that's for a different game or style.”
    • “The character development is skin deep and really on the nose.”
  • monetization9 mentions

    The monetization aspect of the game has drawn mixed reactions, with some players feeling that the advertising presents a misleadingly interactive experience, while others appreciate the artistic elements and atmosphere. Critics express concern that the game leans towards a passive experience rather than an engaging one, contrasting it with more commercially-driven titles that prioritize profit over creativity. Overall, there is a sentiment that the game's marketing could better reflect its actual gameplay experience.

    • “Awesome graphics and atmosphere, it's games like this one that remind me that games are an actual art form, when the CODs and Battlefields and Fortnites of the world, on the other hand, do their best to convince me that gaming is nothing but a disgusting cash grab.”
    • “Like most advertisements, it looks a lot more interactive than it actually is.”
    • “The story does seem kind of flat and confusing so far, but they have some pretty cool ideas; I definitely think they are advertising it a little wrong though because it is way more of a 'you walk around and the game happens' as opposed to 'you make stuff happen.'”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

75% average critic score

Buy Nobody Wants to Die

Play time

6hMedian play time
6hAverage play time
5-7hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 17 analyzed playthroughs

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