puzzles. Knowing it was a point-and-
click adventure from the ’90s, I’d
braced myself for combining absurd
objects in increasingly contrived
ways, but found myself mostly just
talking to people. In this sense, it’s a
truer detective game than most. As
Lewton speaks to the citizens of
Ankh-Morpork, a noirish trumpet
drone indicates a clue being written
down in his notebook. This then
opens up further conversation
options, creating a labyrinthine trail
of clues that eventually snakes
towards... well, I won’t spoil it, but
the story takes some interesting, and
unexpected, turns.
It’s slow, though. At times
painfully so. The dialogue is
entertaining, mostly funny, and the
actors do a fine job. But there are so
many conversations that I would
have actually appreciated a
preposterous item puzzle, just to mix
things up. And I often found myself
at a dead end, unable to progress
because I hadn’t talked to the right
person at the right time about the
right thing, leaving me wandering the
streets of Ankh-Morpork, clicking on
everything, trying desperately to pick
up the breadcrumb trail.
In the second act, a series of
unfortunate events results in Lewton
becoming the prime suspect in a
spate of killings known as the
Counterweight Murders. Sam Vimes,
head of the City Watch and a major
character in the Discworld novels,
fingers Lewton for the crime, and
this causes a chain reaction of bad
luck for the permanently unlucky
private dick. By the end of the game
Lewton will have encountered a
sinister cult, a talking dog, a magical
sword and other weirdness besides.It’s a wonderful mess of a story with
a few great moments, but overall it
gets a bit too complicated for its
own good. Then again, that is a
signature of the detective novels from
the ’40s that inspired the game, so
maybe it’s intentional.WRITE STUFF
Terry Pratchett was involved in the
creation of Discworld Noir, providing
a story outline and editing the script- the meat of which was actually
written by author Chris Bateman. For
DISCOGRAPHY A brief history of Discworld videogames
DISCWORLD
1995
A humorous point-and-
click adventure starring
useless wizard Rincewind,
who’s played brilliantly by
Monty Python’s Eric Idle.DISCWORLD II
1996
Rincewind’s journey
continues with the fool
being tasked with
convincing Death himself
to come out of retirement.DISCWORLD NOIR
1999
An atmospheric
adventure set in the city
of Ankh-Morpork, inspired
by classic film noir and
pulp detective fiction.THE COLOUR OF
MAGIC
1986
A text adventure based on
the first novel, and the
only Discworld game
adapted from a book.EXTRA LIFE
NOW PLAYING I UPDATEI DIARY I REINSTALL (^) I WHY I LOVE I M U S T P L A Y
Lewton has a
great silhouette.
I’m sure he has a
great personality.
Much of the game
is prerendered.