D
iscworld is a series of
fantasy novels by the
late, great Terry
Pratchett, famous for
its slapstick humour
and scathing social commentary.
And at the heart of some of its best
stories is Ankh-Morpork, a massive
walled city rife with corruption,
pollution and social division. While
the first two Discworld adventure
games, starring hopeless wizard
Rincewind, were colourful,
lighthearted capers,Discworld Noir
uses the rain-soaked streets of
Ankh-Morpork as the backdrop for
a shadowy crime thriller, taking
stylistic cues from film noir and
hard-boiled detective fiction.
It’s a familiar detective story, but set
inan irreverent fantasy world filled
with trolls, ghouls and vampires.
Our cynical, world-weary hero is
Lewton, a former member of
Ankh-Morpork’s famous City Watch
turned private eye. A beautiful,
mysterious woman, Carlotta, walks
into his office one dark and stormy
night and asks him to find her
ex-lover: a man named Mundy. And
like any good Chandlerian mystery,
this seemingly simple job quickly
spirals into something much more
complex and dangerous.
Like the Discworld novels, Noir is
heaving with subtle (and not-so-
subtle) pop culture references.
Samael, a vampiric pianist in a smoky
dive called Cafe Ankh, is an
amusingly on-the-nose homage to
noir classic Casablanca. Lewton even
says, “Play it again, Samael.” I should
have rolled my eyes at that point, but
in the moment it was pretty funny.
And when Lewton meets CountÜberwald, a rich old man in a
wheelchair hiding in a greenhouse,
Philip Marlowe’s similar meeting
with the reclusive General Sternwood
in The Big Sleep comes to mind.DARK SIDE
A lot of adventure games plunder
film noir, whether it’s Grim Fandango
(itself partly inspired by Casablanca)
or corny FMV games such as The
Dame Was Loaded. But, importantly,
Discworld Noir never feels stifled by
its reverence for the greats of the
genre. It has enough personality of its
own – thanks mainly to the
inherently unique, interesting
Discworld setting – to feel like more
than just a pastiche. And when
Lewton gains the ability to turn into a
werewolf in the third act, it becomes
even more distinct. When did Bogie
ever sprout fangs and fur?
Playing Discworld Noir for the first
time, I’m surprised by the lack ofDISCWORLD NOIR
NEED TO KNOW
RELEASED
1999
PUBLISHER
GT InteractiveDEVELOPER
Perfect Entertainment
LINK
http://www.bit.ly/discnoirA detective adventure with a fantasy twist. By Andy Kelly
OLD GAMES, NEW PERSPECTIVES
REINSTALL
It all starts with a seemingly-
simple request.