However, Lewton’s
aforementioned transformation into a
werewolf does mix things up. In this
form he can literally sniff out clues,
picking up scents – visualised as
colours – that are associated with
certain characters. This supernatural
twist adds an extra layer of
complexity to your investigation,
giving you more threads to yank and
untangle. The werewolf stuff is also
introduced fairly late into the game,
which is a pretty bold design decision
when you think about it. Most games
would hinge entirely around a
concept like this and not just throw it
in towards the end.
STINK BOMB
The smell system is a little clumsy to
use, though. All the scents you’ve
picked up are stored in an inventory
of sorts, and if you’ve identified the
source of one their name will appear
when you hover over it. Then when
you encounter a scent during your
investigation, you can drag one out of
your smell-ventory and see if they
match. That might sound fine, but it’s
clunky in execution – and it doesn’t
help that the colours of some of the
scents are almost identical to each
other. But hey, I always appreciate a
developer trying to do something
fresh and imaginative with the
adventure genre.
Unfortunately, running Discworld
Noir on a modern PC can be an
ordeal. I couldn’t get it to cooperate
with Windows 10 at all, so had to
install a Windows 95 virtual machine
to play the thing. And because both
developer Perfect Entertainment and
publisher GT Interactive no longer
exist, the chances of anyone getting
hold of the source code and
remastering it are pretty slim. But, in
a weird way, that’s all part of
Discworld Noir’s legend. It’s always
been hard to find and hard to run- something you have to work to
play – and I like that in this age of
instantly accessible entertainment.
But is it worth the hassle?
Honestly, I don’t think Discworld Noir
is a classic. It looks ancient compared
to Grim Fandango, which was
YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO MUCH
ACTUAL LEGWORK IN
DISCWORLD NOIRreleased only a year earlier. The pace
is languid, the story meandering and
there isn’t much to do besides sit and
listen to people talk. It’s incredibly
dark, which results in some
frustrating pixel hunting as you try
and find an interaction point amongst
the gloom. But I still think it’s worth
playing, if only for its atmosphere,
which captures the downbeat,
nihilistic feeling of a film noir better
than most games. There are much
better point-and-click adventures out
there, but few that draw you into
their setting quite so completely.
With the sad death of Terry
Pratchett in 2015, the chances of
there ever being another Discworld
game are pretty much zero. So this
makes Discworld Noir, and the two
Rincewind adventures, even more
special. But one of the brilliant things
about this game in particular is that
you don’t have to know a thing about
Pratchett’s intricate universe, or have
read any of the 41 novels, to play it.
You might miss out on a few
references, but for the most part it’s a
standalone story. Now you’ll just have
to decide whether it’s worth the
bother of installing a virtual machine
on your PC to play it.No, this is not
a pretty game.EXTRA LIFE
NOW PLAYING I UPDATEI DIARY I REINSTALL (^) I WHY I LOVE I M U S T P L A Y