Xbox Game Pass is a great place to discover games that don't garner weeks of headlines or tons of attention on Twitch. Microsoft has curated a collection that offers both huge blockbusters and smaller, ID@Xbox indie releases with surprising levels of quality. No Game Pass game currently exemplifies the latter more than Genesis Noir, a point-and-click adventure from developer Feral Cat Den that defies much of what players might expect from its genre and from video game graphics. It's a game where style takes precedence over all else, but that overwhelming artistic vision makes Genesis Noir one of the best ways to spend an afternoon for Xbox Game Pass subscribers.
Players play as No Man, a typical noir detective-type transfixed onto a cosmic cityscape. His mission: Save love interest Miss Mass by stopping the Big Bang that created the universe. In order to do this, No Man must traverse several planes of existence that seem to blend together at the slightest push of a button. Every new scene features things like the walls of a building flattening out into a grassy field or a room slowly ripping itself apart into a new environment. These amazing transitions express the loose nature of existence before time and space, and it's impressive the developer could capture such a feeling in the often simple adventure genre.
The experimental graphics cover the "Genesis" part of the equation, and the jazzy soundtrack covers the "Noir." A saxophone player plays heavily into Genesis Noir's plot, and his cornet backs up a vast majority of the game's runtime. It is admittedly the same kind of soundtrack players have heard in countless detective stories, but the well-known sounds of shadow-filled mysteries fit just as well in scenes where No Man unravels the enigmas of the universe.
Those looking for a tight, gameplay-focused experience won't find one in Genesis Noir, as critics have fairly pointed out. However, that's perfectly fine for a campaign that runs only a few hours and succeeds most at setting a vibe. Genesis Noir wouldn't feel out of place as an art installation in museums; the gameplay, while functional, is less important than its environments, characters, and trippy visuals. Still, having it widely available as a counterpoint to Madden and Halo on Microsoft's subscription service has its value, too.
Playing through Genesis Noir is like interacting with one of the animated shorts accompanying Pixar movies. It features simplistic characters telling a story in a world that's overflowing with style. It's the type of release that's hard to pin down simply because it's trying something so unique, which is why its release on Game Pass is great for its developer and players alike. Here's hoping more artistic experiences like it get to premiere in front of millions of subscribers and forgo worries about launch-day profits. Games like Genesis Noir prove the medium can produce fine works of art, and Xbox Game Pass provides a business model to support them.
