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Genesis Noir

Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One
Genre: Adventure
Publisher: Fellow Traveller
Developer: Feral Cat Den
Release Date: March 26, 2021

About Rainier

PC gamer, WorthPlaying EIC, globe-trotting couch potato, patriot, '80s headbanger, movie watcher, music lover, foodie and man in black -- squirrel!

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'Genesis Noir' (ALL) Also Comes to Xbox One

by Rainier on Aug. 13, 2019 @ 8:03 p.m. PDT

Genesis Noir is a noir adventure game set before, during, and after the Big Bang. To save your love, you must stop the expansion of the universe.

Genesis Noir is an adventure game with an emphasis on exploration, tactile interactions, and generative art. You will wander around 3D starscapes and 2D vignettes. You will collect cosmic clues solve little puzzles and play with particles. You might even destroy the universe.

In Genesis Noir, you will discover worlds familiar and alien. Explore nebulae, asteroid fields, black holes, primordial Earth, and jazz cafes. You will become acquainted with the massive, the microscopic, and everything in between.

The gameplay of Genesis Noir blends visual storytelling and interaction into one seamless experience. The space between cutscene and gameplay is dissolved through surreal scene transitions.

Play with generative systems and discover what they create. Express yourself by planting seeds, transforming landscapes, creating and destroying stars, or improvising a jazz duet.

Fellow Traveller and Feral Cat Den are proud to announce that Genesis Noir will be coming to Xbox One, as well as the already announced PC, in 2020!

Genesis Noir is an adventure game that takes place before, during, and after The Big Bang. A cosmic gunshot expands towards the heart of a god and you must explore the universe, seeking clues on how creation might be undone. The Big Bang has been getting ever larger and we’re excited to announce that it will expand all the way to the Xbox!

We’re a tiny studio comprised of 2 dudes in NYC, a handful of freelance pals, and some great musicians in London who’ve dreamed of exploring strange worlds and sharing them with others. I think seeing how far we’ve come, it’d be nice to take a moment and share some experiences that started us on the path to creating this noir adventure. If you’ll indulge some pulpy storytelling, I’d like to tell you a little about busking and game development and how 10 years of living in the heart of NYC has brought Genesis Noir to life.

In Genesis Noir, you’ll meet a musician. In fact, you’ll meet several musicians - a band leader named Golden Boy, an alluring jazz singer named Miss Mass; you’ll even become a bit of a musician yourself. 

This musician you encounter is an amalgamation of the buskers New York is full of. They embody the musicians of incredible talent whose art stays with you, but also are inspired by plenty of performers with questionable talent.

When I first moved here, I happened upon a saxophonist practicing in a parking lot beside the polluted Gowanus canal. His woozy music echoed down a long and low tunnel that I happened to be canoeing through on an ecological tour. His drunken practicing reverberated around me, creating the disorienting soundtrack to explore an urban wasteland. I’ll never forget my unbearable curiosity to discover if the fumes from the oil slicked waters were causing auditory hallucinations as we journeyed down that tunnel. His playing, while not exactly ready for Carnegie Hall, was perfectly suited to that moment.

I have even encountered a musician as I walked across the Williamsburg bridge at 4 am - a time that even the city that never sleeps exists in a liminal state between the conscious and unconscious. The bridge was empty except for a single figure in the distance who, as I approached resolved into a clarinet player standing high above the city, practicing his craft. His playing drowned out by the traffic, I nevertheless attempted to give him a friendly nod. Phantom-like, he did not acknowledge my presence.

Practicing musicians are now my favorite thing to discover in New York. Like a rare collectible, they are hidden in strange spots, at strange times.

These experiences have inspired lonely urban settings in Genesis Noir. Pre-dawn skylines coalesced into abstract squares and moments of delight hidden amidst chaos.

More broadly, these encounters with the city’s buskers have taught me lessons such as the value of mystery, of letting stories hang unresolved. Of setting up desire and after hope has vanished, providing resolution.

They’ve taught me the theatricality of confined spaces and the anticipation of a reveal. That funneled into a linear path after exploring an open area can be tremendously rewarding with the addition of a simple soundtrack or focal point.

There are many lessons that NYC and it’s musicians have taught me and the whole team working on Genesis Noir. Our aim is to synthesize these experiences into a little nugget of noir-y goodness that we hope you’ll enjoy!

Genesis Noir takes place on Earth, amongst the darkness of space light years away, and even in higher dimensions. 

Play as No Man, a watch peddler stuck in a deterministic hell, as he gets caught up in lust and crime. Explore our universe. Witness the history of mankind. Discover a way to destroy creation. Find comfort from a glass of gin. Search for an escape from it all.

Along the way you'll meet Miss Mass, an alluring jazz singer who attracts all who come close. You'll track down Golden Boy, a narcissistic artist who loves to create and destroy. You might even encounter Siren Sapien, a formless femme fatale, dangerous and perceptive.

Genesis Noir features the music and sound design of Skillbard, a London-based team of composers and sound designers. They work in film, television, games, sound art, pop music, and sonic branding.

Skillbard are members of Late Night Work Club, a collective of independent animators and musicians, and have provided music and sound design for the Strangers and Ghost Stories anthologies. They have also recently completed the sound design for Rubber House and Cartoon Network's Lasso and Comet.

Key Features

  • Explore the Cosmos: Players will discover a world unlike any other in Genesis Noir. Explore nebula, asteroid fields, black holes, primordial earth, and jazz cafes.
  • Experience a synthesis of animation and interactivity: The gameplay of Genesis Noir blends visual storytelling and interaction into one seamless experience. The space between cutscene and gameplay is dissolved.
  • Enjoy a mixture of 2D and 3D visuals: Genesis Noir combines beautiful hand drawn animation and simple 3D worlds to create a unique visual aesthetic.
  • Play with generative art inspired interactions: Play with generative systems and see what they create. Play and express yourself through simple interactions.

Genesis Noir is in development for Xbox One and PC, currently scheduled for release in 2020.


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