Tails Noir Reviews

I have mixed feelings about this game. The visuals are absolutely gorgeous, the atmosphere and environment are really well done, and the music fits perfectly. Honestly, the visuals were the main thing that kept me engaged the whole time. But the story ended up being pretty disappointing for me. I was expecting a detective mystery vibe, something grounded and noir-ish. Instead, it took a weird turn into kinda alien stuff or whatever is that. And that just didn’t work for me. It felt like all the choices and conversations I went through didn’t really matter in the end. There’s also a serious lack of puzzles. If I remember right, there are maybe only 1–3 actual puzzles in the whole game. I played the demo a few years ago and thought it was going to be more about solving mysteries and piecing things together but most of the gameplay is just walking and talking. Because of this, I’m honestly not feeling very confident about checking out Tails Noir: Preludes. The visuals might be great again, but I'm just not sure if the rest of the experience will land for me.

What a shame... such potential, I truly believe this game could have been an 11/10 game if it stayed more true to how it started. It feels incredibly abrupt (when things were getting pretty good). Nevertheless going to give it a thumbs up because I want to see more from the developer and hopefully they learn for the next time.

Note: I played this game on PlayStation Plus and bought it on Steam to add it to my collection and replay some time, hence the low playtime. It took me about 9 hours to finish it while playing quite thoroughly. The game sets a great tone and atmosphere. It's moody, mysterious, and very well realised in its visuals and music. The mystery at the centre of the narrative is intriguing and enthralling, really had me wanting to play more. There are interesting characters that are quite varied and there's a lot of flavour to the dialogue. The core gameplay loop is predominantly focused on dialogue, light exploration, and very occasional puzzle solving. It's very immersive. However, there are no narrative failure states - no matter what you say you will be able to get what you need and sometimes this was immersion breaking. Like bro I told you you look like a tosser and then you saw through my repeated lies and you're still going to help me? Hahah. Only very rarely are there multiple ways to accomplish a task. Also, your choices affect how characters respond to you but like the description says it's not a branching narrative and that's worth noting. I role played like a detective, trying to figure out the personality type of who I was talking to and then deciding how to approach the conversation in order to get them to open up to me. This was somewhat fun but because of the lack of failure states and linear narrative I think I would have enjoyed the game more if I didn't treat the dialogues like a puzzle. There's definitely a bunch of inflammatory and out of pocket shit I would have said for fun on a second playthrough. I think the second half of the game is weaker and less focused from an interactivity and narrative perspective. If you're open minded there's some interesting moments of contemplation and emotion to be had there, even if the story is a little unsatisfying given the buildup. Would recommend, especially on a sale or a subscription service.

the game shifted the narration in a very weird area and somehow crushed the experience of the game. I was enjoying the game then I felt disappointment. Very very sad turning for a game that could be great.

i was just getting genuinely interested in where the plot was going and then it ended. i get that they were going for an ambiguous ending but you can't just end the story as soon as the world-building is done. i feel like i just played through the beginning of a pretty cool game, but then it ended. i think i get what the artifact was supposed to actually be (revolution?), but what were the apes even using the artifact for? just to make tastier meat? howard didn't look very tasty. another huge problem: renee sucks. no characteristics. only the private eye is allowed to be like that. i will recommend it because i think i like what they were trying to do and i mostly enjoyed it until it ended but i am very unsatisfied.

It's a beautiful looking game. I believe the game starts going in a different direction after Act 2. It has buggy achievements, which are frustrating, and some minor spelling errors. Chapter selection would be incredibly helpful and convenient. It being $25 I’d say wait for a sale.