NoseBound review

A thoroughly enjoyable combination of an excellent story and great black-and-white graphics, Quarantine Interactive’s NoseBound is a point-and-click noir thriller. Splashes of color are added to contrast the ordinary with the fantastic. An equally creative sound design helps impart a tale of growth and friendship, while scaring the living daylights out of its players – who will use the smooth interface to address a multitude of diverse endeavors. These include interrogating a variety of characters, solving inventory object puzzles, and conquering timed reflex challenges. A frustrating Save/Load utility and lack of a task list or notepad make it slightly problematic for players to remember where they left off after taking a break. Even so, there’s a lot to like about this eccentric, self-published adventure.

When his friend Smithy mysteriously disappears, no-nonsense gumshoe Ray Hammond is determined to locate him. Smithy vanishes from a gritty world of tough confrontations and hard-nosed, morally ambiguous characters (some of the content is not appropriate for children). Smithy perfectly exemplifies this moral ambiguity. He falls in love with a woman and that devotion leads him, as well as Ray, into a sinister situation. Yet Smithy has honest intentions. As in all good stories, love jumbles everything up.

The narrative’s deep murkiness stands in sharp contrast to the visual intricacy of the black-and-white graphics, straight out of 1940s noir films. The artist uses color sparingly to highlight important parts of the story and alert players to nexuses where the natural and supernatural meet. The first instance of such a connection appears in Ray’s office. Green light shines through his open window as he receives a phone call that beckons him to potential risk and danger. Smithy’s apartment is a second nexus. Typical apartment furniture is rendered in grayscale hues. There are also occult items like Tarot cards and an altar, which are splashed with bright pigments. Upon entering the third nexus – a store – Ray finds himself lying on top of green slime. It’s a clue to the player to pay attention because something out of the ordinary is about to happen.

This world where the natural and supernatural collide employs intriguing sound design. NoseBound has a mysteriously sinister track on the title screen, beckoning players and girding them for adventure. The gruff and tough voice-overs perfectly embody the dark, uncanny surroundings. Sound effects further intensify the atmosphere – doors creak and clank and footsteps clomp – plus players will jump at the explosive bang of gunfire and smile smugly as an old-fashioned landline telephone rings.

The interface assists the player in conducting the investigation and guides Ray toward finding his friend. It controls Ray’s movements – defending his life, gathering and using items, and talking to characters. Players trigger a context sensitive command wheel when they left-click on a hotspot. The wheel contains the “look,” and “grab/use” commands. The eye icon represents “look,” and when players activate it, Ray provides a description of the hotspot. The hand symbolizes “grab,” or “action,” causing Ray to pick up an item and store it in his inventory, which he hides at the top of the screen. Players use an object by left-clicking on it and moving it over a hotspot; the game informs them if they are successful. The hand icon is also useful when taking actions like opening cupboards. There is no hotspot indicator, so vigilance is required when searching for clues. 

Clicking on a character may also activate a balloon representing “talk.” A list of topics then appears on the bottom of the screen. Be warned – the actions Ray takes don’t simply involve interviewing characters or finding items – sometimes he has to defend himself.

At specific points, NoseBound uses gunplay to add drama to the narrative. Shooting involves clicking on the inventory, accessing the weapon, moving the crosshairs to the target, and left-clicking to fire. Despite slow reflexes, I independently won the battles in a reasonable amount of time. It is possible for Ray to die during these action scenes, so saving the game relieves potential frustration. Four save slots and a handy autosave feature are available. Loading a game involves clicking on a save slot with a date. The Save/Load utility would be easier to use if players could use their keyboards to type homemade labels. A task list would also help them remember what they were doing before they took a break.

NoseBound contains a wide variety of puzzles, including inventory object tasks, like using cash that the player obtains to purchase an item or service. My favorite conundrum involved solving a riddle in Smithy’s apartment with a clever analysis of Tarot and its striking occult images. These and other challenges always make sense in the context of the story. Playing NoseBound feels like taking an active part in a compelling mystery. Its unusual black-and-white graphics, diverse challenges, and creepy sound design draw players into a spine-chilling tale.