La Noire is an amazing action-adventure game inspired by the noir era of good old classic American detective movies.
The game perfectly captures the noir spirit and is a must-play for anyone who’s even slightly interested in Hollywood crime dramas, but there are more games like that on the market that are worth giving a try.
Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at some of the best games like La Noire and other action-adventure titles available for PC and consoles.
| Name | Release | Genre | Developer | |
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 | L.A. Noire: Complete Edition | 2011-11-08 | Adventure | Team Bondi |
 | Heavy Rain | 2020-06-18 | adventure | Quantic Dream |
 | Murdered: Soul Suspect | 2014-06-05 | Adventure | Airtight Games |
 | Detroit: Become Human | 2020-06-18 | Adventure | Quantic Dream |
 | The Wolf Among Us | 2013-10-11 | Adventure | Telltale Games |
 | Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments | 2014-09-29 | Adventure | Frogwares |
 | Mafia: Definitive Edition | 2020-09-25 | Adventure | Illusion Softworks |
 | Mafia II: Definitive Edition | 2020-05-19 | Action | D3T Limited |
 | Mafia III: Definitive Edition | 2020-05-19 | Action | Hangar 13 |
 | Bioshock Infinite | 2013-03-25 | RPG | Irrational Games |
 | BioShock: The Collection | 2016-09-15 | Adventure | Irrational Games |
 | BioShock 2 Remastered | 2010-02-09 | Action & Shooter | 2K Australia |
 | BioShock Remastered | 2016-09-15 | Action & Shooter | 2K Australia |
 | Grim Fandango Remastered | 2015-01-26 | Adventure | Double Fine Productions |
 | Blacksad: Under the Skin | 2019-11-05 | Adventure | Ys Interactive |
Murdered: Soul Suspect
| Released | 2014-06-05 |
| Genre | Adventure |
| Developer | Airtight Games |
Let’s start with a game that offers a unique story – one, where you will be playing as a ghost of a murdered detective.
Murdered: Soul Suspect is a game that starts with a bang in a quite literal sense. Your protagonist, detective Ronan O’Connor is shot dead by a serial murderer right at the beginning of the game. Shortly after he meets her long-dead wife, who explains to him that before they can reunite, he has to solve this last case. He must find his killer and reveal his identity – that’s his last mission in the world of the living and his soul won’t be able to rest in peace before he’s done.
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Heavy Rain
| Released | 2020-06-18 |
| Genre | Interactive drama, action-adventure |
| Developer | Quantic Dream |
Heavy Rain is another cool La Noire alternative – it’s not noire, but a worthy alternative nevertheless, especially if you like crime stories.
Heavy Rain focuses on the case of the mysterious Origami Killer who uses rain to drown his victims. So far no one was able to track him down, but things must change – as it turns out, he kidnapped yet another kid, and the rain is coming, so there’s not much time left. Your job will be to help your protagonists find the killer and stop him from taking yet another life. Gameplay-wise you can expect something like an interactive movie with lots of dialogues and some quick-time events – a great way to tell such an interesting story full of twists and unexpected turns.
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Detroit: Become Human
| Released | 2020-06-18 |
| Genre | Adventure |
| Developer | Quantic Dream |
If a more futuristic vision of the world is what’s you’re looking for, then you may be interested in checking out Detroit: Become Human.
The game presents players with a story that could as well become reality somewhere in the distant future. In the game’s world, humanoid robots became widely popular and are manufactured on a large scale, mainly to serve people and help them with tedious house works. All would’ve been good if androids didn’t become sentient – some units start to feel human feelings and become sentient, which makes their further use as nothing else but simple slaves rather questionable.
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The Wolf Among Us
| Released | 2013-10-11 |
| Genre | Adventure |
| Developer | Telltale Games |
When speaking of detective games, one can’t forget about The Wolf Among Us – a great but rather dark story in a world inspired by fairy tales and based on the popular comic book series, Fables.
The Wolf Among Us takes place before the events of Fables, where the sheriff of Fabletown, Bigby Wolf, is tasked with solving yet another mystery. Gameplay-wise it’s more of an interactive movie than it is an actual game, but it’s worth mentioning the existence of player choices, allowing you to slightly alter the story and forcing you to live with the consequences of your actions. The game’s unique atmosphere combined with story-driven gameplay and beautiful cel-shaded graphics results in an experience you wouldn’t want to miss, especially if you liked La Noire.
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Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments
| Released | 2014-09-29 |
| Genre | Adventure |
| Developer | Frogwares |
What would be a better detective game than the one that focuses on the adventures of one of the most renowned fictional detectives known to man?
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments is an adventure game that revolves around interrogating people and searching the surroundings in order to find valuable clues that could help your protagonist solve a variety of riddles, and ultimately each of the six different cases that are based on the Sherlock Holmes’ canonical adventures. The game’s strongest point lies in Sherlock’s ability to interpret clues in various ways, depending on the player’s actions, which may lead to drawing different conclusions and getting different endings.
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Mafia II
| Released | 2020-09-25 |
| Genre | Action |
| Developer | Illusion Softworks |
It’s certainly not the most recent game so chances are that you already had the opportunity to play it, but if you didn’t, then by all means go for it.
Mafia II is similar to La Noire on several levels, but here instead of working as a detective, you will be playing as an ordinary man, who needs help with sorting out his life, which pushes him into the hands of the Mafia. Criminal work is a tough one, but it pays well so you won’t see the protagonist complaining. The game is a worthy successor to the original Mafia and further improves gameplay mechanics that were considered good, while reworking, removing, or replacing these that were considered slightly less enjoyable.
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Bioshock Infinite
| Released | 2013-03-25 |
| Genre | RPG |
| Developer | Irrational Games |
Get ready for an adventure you won’t soon forget. Explore new dystopian city, Columbia, reveal the secrets it holds, and find out what connects you to this place.
If you know the original BioShock series – BioShock Infinite is nothing like it. Sure, there are some gameplay similarities, but there are so many differences that if BioShock Infinite was released under a completely different name, you probably wouldn’t even know that it was meant to be a part of the franchise. It’s a fast-paced action game, where fighting against overwhelming enemy forces is unavoidable. Fear not, however, as you will have special superpowers available to use during play – these can turn even the most hopeless encounters into victorious ones.
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Grim Fandango Remastered
| Released | 2015-01-26 |
| Genre | Adventure |
| Developer | Double Fine Productions |
If you ever wondered how would a combination of noir and Mexican culture look like, then there’s no better way to find out than playing Grim Fandango.
Grim Fandango is a very unique game – not only because of its setting, art style, and specific kind of humor, but also the story and the game’s sources of inspiration. As an agent of an afterlife travel company, you will be tasked with helping a certain soul to reach her final destination. Grim Fandango is a classic graphic adventure with a great dose of humor, which is present in a variety of forms, including Spanglish language – English with occasional Mexican words. If it all sounds appealing to you, then you may want to consider getting a remastered version of the game that was released in 2015, as it features several quality-of-life improvements. Most notably, it replaces the original game’s so-called tank movement with more modern point and click controls.
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Backbone
| Released | 2021-06-08 |
| Genre | Adventure - Indie game |
| Developer | EggNut |
There aren’t many serious games that focus on adventures of anthropomorphic animals, and there are even fewer noir detective ones. Thankfully, we’ve got Backbone to fill that specific market niche.
Backbone is an adventure game with amazingly well-made pixel-art graphics, but don’t judge the book by its cover, as the game has much more to offer than just its appearance. The game is a result of combining a variety of different settings, from noir to sci-fi, and even throwing in some post-soviet elements, while also adding entirely fantastic anthropomorphic creatures to the mix. Play as a detective raccoon and solve criminal cases. Talk to people in a way that may bring CRPGs to mind, and immerse into the dystopian world.
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Blacksad: Under the Skin
| Released | 2019-11-05 |
| Genre | noir roleplaying detective adventure |
| Developer | EggNut |
Interestingly enough, for the final title on the list of La Noire type games we’ve got another one that transforms animals into people.
Just when we said that there aren’t many games that combine noir detective stories and anthropomorphic characters, here’s another one. Blacksad follows the story of a private detective as he investigates a case of a recent murder. The game clearly stands out from the crowd of other noir productions, and it’s not only because of the characters, but also thanks to its amazing narrative and great crisp graphics full of bright and vivid colors, and jazz soundtrack that does its job of creating retro atmosphere well.
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The Most Interesting La Noire Alternatives
La Noire stands out on several levels – it has a great story, true noire atmosphere, and extremely realistic facial expressions, to name just a few things. The last one is especially noteworthy, as it’s strictly connected to the gameplay – interrogating people and looking for subtle signs of anxiety or nervousness on their faces, such as squinting, avoiding eye contact, or talking in an unusual manner can help you tell when someone’s lying.
While some of La Noire’s gameplay mechanics are hard to come by and can be only rarely found in other games, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t any great games that offer a similar noir experience.
If you’re interested in some alternatives, then take a look at our list of some of the best games similar to La Noire above, and you’ll surely find something that will suit your taste.