9 Best Noir Video Games of All Time

The 9 Best Noir Video Games, Ranked Image via Telltale Games Published Aug 12, 2026, 3:19 PM EDT Diego Pineda has been a devout storyteller his whole life. He has self-published a fantasy novel and a book of short stories, and is actively working on publishing his second novel. A lifelong fan of watching movies and talking about them endlessly, he writes reviews and analyses on his Instagram page dedicated to cinema, and occasionally on his blog. His favorite filmmakers are Andrei Tarkovsky and Charlie Chaplin. He loves modern Mexican cinema and thinks it's tragically underappreciated. Other interests of Diego's include reading, gaming, roller coasters, writing reviews on his Letterboxd account (username: DPP_reviews), and going down rabbit holes of whatever topic he's interested in at any given point. Sign in to your Collider account Film critics and historians have never been able to fully agree on what, exactly, film noir is. Is it a genre? A film movement? Or simply a filmmaking style? Regardless, as the years have passed, noir has undeniably become a full-on genre that has even transcended the medium that birthed it. One of the art forms that it has touched is video gaming, where it has produced some undeniably exceptional titles. Whether it's an entirely unconventional noir, such as Capcom's Killer7; or one that directly references and pays homage to classic noir, like the aptly titled L.A. Noire, this is a genre that has allowed developers to let their imaginations roam free in all sorts of interesting ways. Whether it's a shooter, an action-adventure extravaganza, an RPG, or any other sort of game, noir can be the basis for an absolutely fascinating masterpiece. 9 'Killer7' (2005) Image via Capcom The Japanese video game auteur Goichi Suda is perhaps best known for the No More Heroes series, but that series only achieved international recognition to begin with thanks to the success of the first Suda video game ever released outside Japan: Killer7, a Capcom game for the GameCube and PlayStation 2 about an elite group of assassins who perform hits on behalf of the United States government. For its arthouse-coded commitment to surrealism and everything that entails, from a complex (and at times confusing) noir plot to an unconventional control scheme, critics weren't particularly crazy about Killer7 upon release. With the years' passage, however, the game started gaining a cult following. Today, nobody would complain about one calling this one of the best action video games of all time. 8 'Discworld Noir' (1999) Image via GT Interactive English author, satirist, and humorist Terry Pratchett is one of the greatest comedic authors in the history of English-language literature, and his fantasy series Discworld is easily among his strongest works. Set in that same universe, the PC and PlayStation classic Discworld Noir is a must-play even for those who have never even heard of Terry Pratchett before. It's one of the best adventure video game masterpieces of all time, satirizing and parodying classic noir movies like Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon. This creates a wonderfully-rendered and cinematic atmosphere that allows the game's unique gameplay mechanics to stand out all the more, balancing that moody tone with a sharply Pratchett-esque sense of humor in all manner of perfect ways. 7 'L.A. Noire' (2011) Image via Rockstar Games Rockstar Games was a publisher already perfectly familiar with the noir genre by the time the 2010s rolled in, but never before had they put out a title more directly tied to the genre's classical roots than L.A. Noire. Set in 1947 Los Angeles and following a detective solving a wide range of cases, it was the first video game ever honored as an Official Selection at the Tribeca Film Festival. It's one of the best thriller video games of all time, fully aware of and respectful toward its cinematic roots. Its open-world design feels a bit primitive by modern standards, but that was never meant to be the main charm of the game. Instead, it's its gritty atmosphere, mature narrative, and groundbreaking interrogation and investigation mechanics that allow the player to feel like a true 1940s detective, and that's what makes L.A. Noire so special. 6 'Blade Runner' (1997) Image via Virgin Interactive Movie tie-in video games used to be immensely abundant, though they weren't always of the highest quality. Contrary to what its title may lead some to believe, however, Westwood Studios' Blade Runner isn't actually an adaptation of Ridley Scott's film, one of the best sci-fi movies in film history. Rather, it's a sort of spin-off sequel telling a riveting original story that runs parallel to the movie's main plot. The tale of Detective Ray McCoy and his quest to hunt down a group of replicants has aged like fine wine not only because it's so impeccably written, but also thanks to the game's revolutionary 3D gameplay, tremendous level of player choice, and enrapturing sci-fi noir atmosphere. Blade Runner may not be an adaptation of the eponymous film, but it's just as important to the history of noir games as the movie is to the history of cinematic neo-noirs. Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you'd actually make it out of alive. 💊The Matrix 🔥Mad Max 🌧️Blade Runner 🏜️Dune 🚀Star Wars TEST YOUR SURVIVAL → 01 You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one. APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it. BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don't keep you alive. CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who's pulling the strings. DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it. EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can't fix a broken galaxy alone. NEXT QUESTION → 02 In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires. AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don't need resources — you can generate them. BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it. CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity. DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on. EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely. NEXT QUESTION → 03 What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you're honest about what you're actually afraid of. AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant. BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left. CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you're a problem, you're already out of time. DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn't even know I was playing. EThe Empire tightening its grip until there's nowhere left to run. NEXT QUESTION → 04 How do you deal with authority you don't trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything. ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it. BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better. CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy. DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can't beat a system you refuse to understand. EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen. NEXT QUESTION → 05 Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn't just tactical — it's physical, psychological, and very much about where you are. AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters. BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest. CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions. DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand. EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire's attention rarely reaches. NEXT QUESTION → 06 Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are. AA tight crew of believers who've seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose. BOne or two people I'd trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks. CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities. I work alone unless I have no choice. DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last. EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts. NEXT QUESTION → 07 Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they're actually made of. AI won't harm the innocent — even the ones who'd report me without hesitation. BI do what I have to to protect the people I've chosen. Everything else is negotiable. CThe line shifts depending on who's asking and what's at stake. DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people's future, even if it'd help now. ESome lines, once crossed, can't be uncrossed. I know which ones they are. NEXT QUESTION → 08 What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another. AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it. BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving. CAnswers. Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out. DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations. EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else's boot. REVEAL MY WORLD → Your Fate Has Been Calculated You'd Survive In…Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for. The MatrixYou took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You're a systems thinker who can't help but notice the seams in things. You're drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it. You'd find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines' worst nightmare. You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it. The Matrix built an airtight prison. You'd be the one probing the walls for the door. Mad MaxThe wasteland doesn't reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That's you. You don't need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon. You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you're good at all three. You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider. In the wasteland, that distinction is everything. Blade RunnerYou'd survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely. You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer. In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional. You're not a hero. But you're not lost, either. In Blade Runner's world, that distinction is everything. DuneArrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards. Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they're survival tools. You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory. Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You'd learn its logic and earn its respect. In time, you wouldn't just survive Arrakis — you'd begin to reshape it. Star WarsThe galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn't have it any other way. You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion. You'd gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire's grip can be broken. You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn't something you're capable of. In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 5 'Heavy Rain' (2010) Widely praised as one of the greatest video games ever made, the PlayStation original Heavy Rain is an action-adventure masterpiece about four characters involved with the mystery of the Origami Killer. It's one of those games that are perfect for a movie adaptation, perhaps largely because it wears its film noir influences on its sleeve with pride, from Blade Runner to the works of David Fincher. Though the controls and overreliance on quick time events haven't aged the best, the narrative, atmosphere, and level of player choice are what makes Heavy Rain such a masterpiece. By leaning heavily into classic detective story tropes, the game proved just how powerfully cinematic the noir game genre could be at its best. And thanks to the level of player choice, no two playthroughs of Heavy Rain feel exactly the same. 4 'The Wolf Among Us' (2013) Image via Telltale Games Since it's based on the Vertigo comic book series Fables, created by Bill Willingham, The Wolf Among Us is technically one of the best DC video games of all time. Telltale Games' unique game design and philosophies were all the rage throughout the 2010s, and up to today, The Wolf Among Us is still one of the most timeless cult classics that the now-defunct studio ever developed. Fabletown and all of its fantastical inhabitants are the perfect vehicle for the story of Sheriff Bigby Wolf and his investigation of a series of murders. The Wolf Among Us is still a must-play for people who love story-driven games and enjoy Telltale's blend of storytelling and gameplay. Atmospheric, creative, and flawlessly-written, it's one of the most fascinating stories that mainstream gaming had to tell at any point during the 2010s. 3 'Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne' (2003) Image via Rockstar Games The reason why Rockstar Games were already perfectly familiar with the noir genre going into L.A. Noire is because they had already published the first two installments in the Max Payne series; and as exceptional as the original still is 25 years after its release, it's its sequel, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne that has best stood the test of time as one of the greatest third-person shooters ever made. Max himself is one of the best video game antiheroes of all time, and his character development is one of the most compelling parts of the perfectly-written masterpiece that is Max Payne 2. But aside from a gripping neo-noir narrative, the game also benefits from having groundbreaking gunplay, irresistibly fun physics and bullet-time mechanics, and tight controls. Rarely has gaming history seen such a faultless balance between strong gameplay and a strong narrative. 2 'Grim Fandango' (1998) Image via LucasArts LucasArts had come up with a highly distinct signature style for their iconic adventure games throughout the '90s. In came Grim Fandango and not only changed the way the studio made games, but also had art direction, technical design, and a narrative that were groundbreaking for the gaming industry as a whole. Set in a retro-futuristic version of the '50s, the game brilliantly blends Mesoamerican iconography with a sharply noir aesthetic. Inspired by some of the best noir movies of all time, from Casablanca to On the Waterfront, Grim Fandango revolutionized the way noir games were stylized. Great writing, unforgettable music, an instantly absorbing atmosphere, and timeless puzzle design are but a few of the reasons why this is still remembered as one of the best adventure games of the '90s. 1 'Disco Elysium' (2019) There's a good reason—or a myriad of them, more accurately—why Disco Elysium never fails to be brought up when having a conversation regarding whether video games are an art form. This entirely unconventional RPG, written and designed by a team led by Estonian novelists Robert Kurvitz and Kaur Kender, is far more than just one of the best video game masterpieces of the last 50 years: It's such a masterful work of art that it makes the question of whether games can be considered an art form practically pointless. The gameplay isn't the most complex, consisting mostly just of point-and-click movement and dialogue choices. It's in that simple presentation, however, that the game's intricacy and complexity lie. It's a psychologically nuanced, sharply political, and wonderfully atmospheric neo-noir tale about regret, redemption, political failure, and human consciousness. Its skill system is masterful, its dialogue and story are flawlessly constructed, and its RPG mechanics are fascinating. It's a blend of literature and gaming that's among the best pieces of narrative art of the 21st century thus far.