Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 19
  2. Negative: 0 out of 19
  1. Apr 6, 2021
    90
    The best way to summarize Genesis Noir is that it is an art piece that is only possible in its medium. It is a beautiful experience full of emotional connections, and that is told genuinely and with such intelligence that it is deeply relatable. It is a profound experience and one wholly unique to the industry.
  2. Mar 25, 2021
    90
    Genesis Noir may not be for everyone. You’ll need patience for it – and if you like games that hold your hand, it’s likely not for you. But stick with it, and you’ll find an extraordinary and rare title unlike anything else you’ve played. It’s beautiful, clever, and very tricky in places – but you’ll be thinking about it long after you’ve turned it off.
  3. Mar 29, 2021
    85
    Anyone who has felt attracted to this game will hardly be disappointed, those who continue to think that these narrative adventures are not real games, can safely go further because Genesis Noir is not here to make you change your mind.
  4. Mar 25, 2021
    85
    Genesis Noir is a fantastic graphic adventure that sets itself free from the conventions of the genre to create its own path. You cannot miss it.
  5. Mar 25, 2021
    85
    Stirring, artistic, and emotionally resonant, Genesis Noir is quite a unique experience. The puzzles can be tedious, but the game makes up for it with gorgeous art direction and sterling creativity.
  6. Mar 25, 2021
    85
    By zipping through the creation of life itself, you might just find answers to why someone has been shot and how to stop it. Though some puzzles and controls can get pretty frustrating, the adventure itself is the draw, and with Genesis Noir, it's a beautiful trip through primordial creation worth taking. If you're eager to see what kind of stylish, inventive ways developers are finding to tell stories in games, this hard-boiled trip is worth the ticket.
  7. Mar 31, 2021
    81
    Genesis Noir is a sublime trip through the history of the universe. Feral Cat Den did a terrific job in terms of balancing scientific premises and mythic consequences developing a linear, but visionary, point and click experience, whose only little sin is to indulge sometimes in its own beauty.
  8. CD-Action
    Nov 19, 2021
    80
    Even though you can briefly describe Genesis Noir as an adventure game with occasional puzzles, in fact it’s a completely unique, extraordinary experience unlike anything I’ve played. [06/2021, p.58]
  9. Apr 6, 2021
    80
    Although I feel like I didn’t quite understand all of what Genesis Noir was trying to accomplish in story, I absolutely understood the emotional journey it took me on. From the joyous beginnings to the urgently depressing ending and even the loneliness, hope, and determination that came after, Genesis Noir is a celebration of humanity, the universe, and of life itself.
  10. 80
    As with many art-focused games, it’s painful to discuss a work’s aspirations and pretensions without degrading the ambition of its ideas, especially in an industry where art-games are often relegated to the sidelines of mainstream discourse. Genesis Noir is at once a remarkable creative achievement that embodies the best and brightest of the art-game genre. But as the game unfolds in all its zany glory, it also loses its way at the end–the message gets through, but the repetition becomes tedious. Perhaps the best way to reinvent the Big Bang isn’t in one harried review sitting. Play it slow and savor it.
  11. Edge Magazine
    Mar 25, 2021
    80
    Here's to more games that dare to shoot for the stars - and to those that, like Genesis Noir, set their sights even higher. [Issue#357, p.112]
  12. Apr 1, 2021
    76
    A little abstract in nature, but Genesis Noir is an all-around stunning audio-visual adventure.
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  1. Mar 25, 2021
    This cosmic point-and-click looks and feels like no other game out there. [Eurogamer Recommended]
  2. The constant, unexpected transitions between visual schemes, the wild leaps in subject matter, and the sudden appearance of majestic stags, would all have slam-dunked me into the bin of my own subconscious like I’d stuck every Boards Of Canada album on simultaneously. Never let it be said I don’t appreciate the highbrow.
  3. Mar 25, 2021
    There’s handful of dazzling set pieces in the final third of Genesis Noir, none less so than the crescendo itself. I don’t think it's a spoiler to describe this as a dance across the cosmos, or that color does eventually explode into the game. Like the earlier duet, it offers another opportunity to wild out, to simply throw the cursor across the screen and see what emerges. It gets close to the loose-limbed and improvisatory nature of jazz—an opportunity to revel in the game’s singular and beautiful kind of cacophony. While an undeniable audio-visual marvel, the moment also transcends spectacle, hinting towards something profound about the act of creation, be that cosmic or indeed personal.
User Score
6.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 28 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 28
  2. Negative: 8 out of 28
  1. May 27, 2021
    0
    Nice to look at but very bad to play is not a winning formula. Whoever did the art in Genesis Noir ought to be pretty peeved at whoever didNice to look at but very bad to play is not a winning formula. Whoever did the art in Genesis Noir ought to be pretty peeved at whoever did the game design. Full Review »
  2. Apr 11, 2021
    4
    Pretty verging on beautiful, but cold, hollow, and ultimately dull experience. No single gameplay element can be said to work well. ThePretty verging on beautiful, but cold, hollow, and ultimately dull experience. No single gameplay element can be said to work well. The characters and plot are both incredibly thin (nobody does almost anything, almost nothing happens) and are told in wild abstractions such that it's hard to even say with certainty that anybody really interacted with anybody else in the entire game. Also, the game's sense of space and movement is absolutely **** Again, the visuals are nice, but not nearly nice enough to compensate for the extremely unrewarding, scattered gameplay. If this were a 15-minute (max) animated short, it might have worked to a degree. As it is, it's just a confused string of minigames. Full Review »
  3. Jul 26, 2021
    7
    Not the best gameplay ever and a little buggy but it offers a nice experience, worth a try.