Night Call

Night Call provides some compelling everyday stories wrapped under a neo-noir narrative game. At the end of the day (no pun intended), it succeeds in showcasing the everyday life heroes (however big or small) of a large city and their concerns.

Night Call is not something to pick up if you’re looking for something actively “game-y,” but it’s one that I’d recommend to anyone willing to spend a few dark nights simply enjoying the ride.

There really should be more games like Night Call out there. It tries something unique and succeeds at it, delivering compelling short stories through a limited yet meaningful interaction and wrapped up in a classy aesthetic. The game shows humanism and wisdom that the billion-dollar titles can only dream of.

Night Call is interesting in ways most games aren’t. It’s a game that humanizes people that usually get mockery. It’s so good at this that it overshadows the serial killer stuff. It can lose its steam thanks to some repetitive gameplay, but its shorter length prevents it from dragging on. Its design choices will turn away action-oriented players, but it’s a pleasant surprise if you want more compassion in your crime fiction.

Night Call’s real strength is in the stories it tells about Paris, about the people who live there and the meaningful connections you can have with them no matter how brief or unexpected. It's these people you'll remember once you've solved each case, not the fares you charged them.

Night Call is thriller on the importance of verbal confrontation, adapting to one's interlocutor, creating fluid dialogues without necessarily complying with all their thoughts. A visual novel that is so classic, even predictable in its police nuance, but brilliant in the micro-situations we will experience in every journey.

Technical and pacing issues aside, the writing of Night Call is what makes it such a fascinating and, at times, enthralling game. Sit back with a cup of coffee and become an unofficial therapist for a few hours with this dark descent into Paris.

Night Call is a conversational adventure game that mix up an interesting and tense story with an intriguing comic visual style and cyberpunk reminiscences. A moody and solid experience for narrative seekers.

The end result is a relaxing, intriguing and sleek murder mystery tale that's certainly worth enjoying once. It's not overly long if you play on normal, nor is it particularly replayable, but finding out who the killer is definitely scratches an investigative itch.

All in all, Night Call sets itself up with an inspired idea and premise. The concept of a man living the simple life as a city taxi driver going through regular life while trying to catch a sinister serial killer is fascinating. When the different systems are firing on all cylinders and you can see the mystery unraveling, it’s a wonder to see. On the down side, the cabbie sim gameplay gets boring and the gameplay loop grows repetitive quickly.

Night call is thick with moody atmosphere and noir style; its writing is hit and miss, but it's tough not to be entranced by the central concept.

The characters you meet in Night Call are the stars of this noir-style thriller. Interestingly, the crime plot takes a backseat to meeting the residents of Paris and learning about their struggles and success. Unfortunately, the game becomes repetitive after the first case due to duplicated dialog and a lack of gameplay evolution.

Night Call is, at its best, a story with engaging characters that make you want to learn their secrets.

The interesting artistic aspect can't fully compensate a slow gameplay.

Haphazard gameplay and varying narrative quality put a damper on Night Call's strong mood and hints of brilliance.

Despite its promise to be a noir investigation in the heart of Paris, Night Call focuses way more on its narrative and brilliant part, at the expense of the mystery itself. Yes, the iconic characters you drive from a neighborhood to another is beautifully written, but we would have hoped to play a real part trying to find the culprit.

Night Call is an interesting thriller adventure. With good atmosphere and promising mechanics, its "noir" side shows the madness and the difficulties of the nights in Paris. Sadly there are some problems with the general pacing and all the management side is poor.

There’s no way to continue the relationships you’ve established, or even simply resume a passenger’s storyline, which can sometimes be quite lengthy. It seems like a baffling way to structure a game about talking to people, getting involved in their lives, and developing your character along the way. It’s especially disappointing because the writing is sharp and versatile – capable of being tense, dark, funny, or absurd – and the well-rounded cast of characters are a joy to uncover. Because of this and the poorly fleshed out investigative mechanics, Night Call feels like a mere shadow of its potential.

A title that grabs your attention and has you hooked almost immediately. But after a while, the repetition and constraining design choices will put you off.

Night Call never got to the point where it could have seized everything its concept could allow it to. And with its dark atmosphere and great writing, it’s closer from an interactive novel than an investigator game.

Night Call is neither a great mystery nor a great cabbie simulator, but if you like dialogue and weird characters, this unique visual novel-style adventure is an interesting distraction.

There is little doubt that at some point the story would offer some unique content; it was just too excruciating to continue playing to get to that point. It is sad, because the stories offered by the game are no doubt well written, but it feels like a bit of a cheat to offer 3 stories that utilise the same dialog, without so much as a twist or hook to recapture the audience.