To anyone who hasn’t played Discworld Noir, FOR SHAME. I ah, also can’t blame you. It’s hard to find and equally hard to run on modern systems, which is a shame in itself. Discworld Noir managed to land at number 6 on my Top 10 Point and Click Adventure Games list and if not for a few other deadset bangers, it would have landed even higher. I’ve worked my way through Discworld Noir countless times since it released and I swear each time I notice something new. That’s not always a positive, this last playthrough I ran into a game-breaking bug which managed to throw me off for a good twenty or so minutes. I’ve never seen it before in years of playing, but that comes with the territory of early 3D games. Back then, we kinda just lived with things like that as we really didn’t know any better. We also didn’t have much else to work with, so we tried the only thing that typically worked which was either a reboot or to quit and re-open the game. It was a simpler time… and all that rubbish. These days, Discworld Noir is a pain to get running. Even moreso than when it released and after the effort, any extra efforts to keep it running become quite tedious. I’ve spent countless hours trying to get this game to run with mixed results. The one, sure fire way to get it running on SteamOS no longer works so I’m looking into other methods. I’ll see if I can work out a full guide for the Steam Deck/SteamOS in the coming weeks, nobody should miss out on this one.
Discworld Noir was released in 1999 by Perfect Entertainment and it’s the third game in the Discworld series. The game follows Lewton, a disgraced former member of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch turned private investigator. Ankh-Morpork’s first private investigator. Lewton is hired to find a man named Mundy by Carlotta Von Uberwald, a mysterious noblewoman who provides little detail other than he’s gone missing after returning to Ankh-Morpork from Tsort. A simple missing person case, how hard could it be? The case quickly spirals into a web of interconnected murders, magic and betrayal amongst a city-wide conspiracy. Everything circles back to an ancient relic and a string of what appear to be ritualistic killings that appear to be more than the usual Ankh-Morpork underworld at play. The bodies start piling up and every lead brings Lewton closer to piecing it all together… if it weren’t for his suspicious habit of being knocked unconscious right as the pieces start falling into place, with his old colleague Commander Vimes pegging him as the prime suspect each time. Discworld Noir features the series’ signature wit and humour forcibly shoved into a film noir style detective story with the absurdity dialled up to eleven. The less you know going in, the better.
Discworld Noir’s story is easily one of the game’s strongest assets. Moving on from Rincewind as the main protagonist and the stories which felt like a mash-up of the Discworld novels proved to be a solid move, with Noir feeling like its own dedicated novel. Drawing clear influence from film noir, Lewton’s hardboiled inner monologue acts as the game’s narrator which is as important as the actual dialogue and it’s delivered with the dry, self-deprecation you’d expect from a man who clearly hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in years. There are some returning characters from the Discworld universe, with Nobby Nobbs, Samuel Vimes, Death, Leonard Da Quirm and Gaspode the Wonder Dog to name a few. Within the game, all these characters are written and implemented incredibly well with Death and Nobby being clear standouts. Death and Nobby both bring familiarity from the Discworld universe, with Death delivering some characteristically dry humour later in the game. New characters are given the same treatment, with Pratchett’s signature style woven into even the smaller bit-parts. Carlotta plays the femme fatale to perfection, while Ilsa rounds out the cast nicely as the old flame Lewton just can’t quite leave in the past. For a story built on a foundation of murder, betrayal and a healthy dose of Discworld absurdity, it’s no surprise this one holds up as well as it does.
Discworld Noir’s identity as a film noir parody is well established and it runs far deeper than low brightness and a good amount of rain. It shows the moment Lewton opens his mouth with Rob Brydon carrying the entire game on the back of Lewton’s voice. Dialogue, inner monologue, Brydon does his best Bogart impression and it’s one of the best voice performances the series has ever had. No offense, Eric Idle, you still rule as Rincewind. As someone who frequently references movies and TV shows, I really appreciate the deep references here. Lewton himself is named after producer Val Lewton, the Tsortese Falcon is clearly a take on The Maltese Falcon and there’s several references to Casablanca. “Play it again, Sam“, “We’ll always have the Hotel Pseudopolis” and “Here’s looking at you, Ilsa“. But underneath all that film noir dressing, Discworld Noir unmistakably cements itself in the Discworld universe and that’s down to legitimately good writing. We have well used familiar faces and locations with that classic Pratchett humour and sheer ridiculousness of the world all on show and they absolutely nail it. Terry Pratchett himself had a hand in that, he helped edit the script and was consulted throughout development to ensure it felt true to the books, even if his involvement was slightly wound back compared to the earlier two games. Clearly, he still had a hand in shaping it, he’s credited in-game for causing “far too much interference“. Honestly, it’s hard to imagine nailing the tone like they did without him.
Keeping in line with the earlier Discworld games, Discworld Noir continues a full-screen, mouse-only point and click interface. The visual style is clearly early 3D, with pre-rendered 3D character models layered on top of 2D backgrounds. Honestly, it doesn’t look awful and that choice reportedly saved the relatively small development team a boat-load of time rather than building everything in real time 3D. Early 3D games in general are not without their issues, the game engine definitely shows its age in 2026 and there’s a genuine risk of some game breaking bugs. For example, I accidentally skipped a key conversation with Malachite and never got Rhodan’s workshop or Malachite’s clue to trigger. There’s no way to fix this, short of restarting. Puzzles are almost entirely dialogue or clue based, mimicking how an actual detective would behave. They’ve also done away with the infamous moon logic of the original Discworld game. Every clue automatically logs as an entry into Lewton’s notebook and from there you’re free to bring it up in conversation, use it on items, locations or anything you run into on the streets of Ankh-Morpork. After finishing it again, I can honestly say the notebook or clue system in Discworld Noir might just be one of the best adventure game mechanics I’ve ever come across.
Discworld Noir is a prime example of every element of a game fitting together incredibly well. The story? Banger. Writing? Banger. Voice acting, even though the bulk of the voice acting is handled by four people? Banger. The detective mechanics could be my favourite in any adventure game ever. Discworld Noir manages to distinguish itself with a fresh, unique story which is unquestionably Discworld and easily slots in alongside the rest of the game. It’s not without its issues, there’s compatibility issues for modern systems, an aging engine and early 3D to get past, occasional bugs and the very real possibility of completely ruining your playthrough with the click of a button. Still, none of those issues manage to put a dampener on what is otherwise an incredibly well put together adventure game. The clue and notebook system in particular feels way ahead of its time and adds a certain unique flavour to a genre which, at times, is known for little more than pixel hunting. Discworld Noir has aged surprisingly well for an early 3D adventure game. It’s clever, hilarious, maybe somewhat ambitious, but it feels like a proper entry into the Discworld universe with a story that doesn’t feel like a licensed game wearing the skin of its source material. If you’re a Discworld fan, play this. Play this now. If you’re not, get the fuck out. I’m kidding, it’s still an incredibly solid detective game in its own right and one of the best point and click adventure games I’ve ever played.
Verdict:
Discworld Noir is a clear standout for late-’90s point and click adventure games. It manages to blend a film noir detective story with the absurdity and humour that comes from the Discworld universe, backed by one of the best clue and dialogue systems I’ve ever used. It’s a little rough to get running these days and the early 3D engine presents a number of bugs, but none of that gets in the way of being one of the best point and click adventure games out there.
Deck Compatibility: 7.5/10
Overall Game Rating: 9.5/10 – Worth The Interference
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