These kinds of bugs should be able to be fixed though, and hopefully they will soon, but playing this game in the first half of April was, unfortunately, quite a mess. For a game that is more about the experience of playing the game rather than typical gameplay mechanics this is a huge problem, because that ethereal, contemplative tone doesn't really hold up when you're pulled out of the experience by glitches. Then there were times that the game just plain crashed, again requiring me to replay long, slow stretches. It was especially annoying since the game's slow, methodical pace is not particularly fun to redo multiple times.

The solution was to just exit and retry, but unfortunately Genesis Noir only autosaves at infrequent checkpoints, so I ended up replaying 15 or 20 minutes to get back to the point where the game froze. The next scene just wasn't triggering, so I was left thinking I hadn't solved a puzzle correctly. Multiple times the game froze up so that I couldn't progress, but the worst part is that I couldn't tell that something was wrong at first. I can't speak to the game's performance on other systems, but it was incredibly sloppy trying to play it on the Switch for some extremely frustrating reasons. There is something that truly weighs down the experience of Genesis Noir though, and it comes down to technical performance on the Switch. Regardless of how much you actually know about astrophysics, it's a fascinating bit of information to take in as you're bounding through black and white expanses of shapes and sounds. Additionally, the game actually does teach you a few things about the nature of the universe, from the Big Bang to the formation of stars and planets. It's all rather confusing, but what's never misunderstood is the emotional resonance of the story-you may not know why something is happening but you'll be engaged and compelled all the same. The journey takes you from the origins of the universe throughout mankind's progress on this planet, and the whole time you'll probably be left wondering what any individual scene has to do with another. A visit to her apartment reveals a murder in progress though, and now you'll have to go on a time- and space-hopping quest to save her. What's clear is that you start out playing as a wristwatch peddler who appears to be enamored with the local nightclub sensation, Miss Mass. The jazzy, loose tone of Genesis Noir extends to its narrative, which provides only a vague explanation of what's happening and leaves you to fill in the gaps.

Genesis noir review