As LA Noire Celebrates 15 Years, No Game Has Matched Its Vibe

It might seem insane that it's been 15 years, but having been released in 2011, LA Noire has just celebrated this milestone anniversary. At the time, the use of facial animation in LA Noire made it fascinating from the beginning. Although it was also frustrating because the expressions for half-truths and lies could be so similar for most NPCs you talked to.

Overall, LA Noire has held up quite well over the years, and part of that is because the content is set in a particular historical period, letting it act more like a reflection of that time. The story remains emotional, and the way that you can have Phelps act as a detective can become delightfully unhinged.

LA Noire Stands the Test of Time

Even after 15 years, LA Noire continues to be fun to play, and its design has given it a lot of replay potential. Cole Phelps' story will always end the same way, no matter how well you do during his investigations— or how poorly you do. I actually love that you can be the worst possible detective and get every investigation wrong, but still progress through the game.

You can still find recent playthroughs of LA Noire posted on YouTube with specifications like the player can only choose the "Doubt" option when presented with the choice.

Then, you have the LA Noire VR version for more fun, and it's incredible to see that even 15 years haven't been able to dampen the journey of Cole Phelps, both in terms of entertainment and emotional investment for the actual story parts, where you aren't accusing innocent civilians of any number of actions.

No Game Has Managed to Replace LA Noire

Usually, after 15 years or even fewer, a new game is made that acts as a spiritual successor to a hit game, especially if that game hasn't had a sequel of its own. However, that hasn't been the case for LA Noire.

While you can find other detective games, none of them play the same way. LA Noire continues to feel unique in a way that subsequent games haven't managed to capture, which is surprising because the concept of a detective game like that is simple in theory, especially for the times that it draws from real crime cases. That just shows how well-executed the concept is throughout LA Noire.

I think that there are games that are great choices for a new option if you've played LA Noire and love it, such as Disco Elysium, but Disco Elysium has its own identity and doesn't try to copy LA Noire. Then, you have other games that try to fill the void left by LA Noire with their own use of new technologies, but they aren't able to succeed in the same way, like Shadows of Doubt, which uses procedural generation for its cases, but lacks depth as a result.

It's disappointing, but the only game that will have the ability to replace LA Noire would likely be a sequel to LA Noire. I'd love to see a game from the same developers that explores a different time period. However, quite a long time has passed, so it feels unlikely that Rockstar is going to be releasing a sequel to LA Noire anytime soon, especially when they have Grand Theft Auto 6 as a huge upcoming title to work on right now. If Rockstar were going to announce a new LA Noire project, it would definitely be put to the side until after GTA 6's release.