Gears of War veteran would take LA Noire 2 "over any other game in the world," and he's already thought of a plotline

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: L.A. Noire is, in my opinion, the greatest videogame ever made. Sure, it’s janky by modern standards, and its open world is perhaps a little less open than a lot of people expect from a Rockstar-backed game. But, for me, its story, soundtrack, and then-ground-breaking visual performances bring it to vibrant life. All these years later, nothing quite has the same aura as Team Bondi’s rusty detective game (pun entirely intended).

Ahead of interviewing Adrian Chmielarz, the mastermind behind Painkiller, Bulletstorm, and Gears of War: Judgement, and now founder of Witchfire studio The Astronauts, I took a look at his X account (we do research here at PCGamesN). After a little bit of scrolling, I came across a December post that called L.A. Noire “the best bad game,” where he claims it’s “barely a game” and more “a weird amalgamation of puzzles where you also drive.” I felt my feathers ruffle.

But then, he states that L.A. Noire is “forever in my top ten. The atmosphere is unmatched. The outdated facial mocap, with all of its limitations, still sells human emotions better than anything games have used since. The writing is God tier. Some locations have movie-like investment in authenticity only to ensure that a thirty-second gameplay bit feels immersive.” Now that’s an opinion I can agree with: its City of Angels is packed period detail, and its seedy undercurrents consistently sweep you away.

I mention his post at the end of our interview, and we chat a little bit about the game and what Chmielarz would like to see from a potential L.A. Noire 2. While the original’s ending is pretty clear cut, there are other avenues he’d like to explore.

“If I had two top writers in the entire world, [it’d] be [H.P.] Lovecraft and [Raymond] Chandler. I always loved noir. We were actually making a noir horror game called Come Midnight for THQ, then it was canceled when THQ withdrew from Europe, just leaving one game: Stalker. That was a good choice, by the way.

“I remember we were making this game, then suddenly the teaser for L.A. Noire appeared, and I was like ‘wait a minute: Rockstar is doing this?! Really?!,'” he laughs. “So it was a very good teaser. Ultimately I was extremely happy that [L.A. Noire] came out, and I’m visiting the subreddit every now and then listening to rumors – is there anything out there about L.A. Noire 2, or anything similar?” He mentions that Rockstar rehired Brendan McNamara, L.A. Noire’s creative director, last year to lead its Australian division and speculates that McNamara’s work on the game’s VR version may have helped him “regain trust.”

When I say that L.A. Noire 2 (or another story set in the same universe) would be my absolute dream game, he ponders where the story could go narratively. “I played it for the third time – we’ll see if it’s the final time – but somebody said that they’d love to play Jack Kelso’s adventures as a private detective, and I’m like, ‘yes please.’

“I wasn’t into the guy initially,” he laughs. “But he won me over, and I would definitely love to have something like that. Probably L.A. Noire 2,” he concludes. “I would take this over any other game in the world.”