In a year full of lackluster games, “Fallen Aces” is New Blood Interactive’s newest title that we didn’t know we wanted. Despite it being in early access, its first episode of five levels offers a wonderful experience on its own. You won’t resist immersing yourself in this first-person noir dripping with comic book flair.
Enter Switchblade City, a place crawling with so much crime that a group of costumed vigilantes called A.C.E.S. formed to stop it. Now, the team has gone rogue, and a politician trying to heal the city is assassinated.
You play as Mike Thane, a private investigator who investigates a kidnapping, only to be targeted and roped into a case with a maniacal villain named Glassjaw. If this city doesn’t want to rot from the inside out, it’s going to need Mike.
Ironically, Switchblade City is a beautiful cesspool to wallow through thanks to the hand-drawn visuals in its partially blocky 3D landscape and 2D sprites of props and people. “Fallen Aces” complements its looks by nailing the noir aesthetic: jazz takes no breaks, fedoras resemble danger instead of style, cigarettes are gasping for open flames, and men’s vocabulary has turned derogatory.
Even better is how “Fallen Aces” creates a Swiss-army knife out of Switchblade City by making it extremely flexible through every chapter. This flexibility doesn’t just go for objectives but practically everything. With this level of freedom, if you can think of something, chances are you can do it.
Anything not bolted down is a weapon, and you can carry up to three items. You can swing objects, throw them, and use them to block. Don’t underestimate your fists, either. Mike was previously a boxer, so he definitely has experience throwing punches.
“Fallen Aces” also has guns like a true noir, but they take a backseat since they are better in dire straits. Sure, it’s easier to plug a wiseguy with your Saturday Night Special revolver than to stun him with a pipe, but wouldn’t that make you a murderer?
Killing everyone isn’t necessary. Whether you play violently or nonlethally is based on your choice of weapons. Beat someone up or bonk them with something blunt, and they’ll fall unconscious. Use something like a fire-axe, and they’ll fall into different pieces. There are no consequences between either playstyle, but trying to remain a pacifist is challenging since unconscious enemies can be revived by fellow enemies.
You might not even have to fight, period. If you lay low and explore, you could find alternative routes or other helpful feats.
For example, chapter three sends Mike to a junkyard to find a contact, only to find scoundrels that want his contact dead. Fortunately for you, the contact rigged traps everywhere. You could watch thugs carelessly trigger their trip mines, subdue them beforehand, dismantle and relocate the traps, or ignite lackeys standing in gasoline puddles. You may also notice the junkyard’s car crusher is still operational. It would be a shame if someone happened to leave a bunch of unconscious thugs inside and “accidentally” turn it on, wouldn’t it?
If chapter three was subtly nudging you to kill everyone, chapter four does the opposite. Mike investigates a crime scene at a mansion only to discover that crooks arrived first. You’re given a tranquilizer gun with limited darts, but your only requirement is to record the crime scene. Multiple different entrances help you get in unannounced. Of course, there’s the front door, but there is also a bathroom vent, the poolside entrance, or the windows.
“Fallen Aces” is also full of smaller details that promote experimentation and make you further appreciate the developers’ effort. You can eat a banana to regain health, but if you drop the peel, someone can slip and fall. Trashcan lids are weapons but shields against bullets, too. A parody of the “Jaws” theme plays when a shark chases you underwater. Hit an enemy in the crotch, and they clutch their groin in agony. You can even stop a barbershop mugging if you’re fast enough.
Tying everything together is the narrative shrouded in dark mystique. The cutscenes are like strips out of a comic book, and you’ll be so immersed while playing that you feel as if you’re on the page. Everybody is interesting and voiced to perfection, especially Mike and former A.C.E.S. member Nightwave.
“Fallen Aces” tremendously delivers on every note, which says a lot given its current short length. Regardless, the first episode sets high expectations and makes players crave more from future episodes. If the game continues in this direction, it will become a title so grand that you’ll never, as the mafiosos say, “fuhgeddaboudit.”
RATING:
(Winner of Best Review in Group II at the Georgia College Press Association 2025 Conference).