Blacksad is an Eisner-winning comic series created by Spanish authors Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido about John Blacksad, a hardboiled 1950s private dick in New York City. He is also a cat—a big, burly Felis catus—who lives in a world populated by other anthropomorphic animals. And in September, he'll be the lead character in a new "investigative narrative game" called Blacksad: Under the Skin.
The setup is simple and straight out of the film noir playbook: Boxing club owner Joe Dunn is dead, and rising young fighter Bobby Yale is missing. Dunn's daughter Sonia takes over the gym, but discovers that its finances are in worse shape than anyone realized. Looking for a way out, she hires Blacksad to get to the bottom of Yale's disappearance, a job that will take him "to the darkest, most dismal depths of New York."
The game will feature puzzles, quick-time events, and multiple-choice dialog options that will "directly influence the development of the character and the story's ending." More than 30 characters will appear in the game, some from Blacksad comics and others all-new, and the gameplay will be backed by "a jazz soundtrack to rival the very best of Hollywood’s film noir." And really, you cannot overestimate the value of a quality jazz soundtrack.
Blacksad: Under the Skin is being co-developed by Pendulo, which isn't a huge outfit but has some very good narrative games to its credit including Yesterday and Runaway: Twist of Fate. It's also billed as "an official and all-new story for Blacksad, set in the comic book series' unique world, perfectly recreated for gamers," which should be pleasing for existing fans of the books.
And even if you're not, hey, noir detective stories and kitties? Sounds like it could be a lot of fun. It's set to come out on Steam on September 26.
