I talked about Xbox Game Pass before and I honestly can’t recommend it enough. I pay $11 a month to have unlimited access to several games I wouldn’t have played otherwise. One of the games on my “Play Later” list was Night Call. I thought the premise behind the game was intriguing and it seemed to be something I would enjoy. After downloading the game and playing it for about five hours, I can safely say this game wasn’t for me.

Night Call is a black & white noir detective game starring a taxi driver. The object of the game is to solve murders while gathering hints from passengers. There are three cases to solve in the base game with many passengers to pick up and drive around. Each passenger has a different conversation whether they are completely random or they are suspects in the murder investigation. By the end of the case, the taxi driver has to use the evidence gathered to pick the killer and hopefully lead to the right arrest.

From the three case choices, I picked “The Sandman” case. As the taxi driver, I picked up the suspects and was collecting evidence. By the time the game prompted me to pick a suspect, I felt it wasn’t clear who the killer was. Fortunately, I randomly guessed the correct suspect. I’m not sure if I played this game wrong as it felt like I was missing evidence that was needed to make a clear choice.

Once the game begins, I am provided the map with the passengers to choose from. I was slightly confused at first because I wasn’t sure what the strategy is. Do I pick up passengers farther away for more money? or should I pick up passengers closest to me? When I select a potential passenger, I’m given no information. I found it odd that I had to drive to the passenger first without getting any information about who the passenger was. Additionally, I had to wait for my driver to drive to the passenger to pick them up. I wish this was a faster process. I found myself scrolling through Instagram in between waiting for the driver to pick up the passenger.

Another major grievance I had with Night Call was the idea I had to create a new game per each case. It felt like I had to start all over in picking up new passengers because I had to start a new game. It made way more sense to me if one saved game would allow you to complete all three cases. Some of the achievements in Night Call revolved around meeting all the passengers. I felt this setup made collecting these achievements difficult.

After giving Night Call a chance, I decided this game wasn’t for me. After finishing “The Sandman” case, I had no desire to play through the other two cases. Night Call is an aesthetically pleasing game, however, I found certain aspects of the gameplay bored me to the point where I didn’t want to finish the game. For those who enjoyed Night Call, let me know in the comments below! I’d love to hear your thoughts.