British actor Rahul Kohli (Saros, Midnight Mass) has a pitch for a new L.A. Noire game, and it sounds pretty great. Speaking to BAFTA Games, Kohli said he would like to see the franchise return with a spinoff that takes players through different time periods, as a cop, as they investigate different crimes.
One such setting could be Victorian England, with a storyline focused on hunting down Jack the Ripper, Kohli said. Another could take players to the '80s in California as they pursue the Night Stalker, the actor added.
"We could jump around and be a cop in different times. I would be down for that," Kohli said. "I loved it. I adored L.A. Noire."
In particular, Kohli said he was a big fan of developer Team Bondi's facial-capture system which created lifelike expressions in the game, down to granular details like how a person’s eyebrows might move.
In a game where players had to read people's facial expressions, this was a big deal, and one can only imagine how much further the technology could go today. However, Kohli said he wants a new L.A. Noire game with the same tech and the same engine.
"I want that. I don't want an improvement to it. That was part of the charm," he said.
L.A. Noire was released in 2011. It never got a sequel, and its developer, Team Bondi, later disbanded. A virtual reality game, L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files, was released in 2017.
Earlier this year, Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick said the company was looking at future projects in all of its franchises, and that includes L.A. Noire.
Back in 2012, Rockstar said a sequel to L.A. Noire was a “possibility.” At the time, the developer said, “We don’t always rush to make sequels, but that does not mean we won’t get to them eventually. We have so many games we want to make, and the issue is always one of bandwidth and timing.”
Recently, a rumor emerged that a new L.A. Noire game is now in the works, and it will have players collecting clues to try to find the Zodiac Killer.