“Paperboy With Neon Lights And Hoverboards”

Whether it’s the definitive cyberpunk classics of the Deus Ex series, the fantastic and tense System Shock games, or the potentially now-redeemed expansive world of Cyberpunk 2077, there’s something about the tech dystopia edge of cyberpunk that has spoken to players. Enter Death Noodle Delivery, from publisher Troglobytes Games and studios Tiny Pixel & Stupidi Pixel, taking the genre to an unexpected place from video game history.

Death Noodle Delivery casts the player as Jimmy, a man with a newly-acquired job delivering noodles in a suitably bleak cyberpunk city. This job is harder than it looks, with the player needing to not just deliver the noodles but also avoid various pitfalls along the way, including rogue robots, rioters, and more. Essentially, Death Noodle Delivery is arcade classic Paperboy with neon lights and hoverboards, although beneath the surface is a complexity that both enhances and hinders the overall experience.

An Atari Arcade Smash Revisited

Paperboy Revisited, With Bells and Whistles

From a gameplay perspective, those who have played Paperboy will know exactly what to expect here. The player has one key direction of travel, but can weave from side to side, and must then throw their deliveries to people waiting by the side of the road. Miss too many deliveries and you fail, and one hit to a piece of scenery, an enemy or a projectile and it’s also game over.

It’s a rudimentary setup, mapping very closely to Paperboy, although Death Noodle Delivery does also introduce chase sections at the end of each day. Here, the player must avoid a livid pizza restaurant owner and dodge other traffic on a highway, akin to an isometric Spy Hunter. Once again, it’s basic, but fun enough, with enough changes taking place across the five days to keep things fresh.

However, these moments do run into some issues here and there that can make the experience a little frustrating. The controls can feel a little bit stilted, especially turning and dodging on the motorway sections, while the game’s cyberpunk aesthetic works against it when enemies start firing neon projectiles with hard to gauge hit boxes or glitch effects obscure the player’s view. That said, there is another side of Death Noodle Delivery that sits outside of its central action gameplay.

A Cyberpunk World Explored

A Desperate Future In Death Noodle Delivery

Alongside the Paperboy element, Death Noodle Delivery also takes cues from the likes of Papers, Please by exploring its own world. Between days, the player goes back to their apartment block and can speak to the other inhabitants, who include everyone from VR addicts to drug dealers. It helps flesh out the world, and although there’s nothing extraordinarily original it helps make Death Noodle Delivery become more than a simple Paperboy clone.

These moments complement the more action-oriented gameplay well, with the player either having direct conversations with the other inhabitants or delving into VR spaces. Sometimes it does create some rather memorable moments, such as a VR-held funeral for someone who starved to death due to their commitment to VR spaces, but other times it feels a little too blunt to really land well. As such, Death Noodle Delivery lacks the quality and atmosphere of the likes of Neo Cab and Cloudpunk, but there’s still something impactful here.

This is less true of the game’s finale. Death Noodle Delivery is short but sweet, only taking a few hours to complete, and without going into spoilers the plot does take more of a meta approach in its final moments. Although this does tie a little into the themes of what’s come before, it doesn’t really gel all that well, whereas sticking to something a little more consistent could have worked a little better.

Struggles To Deliver

Structural Issues and Odd Design Choices

Death Noodle Delivery is a quirky title with some ideas that unexpectedly work well together. However, there are some elements that really hamper the game from reaching its true potential. These come mainly from a writing and art perspective, as from a technical standpoint all works well, bar those issues caused by glitch effects mentioned previously.

One of these key issues is that Death Noodle Delivery has quite an erratic cyberpunk tone for such a short game. A satirical, cheeky angle is something common in cyberpunk stories, but Death Noodle Delivery flickers between this, some serious moments, and some quite lowbrow humor, such as Jimmy’s key focus in the apartment each day meaning that he needs to do a poo. It’s an odd choice for such a short game, taking time away from exploring anything more interesting.

Something that players should also very much be aware of is that Death Noodle Delivery uses generative AI art. The developers note that these processes were used to “create basic image references, that are then modified by hand,” but it is worth highlighting this as for some it is a non-starter. Thematically it’s quite odd for the game, since one of the talking points is the danger of AI and consequences of job insecurity, so it feels like the developers are having their cake and eating it too by using such tools here.

Our Review Score & Final Thoughts

A Game That Delivers On A Fairly Simple Promise – 2.5/5

Overall, the quality of Death Noodle Delivery is a bit inconsistent. Its use of Paperboy as a fun game structure to then have those more introspective moments is a good idea and executed fairly well. However, some clumsiness with themes and plot, as well as some awkward gameplay choices, mean it never quite achieves the potential that it has.

Death Noodle Delivery

Released

April 4, 2024

Developer(s)

Stupidi Pixel , Tiny Pixel

Publisher(s)

Troglobytes Games

Genre(s)

Narrative , Adventure , casual , Cyberpunk