For a while the world seemed to be obsessed with Nordic noir, with TV series like The Bridge and The Killing becoming global obsessions. Similarly, detective sims have been interwoven with gaming for years – titles such as Discworld Noir, L.A. Noire, Disco Elysium, and Shadows of Doubt show that gaming and gumshoes firmly go together. So it’s strange that it’s taken until now for a Nordic detective experience to arrive, but thankfully Nowhere is here to fill that void.
In Nowhere you play as a detective (which shouldn’t come as a surprise, given the paragraph above) who’s set out in search of a gaggle of missing tourists. You embark on a journey into the forests of Norway and, with the mists descending and trees blocking all lines of sight, things start to go very wrong indeed. What’s immediately clear in Nowhere is that this isn’t just a detective game – there’s a strong horror element, too.
Similar to The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, as you wander through the open-world of Norway you’ll find clues that will draw your character’s attention with words floating in the air. As this is a detective sim, however, you’ll have to make up your own mind about what you find – forging connections between items and events to figure out the full picture of what befell those tourists on their hiking trip. Nowhere understands that the largest part of any detective sim happens outside of the game, inside your real, meat-brain.
That’s all great for the detective side, but there’s plenty going on when it comes to horror, too. Nowhere promises a truly chilling experience, with the forests coming alive around you, shifting and changing to a darkened version – similar to the Otherworld in Silent Hill – where draugr lurk in the shadows, hunting you down. Unlike Skyrim, you won’t find these undead creatures to be so easily banished by a shout and a bonk on the head. Heavily inspired by Norse mythology, you’ll also uncover the secrets of the gods and learn what happened to them as their religion began to die out. I suspect it won’t be pleasant, but that’s just my (detective’s) hunch.
Nowhere is currently planned for an early 2025 release and with a central mystery to cerebrally figure out with plenty of scares along the way, it feels like it might just find a niche in this world of true-crime and elevated horror. If you’d like to give it a go – there’s good news as the free demo for Nowhere is out from Thursday August 15. Head over to Steam to download it for yourself, and add the game to your wishlist.
You can also check out our recommendations for the best story games on PC, as well as our picks for the best horror games you can play in 2024.
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