I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: LA Noire is the best game ever made. Perfectly blending everyday detective work with a rousing narrative and authentic 1940s setting, I’ve written a dissertation on it, recommended it to friends in 2024, and quoted Rusty far too many times. So, imagine my face when I saw Sleight of Hand, a stealth game from the creators of Hideo Kojima’s puzzler, Framed. My two favorite genres colliding in a stylish, magical noir world: for this writer, it’s an instant wishlist.
Sleight of Hand thrusts you into the (very snazzy) shoes of the charismatic Lady Luck, a mysterious, magical detective who has been tasked with taking down her former coven. With an arsenal of cards at her disposal, she slinks through the shadows, taking down enemies with a flourish before vanishing without a trace.
Voiced by the ever-iconic Debi Mae West (or Meryl Silverburgh from the Metal Gear Solid series), we see our flamboyant protagonist turn a brutish opponent into stone, before using a card labeled Mist Step to vanish in a wispy plume of smoke. Sleight of Hand is a stealth game through and through – as if the name didn’t tell you that much already.
You can, however, take down your foes in style. Cards like Chain Smoker can infect multiple antagonists at once, and you can choose to afflict them with some sort of debuff, or wipe them out in one go. Whether you upgrade your deck with stealth cards like Glimpse, or go whole hog with the witchy Hand Cannon is up to you.
But you’ve got some old friends to help you out, too – if they’re telling the truth, that is. You’ll be coaxing out secrets and stomping out lies LA Noire-style in an attempt to learn more about your former employer’s machinations. Steeple City won’t know what hit it.
The Sleight of Hand release date window is set for 2025, but RiffRaff Games has confirmed it’ll come to Game Pass on release. If you’re as enchanted by it as I am, you can wishlist it here.
Alternatively, if you’re looking to stay on the right side of the law, we have a list of all the best police games – LA Noire is, of course, the headliner. Alternatively, if you’re looking for something new, we have a list of all of the upcoming PC games scheduled for 2024 and beyond.
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