The Beat: A Glam Noir Game

The Beat: A Glam Noir Game

Up Multimedia · 2022 · Indie, LGBTQ+, Noir, Adventure, Modern

PC
Mostly Positive70% · 10
Best price
$11.99
lowest tracked $5.99
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Standard Edition · Steam
$11.99
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About The Beat: A Glam Noir Game

"magical realism Australia-based Yakuza side-quest about a gay cop investigating a murder. 10/10" - Doogie4Ever

"lovingly designed" - Planet Randy

"A strange but intriguing affair" - checkpoint gaming

In the The Beat you play as Leo, a closeted detective investigating a murder in the gay community. Using a unique story balancing AI, each choice you make in this game affects it in a meaningful way. The more drama you create the higher your score.

Can you solve the crime before Leo's world completely disintegrates?

The Beat is available now for Windows, MacOS and Steam/Linux.

The Beat has:
  • A true crime narrative inspired by historical events;
  • A stylish noir world recreated from real locations;
  • A genuine multi-path experience (play it straight or gay);
  • Real performances by actors/dancers created in-game with motion capture;
  • Hand-sculptured character models by noted 3D artist Mark Payne;
  • An advanced declarative AI engine responsive to your choices; and
  • A full original soundtrack by DOS4GW.

The Beat is a turn-based narrative adventure that takes place over seven days and nights. Immerse yourself in the world and get to know the street life. Interviews with suspects turn up new clues and lead down darker paths.

At the end of each turn the declarative AI engine shifts characters around the world and replots the intertwined narratives, resulting in a reactive, living story. Bad decisions make good drama and the more drama Leo causes, the higher your score.

Seven characters, each with secrets of their own. On the surface they are strangers but calm waters run deep.

Up Multimedia and VicScreen present The Beat: A Glam Noir Game. This is the third release in a string of gay-themed games from Up Multimedia.

What Steam players say

Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.

Not recommended Sep 17, 2023
What a piece of trash. The graphics are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and litteraly give me a headache. It reminds me of the graphics of Second Life when it first came out, but only 10 times worse. I can't say it is either a game or a visual novel, most likely neither. Maybe I am doing something wrong but I have not seen any nudity or sexual content (false advertising on store page???). Absolute garbage. Finished the 'game' very fast since there is absolutely nothing. Can't believe someone posted a positive review of this trash. --Requested a refund!!!!
4 found this helpful
Recommended Jan 12, 2025
A little on the fence, but I think I lean more towards positive. The game plays a bit like a visual novel, where a story plays out in blocks of time based on where you go and who you meet up with. It's not too hard to follow the full arc of each character, but there's challenge in trying to complete multiple arcs in one playthrough. While the characters could use more development, I liked them enough that I wanted more. Graphics are very odd and surreal, gives the game a dream-like quality. Locations are very Australian, clearly photographs of real places, which lends authenticity to the vibes. Game is definitely lacking in polish though. Hit plenty of bugs (missing lines of dialogue, locations not loading) but nothing that outright broke the game. Some voice acting was added in a patch, and it sounds good, but it's a single narrator speaking for many characters, and it's only present for a few scenes. There's the Brofinder app for hooking up, but it seems to serve little function as you'll always be stood-up (realistic, for sure!). If you want a little gay Australian drama in your life, I reckon this is worth a shot... On sale.
2 found this helpful
Recommended Feb 8, 2024
This is a really cool, deep concept. It doesn't do a huge amount to help you out, but that's sorta the idea - you'll need to play through a bunch of times and see what happens. The visual style is unusual and distinctive - I came to really appreciate it after being initially surprised. Definitely worth a try!
1 found this helpful
Not recommended Feb 7, 2026
I bought this as part of a bundle, thinking it would be decent for the price I got it at. The levels clip into each other, the characters duplicate and freeze so they follow you throughout your game where it feels its frozen. Each level feels as if its incomplete and finished. I play several minutes of it till I got to a level with a killer which required me to make a selection but they did not appear. I reloaded game 3 to 4 times seeing if it was a glitch and it froze at some of the options. It could of been a interesting game if more work was put into it. Also every time you interrogate a POI person of interest it doesnt update it acts as if you never did.
Recommended Sep 13, 2023
Great game! Loved it! In particular, I liked everything about it.
Recommended Jan 20, 2023
cute. i like jackson'sduality between homophobia and the other vibes) . Game crashes on me at the laundrette so i will not any time soon know . the somewhat overdone ( i understand its a dogma style constraints concept) Dall-e style AI envrionments drive melbourne into full on gritty queerlife. hope a little bit of extra love can lift this up a bit. i still recommend it. just will get it later, dont want the spoilers . - really need to emphasise the AI environments, this is a rare style now.

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