Noria

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Description

A new era is looming on the horizon. The future of Noria is right in front of you, and you must guide your flourishing trading empire into prosperity. Discover flying islands, buy ships, and build factories. Invest in prestigious projects, and secure their success by passing on secret knowledge to politicians. For even above the clouds, there is still room for improvement...

Noria is the debut title from Sophia Wagner, winner of the Spiel des Jahres fellowship in 2015. The talented, young author created an entirely new steampunk universe specifically for this game, and artists Michael Menzel and Klemens Franz have managed to bring her vision to life. At the center of the game is an innovative mechanism called "wheel building". Each player has an action wheel consisting of three rings, with slots for a number of different action discs. Over the course of the game, players try to obtain new discs and manipulate the rings of the wheel to optimize their action selection. Additionally, to ensure their investments bear fruit, they also need to bribe politicians with knowledge.

Year Published

2017

How to Play Noir: Deductive Mystery Game (Rules School)

Game Boy Geek Mar 23, 2026

Transcript Analysis

Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.

Total mentions: 2

This page: 2

Sentiment: pos 2 · mix 0 · neu 0 · neg 0

Showing 1–2 of 2

Video 8SozchmWB9Y Game Boy Geek rules_teach at 0:15 sentiment: positive

video_pk 39987 · mention_pk 120858

Click to watch at 0:15 · YouTube ↗

Overall sentiment (raw)

positive

Pros

Clear asymmetric roles with a tight, teachable rule set.
Strong bluffing and deduction loop supported by multiple game modes.
Disguises and identity secrecy add depth and replayability.
Short playtime (~15 minutes) makes it accessible for filler sessions.

Cons

Rules can be dense and require careful reading; players may need a follow-up read-through.
Certain mechanics (like adjacency including diagonals and wraparound shifts) can be tricky to remember.
Early setup and board state tracking may create a steeper initial learning curve for new players.

Thematic elements

Murder mystery, secret identities, disguise, deduction, and bluffing within an asymmetric two-player framework.
A contemporary noir-themed urban environment built around a 5x5 suspect grid and a cat-and-mouse chase between killer and inspector.
Procedural detective story with shifting information, relying on hidden identities and strategic deception.

Comparison games

none

Mechanics (from transcript analysis)

accuse_solve — The inspector can accuse an adjacent card or attempt to solve by naming both the killer’s identity and their disguise; successful calls win the game.
Blend-in/Hiding — Disguises allow the killer to bluff about identity; players may switch or bluff to mislead the inspector without revealing anything overt.
canvas_exonerate — The inspector can exonerate a living suspect and canvas around them to reveal whether the killer’s secret identity lies among the surrounding living cards.
collapse — When allowed, a player collapses the grid by removing one suspect from each row or column and then realigning, shrinking the board toward a rectangle.
deduction — The inspector can accuse an adjacent card or attempt to solve by naming both the killer’s identity and their disguise; successful calls win the game.
disguise_bluff — Disguises allow the killer to bluff about identity; players may switch or bluff to mislead the inspector without revealing anything overt.
evidence_deck — The inspector draws and holds evidence cards to inform decisions; the killer can view a portion of these to deduce information about the board.
Grid building — When allowed, a player collapses the grid by removing one suspect from each row or column and then realigning, shrinking the board toward a rectangle.
hidden roles — Each player (killer or inspector) operates with a concealed identity and may have a disguise; this drives bluffing and deduction.
kill_action — The killer can kill an adjacent suspect (including diagonals) by flipping their card to the deceased side, narrowing the inspector’s pool of possibilities.
secret_identity — Each player (killer or inspector) operates with a concealed identity and may have a disguise; this drives bluffing and deduction.
Shift — Either player can shift an entire row or column; the furthest piece is wrapped around, changing adjacency and board dynamics.
Tile/Map Shifting — Either player can shift an entire row or column; the furthest piece is wrapped around, changing adjacency and board dynamics.

Video topics + discussion points

No key topics recorded for this video.

Quotes (from this video)

Noir is a deductive mystery game for two to four players depending on which of the four available game modes you select.
Killer versus Inspector, you take on your rival in a game of cat and mouse with one of you being the killer, having a secret identity like Lionus.
The killer will be killing suspects surrounding their current location, trying to either kill 10 suspects to win the game or to kill the secret identity of the inspector.
The inspector has tricks up their sleeve, too. They can exonerate a suspect and then canvas around asking if their true identity is one of them.
Disguising is a big part of this game because you could be bluffing and buy some time, or mess with the head of the inspector thinking that they're getting close when they're really not.

References (from this video)

No references stored for this video.

Video AHCSgvrf3nY Board Gaming Doctor general_discussion at 24:39 sentiment: positive

video_pk 34315 · mention_pk 102208

Click to watch at 24:39 · YouTube ↗