If Rockstar were to release a sequel to L.A. Noire, its open world could surpass the incredible detail found in that of Red Dead Redemption 2. The mid-century procedural detective thriller developed by the now-defunct Team Bondi released over a decade ago. The marquee features for the game included its state-of-the-art facial animations and historically accurate recreation of 1947 Los Angeles. Red Dead Redemption 2 is now something of a benchmark when considering the most immersive open world games, but a follow-up to L.A. Noire would have the potential to be even more impressive, with gameplay that actively promotes interaction with the game world.
Rockstar's games tend to exist in a semi-real, parodied version of the actual world. Grand Theft Auto's Liberty City and Vice City are that universe's versions of New York City and Miami respectively, and Red Dead Redemption 2 even parrots New Orleans with Saint Denis. Despite this, RDR2 specifically mentions actual locations in both dialogue and written form, including Chicago, New York, and Tahiti. Although L.A. Noire is considered a Rockstar property, it was developed by Australian studio Team Bondi, which went out of business shortly after the game's release. This is likely one reason for L.A. Noire taking place in actual Los Angeles, rather than GTA's Los Santos.
RDR2 fairly accurately depicts the Wild West itself, and Saint Denis certainly captures the atmosphere of a late 19th century New Orleans, but the recreation of Los Angeles in L.A. Noire remains a marvel. L.A. Noire admittedly doesn't wonderful ten years later (even its remastered version that came out in 2017), but a sequel developed with a similar amount of historical research could become a new gold standard for detailed game worlds. Red Dead Redemption 2 is just the latest example of Rockstar's craftsmanship, and even as it approaches four years since release, other games haven't managed to match it in terms of detailed and lived-in environments. For now, Grand Theft Auto VI is expected to be Rockstar's next release, and could very well surpass RDR2's open world, but a second L.A. Noire would be a game that demands an immersive play area.
With Rockstar's parent company teasing an L.A. Noire sequel recently, it's worth noting how exhaustive an effort the development would be. Red Dead Redemption 2, for instance, was in development for nearly eight years, beginning shortly after the first one released in 2010. GTA 6 is likely in a similar situation, getting worked on in some form since 2013 or 2014 after GTA 5 first launched. In addition to Rockstar's notoriously long development cycles, L.A. Noire already set a precedent for historical recreation. KCET has a great write-up from shortly after L.A. Noire's release, detailing just how thorough the game's designers were in their research for the recreation of 1947 Los Angeles.
Team Bondi's recreation of historical Los Angeles, which Cole Phelps always shouts in during L.A. Noire, is the culmination of months spent figuring out what the city used to look like. A footprint of the city was recreated using maps from the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal initiative designed to get the unemployed masses to work on public construction and restoration projects such as roads and highways, plumbing infrastructure, libraries, schools, parks, and more. L.A.'s own Griffith Observatory, which is prominently featured in GTA 5, was built by the WPA. Team Bondi consulted the massive Spence Air Photo Collection and the University of Southern California Libraries' Regional History Collection to get a sense for what 1940s Los Angeles looked like from the air and ground. Although L.A. Noire has a World War II inaccuracy, the game's truncated version of the city, which stretches from Downtown to Hollywood, is fascinatingly recreated.
It's not just L.A. Noire's map that is historically accurate, but its atmosphere as well. A touching Eurogamer piece about playing L.A. Noire with someone who grew up there in the 1940s reveals how Team Bondi successfully captured a multitude of smaller details as well (and a few more inaccuracies). Alongside the now-demolished Richfield Tower being present and the Angels Flight funicular railway occupying its original location, L.A. Noire's streets are correctly dim at night and real-life restaurants are convincingly recreated. The same dedication would be expected of a sequel, which would only be compounded by the additional detail expected in modern video games. L.A. Noire's game world is there as a foundation, but Red Dead Redemption 2's massive map shows the quality players can expect from future Rockstar undertakings.
It's almost difficult to imagine an open world game with higher visual fidelity than Red Dead Redemption 2, but L.A. Noire 2 could separate itself with interactivity. RDR2 is already quite responsive to the player, being something of a cowboy simulator. Players need to groom their horse, hats come flying off when they're shot but the bullet doesn't hit the target's hitbox, people can be lassoed, and bottles can be smashed. Looting buildings has Arthur bend down to open cabinets and pull open drawers, and menial tasks like moving hay bales and chopping wood can be performed at every Red Dead Redemption 2 campsite. The first L.A. Noire has players examining clues and combing over crime scenes, but a sequel could bring this interactivity to another level.
With a game so focused on solving crimes, searching for evidence could become an even larger part of the gameplay than it was in the original L.A. Noire. Rockstar's more recent adoption of additional first-person perspectives could let players more easily sift through detailed houses, opening containers and following blood trails. The storytelling in L.A. Noire is already pretty elaborate, but that of a sequel could be even more so with the added detail from Rockstar's more recent game worlds. The procedural investigations would force the player to interact with the minutiae of the open world, which would be a fascinating experience if an L.A. Noire sequel is as historically accurate as its predecessor. Rockstar has already proved with Red Dead Redemption 2 that it makes some of the premier open worlds in the industry, and both the precedence and gameplay requirements of a sequel to L.A. Noire could result in the studio's most impressive yet.
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