Runs quite well on modern hardware, which is always a plus. This is one of those puzzle games that hits a great balance and is excellent for kids and non-gamers. There are a couple hundred levels, the difficulty curve feels just right, and puzzles are rarely too hard in that they make you think without being frustrating. The placement of some of the items can be a bit finicky, but that's a small gripe for a game like this that holds up very well.
Nobody Wants to Die has all the makings of an excellent narrative adventure that is severely let down by incessant and obnoxious flashing lights, which is a shame. The game is rather brief. I finished it in around 6 hours going slowly and seeing everything on offer, and while there's little gameplay here, the story is excellent. This is more of an adventure game than anytthing, but the noir detective narrative is truly interesting and kept me invested to the end. The voice acting is also top notch and lends to the immersion. Overall, fans of point-and-click or Telltale style adventure games will love it. Unfortunately, the game is hampered by a terrible decision regarding the visuals. First off, the game looks great, and it runs quite well. I didn't experience any bugs or glitches, all good there. The issue is that your protagonist suffers from frequent episodes where the screen will suddenly flash bright blue unexpectedly. This isn't too bad early on, but later in the game it becomes relentless and it's terribly annoying and distracting. Developers in this era need to learn that no one likes these effects and they can be borderline dangerous to some people. I was seriously discouraged by this, because I starting rushing near the end of the game to stop the visual assault and get it over with. If you have no issue with bright and frequent flashing lights, then there's a great sci-fi detective story here, but if you're easily annoyed by bright flashing effects or have any kind of sensitivity to them, avoid this game completely.
Point and click games don't get nearly enough love, sometimes even from their own developers. If you're in the market for a mature mystery/adventure, then you may enjoy this one. The writing is a bit pulpy and the story takes some pretty predictable turns, but Erica Reed is a strong and likable main character, even if everyone else can be forgettable. From a gameplay standpoint, if you're not into point and click games then don't bother here. Using Reed's cognition powers is a slow and sometimes frustration process, as you have to do a lot of clicking just to move the story forward even a small amount. The UI is a bit clunky and the inventory system is a bit of a pain; selecting items from your inventory still doesn't count as "using" it and you have to do a lot of unnecessary clicking. But my main gripe with this game is the bugs and glitches. It freezes A LOT, so if you're going to play this one, make sure you safe as often as possible, because the game will crash on you in every play session, which ruined the experience for me. I never ran into any graphical problems, but the game will run for about 15 minutes before locking up or crashing. This is actually the second game I've played from Phoenix Online Studios that's terribly unstable and I just don't think they test their games very well. Be warned.
I have not played the original but picked this up because point and click adventure games are a lost art. The art style, music, and graphics are all very well done, and the interface, while a bit on the slow "90s game design" side, is easy to use and unobtrusive. Others have mentioned the voice acting, which is a bit ridiculous and exaggerated, but never harms the game's tone. However, my experience with this title was quite limited because of the bugs. There is a persistent freeze/crash bug that has halted my progress very early in the game and I would warn potential buyers of this issue (it may be related to ATI Radeon cards). Apparently, this is a common problem with this game, which may have needed a little more time in testing before it was released. Even on hardware that can more than handle the game, it crashes constantly. If you're interested, perhaps the original would be a better bet. I have played the sequel and can recommend that.
