No Law Aims For Arkane-Style Reactivity Within A Dangerous Walled City

Neon Giant co-founders Tor Frick and Arcade Berg have introduced No Law, a single-player immersive sim set in Port Desire. The hemmed-in city setting features high verticality, strong sunlight, and bursts of foliage. Port Desire is an isolated, lawless city surrounded by deep seas and a border wall, acting as a no-man's land situated between three neighboring countries. A peacekeeping force maintains the status quo while the surrounding nations use the enclave for illegal medical research, vices, and smuggling.

Players control Grey Harker, an ex-military hardcase who is wronged by the city's four mayors and seeks to target them. According to Frick, players are free to tackle the mayors in any order they choose. This order changes the narrative, alters the relationships between the targets, and impacts the game systemically. For instance, if a player eliminates a couple of magistrates first, another mayor may become heavily defended because they know Harker is coming for them.

A demonstration of a lower-stakes mission in a hotel showcased different ways to retrieve intel from a safe. In a stealth approach, a player tries to pick the pockets of a guard outside the hotel forecourt before being spotted, triggering a wave of enemies that are eventually subdued with a taser and grenades. An alternative violent approach involves piling up crates near the perimeter, climbing onto a ledge, and sneaking past guards to reach the front door. Inside, a receptionist named Renn demands a password. Players can find the password on a piece of paper in the laundry room or simply shoot the receptionist in the head to unlock the door directly.

The developers state that every named character has a home in Port Desire's open world, allowing players to visit characters ahead of missions. There is no strict sequence, and players can track down targets directly if they know where to find them. The game rewards outsmarting its systems. Experience points are awarded for accessing rooms rather than the specific method used to enter, meaning lockpicking, climbing through windows, or blowing doors off their hinges are all equally valid. The arsenal includes sci-fi elements, such as a grenade that creates a bubble of slow time to trap enemies. Neon Giant has built the game with a team of 24 people.