There is a new L.A. Noire mystery: what comes next for the hit detective game? Something... but its creators won't say what just yet
"The game isn't complete yet," a Rockstar spokesperson told Kotaku when we asked them yesterday if the release of the game's final, announced piece of downloadable content, the Reefer Madness Vice Case, completed the game. With Reefer Madness, Rockstar has now released five downloadable cases to supplement the ones that stuffed the game's disc(s). Could there be new cases added? Or is the game complete? You've seen their answer. Intriguing.
Rockstar officials have previously said that they had cut entire desks from detective Cole Phelps' rise through the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department, from beat cop to homicide detective. They chopped them to squeeze the game down to size, but the new downloadable cases released since the game came out in May surely restored or repurposed some of that content. Maybe not.
So what else could be on the horizon to "complete" the game? New DLC cases? How about an autumn expansion similar to the Undead Nightmare zombie spin-off to last spring's Rockstar hit Red Dead Redemption? A fall expansion/addition of a burglary desk might seem more in line with L.A. Noire's style than an infestation of zombies, but your guesses are as good as ours. For all we know, Rockstar will just add a few DLC suits and guns to the game and call it complete. Let's hope it's more.
UPDATE: Since the publication of this story, excited L.A. Noire fans have been wondering what Rockstar's statement means and have asked Rockstar via the studio's official site. The official Rockstar response on the site was: "all that statement is referring to is the Consul's Car case which we hope to be bringing to more of you soon. Stay tuned!" Have we jumped to a conclusion here? This is the question I originally posed, via e-mail yesterday, to Rockstar PR, that elicited the "isn't complete yet" response: "Today's Reefer Madness DLC was the last announced piece of content for L.A. Noire, right? What can you say about Rockstar's plans for the game in the future? Is more DLC coming? New cases or anything? Or should people consider the game complete as of today?" I've followed-up with Rockstar to try to sort this out. Check your expectations, for now, and interpret all this as you will.