NOIR: The Midnight Ledger

Release 4Act One: Who Killed Eddie Walsh? · v5.21.3 · designed by Pieter De Villiers

Harbor Street at night, the Blue Moon's neon in the rain

Port Harlow, 1947. It has been raining for eleven days straight. This morning they fished your partner, Eddie Walsh, out of the harbor. The cops wrote it up as an accident. Funny thing - Eddie couldn't swim, so he never went near the water.

You are Sam Kane, private eye. Find out who killed Eddie - and then find out who's protecting the man who did it.

PLAY IN BROWSER DOWNLOAD FOR WINDOWS MANUAL

Seven locations, a hundred points, and more than one way for the case to end. The browser edition saves in your browser. The Windows download is a single .exe (no installer); Windows may warn that it's from an unknown publisher - choose "More info" then "Run anyway". Stuck? There's a walkthrough (spoilers!).

The case

Seven locations, a hundred points - and four endings, only one of them the right one.
Work things out: connect clues in your case notebook to deduce what nobody will tell you.
Witnesses who lie, evidence that was planted, and conclusions that put the wrong person in a cell.
An honor meter: get answers with patience, or with your fists and your .38. People remember which.
Standoffs on a clock, a deadline at midnight, and three difficulty levels.
Sierra-style deaths - and a few second chances, if you've earned them.
Three looks at the press of a key: red accent, grayscale, or the original 1-bit.

New in Release 4

Play on a phone or tablet: tap to act, hold to look, and a [?] button that shows everything you can tap. Turn the phone sideways.
On Easy, the clues still lying around glint now and then.
A first taste of HD art: Harbor Street painted at full resolution (press G).
A story that fits together even tighter: the last phone call, an old friendship with Brody, where Rita's key came from - and the phone box and the Blue Moon's payphone.

New in Release 3

Cutscenes: the first night at the Blue Moon, the safe giving up its secrets, and the end of the line on Pier 9 - short, and skippable with a click.
A tighter story: the days add up, the clues agree with each other, and Rita is in red.

Also new since Release 1

Polished art: the rooms re-lit, detailed people with faces that blink and talk, close-up portraits whose mouths move, shadows, rain on the windows - and depth: the sky drifts as you walk.
A storm-lit opening, a story before the title, and animated death and front-page screens.
A richer sound: stereo music, footsteps on every floor, traffic, sirens and the rain.
Play it all on the keyboard: arrow keys to walk, Enter to act, Q and 1-4 for verbs, I for your pockets.
A PEOPLE page in the notebook, a play timer, and people who remember how you treated them.
G switches the art back to Release 1's, and S the sound - compare for yourself.

Cutscene: the Blue Moon's doors swing open in the rain

The notebook's PEOPLE page: who told you what

The Harlow Herald: the story before the title

Release 1, to compare

The first release (v5.4.4, 4 October 2026) - the same case, before the art and sound upgrade.

PLAY RELEASE 1 WINDOWS (RELEASE 1) MANUAL (RELEASE 1)

Both releases save in the same browser storage: a game saved in one shows up in the other.

Docs

Player's manual - story, controls, deductions, honor, saving (no spoilers)
Walkthrough - every step, every ending (spoilers)