History VideoGame / LANoire

** Eli Rooney: A local child molester. He has been in jail before, but not for murdering anyone. You can make him the scapegoat of a murder you investigate, and he gets punched for his troubles, but you would wish he would stay in jail permanently

While Rockstar has said in the past that they're willing to explore a sequel to the game, there has been no word on one since the game's release.

While Rockstar has said in the past that they're willing to explore a sequel to the game, nothing official has been said as of 2023.

While Rockstar has said in the past that they're willing to explore a sequel to the game, nothing official has been said as of 2021.

* CreatorProvincialism: Team Bondi was based in Australia, and while they do a very good job of recreating 1947 Los Angeles, there are a few clues. For instance, the rank of Able Seaman shows up at least once, a rank that has never been used in the United States Navy. Also, an invoice for concrete at a construction site measures it in [[TheMetricSystemIsHereToStay tonnes]]. Then there's the fact that characters generically refer to the LA City Fire Department as "the fire brigade," as is common in Australia and the UK, when "the fire department" is what Americans (and Canadians, incidentally) would actually call it. In addition, a couple characters use common Australian English terms in place of American English ones, such as "lift" or "row." Finally, mailing addresses are written in the Australian style, where apartment numbers are immediately placed before street numbers with a slash (e.g. 7/146 Ivar Avenue), as opposed to a separate line in the address.

On November 14, 2017, the game was remastered and released for the UsefulNotes/XboxONE, UsefulNotes/Playstation4, and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, along with a separate version for VirtualReality platforms, subtitled ''The VR Case Files'', that comprise a subset of the original game's cases.

** Courtney Sheldon is determined to make sure the GIs of his unit don't get forgotten and don't have to go home to poverty or ignominity. WW2 is practically unique in American history with the fact that its veterans had more effort made to reward them than any other conflict.

** Ramez Removals warehouse in "The Black Caesar" has a poster for a production of ''Theatre/RossumsUniversalRobots''.

* FiveManBand: Formed in the last three Arson cases.
** TheHero - [[spoiler:Jack Kelso]]
** TheLancer - [[spoiler:Cole Phelps]]
** TheBigGuy - [[spoiler:Herschel Biggs]]
** TheSmartGuy - [[spoiler:Petersen]]
** TheChick - [[spoiler:Elsa Lichtmann]]

* SerialKiller: [[spoiler:Garrett Mason and (possibly) Ira Hogeboom.]] The latter is arguable, as outside of a war scenario, all killings are either unintentional, or as a defensive measure.

** It gets especially egregious when you look at the [[BlatantLies charming]] Roy Earle, who, despite being a philanderer, drug abuser, racist, misogynist, and just a [[IncrediblyLamePun royal]] prick, still gets to be the star detective of the vice squad. Granted, [[spoiler:he is a part of the conspiracy]], but it's still very jarring.
** It's worth considering that [[spoiler:adultery]] was considered a '''felony''' in that time period. While still lesser than [[spoiler:murder and drug dealing]], it was not something to trifle.

*** Fortunately the game is kind enough to use key words and phrases in the descriptions of the relevant locations so you can link them to the poem excerpts describing them. However the game does not give you any indication that some of the question marks on the map are possible landmarks rather than undiscovered hidden vehicles said question marks usually represent, so good luck figuring that out if you haven't discovered all the relevant landmarks prior to the case.

** Courtney Sheldon is repeatedly called a medic, the Marines don't have medics. He would be called a ''corpsman'' and would actually have been a member of the US Navy. Though they're actually sailors, "Green Side" corpsmen attached to Marine units are generally considered honorary Marines.
*** Partially averted when Phelps stares down and rips into Earle when they discover Sheldon's body. There, he calls Sheldon a corpsman.
** Averted during a flashback to Okinawa, where Cole claims Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because the US stopped exporting oil to Japan. The U.S. never really exported oil to Japan, but they did impose an embargo preventing ''other'' countries from exporting oil to Japan.[[note]]The US joined with the British and Dutch to also embargo exports of steel, iron ore, refined petroleum products, and machinery.[[/note]] Cole's theory was a popular one at the time, when the US public did not understand the seemingly-unwarranted attack on Pearl Harbor, but ultimately (as we now know) Japan's reasons for the attack were more complex than simply oil. There was no way a Marine second lieutenant would have known the full reasoning in the '40s, and Cole's view accurately reflects this. However, he seems to suggest the embargo somehow justified the attack when a state of war did not exist between the two nations, which was not the sentiment of the time. Cole also seems to be unaware of the fact America was entirely aware of the war crimes being conducted in both China and Korea (among other places) by the Imperial Japanese, leading to high public support for the embargoes.

*** That said, there was a 6th Marine ''Division'', which did fight in Okinawa, including Sugar Loaf Hill. Phelps himself might have been a part of the 6th Division (Though not Kelso, who never mentions his unit but was in Peleliu). However, nobody in the Marines mentions their division, just their regiment.
*** Ironically, the Sixth Marines fought in Belleau Wood in World War I. Biggs refers to fighting for the "Second Marines" in Belleau Wood, but the 2nd Marine Regiment was in Haiti during World War I as part of the American occupation of that country.

%%* WhamEpisode:
%%** "Manifest Destiny".
%%** The newspapers would also count.

* SerialKiller: [[spoiler:Garrett Mason and Ira Hogeboom.]]

* OfficerOHara: There are plenty of police officers with Irish surnames, but [[DaChief Capt. Donnelly]] of the Homicide Desk is OfficerOHara gone ''retro''. He has a thick ([[SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound and catchy]]) Irish accent, calls Phelps "''ludd''" or "''boyo''", refers to criminals and the Japanese that Phelps fought against as "heathens", and calls the work at the homicide desk something along the lines of "God's work". Furthermore, he is fond of shouting and drinking on duty. Well, not that no one else is...

* {{Newsreel}}: Used to showcase an important story element regarding [[spoiler:the Suburban Redevlopment Fund]].

** While [[spoiler:Cole's affair with Elsa]] would still be a minor scandal in today's society, it wouldn't get him anywhere near [[spoiler:the backlash or notoriety among his fellow officers and the odd bystander that it does in the game]]. The fact that [[spoiler:Elsa is German]] plays a part in the scandal, [[spoiler:as Captain Donnelly accuses Phelps of "[[AllGermansAreNazis sleeping with the enemy]]"]].

* CreatorProvincialism: Team Bondi was based in Australia, and while they do a very good job of recreating 1947 Los Angeles, there are a few clues. For instance, the rank of Able Seaman shows up at least once, a rank that has never been used in the United States Navy. Also, an invoice for concrete at a construction site measures it in [[TheMetricSystemIsHereToStay tonnes]]. Then there's the fact that characters generically refer to the LA City Fire Department as "the fire brigade," as is common in Australia and the UK, when "the fire department" is what Americans (and Canadians, incidentally) would actually call it. In addition, a couple characters use common Australian English terms in place of American English ones, such as "lift." Finally, mailing addresses are written in the Australian style, where apartment numbers are immediately placed before street numbers with a slash (e.g. 7/146 Ivar Avenue), as opposed to a separate line in the address.

The additional trick to it is that [[spoiler: when the freeway land buy is delayed, so that the [=GIs=] start getting ready to move into their (death trap) "homes", the SRF burns down the entire development in question, Rancho Condito. They then get to claim insurance on the burnt down houses, based on the inflated values that California Fire & Life "determined", and if they can't rebuild the houses before the land is bought through eminent domain, they ''still'' get to claim the fair value of the ''partially developed'' land. Oh, and the GIs that don't have houses? They get an insurance payout and get told to hit the road.]]
* TheConspiracy: [[spoiler:Here's how the Suburban Redevelopment Fund scam works: the SRF buys up land that the city plans to repurchase through eminent domain for the new freeway project, burning down the house of anyone who refuses to sell. Then they put up cheap houses using substandard materials to boost the land's value, which will force the city to buy it back from them at a massively inflated price.]]
* ConvictionByContradiction: [[spoiler:[[InsaneTrollLogic Cole accuses someone of hiding the fact that their friend was raped because when Cole asked her to describe her friend she didn't mention the fact that they were raped. ]]]]This is made worse by the fact that the player needs to think to do this themselves—something which is highly non-intuitive for more reasons then just the insane nature of the accusation.

** At numerous points in the Arson desk, when clues relaed to the the then unknown arsonist are found, [[spoiler: the musical sting that plays is the same one that accompanies Cole's army flashbacks.]]

** Rusty makes a joke with Phelps that coroners like Carruthers could easily take advantage of their position if they ever wanted to do this, which Cole finds outlandish.
** Ferdinand Jamison, who is found kissing the corpse of murder victim before it was called in. He also mentions having discussed the idea with "friends of [his]", which apparently included one of Carruthers' assistants.

* InsufferableGenius: Grosvenor [=McCaffrey=] is a big one. [[spoiler:To a point where he flies into a violent rage towards anyone who outsmarts him, which is often, because he's not as smart as he thinks he is.]]

* MadnessMantra: [[spoiler:"You said the houses would be ''empty!''"]]
* MaleGaze: Roy Earle, being the [[SarcasmMode classy guy he is]], openly leers at the asses of several women as they walk by.
** He even [[{{Hypocrite}} accuses Cole of doing the same thing to a secretary.]]
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: Roy Earle. When first we meet him, the other characters comment on his fashion sense: "He dresses like a movie star!" He'll also complain if you should try, whilst partnered with him, to drive a vehicle that he feels is beneath his status.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Mickey Cohen and Johnny Stompanato. In a ShownTheirWork moment, Phelps and Stompanato (a real-life veteran) talk about fighting on Okinawa.
* HistoricalInJoke: [[spoiler:"You'll be calling UsefulNotes/RichardNixon a crook next!" This is sometimes flagged as an anachronism, however in 1947 - the year this game is set - Nixon was in the midst of a high-profile campaign for election to Congress in California.]]
** There's also a joke about 3-D movies never catching on.

** [[spoiler:An apologetic serial killer with an origami fascination? Sounds a lot like ''VideoGame/HeavyRain.'']]

* ILoveTheDead: Implied with Ferdinand Jamison, who is found kissing a murder victim.

-->'''Mickey Cohen''': Those Japs. They're ''little'' guys, right?
-->'''Sheldon:''' Yes, Mr. Cohen. ({{beat}}) ...about your height.

-->'''[[spoiler:Roy]]''': You and your doofus partner, you have been warned.
-->'''Cole''': [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Thanks for your cooperation, Officer]].

-->'''Cole''': Your vast corrupt future is draining away as we speak.
-->'''[[spoiler:Roy]]''': ''(laughs)'' I got better things to do than argue the rub with you.

** All of the criminal cases you investigate are based on real crimes that occurred in 1940s Los Angeles. For example "Nicholson Electroplating" is based off a real explosion at a plant electropolishing aluminum in Los Angeles in 1947, killing 13 people. Additionally, a few cases pit Phelps against notorious real-life L.A. mobster Mickey Cohen.

** Cole meets a lush outside a bar while investigating a traffic case who claims to recognize him. [[spoiler:He reappears during Cole's funeral.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Cole sacrifices himself to save Elsa and Kelso, and as part of a deal struck by the Assistant DA, the charges against Cole and Jack for their vigilante hijinks in the last mission are dropped, as are Cole's adultery charges. However, the trade-off is that many of the corrupt officials involved in the Suburban Redevelopment Fund get away scot-free, and all the blame is placed on the members who either died or are going to go to jail anyway.]]

* DramaticIrony: The newspapers that can be found in-game provide information to the player that Phelps himself has no knowledge of.