L.A. Noire
Action Adventure
L.A. Noire is easier to enjoy blind once you understand its case-replay system. A poor interview or case rating does not require restarting the entire career: completed cases can be revisited. City cleanup has a different menu route, through The Streets of LA rather than Resume. This guide separates those two tools and keeps the full campaign distinct from the smaller VR Case Files release.
QUICK ANSWER
Can you replay cases and explore after L.A. Noire?
Yes. Use Cases to replay investigations. For free roam, choose any completed desk except Patrol and select The Streets of LA at the bottom. Street crimes depend on the selected desk, so one free-roam session does not expose every outstanding assignment.
Compare games with post-story cleanup →SPOILER-LIGHT PLANNING
Use the right desk for each cleanup task
Use these priorities to protect progress without revealing story outcomes.
Enjoy the first case without a perfect-rating script
Missed clues and poor interviews can be corrected by case replay. Learn how evidence supports an accusation before turning the first career playthrough into a line-by-line answer sheet.
Open free roam from Cases, not Resume
After the story, select a non-Patrol desk and The Streets of LA. This provides city exploration and that desk's street crimes rather than replaying the final mission.
Keep street-crime progress desk-aware
Outstanding street crimes appear red on the map. Switch desks when a group is exhausted; repeatedly driving around one desk's free-roam state cannot reveal every department's incidents.
Separate ratings from destructive city experiments
Property damage and poor driving can hurt a case rating. Use free roam for vehicle hunting and chaotic miscellaneous tasks, then return to a focused case replay for the five-star goal.
Content reviewed 2026-11-07. Full L.A. Noire campaign and remaster; not the separate VR Case Files.
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QUICK ANSWERS
Before you start
PLAYTHROUGH PLAN
Before You Start checklist
Set up your save plan
L.A. Noire relies on checkpoints or autosaves; finish risky activities before leaving and never assume an older state can be restored.
Protect the completion route
L.A. Noire allows a forgiving standard cleanup route, but tracking optional progress as you go still reduces endgame backtracking.
Know the last safe checkpoint
L.A. Noire has no major point-of-no-return trap in the normal route, so progress can be paced without hoarding every task for one checkpoint.
Choose difficulty deliberately
L.A. Noire does not require a specific difficulty for the standard trophy or achievement route, so choose the setting you will enjoy.
Budget 30–50h platinum estimate
Use L.A. Noire's 30–50h platinum estimate estimate as a planning range, not a promise. Exploration, difficulty and optional goals can move the total substantially.
Spoiler-free warning
Replay cases for missed clues, ratings and case-specific trophies. For city cleanup after the ending, choose Cases, a desk other than Patrol, then The Streets of LA. Resume is not the free-roam menu, and the VR Case Files is a separate release with a different scope.
BEGINNER GUIDE
10 things I wish I knew before starting
The useful systems, early mistakes and easily missed details worth understanding before you commit dozens of hours.
Read the notebook before confronting a witness
Review collected evidence and the witness's earlier statements before choosing a response. A suspicious expression alone is not evidence that supports an accusation.
Turn inspected objects carefully
Important evidence can require rotating an object or reading its reverse side. Do not discard it immediately just because the first viewing angle looks ordinary.
Use crime-scene audio as a search cue
Investigation music and clue prompts help you judge whether a scene deserves another sweep. Examine surrounding rooms before assuming the obvious object was the only useful find.
Distinguish doubt from proof
Modern releases label interview approaches differently from the original. Focus on whether you can prove a contradiction, rather than treating the response labels as literal moral judgements.
Let your partner drive when the destination is the priority
Holding the partner-drive command can shorten repeated cleanup trips. Drive yourself when deliberately working on vehicle-related exploration or driving goals.
Change desks for remaining street crimes
The Streets of LA belongs to the selected department. If outstanding incidents seem absent, inspect another completed desk rather than waiting endlessly in one free-roam session.
Keep case-rating attempts tidy
Avoid unnecessary collisions and civilian harm during a five-star replay. A correct interview route can still be undermined by careless travel between investigation scenes.
Treat intuition as assistance rather than guaranteed truth
Intuition points can narrow options and assist investigations, but do not replace reading the evidence. Use them when stuck rather than expecting them to solve every interview.
Explore unfamiliar vehicles when it is safe
A wide variety of cars contributes to collection progress. Step into unfamiliar parked vehicles during suitable city exploration instead of disrupting a delicate case chase.
Replay the specific case for a local trophy
When a task names a case or scene, select that investigation directly. Free roam supports city activities but does not recreate every scripted mission opportunity.
- Status
- Verified
- Last verified
- 2026-11-07
- Official: Rockstar — accessing post-story free roam
- Official: Rockstar — L.A. Noire versions and included cases
- Guide: PlayStationTrophies — case replay and completion roadmap
- Guide: PlayStationTrophies — remastered cases and trophies
- Reference: TrueTrophies — player-reported completion times
COMMON QUESTIONS
L.A. Noire FAQs
Does L.A. Noire have permanently missable trophies?
The full campaign's base trophies can be recovered through case replay and desk-based free roam. A bad interview does not permanently spoil the entire career.
How do you free roam after beating L.A. Noire?
Choose Cases, select any desk other than Patrol and open The Streets of LA at the bottom of its case list. Resume is not the correct option.
Does replaying a case reset all completion progress?
Case replay is the normal cleanup tool and updates the relevant recorded performance. It does not require discarding the entire career's collectible and city-task progress.
Is there New Game Plus or unrestricted manual saving?
There is no standard progression-carryover NG+ mode. Progress is checkpoint-based, with completed cases serving as practical recovery points.
Is VR Case Files the same full campaign?
No. The full remaster includes the original campaign and additional cases, while VR Case Files is a separate, smaller adaptation. Do not share their completion checklists.