What do you get when you combine a 240-year-old sketch, an affinity for architecture and film noir, and the odd Third Man reference? A new game called Calvino Noir.

Available August 27th on iOS, Steam, and PlayStation 4, is a point-and-click side-scrolling adventure game. The mechanics are simple and the story engaging, but the game’s real star is its architecture- and film noir-inspired visuals.

Some of these were inspired by a centuries-old drawing of the Comédie-Française, a state theater in Paris, from the hand of 18th-century architect Charles de Wailly.

Prior to Calvino Noir, creator Dan Walters was an architect himself. Together, he and the game’s level designer, Ceri Williams (who still works as an architect), brought their admiration for buildings and structures in places like Chicago, Vienna, and other parts of Europe into the game’s design.

“In terms of architecture, an influence for the visuals were architectural perspective drawings, which are often drawn with a diagrammatic, sculptural quality,” says Walters. “This, when mixed with the theatrical romance of noir, gives the game its visual identity.”

Calvino Noir‘s shadowy palette serves to highlight the rich architectural elements with dramatic lighting and stark contrasts.

The game opens on a dark and rainy night on the streets of 1930’s Vienna. Wilt, a “scrambler” (part thief, part criminal-for-hire), finds himself stuck in Austria when his crimes during the war make him a wanted man in England, his home country.

The first chapter revolves around one of Wilt’s paid gigs, a plot to steal federal documents from the Town Hall with the help of a mole. When things go awry, Wilt finds himself in a load of trouble that players will spend the rest of the game digging themselves out of with the help of two other main characters, Siska and Arno.