Extra-creepy L.A. Noire trailer reveals serial-killer plot, May 17 release date

Up until now, what we've seen of L.A. Noire has focused on investigating seedy, but relatively run-of-the-mill crimes –- attempted murder, assault, extortion and so on. But 1940s Los Angeles was plagued by more than just the petty machinations of garden-variety criminals, and the new L.A. Noire trailerreleased this morning puts Detective Cole Phelps on the eerie trail of a clue-dropping, body-mutilating serial murderer. Perhaps more importantly, it reveals a firm release date for the detective thriller: May 17.

Apparently drawing inspiration from cases like the infamous Black Dahlia and Zodiac murders, the trailer showcases the work of a psychopath who hunts women, leaves theirbloody corpseslaying around for the cops to find and toys with his pursuers with ransom note-style letters. Honestly, we weren't quite expecting L.A. Noire to take a turn this gruesome, but we're glad to see that it will. After all, what's the point of diving into the underbelly of 1940s Hollywood if you're not going to get sketched out while you're there?

The rest of the trailer features quick glimpses of gunfights, car chases and implied romance.There's no way to tell if it's from the same serial-murderer case(which, we're assuming, willemerge relatively late in the game, after Cole has worked his way up to the homicide department), but that's just one more thing to look forward to finding out asMay draws closer.