This one is a bit hard for me to rate. It wasn't a bad game. It's a psychedelic experience, like walking into a surrealism painting. Personally not my go-to genre but someone else might love it. The atmosphere and design is memorable in a bizarre dream-like trip.

There's a story to uncover as you explore the hotel and speak with odd NCPs. You can eavesdrop and assist them in return for items. They will also give you backstory to better understand the setting and important characters. It plays like an adventure game.

Norwood Suite is a labyrinth - both in the literal layout of the Norwood Hotel, and figuratively with the mysterious Peter Norwood and all the people who would find themselves wrapped up in his vexing legacy.

v
v
v
v
v

I think the phrase I have an impulse to use when it comes to Cosmo D’s games would be “clown politics” - there is a zany, unhinged feeling to the world of Off-Peak but it is a complex world, with many forces and interests intermingling and meshing in a complicated and nuanced fashion.

The bedrock, the backbone of these politics is of course always music, much in the same way the backbone of the game is always its sound direction. When music is history, and when music is science, it makes sense that the most prominent members of this society happen to be musicians - and this is demonstrated most prominently by Peter Norwood, eccentric virtuoso and mythological figure, leaving behind the equally bizarre and affluent Norwood Hotel.

And what a bizarre estate it is. It is at once a sprawling mansion of peculiar layout. At the second, it was a creative studio housing many different artists, and as a creative space it was also a gallery of eclectic inspiration. Later, it is a reclaimed space converted into a hotel on something of a historical site because: finally, the Norwood Estate is a puzzle left by the “late” Peter Norwood, who disappeared abruptly without a trace, and much like its mysterious owner the Hotel is full of secret passages and bind-bending spaces.

And Norwoods not the only one.

The staff of Norwood Hotel must contend in a real estate battle with the industrious Modulo company on one front. On the other side, they must continue to court the musical sensation of DJ Bogart and his sponsor Blue Moose Energy Drinks. Caught in the middle are academics on field trip from colleges in the city, traveling bands grappling with their burgeoning fame, and of course the ghosts of Norwoods Ensemble. All while you, John Stranger, are here on a covert mission from… The Circus.

If that sounds a lil bit like gibberish, thats because it partly is: but every character in Norwood Suite is a highly motivated agent and its actually incredibly surprising that this was someones first serious game. This is better level design and better character design than some premiere game releases that have come out even this year.

In any other context, “clown politics” would sound like an insult but I think its my new favorite genre.

The Norwood Suite brought me new discoveries with every room. With his free-to-play 2015 release, Off-Peak, NYC musician and developer Cosmo D brought his electric, off-the-cuff style of jazz to game space. That energy is focused and brought to life in new ways in The Norwood Suite, one of the best first-person experience games(walking sim, if you prefer) since 2015's The Beginner's Guide. Strictly speaking, you progress through the game by performing menial tasks for the clientele and staff at The Norwood Suite, a demented hotel tucked among the evergreens in the rural sprawl around NYC. But the game’s charm lies in the setting and characters, a storied hotel with intrigue, Dadaist absurdity, and architecture that gleefully folds in on itself. The story goes...places, but it's the music that will constantly nip at your heels (literally, the music always manifests in the world through speakers peppering the estate), guiding you from hall to hall in a world where internet modems have eyes, voices are interpreted as freeform instrumentals, and Red Bull has taken over the world. It's the best world to get lost in, where musical and visual discovery await at every turn.

Assim como "Off-Peak" e "Tales from Off-Peak City Vol. 1", que pude jogar anteriormente, The Norwood Suite é uma experiência muito mais que um game.
Nas palavras do próprio Cosmo D:
"The Norwood Suite is a much more involved game, in terms of its mechanics, its systems, and the way you interact with people." O surrealismo comum das obras do desenvolvedor está afinado como sempre, mas a narrativa é muito melhor e mais envolvendo que em "Off-Peak". É clara a evolução do desenvolvedor nos dois anos entre os games.
É o tipo de obra para se sentir, não entender, e é aí que mora o brilho. Grande parte dos jogos, filmes, séries e livros fazem questão de explicar tudo com a maior quantidade possível de detalhes e deixam poucas questões abertas para a interpretação do público. Cosmo D faz o oposto, como se dissesse "entende o que quiser aí, maluco, eu fiz a minha parte".
Essa é a magia deste desenvolvedor que não cria jogos, mas sim sonhos tangíveis.

You know, this might be the only game I've played that's absurdist not only through its narrative, its world and somewhat whacky environment, but on the meta level of looking like a random free Unity game featuring an amalgam of random assets. And that really does help make the absurdism feel authentic. And honestly? Lots of games can learn from this. From the pointed dialogue, the not-too-crazy but still crazy sections that horror games try and fail to emulate, and the use of music. You wouldn't expect it, but this has an incredibly distinct style, and I hope to see more of it.