Norco
Developed by: Geography of Robots (@roboticgeo)
Published by: Raw Fury (@RawFury)
Norco is a game that’s incredibly atmospheric and what makes Norco a worthwhile experience is its setting, story and characters. Norco takes place in an alternative version of South Louisiana that has been ruined by disasters caused by a local oil company known as Shield. The area is filled with people too stubborn to leave. A lot of the locals have some sort of sickness, while some have started to mutate and violence, cults and gangs are all common and normal.
In Norco the player will alternate between two characters. The first character is “Kay” who left South Louisiana in search of something better. By leaving her home in Louisiana she left behind her mother who became severely ill with cancer and her dead beat brother. The second character is Catherine, Kay’s sick mother. Her story will give the player a window into her life prior to her death not long before Kay’s return to South Louisiana. Catherine is struggling to survive and goes head to head with Shield with a few companions she meets along the way.
The main story of Norco revolves around Kay. She’s returned to South Louisiana and discovers that her brother Blake has gone missing.
When it comes to the gameplay of Norco, Norco is a point and click adventure game. The player will use a cursor to interact with people, or objects on the screen to progress the story or uncover lore or information that will give the player context when it comes to Kay’s surroundings.
An interesting mechanic in Norco is the memory map. By talking to characters in the game the player will obtain “memories” of that person, or an event or location. The player can access the memories they obtain by a menu in the top right corner of the screen. By entering that menu and clicking on a character, event or place Kay will tell the player what she remembers. The memories flesh out the world, and make it feel more alive. They also progress the story by giving the player a new location to visit or character to talk to.
Norco does contain some combat that’s very simplistic in nature. The player will attack certain enemies but they will have to do so via a memory game and a rhythm action game. The combat isn’t really enjoyable but it’s incredibly limited and doesn’t really take away from the overall experience.
At the end of the day, Norco is visually impressive point and click adventure game, that’s well written and worth a play through if you’re a fan of the genre and have Xbox Game Pass. I enjoyed my time with Norco and found the story engaging. I was eager to progress through the story to figure out what happened to Blake and unravel Catherines story. The game executed what it set out to do and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next from Geography of Robots.
Pros:
The pixel art that develops and immerses the player in the setting
The atmosphere
The narrative or story
Memory map mechanic
Sound design
Cons:
The combat
Played on: Xbox Series X via Xbox Game Pass
Review Score: 4/5
Developed by: Geography of Robots (@roboticgeo)
Published by: Raw Fury (@RawFury)
Norco is a game that’s incredibly atmospheric and what makes Norco a worthwhile experience is its setting, story and characters. Norco takes place in an alternative version of South Louisiana that has been ruined by disasters caused by a local oil company known as Shield. The area is filled with people too stubborn to leave. A lot of the locals have some sort of sickness, while some have started to mutate and violence, cults and gangs are all common and normal.
In Norco the player will alternate between two characters. The first character is “Kay” who left South Louisiana in search of something better. By leaving her home in Louisiana she left behind her mother who became severely ill with cancer and her dead beat brother. The second character is Catherine, Kay’s sick mother. Her story will give the player a window into her life prior to her death not long before Kay’s return to South Louisiana. Catherine is struggling to survive and goes head to head with Shield with a few companions she meets along the way.
The main story of Norco revolves around Kay. She’s returned to South Louisiana and discovers that her brother Blake has gone missing.
When it comes to the gameplay of Norco, Norco is a point and click adventure game. The player will use a cursor to interact with people, or objects on the screen to progress the story or uncover lore or information that will give the player context when it comes to Kay’s surroundings.
An interesting mechanic in Norco is the memory map. By talking to characters in the game the player will obtain “memories” of that person, or an event or location. The player can access the memories they obtain by a menu in the top right corner of the screen. By entering that menu and clicking on a character, event or place Kay will tell the player what she remembers. The memories flesh out the world, and make it feel more alive. They also progress the story by giving the player a new location to visit or character to talk to.
Norco does contain some combat that’s very simplistic in nature. The player will attack certain enemies but they will have to do so via a memory game and a rhythm action game. The combat isn’t really enjoyable but it’s incredibly limited and doesn’t really take away from the overall experience.
At the end of the day, Norco is visually impressive point and click adventure game, that’s well written and worth a play through if you’re a fan of the genre and have Xbox Game Pass. I enjoyed my time with Norco and found the story engaging. I was eager to progress through the story to figure out what happened to Blake and unravel Catherines story. The game executed what it set out to do and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next from Geography of Robots.
Pros:
The pixel art that develops and immerses the player in the setting
The atmosphere
The narrative or story
Memory map mechanic
Sound design
Cons:
The combat
Played on: Xbox Series X via Xbox Game Pass
Review Score: 4/5