This review contains spoilers
I've read plenty of reviews for games where people complain about a story going off the rails. I like to think that I can appreciate a proper rollercoaster of a game, even if it's unexpected.... and I did really enjoy Norco- but ok fine I understand where these types of people are coming from now.
There's so much that I find compelling in Norco... they just spent too much attention on the Gaerett Cult; pawpaw and his jesus bloodline stuff should be violently escorted out by a bouncer; and the moment i read dialog in the shield masquerade ball I knew this game would lose me by the end.
If the game choose what it focused on differently, i would have really loved it, instead i'll just have to settle for saying it was pretty cool.
Anyway, they really nailed the tone, writing and setting here, wow it is all so evocative. Norco is blunt and murky ,heartfelt and amusing, grounded and absurd, strange and mundane, morose and striking - all of those words that come to mind are contradicting, that's how you know they did a good job of capturing life. I'm very impressed that I was able to vibe with it so much, since the game is operating in a genre that I would normally consider not my style. Maybe i'm just an easy fish to bait by putting in cool sci-fi elements
Shoutout to superduck! That sure is a concept! The phrase "internet of flesh" still lives in my mind. This unique fusion of AI and organic life is quite interesting, especially with the nuance of being a virus that mutated from a sketchy memory backup. The Quack jobs app is a neat idea on top of that.
The setting of Norco doesn't take that many steps away from the present- which is weird to say given the inclusion of Robots and AI. The writers obviously wanted to write about reality, and just take a few sci-fi concepts along for the ride. To be clear, that's not a complaint- they pulled it off great. It's super cool how they mixed diet cyberpunk elements into a place that's both burdened by its past and cynical on its future.
I was on board for the game's storytelling starting from the very beginning. I adore the intro to this game. The first imagery defining the setting is incredible and the way they catch you up on Kay's life story are incredible. They use the classic game thing of occasionally giving you text choices between the walls of text, but the ones here game really come out swinging in a way that strongly contributes to the setup of tone and characterization. (A great example is the description of kay deciding to leave despite bleak's pleading and being able to choose "I didn't care" or "I knew he'd get over it"). I've been playing a lot of narrative games that open with an interactive fiction inspired sequence like this lately- that's a trend i will continue to enjoy with great enthusiasm. Always a pleasure to see such a strong use of 2nd person.
As soon as I woke up in the bedroom i began reading the mindmap- and found it quite cool. I'm a bit disappointed that past that point it became a glorified "information learned so far" tracker. It had a lot of potential as a source for cool writing, but generally didn't live up to that beyond the family entries that you see initially. I was excited to check it every time the new notification appeared, and that was rarely worthwhile.
My favorite scene in the game is the retelling of the 3 floods the house has been through, with the addition of the 4th flood that will occur. Shoutout to all the bits in this game that remind me of the shivers writing in Disco Elysium, i adore them.
My 2nd favorite scene is the spaceship-dream-trek through the rooms of the house (with each one dedicated to a specific family member). Even amid an ending sequence filled with narrative elements I cared little for, this stood out as a very satisfying component of the finale. The game really succeeds with its storytelling centered around the family.
I love the structural gimmick of alternating between Kay and Catherine's adventure. I don't think the switching to optimize cliffhangers was really necessary though. I can respect cliffhangers in media that actually has a reason for the audience to wait, but here it feels like cowardly backing away from the current scene. Aside from that timing complaint, I like what these switches do for the pacing. I can't decide whose segments I prefer.
The memory clinic scene that Catherine starts with is fantastic. I also love all the mileage they get out of Catherine's phone. The apps are a neat idea and they are surprisingly effective given their simplicity. Having to pay to travel to locations is a cool touch, even if it's never an actual stressor. The voice memos is a cool idea for a mechanic- both for puzzles and for player note-taking.[In practice the voice memo puzzles aren't that interesting, but i still stand by it being a solid mechanic] I like the added friction of having limited memory. That seems like something that would be a quality of life hit, and it is slightly, but the way it forces you to remove irrelevant memos actually makes it a net positive in QoL. [and removing them automatically would hurt the diagetic nature of the voice memo app. The Aprocypha AR app sets up a really funny jumpscare with ditch man. Giving the phone to Kay in the present after Catherine's story concludes is cool.
Overall the Point & Click Adventure gameplay neither appeals to me nor annoys me. It's not really that involved and never had me questioning what to do next. The combat feels quite pointless. The boating in the lake section is rad, both from the writing of the dive scenes and the actual gameplay of navigating around the map. The drone puzzle has potential in its ruleset, but the actual setup is too simple.
The pixel art in this game is really pretty. The looming background Industry and Infrastructure looks especially cool. These artists have a way with lights (both natural and artificial) that just packs the game with awesome screens.
The music has some nice tracks and fits well, but otherwise didn't feel like a memorable component
There's more to be said about the writing in Norco, but it's ~7am so I'm just going to stop writing my thoughts here. There's some solid humour, characters, and descriptions spread throughout this game.
There's so much that I find compelling in Norco... they just spent too much attention on the Gaerett Cult; pawpaw and his jesus bloodline stuff should be violently escorted out by a bouncer; and the moment i read dialog in the shield masquerade ball I knew this game would lose me by the end.
If the game choose what it focused on differently, i would have really loved it, instead i'll just have to settle for saying it was pretty cool.
Anyway, they really nailed the tone, writing and setting here, wow it is all so evocative. Norco is blunt and murky ,heartfelt and amusing, grounded and absurd, strange and mundane, morose and striking - all of those words that come to mind are contradicting, that's how you know they did a good job of capturing life. I'm very impressed that I was able to vibe with it so much, since the game is operating in a genre that I would normally consider not my style. Maybe i'm just an easy fish to bait by putting in cool sci-fi elements
Shoutout to superduck! That sure is a concept! The phrase "internet of flesh" still lives in my mind. This unique fusion of AI and organic life is quite interesting, especially with the nuance of being a virus that mutated from a sketchy memory backup. The Quack jobs app is a neat idea on top of that.
The setting of Norco doesn't take that many steps away from the present- which is weird to say given the inclusion of Robots and AI. The writers obviously wanted to write about reality, and just take a few sci-fi concepts along for the ride. To be clear, that's not a complaint- they pulled it off great. It's super cool how they mixed diet cyberpunk elements into a place that's both burdened by its past and cynical on its future.
I was on board for the game's storytelling starting from the very beginning. I adore the intro to this game. The first imagery defining the setting is incredible and the way they catch you up on Kay's life story are incredible. They use the classic game thing of occasionally giving you text choices between the walls of text, but the ones here game really come out swinging in a way that strongly contributes to the setup of tone and characterization. (A great example is the description of kay deciding to leave despite bleak's pleading and being able to choose "I didn't care" or "I knew he'd get over it"). I've been playing a lot of narrative games that open with an interactive fiction inspired sequence like this lately- that's a trend i will continue to enjoy with great enthusiasm. Always a pleasure to see such a strong use of 2nd person.
As soon as I woke up in the bedroom i began reading the mindmap- and found it quite cool. I'm a bit disappointed that past that point it became a glorified "information learned so far" tracker. It had a lot of potential as a source for cool writing, but generally didn't live up to that beyond the family entries that you see initially. I was excited to check it every time the new notification appeared, and that was rarely worthwhile.
My favorite scene in the game is the retelling of the 3 floods the house has been through, with the addition of the 4th flood that will occur. Shoutout to all the bits in this game that remind me of the shivers writing in Disco Elysium, i adore them.
My 2nd favorite scene is the spaceship-dream-trek through the rooms of the house (with each one dedicated to a specific family member). Even amid an ending sequence filled with narrative elements I cared little for, this stood out as a very satisfying component of the finale. The game really succeeds with its storytelling centered around the family.
I love the structural gimmick of alternating between Kay and Catherine's adventure. I don't think the switching to optimize cliffhangers was really necessary though. I can respect cliffhangers in media that actually has a reason for the audience to wait, but here it feels like cowardly backing away from the current scene. Aside from that timing complaint, I like what these switches do for the pacing. I can't decide whose segments I prefer.
The memory clinic scene that Catherine starts with is fantastic. I also love all the mileage they get out of Catherine's phone. The apps are a neat idea and they are surprisingly effective given their simplicity. Having to pay to travel to locations is a cool touch, even if it's never an actual stressor. The voice memos is a cool idea for a mechanic- both for puzzles and for player note-taking.[In practice the voice memo puzzles aren't that interesting, but i still stand by it being a solid mechanic] I like the added friction of having limited memory. That seems like something that would be a quality of life hit, and it is slightly, but the way it forces you to remove irrelevant memos actually makes it a net positive in QoL. [and removing them automatically would hurt the diagetic nature of the voice memo app. The Aprocypha AR app sets up a really funny jumpscare with ditch man. Giving the phone to Kay in the present after Catherine's story concludes is cool.
Overall the Point & Click Adventure gameplay neither appeals to me nor annoys me. It's not really that involved and never had me questioning what to do next. The combat feels quite pointless. The boating in the lake section is rad, both from the writing of the dive scenes and the actual gameplay of navigating around the map. The drone puzzle has potential in its ruleset, but the actual setup is too simple.
The pixel art in this game is really pretty. The looming background Industry and Infrastructure looks especially cool. These artists have a way with lights (both natural and artificial) that just packs the game with awesome screens.
The music has some nice tracks and fits well, but otherwise didn't feel like a memorable component
There's more to be said about the writing in Norco, but it's ~7am so I'm just going to stop writing my thoughts here. There's some solid humour, characters, and descriptions spread throughout this game.