NORCO is bizarre and beautiful. I was actually taken aback at how its final sequences shook me, almost to the point of tears. I have such a weakness for stories about families and the distance we put between ourselves and family for all sorts of reasons, intentionally or not. The game’s layering of religion on top of that core conflict, swinging wildly from its maximally absurd and blasphemous grotesque representation to a light touch with how the more grounded characters treat it, made it all hit a little harder for me, a lapsed Christian from a deeply religious Christian family.

Don’t have it in me to unpack those themes or the other heavy topics the game tackles that are very much about that specific space in New Orleans, but they certainly made me feel some type of way! The off-beat humor also certainly made it all go down a little smoother, and its disarming presence reminds me why I was also so taken by Disco Elysium.

It also deserves a lot of praise for its music. The synth soundtrack is brooding, melancholic, sinister, and at times surprisingly chipper, setting the mood perfectly for every scene. It does so much to elevate the storytelling, and I hope more people appreciate it as being just as important as the striking pixel art and excellent writing.