Norco is a brilliantly written story with strong themes and some phenomenal pixel art. There were several times I was just wowed by the prose. The writers were able to say a lot about the characters, their world and their message in only a few words or lines. The game has a sense of humor too, even when it’s dark, without getting edgy or letting a joke get in the way of the rest of the narrative.

The player like the characters will spend much of the game confused, lost, but always with a few pieces to put together to stay determined to continue. Clearly this is also a passion for the writers too, a lot of care going into recreating their thoughts and experiences of growing up in a town like this. The story builds to a dramatic ending which goes more for an emotional closure, leaving some things ambiguous. This leaves you with lots to reflect on but I can see that rubbing some people the wrong way.

Gameplay is a fairly straightforward blend of text adventure choices, simple mini games and puzzles. It’s standard stuff but one part I particularly liked was the use of an app to record certain lines of dialogue, to play it back to other characters later. It might have been interesting to take this a little further, as there were a couple times I used this but then there was no need for them.
The PS4 game I played had a few issues with crashes and the interface disappearing, but it’s quick to jump back in and I didn’t lose progress. It’s fairly short and does invite a second playthrough if you want to review the story, make a few different choices and collect trophies.

One of my favourites of 2022 from what I played, definitely recommend it if this is your kind of thing.