2022
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.
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.
This review contains spoilers
This was a lovely, sincere and moving experience. I loved the mechanic of destroying and regenerating your body to get past obstacles. It’s a little annoying when the character keeps crying in pain without actually reacting verbally to what is happening. The text conversations were occasionally saccharine but still engaging. Knowing this was a ‘trans story’ I was nervous about that becoming a twist, and not sure about using suicide as a climax, but it turned out it kept going. The final gameplay sections were really exhilarating, shifting to have the player ‘lose their way to victory’. I’ve heard narrative consultants had a lot of impact on this final result. I would love to know should we be giving them more credit, but I don’t think we can totally discredit SWERY for some of these great ideas.
2022
God of War Ragnarok is a very safe game. It makes some attempts to fix issues with the last game, for example giving Freya a stronger character arc, and furthering Kratos’ story as he ages and finally starts to open up as a man. But there are no risks taken. Atreus’ sections make up most of the more compelling times in the story but I found myself wishing they made up a lot more of the game.
There is a lot of filler; even ignoring side quests, time spent in between dramatic moments is often just run of the mill combat, walking along corridors and climbing.
The game relies a little less on the one take over the shoulder camera but it still struggles with it, obfuscating characters emotional reactions and even in combat making it hard to see what’s happening around you.
Where GOW2018 held back introducing too many of the Norse gods, Ragnarok instead contains a very bloated cast. Some smaller characters get drawn in to the main story when we barely know them.
There are a couple of beautiful moments there towards the end, but they just don’t justify the time spent getting to them.
I know this has become a bit of a moaning list of complaints but I had to let this out somewhere. I would have loved the game to focus nearly entirely on Atreus; or even have Kratos cast off the Blades of Chaos and let go. The game would benefit from being a lot shorter. Perhaps it’s trying to deliver something like Witcher 3- it does share a lot of its themes and ideas- but it might do better to embrace a shorter, tighter adventure, as it feels more like a stretched out Naughty Dog game in a bigger world.
There is a lot of filler; even ignoring side quests, time spent in between dramatic moments is often just run of the mill combat, walking along corridors and climbing.
The game relies a little less on the one take over the shoulder camera but it still struggles with it, obfuscating characters emotional reactions and even in combat making it hard to see what’s happening around you.
Where GOW2018 held back introducing too many of the Norse gods, Ragnarok instead contains a very bloated cast. Some smaller characters get drawn in to the main story when we barely know them.
There are a couple of beautiful moments there towards the end, but they just don’t justify the time spent getting to them.
I know this has become a bit of a moaning list of complaints but I had to let this out somewhere. I would have loved the game to focus nearly entirely on Atreus; or even have Kratos cast off the Blades of Chaos and let go. The game would benefit from being a lot shorter. Perhaps it’s trying to deliver something like Witcher 3- it does share a lot of its themes and ideas- but it might do better to embrace a shorter, tighter adventure, as it feels more like a stretched out Naughty Dog game in a bigger world.