Norco was worth checking out
The themes and vibes of Norco were my favorite part. Getting to be in that mysterious world, feeling both relaxed and suspicious at all times. Learning the secrets of the town and poking around all the environments. Adding new knowledge to Kay’s mind map as she slowly put all the pieces together.
Norco’s visuals were stunning. It always felt like dawn or sunset. They captured the feeling of being in a polluted little town by the water down south perfectly. The character art was effective too. The face of Pawpaw filled me with fear and dread for my characters, I wanted them to be as far from him as possible. Each new location I unlocked was a delight to pour over.
The music was equally important. It created a melancholic tone throughout the game. It felt slow, methodical, and a little jazzy. Very film noir. “Fourth Flood” in particular was my favorite track.
I liked learning the history of Kay and her family. I related to her need for escape, in spite of the harm it caused everyone around her. The plot really goes places. Cults, aliens, bleak cyberpunk future, etc. The game surprised me by switching perspectives about an hour in. We start out playing as Kay, a woman who moved away 5 years ago to escape her birthplace, and has returned following her mother’s recent passing. The town feels new to us as the player, and new to Kay as well, since it’s been so long since she left. We also play as her mother, Catherine, sometime a few months before she died. They’re each solving their own mysteries, and the player watches them fold in on each other over the course of about 15 hours. I found that I would get very involved in one character’s plot line, and was always a bit reluctant to swap back to the other once I was invested.
I love a good point and click adventure. They remind me of my childhood, playing games like Pajama Sam. While I’m not the most seasoned with the genre, Norco felt like it way trying some new things. There’s a mini-game in which you play as a small boat in the swamps, avoiding land edges and looking for points of interest. There’s another small combat mini-game, in which you have to hit buttons at the right time to do damage. I wasn’t a big fan of either of these, they felt a little too much like wasting time. I was always glad to be done with them when the sequence ended, especially the fishing boat.
Overall, I’d give the game a 7/10. I’m glad I checked it out and thought the concepts of an uploaded consciousness going rogue, or of when to take a religious psychopath seriously, were intriguing. I liked getting a glimpse of what gullible idiots would actually join a cult. I found the gameplay a little annoying at times, but appreciate that they tried something different. I also found my eyes skipping over some of the paragraphs of text towards the end, as it could get a little dense.
This is kind of an annoying complaint, but I think the game would’ve benefited from more endings. Some of the late game choices were grand and life-altering for Kay, and I’m not sure that I would have made the same decisions she did. It would’ve been cool to see what else could have happened.