Norco

There's something psychotically specific in writing a deeply personal southern gothic thriller with a grim, surreal sci-fi vision of industrial Louisiana, and emphasising its literary prose, poignant socio-economic themes, and haunting authenticity that turn a dystopian mystery into a moving meditation on grief and dying towns. Norco is up there with some of the best in the genre.

As someone who was born in New Orleans, I was intrigued straight away by the setting — there's not a lot of video games taking place in Louisiana, and even fewer made by people who are actually from there, either. That got my personal attention, but it was the incredibly brilliant writing that kept me playing. I really don't like point and click adventure games, personally — they're one of the genres I really like the least, and even good games in the format struggle to keep my interest. That was not the case here. It's a brilliantly written game with some of the most interesting, weird fiction future-dystopia settings you could hope for. Seeing parts of my old hometown in a videogame hit a particularly special thing for me that maybe doesn't have broader relevance in a videogame review, but as a writer and game developer myself it's made me give further thought to the parts of myself that I feel I can, and should, put into my work — and that is the sort of thing that elevates entertainment into art in my opinion. This is a game that stuck with me far after I finished playing it, and made me rethink the approach I want to have with my own background when it comes to my own work, as well. That's probably about as much of a glowing endorsement for a game that I can possibly give. It's well-worth several hours of your time.

Geography of Robots has clearly proven they are capable of making a great world, building up the atmosphere, nailing motifing, and doing it all in a beautiful package. I do recommend this game, as there isn’t a whole lot like it. If you want a uniquely esoteric, strange, and yet somewhat familiar feeling throughout the whole game… this is for you. For my critiques: Norco from a gameplay perspective, misses the mark somewhat on the genres it participates in. The VN aspect is rushed and pressured during the final act, to what I would say leaves a disappointing ending. However the first two acts are filled with great moments that pull on your emotions, whether they be melancholic or hysterical. This game is the definition of the journey is better than the destination. The point and click aspects are not puzzly enough. As a person who isn’t amazing at puzzles, I found this game to be pretty easy, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing for a lot of people. The mindmap is a waste of a cool concept. It would’ve been a cool implementation to see it actually effect the relationships/decisions of the game, as opposed to a glorified notepad. The “combat” sections should probably just be taken out, but I wouldn’t mind if it was expanded into an actual rpg tactics-lite situation like LISA. I didn’t really care for the mini-games at all, even when playing on the “hardest” difficulty. In terms of UI/UX, the game is a little unwieldy with its lack of key binding for certain menuing, jankiness of the recording function, and I did experience one game breaking bug in my playthrough that resulted in a 10-15 minute timeloss (since it was during a time where you couldn't save) Overall, you should give this game a shot. It isn’t too long and I’ve never played anything like it. The devs clearly showed a lot of love and care making this game. I will be looking forward to whatever their next project is.