NORCO

Didn't finish it. Watched it on Youtube. Positive: act 1 (mother's death, deep emotional resonance), worldbuilding, aesthetics. Negative: - too many topics/elements but only surface level exploration (politics, environmentalist, religion, AI etc.) - the plot scattered around loosely. never a fan of multiple protagonists gameplay/narrative in games. - trying too hard to be cool. - Characters interesting at first fall flat very quickly. - cringy humour. in summary, everything about the mother-daughter relations is very well-written and emotionally touching. everything about the world, other characters fell flat and serves merely as flavours. It feels like a cake with too much icing on top and it never fills your stomach. you ended wanting something more.

I love this game. I won't lie, I'm the type of person to have games in my library for long stretches of time. This is one of the titles I played the demo, got the game on sale, and it did linger there for a while. I feel bad about that but also for personal reasons I won't specify here, this year, this time in my life was the perfect time to play it. It's a heartfelt, soulful look at life, the mysteries beyond life, and cool near-future sci-fi concepts. Point-and-click games basically live and die based on the quality of their narratives, and this is a top-notch narrative. Every character felt real. The plot turns twisted my heart and mind. Yet it remains open enough through personal dialogue choices to put the player in the MC's shoes. That may not be for everyone these days, but I do love a story that's woven through a novel-like experience. Create-a-character and all is fine, but I still love games that drop you into a world you may never have thought about before, never even been aware of, and brings that narrative and environment to life: this game does that, with a futuristic fictional angle as well. It breathes authenticity. I felt like I was in one of my favorite sci-fi no…

can't really write a real review for it as i would for any other game because describing the gameplay, the art, the story -- i don't know, it feels kind of redundant. but something about it and its themes resonated quite deeply with me, easily making it one of my favourite games

The vibe, world-building, and storytelling are fantastic.

from the screens you may think: "wow, another typical pretentious point-and-click story sprinkled with PhiLoSoPhIcAl stuff". although, from the very beginning of your weird little trip it becomes clear that norco has something more to offer than just "come over here and i'll change your life". this game gives you a chance to find yourself in feverish south louisiana ╮(╯▽╰)╭ and, of course, it's not exactly the best period of its life. you'd probably never even have thought about a pastime like this, but now you know what it feels like to step onto a flood-soaked mat and plunge into a swamp to find a severed head +_+

Another one for the "games as art" category. Really nice.