NORCO - Southern Gothic point & click game

[Zyondyne]

http://norcogame.com




https://af.gog.com/en/game/norco?as=1649904300

Spoiler

NORCO is a Southern Gothic point & click narrative adventure that immerses the player in the sinking suburbs and verdant industrial swamps of a distorted South Louisiana. Your brother Blake has gone missing in the aftermath of your mother's death. In the hopes of finding him, you must follow a fugitive security android through the refineries, strip malls, and drainage ditches of suburban New Orleans.

Immerse yourself in a surreal and uncanny South Louisiana

NORCO’s painterly and cinematic pixel art draws the player into its quotidian sci-fi world of disappearing swamplands, labyrinthine oil refineries, and other landscapes inspired by the titular town of Norco, Louisiana and other parts of Greater New Orleans. Sink into the rich field recordings and sound design by fmAura and a driving, post-industrial electronic score from Gewgawly I.

Unravel a mystery in a world haunted by the past and threatened by the future

What starts as a straightforward search for your missing brother quickly spirals into a multigenerational mystery. The lines between salvation, memory, technology, and nature bleed together into a uniquely compelling, contemplative narrative rooted in Southern literature, pulp fiction, and point & click adventure games both classic and contemporary.

Explore alongside sharply drawn characters with deep roots, rich backstories, and complex motives

A chaotic bayou pirate, bar-stool private detective, escaped security android, and your stuffed childhood monkey will all offer assistance in an eroding and uncertain world. Solve puzzles, fight your way past corporate security goons, and infiltrate an influencer cult squatting an abandoned mall on the outskirts of New Orleans.

 

[Ivan]

looks dope, day 1 GP for sure

 

[Infinitron]

 

[El Pollo Diablo]

If anyone played it: Does this game have any actual puzzles? From the trailers it seems more like a visual novel type of "experience".

 

[Modron]

If anyone played it: Does this game have any actual puzzles? From the trailers it seems more like a visual novel type of "experience".

It has a demo you can check out.

 

[WallaceChambers]

If anyone played it: Does this game have any actual puzzles? From the trailers it seems more like a visual novel type of "experience".

From the demo I played it's mostly narrative with some mini game-ish puzzles. Like memory tests and a fetch quest or two. This was an older demo from from like a month or two before they put out the "prologue." But from playing that I wouldn't expect much puzzle wise.

 

[Ivan]

Holy shit, this is phenomenal. I'm just an hour or 2 in and it's been an absolute pleasure. It plays like a point - n - click adventure but feels like I'm reading a literary mystery novel. I particularly enjoy the sound design, love how clicking on specific objects on the screen will cue a sound to play. Love the ambient audio and the soundtrack. Not much more to be said really, will definitely be picking this up tomorrow.

In terms of gameplay, games that came to mind in varying degrees of similitude would be: Shadowrun Returns (worldbuilding, lore, interacting w/NPCs ), the Blackwell games (lovely art and sound design).

 

[Darkozric]

In terms of gameplay, games that came to mind in varying degrees of similitude would be: Shadowrun Returns (worldbuilding, lore, interacting w/NPCs ), the Blackwell games (lovely art and sound design).

You said "in terms of gameplay" and you described nothing about the gameplay.
What do you do in this game?

 

[Ivan]

thoughts after 2nd playsession:

love the jumping between time to see the world through the eyes of the mother and daughter. learning about characters, learning more about the family. exploring more of the world, unraveling the mystery and just basic filial history. love the sound, the animation backgrounds

it keeps reminding me of a the blackwell point and click adv games, save without actually remote controlling a PC. there's no fluff of waiting for the character to move around. I much prefer this presentation that harkens back to the classic CRPGs of Black Isle. more literary approach

In terms of gameplay, games that came to mind in varying degrees of similitude would be: Shadowrun Returns (worldbuilding, lore, interacting w/NPCs ), the Blackwell games (lovely art and sound design).

You said "in terms of gameplay" and you described nothing about the gameplay.
What do you do in this game?

'

it plays like one of the Blackwell games. Think Resonance. Observe the scene, find the hotspots, engage with characters, items, pick up on puzzles that have you backtrack to previous scenes, maybe you need an item, maybe you need someone to join your party to advance, etc. I feel the less said the better, it's been excellent thus far. In terms of game feel, it reminds me of the Blackwell/Wadget Eye published games (Resonance, Gemini Rue) and the dialogue UI is reminiscent of classic CRPGs (e.g. Fallout). I haven't played Disco Elysium but it looks similar to the screens of that game's GUI.

 

[Starwars]

I decided to get this and played for about an hour so far. The setting and story seems to be interesting so far, pretty nice feel overall. I'm liking the audio and music as well.

In terms of writing, it feels very inspired by Disco Elysium. There's a sort of "thought palace" where you explore your memories and clues (it's all narrative so far though, you don't manually connect any dots like in the Sherlock Holes games investigations). Plenty of attention given to the setting and city you're in, again, very similar in feel to DE. Can't be overstated that it really goes for a similar thing. Though Norco has much less text, less budget and... yeah, just a simpler game overall.
Some of the presentation also sort of gives me slight Papers, Please vibes.

Gameplay so far is really just clicking things in static screens, choosing dialogue options and the odd minigame. Personally, I'm more of the opinion that I wish it had had a classic point-and-click gameplay thing where you at least have a character and move around the screens. It at least feels a bit more interactive that way to me.

Still, like I said, setting and story seems to be pretty interesting so far so I'm eager to see where it goes.

 

[Ivan]

An excellent experience that marries the gameplay of classic point-and-click adventures and the more recent literary RPGs (e.g. Harebrained Scheme's Shadowrun titles and Disco Elysium).

-strengths:
-chunky pixel art and varied environments make exploration an absolute joy. I loved the presentation, I found them so detailed that it didn't bother me that I wasn't moving a character around to navigate the scene

-the writing and worldbuilding is excellent. not only were the characters endearing, they each had their own defined personalities and arcs. There's a lot of humorous writing to be found that should not spoiled. Shoutout to LeBlanc, and the Show Goer NPCs.

-strong and engaging puzzles. I was impressed by the amount of puzzles or locations that FELT unnecessary to progression, but paid off much later in the game. I loved how natural the puzzles felt, how you and when you attained party members

-soundtrack was excellent, will definitely search for it and share some of my favorite tunes once I live with them for a bit

weakness:
-found a few bugs related to unfinished dialogue nodes and some instances of the GUI locking up, forcing a restart. nothing too major, but still worth mentioning, should be easily patched

-the finale/resolution wasn't satisfying. I definitely thought there was going to be an epilogue (Keith's Corner?), I sense there will be a "director's cut" or "definitive edition" that will expound a bit further. That said, the rest of the game, the stories, the little interactions, that's what I will remember most when I think back on Norco

select tracks:






spoilery questions for those who've finished it:

Spoiler

-what was Duck's intent on creating the original AI that would become SuperDuck?
-what burden was Catherine trying to alleviate when seeking out employment from SuperDuck? was it just the perceived shame that came how others blamed her for Blue's death? did she want to do a Walter White and leave her children a nest egg before she passed?
-who was the final Garret that you help escape, the one Pawpaw kept imprisoned. That was the last time we saw Catherine alive, what else could she have learned about Pawpaw before she died?

 

[Darkozric]

I was curious about this because some opinions are contradicted here, Starwars wrote that it's mostly clicking things and choosing dialogue (and he's right) while Ivan above wrote about strong and engaging puzzles, which is straight up a fucking lie.

Sorry Mr. Ivan but after this I will never take your opinions/reviews seriously.

So I thought I'd play it for myself and well, I didn't like it at all. It's obvious that all the effort went to the pixel art and sound and that's about it. The story was ok I guess, it is what it is but it isn't something I will remember like Disco Elysium for example.

The gameplay is poor as fuck, there are 3-4 hot spots per location and there are no puzzles that will make you feel that you are contributing to something. There are only some retarded mini games that add nothing to the game.

In the end, I felt hollow and that this "game" was sucking my energy and I wanted to finish it fast. After this I will need to play 2-3 real adventure games in a row to be healthy again.

The only good thing is that I read it for free (there's no fucking way I will reward with money developers for making adventures without meat, and by meat I mean gameplay).

So in my opinion avoid it like the plague, except if you're a huge storyfag.

PS. All of these talented pixel artists should start hiring people who know how to create puzzles and don't skimp on money.

 

[Viata]

Sorry Mr. Ivan but after this I will never take your opinions/reviews seriously.

Took you long enough, mate.
You should have wondered why he decided to say "the less said about gameplay, the better it is".

 

[Ivan]

Sorry Mr. Ivan but after this I will never take your opinions/reviews seriously.

All good bro. Glad you gave it a shot. Sorry it didn't resonate.

 

[WallaceChambers]

Playing it now, game is great so far. Eerie atmosphere, good OST, and great writing. It's not a puzzle dense game by any stretch. There's a mix of simple inventory stuff, timing based memory puzzles/QTEs, and more bespoke problem solving challenges embedded into the narrative. It does the thing where you cant pick up certain items until they're deemed plot relevant. Which isn't as much of a hassle as it can be in other games since the navigation is so quick. Honestly I have had fun with the gameplay NORCO is serving up. I'm glad it's there, just don't expect it to be the focus.

One of my favorite things about the game is how it shifts between different presentation styles for certain scenes in the game. There's one part where you're reading a text message and a character eerily slides into frame while you're reading to surprise you. It reminds me of a Japanese adventure game with a style I loved, The Silver Case.

 

[Darkozric]

Honestly I have had fun with the gameplay NORCO is serving up. I'm glad it's there, just don't expect it to be the focus.

If the GAMEplay isn't the focus why you calling it a game?

 

[WallaceChambers]

If the GAMEplay isn't the focus why you calling it a game?

Are you okay?

 

[Darkozric]

Are you okay?

I am, are you? Or do you have comprehensive issues?

 

[WallaceChambers]

I am, are you? Or do you have comprehensions issues?

God blessed you with a bounty of chromosomes and I'm struggling to keep up.

 

[Darkozric]

God blessed you with a bounty of chromosomes and I'm struggling to keep up.

 

[Viata]

Man says "gameplay is there, but it's not the focus" and now acts like a retard.

 

[Ivan]

middle school tier bickering

codex never changes :D

WallaceChambers make sure you follow up with the Puppet Show attendee :D (one of my favorite bits)

 

[Darkozric]

middle school tier bickering

codex never changes :D

Nah, no bickering here. Sometimes I like to troll storyfags.

But next time try to not give fake info.

 

[Starwars]

I finished it.

I found it a pretty mediocre experience overall and I sort of rushed in the end to finish it. It's too bad since there are things in the game that are genuinely nice. The setting is great, the story is interesting and some of the characters are pretty nice too. Great soundtrack. But I never had fun playing the game. Gameplay is clicking around screens, doing small, superflous mini-games and some small "puzzles" (a stretch of the word). There seems to be some freedom in how you go about things when looking at the achievements (I have 45% unlocked after finishing) but eh.
I still think the game could've been a better experience to play if it was more of a proper point-and-click, even if it was a simple one.

Like I said before, Disco Elysium is definitely an inspiration here. And while I mentioned Papers, Please in my other post, that's not accurate. But I would say something like Killer 7 (and possibly the other games by the dude who designed that, never played the others) is an inspiration for characters. It gets very surreal in places and some of it works, some of it doesn't. I think I personally would've liked it more if they turned that part of the game down and turned up the dirty, urban mystery feel up.

For me, this game mostly felt like a missed opportunity.

 

[Ivan]

middle school tier bickering

codex never changes :D

Nah, no bickering here. Sometimes I like to troll storyfags.

But next time try to not give fake info.