NORCO - Southern Gothic point & click game

[Ivan]

having a great time revisiting the soundtrack and finding new jams that give me a stiffy

fingers crossed there'll be a "director's cut" edition. I'd like to try solving some of the puzzles differently (e.g. the liquor store fight, the boat theft)

 

[Terenty]

Is it anything like Snatcher?

 

[WallaceChambers]

Is it anything like Snatcher?

It's first person and you can tell the developer is a fan of Japanese adventure games, they've said as much. But in terms of the plot and writing style, no. And, while it's not puzzle heavy in its own right, it does have more puzzles than Snatcher.

 

[HoboForEternity]

enjoyed it, but it feels like the finale was rushed, and it doesn't end with much plot coherence because things are left quite vague, or i am not sensitive enough.

Spoiler

so basically the world has technology to copy a dying person's consciousness, and ne of them happen to be duck. it seems like you can manually select which memories too to select. this happens to a person called duck. due to some circumstances, the AI stored based on duck's memory went rogue and slowly building its own power. it uses a blockchain and message board to hire runners to do their bidding until it suddenly found the orb messenger, that somehow are attracted to catherine.

at the same time, laura st. clare , a daughter of a prominent robot company came upon the same info, and it seems the orb is capable of some kind of interstellar travel, in which she wanted to use it as a medium to start a space mining colony. it is in fact, some kind of envoy to a christian based alien civilization to take the descendant of jesus christ (reminded me of gabriel knight 3, but the writer got inspired while doing all the drugs) back to their home among the stars.

one of the member of this civilization is pawpaw and his race is somehow immortal? meanwhile, the duck networks start taking control of some kind of antenna towers and blasting radiation in the swamp to create an organic neural network by mutating all the creatures in the swamp. at the same time, it uses catherine to get hold of the orb, the duck ate it but the information contained within it is too strong and start to kill the superduck. papaw used this as opportunity to complete his mission bringing jesus's descendant back to the stars. dunno why he killed john, since he's doing the same thing and i don't know the significance of the garett kept in the jar too. but in the end he almost succeeded, but kay were able to thwart his plan, escaped, and i am assuming the ship blew up.

the two plot of AI versus alien angels thing doesn't really merge well to me, and the resolution/explanation feel pretty rushed/forced. the idea and setting is great, and i can argue for a thematic coherence, the plot itself kinda fell apart in act 3, that it might need other explanation. who is million working for? st. clare spy to get the orb from catherine/kay? if so why did she went berserk when we found catherine's hardisk? why not do it after we found the orb?

honestly, i can rate this 7 or 8 /10 due to great presentation and great deal of originality, but they weren't able to tie the plot in a more satisfying manner (reminded me of vanilla kathy rain. maybe a DC could elabore more of the elements)

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Well well another hidden nugget I never heard of.

 

[HoboForEternity]

My praise definitely isn't as high as that guy, but it's still a great game with amazing presentation and atmosphere. for me the main complain about narrative is rushed second act and lack of explanation about the

Spoiler

UFO that made the theme unfocused. is it about the life of rural industrial town being choked by the exploitation of nature and by extension, it's people. or is it about the implication and reaction of desperate people being faced by a miraculous technology suddenly appearing, or is it a warning story about artificial intelligence? of course it can be all 3, but all 3 plots doesn'r merge into one coherent whole. it feels like 3 different story (kay estranged and wandering after she left her hometown, rogue AI manipulating people to upgrade its own consciousness, alien artifact belonging to outer civilization that searching for its bloodline/progeny) put inside 1 game.

 

[Sukhāvatī]

LeBlanc best party member '22.

supergreatfriend summed it up quite well that it's a game that wants you to feel certain things, rather than comprehend them, particularly as it moves toward the end, culminating in a literal hallucinogenic trip.



It's a real place by the way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norco,_Louisiana

 

[HoboForEternity]

summed it up quite well that it's a game that wants you to feel certain things, rather than comprehend them

Yea, this is a good explanation, and they do interview the people who lived around the real world area and the whole thing started as a documentary before they put the material to video game and add a bit of scifi and mysticism spice.

 

[WallaceChambers]

There really wasn't anything about the end of the game that I didn't understand. Apart from the mystery of the orb being intentionally left open to interpretation.

 

[True Ukrainian]

My praise definitely isn't as high as that guy, but it's still a great game with amazing presentation and atmosphere. for me the main complain about narrative is rushed second act and lack of explanation about the

Spoiler

UFO that made the theme unfocused. is it about the life of rural industrial town being choked by the exploitation of nature and by extension, it's people. or is it about the implication and reaction of desperate people being faced by a miraculous technology suddenly appearing, or is it a warning story about artificial intelligence? of course it can be all 3, but all 3 plots doesn'r merge into one coherent whole. it feels like 3 different story (kay estranged and wandering after she left her hometown, rogue AI manipulating people to upgrade its own consciousness, alien artifact belonging to outer civilization that searching for its bloodline/progeny) put inside 1 game.

It's an allegory about people and their relationship with God.

Spoiler

The good ending has Kay reject salvation and eventually cut all ties with Norco and her family. Catherine's ghost in the finale on the other hand wants to ascend to heaven with Pawpaw. Laura commits suicide when she realizes that she will never get her hands on the messenger. And Pawpaw kills the cult leader for claiming Catherine's role as the chosen of heaven for himself.

The message seems to be about striking out on your own rather than being bound to a dying community or seeking a false redemption.

 

[Don Salieri]

The message seems to be about striking out on your own rather than being bound to a dying community or seeking a false redemption.

Leaving fucking the family goat and jerking off the village elder in Pakistan as well as the code of some ancient kiddy diddler to strike out on your own, raping kids in India and Britain all by yourself instead? I'm going to enjoy not playing this game.

 

[True Ukrainian]

The message seems to be about striking out on your own rather than being bound to a dying community or seeking a false redemption.

Leaving fucking the family goat and jerking off the village elder in Pakistan as well as the code of some ancient kiddy diddler to strike out on your own, raping kids in India and Britain all by yourself instead? I'm going to enjoy not playing this game.

I see. Was your wife cucking you with one of us? You seem upset.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

I finished this yesterday and was totally carried away by this noir story set in a collapsed world that is suffocating in its own, carbonised bowels. Haven't had that much fun with an adventure since The Cat Lady and Technobabylon. Beautifully written, sad, thought-provoking, but also has its tragicomedy moments. LeBlanc in particular was memorable for striking a delicate balance of being slimy and loyal. And that whole shitshow unfolding in John's Church with the attire question was just so hilarious. Overall though the themes are melancholic and post-modern.

Definitely worth the money for anyone who loves Sci-Fi that leans into a broken society craving for faith.

 

[Catacombs]

set in a collapsed world that is suffocating in its own, carbonised bowels.

We're about there now.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

set in a collapsed world that is suffocating in its own, carbonised bowels.

We're about there now.

Yeah, but its ratcheted up to 11 for dat extra level of hopelessness..

 

[True Ukrainian]

set in a collapsed world that is suffocating in its own, carbonised bowels.

We're about there now.

Yeah, but its ratcheted up to 11 for dat extra level of hopelessness..

The game references several real life events in the lore. The explosion of the catalytic cracker that killed Blue happened in real life. Norco has a very high cancer rate as well because of pollution.

 

[wishbonetail]

Okay, i've finished this. WTF was that? Is it some kind of postmodernistic trend of nonsensical storytelling? First Gamedec, then this. Just walls of gibberish i'm tired of clicking through. Music is good, I guess.
God, i miss some down-to-earth detective stories.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

I used to think Southern Gothic was pretty cool - the music, at least. But recently I've come to think it's just some gay shit for yankee hipsters, and this game doesn't dissuade me from that opinion from what I'm seeing. I don't see how all the high-tech bullshit jives with the genre or setting, either.

 

[Sizzle]

Recently played it. Saw so many recommendations for it, proclaiming it as one of the best adventure games (or games, period) of all time, and it just... isn't.

I appreciated a lot of what the game does (and tried to do), but it's much too unfocused and enamored with its own style to provide any worthwhile substance.

The individual setpieces are all there, but it just feels like this would have greatly benefited from an editor or producer - someone to point out that the game has several lengthy optional sequences, yet it doesn't really have an ending.

The magical realism-laden writing also doesn't help, and often stands out and doesn't contribute anything to the game.

But by far the worst thing about it is that people - for some weird reason - think that it has deep themes and something profound to say, but it's obviously nothing more than a random string of vignettes where it soon becomes clear that the creators are just making shit up as they go along.

 

[Cromwell]

But by far the worst thing about it is that people - for some weird reason - think that it has deep themes and something profound to say

Thats not weird at all. Most people are just not that knowledgable about profound themes, deep insights, high literature or whatever they talk about, they just wish they were. Instead of not giving a fuck about it they project it onto their entertainment and you end up with shit like this where both the devs and the players pretend it isnt boring as fuck but it actually has something meaningful to say which ends witjh other people doing the same because tehy dont want to be seen as the idiot who didnt get it.

As a general rule I have become very cautios of games where I am told "the writing is great" and "it touches on deep meaningful themes", I may miss one or another worthwhile game but I also dont waste hours upon hours on shit when I could have read a book instead.

 

[Ivan]

easily a contender for OST of the year. what a subtle beast

 

[Ivan]

My winner for best OST. reminds me a lot of Deus Ex + Lynchian films

 

[Silva]

Ivan is prestigious Stalker bro so I trust him and will buy the game blind.



If this is shit I'll kill you, Ivan.

 

[Ivan]

If this is shit I'll kill you, Ivan.

 

[Silva]

I'll play this with my 13 yo daughter. She's a storyfag at heart just like her father.