We couldn”t have completed 2022 with a clear conscience without testing this story gem. Because Norco shines where Cyberpunk 2077 is clichéd
Start PC. Open folder “under-the-radar-games2022”. Create a new folder called “Norco”. Move file to it, named “new-orleans-oil-refinery-prayer-to-the-bird-god”. Press Enter. A window pops up: “Blood is thicker than water, but is oil thicker than blood?” Two answer choices appear: “TRUTH” or “SYSTEM ABORT”. Press Enter. Done. Installation complete. Soul is deleted, system is overwritten, transfer is imminent … Sorry for the mindfuck, but any other beginning would not have suited this test.
Nine months after its release, we want to give Norco another test, otherwise we couldn”t close this year with a clear conscience. Because this game is a little story gem, hidden in the dark swamp below the neon-glowing mainstream charts.
The debut of indie developer Geography of Robots sends you on an atmospheric detective adventure into the swamps of New Orleans that doubles as a religious cyberpunk odyssey. Your weapons: A great love of reading and a willingness to grapple with a lot of big questions.
Between industrial disasters and cyber voodoo
Protagonist Kay has not been able to stand it at home anymore. Home means swampy Norco in New Orleans, a settlement near huge oil refineries. The inhabitants suffer from the industry, but are already too deeply silted up in the quagmire to escape. Kay has tried, travelled from here to there, lived with criminals, done criminal things, but now she is returning home.
First her mother died of cancer and now her brother has disappeared too. What happened? What is it about the strange events in the swamp? And what role does the sinister oil company Shield play in all this?
At first, Norco feels like a melancholy Life is Strange homecoming to the past, with lots of nostalgia, lots of acquaintances left behind and lots of unprocessed memories – and then the whole thing devolves into a mystery thriller with hard-boiled detectives and creepy fortune tellers. And when you get used to it and finally enter the place you”ve been searching for so long, you plunge into a religious crisis. You can already tell, it”s all pretty cryptic – and on purpose.
Norco is a story game and with that comes a typical problem: If we don”t want to spoil your fun, we can hardly tell you anything. That”s why we”ll stick to these hints, but – this is important – Norco”s strength lies not only in its story, but above all in its narrative and presentation.
From Pixel Porn to Atmo Virus
No matter how many good things can and should be said about point-&-click adventures (long live Monkey Island!): The game principle of reading endlessly long texts is by now, without nostalgia bonus, no longer just “old school”, but (to put it nastily) ultimately already “stone age”. But Norco doesn”t need to rely only on the loyal point&click fan community – its atmosphere is a magnet against whose attractions even the biggest sceptics and text muffleurs shouldn”t fight. And probably can”t.
Every image and scene paints a bombastic painting with just a few pixels that you want to stare at, absorb and interpret for minutes. And screenshot to continue later. From the seedy Father Christmas impostor in the inner city to the bird god on a highly developed station.
Burning sunsets in the background, run-down streets and houses, sunken faces of people who have already seen too much and understood far too little of it. You can”t go chasing after dodgy people with unkempt arses, a detective announces. Absolutely!
Myth, technological disaster and industrial conspiracy merge so smoothly that you don”t know whether you need a lawyer, a data analyst or an exorcist for the next scene. Protagonist Kay mimes the all-commenting narrator and tourist guide, which sometimes borders on cyberpunk lyricism. Together with the atmosphere-programming soundtrack, exploring old houses, wiping across screens, hacking drones, the whole thing is quite fun.
Philosophical walk instead of challenging adventure
While Norco does everything right on the story level, you unfortunately have to accept a few compromises in the gameplay. For a detective adventure, it would have lent itself to actually letting us join in and tap into some brain cells (like in puzzle master Thimbleweed Park, for example).
But every puzzle has an obvious solution – dog food for dog, dog for dog-seeking owner – unless the companion points it out to us anyway. The mind map, the pinboard with all the information and red threads, is also not the venue for Sherlockian linkage work, but only a somewhat prettier lore almanac. Too bad, because that would have had potential.
“Look at you, hacker “
In a mini-game, we must use a hacked computer to relocate corporate security drones in order to enter an area unseen. The catch: the drones are programmed to leave no space unoccupied. The solution: we have to empty all the areas around the desired area so that the drones lose track of it.
Every mini-game, when it occurs, is quickly explained and just as quickly solved. Norco also has turn-based battles with quick-time events, but these degenerate into mere clickwork without depth or surprises. When they do occur, we sigh because they seem so surprisingly unclever compared to everything else clever in the game.
The decisions of Norco represent a missed opportunity. As is so often the case, only consequences of our actions are hinted at here, but they ultimately affect only one of two quickly told and somewhat unsatisfying endings. Even when the twists do spark.
Norco”s story is very linear and any optional events away from the plot reward you with additional immersion in the lore, but have no gameplay relevance. You embark on this odyssey as a family member, but you have not been hired for the detective work.
Norco is a walk, not an adventure, despite occasional battles. You have to accept and enjoy that, even in some scenes towards the end, when the point-&-click adventure turns into a graphic novel, when the big pictures are missing and everything is drowned in texts. Atmospherically and visually Norco creates a new level, but at its core it remains a very classic genre representative.
Editor”s verdict
Preface: I am a lover of literature and a big fan of words. Still, I would probably always prefer a book to a point-&-click adventure. Why? Because the game level often can”t hold a candle to the story. For me, it really needs that extra kick that says: “Michael, I am a unique point&click adventure. I forgo everything modern because that”s ONLY how I work. If you don”t play me, you”ve missed something in your life.” And Norco falls right into that category. This game only works that way – even if I would have liked to do more detective stuff in a detective adventure. But that”s all criticism at a high level.
Forgetting all the mini-criticisms, what remains is an atmosphere that caught me from the start screen and still hasn”t let me go. Norco is outrageously beautiful, with outrageously few pixels. New Orleans is completely unspent and refreshing as a setting. It finally frees me from the same old cyberpunk big cities. There is still so much potential for this genre. I want a series exactly in this setting! Norco, this should definitely be on your radar, even if you”re a story fan who doesn”t do much with point & click adventures. Otherwise you could really be missing out!
