NORCO Reviews
One of the best story-based games of the year, with a complex mix of dystopian sci-fi, religious meditation, and a razor-sharp script.
What saves Norco is that the visions on offer belong as much to the imagined as the troublingly real.
In fact, the only area where it lets itself down is the UI. Games that use a cursor on console are starting on the back foot to begin with, but navigating what you can interact with is a particular nuisance in Norco. The cursor is fond of resetting, so you have to drag it all the way across the screen often, it's very easy to accidentally repeat dialogue choices, and sometimes it takes a few tries to hover over something before the interaction prompt actually shows up. Apart from this, the game offers a rich, fulfilling experience that you should try to experience as soon as you possibly can.
With its original narrative blend of sci-fi and surreal while mixing up gameplay mechanics, Norco delivers a memorable narrative-driven experience.
See the swamp and join the cult!
In conclusion, NORCO is a bit of a mixed bag. Whilst it looks and sounds stunning it is let down by a story that pushes itself so far out there that it has no way of coming back. Although already critically acclaimed this could be one of those games that is far more beloved of reviewers than the people who actually play it. Only time will tell. At least its availability on Game Pass means that it can be picked up and easily dropped if it turns out not to be your cup of tea.
This game is disappointing. It doesn’t commit to its story enough, and the gameplay mechanics it chooses to make vital parts of the game are lackluster or strange choices that the game would have been better without. To the game’s credit, however, it’s only disappointing because it managed to build up an expectation. If it could deliver on its own promises, it would truly be one to remember.
This pairing of humans and the natural world up against a common antagonist, not necessarily as allies but as common victims, makes it clear how intimately Norco is tied to the swamps, valleys and fields that surround it. This interconnection between individuals with little in common on the surface but a shared place and history is where “Norco” locates the possibility for hope, a provocation that might offer those of us playing a model for our own local responses to corporate encroachment and environmental devastation. Through these mutually affecting connections between humans, nature and technology, “Norco” creates its own robotic story, disturbing, personal and fresh, an experience that should not be missed.
Norco is a beautiful, surprising, human, and utterly magnetic debut.
Norco ends on a visceral note that will speak to Louisiana’s staunch hangers-on, but also to anyone seeking a beautiful, oppressive, and ultimately hopeful story. The past and future compound, and my reaction was unbridled. As I heaved and sobbed over my computer screen, I thought once again about faith — the kind it takes to stay here. If you don’t understand that faith, Norco may very well convince you.