The point-and-click adventure genre has been one that has been woefully underrepresented in recent years. Once a juggernaut thanks to classic franchises like King's Quest and Quest for Glory, this beloved style of games saw something of a resurrection thanks to TellTale Games but has since fallen out of favor with many big-name developers.
Indie game developers are keeping the point-and-click genre alive and well, though. Kentucky Route Zero, Jenny LeClue and more have resonated with fans, and the style of gameplay lends itself. Now gamers can add NORCO to that list, a new point-and-click mystery from Geography of Robots, a collaboration of game developers. CBR was able to take a look at NORCO as part of the Tribeca Games Festival. Since then, NORCO went on to win the Tribeca Games Award, and for good cause. NORCO could radically shift the point-and-click genre.
NORCO, above all else, is moody to a level we weren't prepared for. Described as a sci-fi, southern-gothic mystery, the story takes place in a pseudo-futuristic Norco, Louisiana. The real Norco is notable for the oil refinery plant it's named after, but NORCO imagines a world in the not-too-distant future where the city is in shambles.
The player character has been away from home for years, having broken off contact with his family and fled. By the time you return home, your mother is dead and your brother is missing; all that remains at your house is an android, Millions, who your mother took in when you were a child and a curious monkey doll you find in your room. The house is sufficiently creepy, still surrounded by the memories of your late mother and the notable absence of your brother. Turning on a TV reveals a jarring collection of videos. Examining books reveals books on accepting death. The tone is front and center quickly.
The game's first major hurdle has to do with obtaining a fuse for Millions' motorcycle, but you have a few opportunities for something surprising: role-playing. In many instances, you're not given a single narrative line for how your character feels about events. Instead, you can choose how you feel, how you react and how you perceive the world. Maybe you grew to forgive your mother, or perhaps you've grown even colder and more distant in your time away. The player has an agency in their own background that is rarely seen in this type of game.
Narratively, you're still an outcast, though. As you explore the city, you'll find a strange, unfamiliar city. Trying to get a fuse for Millions leads you into your first encounter with a former convenience store worker who has a grudge against you. You can be nice and offer to get some of your late mother's pills for him, but why bother? It would be much easier just to punch him repeatedly, which brings us to the next surprising addition to NORCO: combat.
Admittedly it is jarring when the game first transitions to a Dragon Quest-style first-person combat system. We're not alone in this first battle, fortunately. We remembered to inspect the curious monkey doll in the bedroom, so we have a party of sorts. For the player character, combat consists of a memory-style game, having to select displayed symbols in the correct order for an attack to be carried out. The monkey has a slightly more difficult sequence which requires timing a circle closing over a dot.
Successfully winning our first fight, we were able to purchase a fuse and continue our adventure in pursuit of our brother, now with Millions in our party and her motorbike working. NORCO only gets stranger from here. You find yourselves at a bookstore chasing your brother before learning he's likely just been passed out in a run-down bar. From there, though, the game transitioned to a brief flashback of the protagonist's late mother as she attempted to find her way home, a sequence that closed out our brief session with the game.
Despite only having a little while with the title, NORCO left an impression that has stuck with us all in the days that followed. The story is remarkable for its atmosphere and sense of character, and the role-playing and combat elements are a breath of fresh air in a genre that typically resorts to making players click on every pixel of the screen for progression. The world is weird in NORCO, but it's one to keep an eye on for fans of dark sci-fi mysteries and classic adventure games.
Developed by Geography of Robots and published by Raw Fury, NORCO releases at an as yet unrevealed date. A demo is available now on Steam.
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