PC Gamer - UK (2022-07)

N

orco demanded to
be played. A surreal,
anti-capitalist
point-and-click with
striking, grungy art
and writing that’s evocative, angry,
and exhausted – how could I
decline? I was confident it would be
my jam, with comparisons to Disco
Elysium and Kentucky Route Zero,
as well as glowing reviews, sealing
the deal.

And it absolutely did prove to be my
jam, at least initially. It’s bleak and
beautiful, with a strangeness that
gives it the air of another reality. But
it’s grounded in the problems and
frustrations of the real world, where
corporations pillage and pollute as a
matter of course, leaving behind a
string of ruined towns and people.
As a piece of fiction it’s great:
clever, pissed off, and deeply weird.
But as an adventure game, or any
game, it’s not quite as impressive. You
just move from scene to scene, having
long (but often scintillating)
conversations and doing very little
else. There’s not much agency to be
found in Norco, just a script that you,
for the most part, have to follow.

When obstacles do get flung in

your way, when there’s finally an

opportunity to do more than chat,

Norco is at its worst. There are some

puzzles and even a few fights, but

they’re more like half-hearted

minigames, making you remember

basic patterns or asking you to click

on a circle at the right time.

It’s dire stuff – incredibly basic,

equally dull, and utterly incongruous

to the rest of the game. They’re bad,

but the real issue is these rare

moments of interactivity feel like

they’ve been hammered into Norco

just for the sake of it.

“When there’s an opportunity to do

more than chat, Norco is at its worst”

These minigames give the

impression that they’ve been

designed by someone who resents

needing to add more traditionally

gamey stuff to their narrative romp.

They’ve been chucked in with

seemingly little or no consideration.

But that can’t be true. Nobody

designs a party-based combat system

in their adventure game (even if it is

rubbish and barely used) out of a

sense of obligation.

NORCO-DEPENDENT

Occasionally there are bright spot

where the solutions genuinely feel

creative and engaging, like using your

phone to record conversations, which

you can then play back to another

character to manipulate them.

Instead of taking you out of your

investigation to play some minigames,

you’re using your most important

tool in a way that makes sense. But

those moments are the exception.

Problems like this crop up in a lot

of narrative darlings. But games like

Disco Elysium and Unavowed, which

boast exceptional writing and

thoughtful stories that coexist with

extremely interactive systems, now

make this much harder to ignore.

NORCO is a great piece of fiction but a mediocre game

YOU JUST MOVE FROM SCENE

TO SCENE, HAVING LONG

CONVERSATIONS

FRASER BROWN

THIS MONTH

Getting pissed off with

capitalism again.

ALSO PL AYED

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker

Saga, RimWorld

LEFT: (^) Norco’s
ominous refinery
looms over
everything.
BELOW: You get your
very own pet robot.
She’s not very helpful.
THE GAMES WE LOVE RIGHT NOW
NOW PL AYING
When did security
guards get such
cool uniforms?