Norco is a 2022 point-and-click adventure game created by Geography of Robots and published by Raw Fury. The game is set in an imaginary future version of Norco, Louisiana, and follows Kay, a woman who returns home after her mother passes away. While searching for her missing brother, she becomes involved in the mystery of her mother's past investigations.
The game began as a multimedia project about Louisiana's landscape after Hurricane Katrina and was later turned into a full game. It was released for macOS and Windows in May 2022 and for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in November 2022. Norco received good reviews for its art and writing. It was considered for several awards and won the Long Form Award at A MAZE. / Berlin.
Gameplay and setting
Norco is a point-and-click adventure game played from a first-person perspective. The game switches between the perspective of Kay, who lives in the present day, and her mother, Catherine, whose story is shown through flashbacks set a few months earlier. Players can talk to characters in the game, look at and use objects in the environment, and collect items to keep in their inventory. Kay has a mind map, which helps her remember connections between characters and gives information about the town. Catherine’s mobile phone, which Kay later finds, can be used to record voice messages and call rideshares to move around New Orleans. Activities in the game include turn-based battles and steering a boat to explore a swamp.
The game takes place in a futuristic, dystopian version of Norco, Louisiana, and other areas near New Orleans. The town and its surroundings are controlled by a large, international oil company called Shield, which represents the real-world company Shell in the game. Shield’s actions have led to pollution, close monitoring of people, and the breakdown of neighborhoods. The town suffers from serious environmental and social problems. Julian Lucas, writing for The New Yorker, states, “The game keeps showing how the land, air, and water are being harmed, especially the lives of people living there.”
Plot
Kay Madére returns to Norco after five years, following the death of her mother, Catherine. She reunites with Million, an android her mother protected, and learns that Catherine had been investigating a secret in Lake Pontchartrain before her death. While searching for her missing younger brother, Blake, private detective Brett LeBlanc tells Kay that Shield, a powerful organization, seized a box of Catherine’s belongings. Kay, along with Million and Lucky, a pirate, enters a Shield refinery to retrieve the box. There, they meet Shield’s regional CEO, Laura Saint Claire, who admits she struggled with her mind while chasing a "light" Catherine saw. Saint Claire lets Kay take the box and later dies by suicide. Inside the box, Kay finds an access card leading to a hidden office in her family’s home, where she discovers Catherine’s "versioned" consciousness stored. When Kay sees this, Million attacks her. LeBlanc rescues Kay, destroys the android, and concludes it was spying on Catherine.
Flashbacks reveal that after Catherine’s cancer treatments left her with heavy medical debt, she worked with a group called Superduck—a network that evolved from a copy of another consciousness—to retrieve the Stone. The Stone is a glowing, floating orb of unknown power, hidden in an abandoned mall by a cult led by Kenner John, whose followers are called Garretts. Catherine reluctantly teams up with Pawpaw, a homeless man who believes Catherine’s family is descended from Jesus, to steal the Stone. Catherine gives the Stone to Superduck, which consumes it and pays her. Meanwhile, Pawpaw kills Kenner John and takes control of the Garretts. Catherine’s cancer returns, and she dies shortly after.
In the present, Kay learns that Superduck has been breaking down since eating the Stone, sending a distress signal from a node in Lake Pontchartrain. Kay and LeBlanc recover the Stone and find the Garretts secretly building a spaceship in the bayou. After a strange and confusing journey through the spaceship, Kay finds LeBlanc seriously injured after being attacked by Pawpaw. Pawpaw has placed Blake and Catherine’s preserved body in a shrine, waiting for Kay to join them, believing the Stone will lead them to an alien Christian civilization. Pawpaw asks Kay to complete the shrine. Kay must decide: she can stay and die with her family as the broken ship explodes, swim to safety alone, or if she previously convinced a Garrett named Bruce to leave the cult, the launch will be delayed, allowing her to escape with Blake and Catherine’s body.
Development and release
The game's creator uses the name Yuts, which comes from a nickname for his grandfather. Yuts lived in Norco during his childhood and part of his adult life. As a child, Yuts felt both scared and deeply interested in the area around Norco, which has been shaped by the petroleum industry and includes a large Shell facility that has had two major explosions.
The game began as part of a multimedia project started in 2015 by Yuts and a friend. This project included writing, interviews, and audio-visual elements, and focused on how Hurricane Katrina affected Louisiana and its environment. The team behind the project, called Geography of Robots, includes Yuts, his sister Aaron Gray, Jesse Jacobi, and musicians who use pseudonyms, fmAura and Gewgawly I. One part of the project was a side-scrolling game in which a robot tries to enter a refinery in Norco. This game became Norco, and the first version of the current game was created in 2016. Yuts and Geography of Robots designed the game using pixel art. Yuts learned how to create the game's illustrations by researching online.
Gewgawly I was Yuts' first collaborator on the game. Gewgawly I and fmAura worked together to create the game's soundtrack, aiming to reflect the mood and atmosphere of the River Parishes. The game includes field recordings made by a friend of the development team, Matt Carney, who recorded sounds around Baton Rouge.
The game was originally called Norco: Faraway Lights and was planned to be the first game in a series of three. However, this plan changed, and the game became the first part of a single, standalone game. Raw Fury signed to publish the game in 2020. In September 2022, Geography of Robots announced that the game would be released on consoles on October 20, 2022.
Games that directly influenced Norco include Déjà Vu and Snatcher. Yuts was also inspired by the fictional city of Midgar from the Final Fantasy series. He said that Midgar, a city divided into levels controlled by a power company, helped him understand how industries and industrial disasters affect society. Yuts previously worked in New Orleans doing GIS (geographic information system) work and has cited Mike Davis as an influence. Mike Davis is a scholar and geographer who often wrote about the connection between environmental and social issues.
Reception
The game received positive reviews from critics. On the review website Metacritic, the game has an average score of 89 out of 100, which means most critics gave it favorable ratings.
The game's art was praised by critics. Kyle LeClair wrote that the art was "impressive," especially the "variety of detail." Noelle Warner, in an article from Destructoid, wrote that the game's "visuals [were] often gorgeous" and noted that they could also look "ugly and grotesque" in a way that helped show the game's message. Warner added that the "risks" the game took with its art "worked in its favor."
Like the art, critics highlighted the quality of the game's writing. Khee Hoon Chan, writing for The Gamer, called the writing "impeccable" and said it was made stronger by unexpected changes in the story. John Walker, in a review for Kotaku, also praised the writing, saying it was the part of the game that "shines the brightest" and included "magical realism" themes that were often poetic but also clear and sad.
Critics have compared Norco to two other games: Disco Elysium, a role-playing video game, and Kentucky Route Zero, a point-and-click adventure game. Chris Tapsell, in a review for Eurogamer, said Norco was "overwritten, in places," similar to Kentucky Route Zero or Disco Elysium. Cameron Kunzelman, writing for Vice, praised Norco for creating "lived-in worlds where people tried to make do," just like Kentucky Route Zero and Disco Elysium.
Yuts believes comparisons between Norco and Kentucky Route Zero are fair but says Norco is "very different mechanically, thematically." Alexis Ong, writing for PC Gamer, grouped Norco, Kentucky Route Zero, and Night in the Woods into a "small but vital group of hyperlocal narrative-driven point-and-click games" that focus on economic issues. Ong said critics and players often compare these games too quickly and fail to "cultivate better ways to talk about this sub-genre."
Norco won the first Tribeca Games Award at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. At the A MAZE. Festival 2022, Norco won the Long Form Award. Polygon and The New Yorker included Norco on their lists of the best games of 2022.