Geography of Robots has clearly proven they are capable of making a great world, building up the atmosphere, nailing motifing, and doing it all in a beautiful package. I do recommend this game, as there isn’t a whole lot like it. If you want a uniquely esoteric, strange, and yet somewhat familiar feeling throughout the whole game… this is for you.

For my critiques:

Norco from a gameplay perspective, misses the mark somewhat on the genres it participates in. The VN aspect is rushed and pressured during the final act, to what I would say leaves a disappointing ending. However the first two acts are filled with great moments that pull on your emotions, whether they be melancholic or hysterical. This game is the definition of the journey is better than the destination.

The point and click aspects are not puzzly enough. As a person who isn’t amazing at puzzles, I found this game to be pretty easy, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing for a lot of people. The mindmap is a waste of a cool concept. It would’ve been a cool implementation to see it actually effect the relationships/decisions of the game, as opposed to a glorified notepad.

The “combat” sections should probably just be taken out, but I wouldn’t mind if it was expanded into an actual rpg tactics-lite situation like LISA. I didn’t really care for the mini-games at all, even when playing on the “hardest” difficulty.

In terms of UI/UX, the game is a little unwieldy with its lack of key binding for certain menuing, jankiness of the recording function, and I did experience one game breaking bug in my playthrough that resulted in a 10-15 minute timeloss (since it was during a time where you couldn't save)

Overall, you should give this game a shot. It isn’t too long and I’ve never played anything like it. The devs clearly showed a lot of love and care making this game. I will be looking forward to whatever their next project is.

Very few narrative games are so heartfelt and hilarious as NORCO. The pixel art alone is worth the price of buying.

Beautiful. Strange. Fun. Sad. Hopeful. Absolutely worth your time.