I first played Norco on Xbox gamepass and was left so astounded by it, that I had to buy it on Steam (plus the artbook and soundtrack too). After playing it again, I am certain to say that it is my favourite videogame narrative. The writing is superb, poetic, relatable, mysterious, humorous, it's perfect. The setting and story have so many layers that link together seamlessly. The pixel art is the best I've ever seen. The music fits the tone of the visuals beyond perfectly. Norco is without a doubt one of my favourite interactive artworks.

It starts strongly, but at least one more act is needed to fully wrap up the story (it ends way sooner than expected), leaving us quite underwhelmed with 3 so-so endings and plenty of underdeveloped characters. It's a general "indie-title plague" so should get used to it by now.

Overall what's there works quite well, albeit some tackiness (what's up with the cat?) and overwrought segments that don't go anywhere (flooded house metaphor returns way too often). Music and sound design are a big plus !

It's all cute and sad and a bit too short for its own good.

Raw Fury disabled cloud saves and is not responsive on the Discussions forum.