Norco, a game that wasn't always a game, but first was a documentary that started over 10 years ago, where developer Yuts and his friend visited Norco, Louisiana, to take pictures, interviewed people, and filmed the rise of an industrialised oil company and its impact on the people and the landscape of the city. Due to the many positive feedback and exposure for these visual captions shared online and out, Yuts started to create a game out of it, bringing more talented developers to help utilise all the collected references to showcase the different art pieces to tell a story.

What we see here is a game that takes place in Norco (like the name suggests), but a more futuristic version where AI robotic exist and the few people are around are still trying to make a living despite their homes being polluted and exploited by an oil companies known as Shield (an parallel to Shell I believe) turning the whole area into a total inhabited wasteland used only to maximum profit and demands. There's also the fact that there is something not right going on. A sense of an ominous feeling, but you can point to where it is, only where it is coming from.
https://testx-steam.c5game.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3566883352

Norco plays as a point-and-click, visual novel-like, narrative-driven game with superb pixel art and some subtle choices to make that affect the ending. It is mostly a linear experience, but you can still easily miss some interesting interactions and secrets if you aren't careful. The puzzle and the “turn-based combat” aren't hard.
https://testx-steam.c5game.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3566884108

This is a story-focused, but what story it's trying to tell, I'm afraid I still don't fully grasp it yet, even when I'm so close to the answer, but do I need to fully understand it as long as I get the gist? I have never been to Louisiana, and I have never lived near an oil rig to the extent that this game is based, but I can still envision the effect it could have on me and my surroundings. I'm sure people from Louisiana will be able to resonate with the story better than I could, and that's what makes this game so great. You can interpret it as you want, and there are many different mysteries surrounding this game without giving you a direct answer, making it so thought-provoking that I'm still questioning the purpose of this game.

If you're still here, then you must have some interest in playing this game, and you should, not because I told you to, but for your own curiosity to discover something new you may never get the chance to experience from any other game. But if you need more convincing, here's some.

Norco is unpredictably a charming game. All the characters are weird, goofy, with a load of depth to them and some genuinely funny dialogue without trying to force it out of you. For example, there's one character who spends the majority of the game trying to think of a name for their new channel. The characters are really some of the highlights of this game, thanks to the script that makes them all very distinct from each other, making them feel like human beings, not another person used in a story for a specific purpose. Plus, the sound effect that goes along with them everytime they speak to you is a cherry on top.

Furthermore, the presentation for this game is outstanding. A mix of noir, dystopia and warmth, highlighting a sense of distress, mystery and sometimes a semblance of hope despite all the grittiness that even if something is about to collapse there's always a beauty there to try to save.
https://testx-steam.c5game.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3567519406

I may have accidentally suggested that this game may be too deep for you to comprehend, but it's not really. The premise is simple, just not constructed like any traditional story. If you get lost in it, there is a section in the game where you can recap on all the information you learns and which character is who, so you don't get lost. Even then, you can still enjoy this game without knowing the history behind it, as the story is satisfying enough with or without the history lesson, as the story goes in a different direction than you can predict.

While I am writing this, I am still wondering what my takeaway from this game is. It's the same as taking something with you for travel, but you don't remember taking it, and you don't know what to do with it. One thing is certain, it left an everlasting impression on me that I won't forget. A special game that is more than it seems and is something that I haven't fully comprehended.

If anything, Norco is a game that you either vibe with or you don't.