Many indie titles in the past several years have taken visual inspiration from previous gen??erations. Some draw from the NES and SNES eras, but lately more are taking cues from the PS1/N64 generation.

These distinctive visual echoes from years past have undoubtedly made it far easier to appreciate the aesthetic while playing something notably contemporary. At least, that's how I view many of these games, since occasional visits to prev?ious generations can sometimes be painful.

That said, some of the best games from the last several years have retro games to thank, be they platformers, survival horror, or? RPGs. Some of these are the best in their respective years with others being quite underrated gems.

CrossCode

CrossCode is an ARPG with a 16-bit artstyle while retaining smoother combat and exploration. The store page makes its Zelda inspiration clear concerning how dungeons are designed around puzzle-solving and new equipment. Something that distinguishes itself from games like Link to the Past is the focus on ranged combat.

Protagonist Lea can attack at both close and long distances, with either method having a significantl?y faster pace than its inspirations. Couple this with a breadth of customization options for Lea's build, and combat always stays satisfying as the playe??r's skill grows alongside Lea's strength.

The story can be hit or miss as CrossCode follows the amnesiac protagonist throughout her journey across the CrossWorlds MMORPG, but the gameplay always remains engaging. Clocking in at around 30 hours for the main story, CrossCode is a lengthy and memorable retro adventure.

Dusk

Titles taking inspiration from '90s FPS's have gained traction, but arguably none do it better than Dusk. On top of being one of the best retro shooters in recent memory, it?'s potentially one of the greatest shooters ever.

It takes visual cues from games like Blood but plays like an improved version of Quake. Players practically glide across lev??els using a mix of mid-20th-century weapons along with some more fantastical inclusions to decimate cultists and eldritch evils.

Each weapon is exhilarating to use, and I argue movement is better than even Doom Eternal still. At around 10 hours long, Dusk doesn't overstay its welcome and leaves a better impression of boomer shooters than even its inspirations can offer. Despite only being around five years old, its popularity helped earn it a free HD remaster.

Katana Zero

Continuing my trend of focusing on titles released in the last five years is Katana Zero, a slick action-platformer with several interesting gimmicks. It plays almost like a 2D Ghostrunner, as the protagonist only dies in one hit and primarily uses a katana. What Ghostrunner doesn't have is a dedicated slowdown mechanic tha?t ties into the story.

What makes Katana Zero great is not only its mix of brutal and fast combat, but a genuinely intriguing story about identity, reliving traumatizing memories, and memory manipulation. It lives up to its neo-noir tag as an intertwining ??web of conspiracies forms with protagonist Zero in the middle.

It's a surprisingly tragic and heartbreaking narrative that also happens to be one of the best indie platformers. A f??ree DLC has been in prod??uction for years to conclude the story, and I still need it.

NORCO

I'm not much of a point-and-click adventure game fan, but NORCO enthralled me. Inspired by neo-noir adventure titles like Snatcher, NORCO takes the cyberpunk genre into Southern Gothic territory. It also happens to be one of the most mela?ncholy game?s I've played recently.

The perpetually dimly lit Louisiana atmosphere, slow jazzy soundtrack, and contemplative dream-like story create a genuinely moving experience. Its pixel art style greatly adds to this, coming to life in the way '90s graphic adventures did.

NORCO tapers off slightly toward the end of its fou??r-to-six-hour adventure, but that does little to spoil t??he package. Its simple puzzles also make it approachable enough for non-gamer sci-fi and Southern Gothic fans.

Pseudoregalia

Pseudoregalia has some of the best movement I've ever seen in a platformer, and it stars a goat-rabbit girl. This 3D platformer takes visual cues from fifth-generation systems, namely the N64, while remaining structured as a Metroidvania.

Its structure is like any other as players guide protagonist Sybil across Castle Sansa to collect new a??bilities and powers. Almost every area is available to some degree at the start, but the setti??ng only shines once some more abilities are acquired.

The entire movelist in Pseudoregalia is snappy and satisfying, doing a wonderful job at showing Sybil's skills as an expert acrobat who? is drip-fed upgrades throughout her roughly five-hour journey. What it ultimately does best is emulate a retro platformer's aesthetics while outclassing its contemporaries.

Sea of Stars

Sea of Stars is among the more recent titles on this list, since it came out in August. Still, it made a splash in the same month Baldur's Gate 3 launched for being a ?loving tribute to 16-bit RPGs while standing on its own as a solid game.

Combat takes place in turn-based battles, taking cues from Super Mario RPG's timing-base??d attack system. It's honestly an underrated me??thod for implementing turn-based combat, as it keeps encounters interesting when done right.

The art and narrative are arguably two of Sea of Stars' biggest draws. Its pixel art enviro?nments give the world an invitin??g feeling and lively portraits bring the cast to life. Helping is the story itself featuring an endearing set of characters who fit perfectly into a grand RPG adventure.

Signalis

Signalis is studio rose-engine's debut ti??tle and is a remarkable work of retro sci-fi horror. It takes cues from various works ranging from Kubrick and Anno to create a PS1-styled nightmare with a heartbreaking narrative.

The basic premise sees Elster, a Replika who crashes on an icy planet a??nd whose human partner is missing. Her only option is to venture into a nearby fac?ility overrun by berserk Replikas and horrors beyond comprehension.

Despite taking visual inspiration from various anime and films alongside gameplay from retro games, Signalis is almost entirely its own beast narratively speaking. Elster's tale of finding her partner is as surreal as it is soul-wrenching and unabashedly queer. This is a must-play for any fan of ??cosmic horror and dystopia sci-fi.

Vampire Survivors

Vampire Survivors was one of 2022's biggest hits for a reason. At an incredibly cheap price, players get a sim?ple but compelling action game. Its minimal graphics also help make it accessible to pretty much anyone who has a comp??uter made in the last decade.

It also has an interesting premise for how simple it is. Vampire Survivors is a time-based survival title where players get the power to become stronger than a bullet hell boss. The only active thing you do is move around as progressively more projectiles and enemies flo??od the screen.

The number of enemies on screen is staggering by the end of a run and would feel overwhelming if not for the player's scaling abilities. The incredibly engaging loop also h??elps as it's impossible to resist trying at least o?ne more time.

World of Horror

World of Horror officially launched this October, but fans have enjoyed ??the horror RPG for years in its Early Access builds. Taking cues from Junji Ito manga and 1-bit computer games, this horrifying title looks and plays like a cursed adventure title from the '80s.

Despite its monochromatic color scheme, World of Horror's excellent art direction captures what makes Ito's art so??? unnerving. Its structure of short runs with randomized adventures also emphasizes valuing every resource and every moment as all continuously dwindle.

As frustrating as randomization can be, it works in World of Horror's case as it helps further cement how hopeless the player's fight is. They are ??facing off against incomprehensible cosmic horrors, and they aren't going down without a fight.

The post ?Nine great retro-inspired indies you can play today appeared first on Destructoid.

An interesting year

It feels like a bit of a copout to say "2022 was an interesting year for video games," because every year is an interesting year for video games... but, well, 2022 was an interesting year for video games! It was the first year in which I really felt like I could see 2020's production setbacks on the release calendar, but it was also a year for projects that seemed like they would never arrive. Who would have guessed that Dwarf Fortress would reach 1.0 and Live A Live w??ould get its official English localization in the same year?

I didn't have to whittle this list down too much - while there were a lot of smaller games this year, I only really loved a few. Personally, I prefer that to a year with a massive wave of just-okay gam?es crowding out the ones I'm actually interested in. 2022 didn't see all that many ??releases from massive developers, which meant shorter mid-budget titles and indie games had the chance to really stand out, and I had the chance to play a lot more of them. There was plenty of chaff in there, but I also got to see some wheat I may have otherwise missed. I might not have even played some of the games on this list in a busier year. So thanks, 2022.

With all that being said, I'd like to run down those e??xcellent games that gave me that warm and fuzzy game of the year feeling.

[caption id="attachment_356093" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Vampire Survivors

Vampire Survivors showed up at just the right time for me. At the beginning of the year, I contracted COVID-19 after seeing the most recent Scream movie in theaters (the illness was nearly as bad as the movie). Blessedly, Vampire Survivors had entered early access only a few weeks earlier, and, as luck would have it, I had a spare three dollars burning a hole in my pocket. And that's the story of how Vampire Survivors made my quarantine bearable.

This is by no means a difficult game, but it's a microcosm of what I love about RPGs. Watching my character go from a wimpy little single-weaponed loser to a screen-clearing god over the course of thirty minutes is the kind of dopamine hit that I just need sometimes. This is not a joke - I just opened Vampire Survivors to grab a quick screenshot for this entry and I acciden??tally played through an entire run.

[caption id="attachment_356095" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Bethesda Softworks[/caption]

Ghostwire: Tokyo

I don't really understand why so few people played Ghostwire: Tokyo. I get that it was never going to be a God of War-sized smash hit, but this is the third title from a studio with a decent reputation, and the pitch is great - explore the haunted streets of Tokyo while slinging Doctor Strange-ish magic at various ghosts and spirits. Wh?at's more, the execution of all those ideas is pre?tty great.

The empty city at the heart of Ghostwire: Tokyo is gorgeously haunting, and the moment-to-moment FPS combat feels great. The banter between protagonist Akito and his ghost buddy KK keeps the middling story from dragging the experience down, and collecting what feels like one trillion different objects scattered around the environment is a blast. It doesn't reinvent th??e wheel, but it rolls?? along just fine.

[caption id="attachment_356098" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Neon White

Nobody needs to hear me talk about Neon White. I've touched on its cringe-and-proud writing in the past, and anyone who's spent more than a couple hours with it knows how instantly addicting its speedrunning parkour loop is. Neon White is very good, and if you haven't played it by now, you really shoul?d.

I'm reminded of something like Celeste, a game that made me love precision platforming where other precision platformers could not. I don't care for speed games of this nature, and yet, I cannot stop gunning for those shiny blue medals in Neon White. It's just so great.

[caption id="attachment_356100" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image from Humble Games[/caption]

Signalis

I have a confession to make: while I love nearly every Resident Evil game released after 2005, I kind of can't stand classic survival horror games. I love the eerie atmospheres and the carefully constructed environments, and every time I start Silent Hill, I become briefly convinced that it will become my entire personality. But I've never finished Silent Hill.

I did finish Signalis, a lo-fi sci-fi sendup to survival horror stories of the PSX era, and I thought it was great. A lot of the things I struggle with in those early survival horror games (esoteric puzzles, poor sense of direction, clunky gunplay, constant inventory management) are present here, but I forced myself to muscle through them, and I found myself really liking them. I was also very taken in by Signalis' setting and its beautiful art style. I guess I should go finish Silent Hill now.

[caption id="attachment_356102" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image from Bandai Namco[/caption]

Elden Ring

Poet Robert Graves once said, "The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he really is very good, in spite of all the people who say he is very good." That's kind of how I feel about Elden Ring. Often, when a?? game connects with absolutely everybody else, I can't help but look for its shortcomings. I always end up scouting for the seams, the?? compromises that must have been made to appeal to such a wide audience.

I did exactly that with Elden Ring. I loved the thing on release, and I poured dozens of hours into it, but as soon as I stopped playing, I started assembling my little list of contrarian gripes. It's repetitive, the narrative coasts on being esoteric to mask the fact that it's kind of boring, there are too many damn systems to make "system mastery" feel satisfying, and so on. And then I came back to Elden Ring, and all of those complaints melted away. Because Elden Ring is very good, in spite of a??ll the people who say it is very good.

[caption id="attachment_356104" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image from Funcom[/caption]

Metal: Hellsinger

Metal: Hellsinger is a rhythm game with designs that imitate 2016's DOOM and a boss fight set to ?a Serj Tankian solo. It's great.

[caption id="attachment_356106" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image from Crows Crows Crows[/caption]

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe

The Stanley Parable didn't really need a remaster, and The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe knows it. It's hard to explain what, exactly, The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is without totally spoiling some of its most delightful surprises. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that Ultra Deluxe has surprises, though, because it's The Stanley Parable, and that's what The Stanley Parable is.

The Stanley Parable is the kind of game that you should play if you have any interest in video games as a means of telling stories, and that's especially true now, with the Ultra Deluxe package representing a reasonably major reinv??ention of the original conc??ept.

[caption id="attachment_356108" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Immortality

I love Sam Barlow's Her Story, a non-linear FMV mystery game in which new scenes are discovered by searching for specific keywords. Immortality, Barlow's newest game, is even better. It features a similar system, in which new scenes are unlocked by searching fo??r specific items found in video clips.

Immortality is the story of a movie star whose three films were never released to the public. The player takes on the role of an archivist, simultaneously assembling those unreleased films from recovered footage and attempting to unravel the mystery of what happened behind the scenes. It's a story about cinema, and the image-matching game system is a perfect match for that narrative. Her Story is a story about language, the words we use and the reasons we use them. In contrast, Immortality is?? a story about images, a much headier concept in a much more satisfyin??g package.

[caption id="attachment_356109" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image from Raw Fury[/caption]

Norco

Norco is one of those games that feels special from minute one. This bizarre point-and-click adventure set in a near-future version of the real-world town of Norco, Louisiana is dreamy, melancholic, and simply amazing. It's a striking anti-capitalist text, but it's also a love letter to the kind o??f place that doesn't often receive love letters.

I have found myself considering something new about Norco almost every day since I played it. It blends its near-future dystopia with its current-day problems absolutely expertly. This is the kind of game where a dying mother does ??gig work in order to amass cryptocurrency to pay for her own digital ghost. It's full of tragic sci-fi conundrums like that, and I can't stop thinking about it.

[caption id="attachment_356112" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image from Devolver Digital[/caption]

Card Shark

I don't know all that much about pre-revolutionary France. I know even less about gambling, and next to nothing about cheating at card tables. And yet, while playing Card Shark, I felt myself becomin??g an expert at cheating at card games in pre-revolutionary France. Nerial's period piece, which focuses on the pupil of the Comte de Saint Germain (history's greate??st liar), is a thing of beauty.

Card Shark looks amazing, and its story is a charming and touching testament to the proverbial little guy, but where it sings is in its gameplay. The card tricks performed in the game are based on very real cheats, and Nerial has produced something of an interactive handbook for fraud. Every trick is taught to the player carefully, and executing on them feels like playing a very painterly WarioWare micro-game. Part of me wishes it was a little longer, but the narrative itself is very well-paced. I just want to play more of ??the thing, which is a very good problem to have. It's an inc?redibly specific game, but the one that I loved the most this year.

The post Sorrel Kerr-Jung’s favorite games of 2022 appeared first on Destructoid.

This is the stuff I live for

The horizons of my video game tastes have broadened pretty significantly over the past few years, but my undying love for narrative games first and foremost has never wavered. While 2022 has been a great year for games in general, from heavy hitters like Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarok to indie darlings like Cult of the Lamb and Vampire Survivors, I think this past year has been one of the best we've seen for narrati??ve games in a good while due to the breadth of stories that were told both thematically and m??echanically.

Whether those stories were rooted in lighthearted, optimistic sentimentality or a grounded, gri??tty introspection, I was reminded time and time again why I'm so excited for games to continue paving the way forward as our youngest and most dynamic storytelling medium. Here are some highlights of what I consider to be some of the most compelling narrative games to have come out in 2022 �if you're interested in interactive storytelling and haven't played through these yet, I suggest adding them to your backlog ASAP. Keep in mind that I'm only touching on my absolute favorite narrative games of 2022 with this short list, so if I missed a truly groundbreaking game narrative this year, make sure to let me know down in the comments!

Stray

I was so pleasantly surprised by Stray. It's a game I excitedly jumped into as a cat lover, but I'll admit that I didn't expect much more from it than some cute yet vapid interactions and some run-of-the-mill gameplay. While I actually found myself enjoying the platforming mecha??nics that helped me see the world from a cat's perspective (especially in the game's most open hub section, The Slums), it was its story that I found to be unexpectedly poignant and uplifting.

I certainly didn't expect to come to care for a tiny AI robot whose introduction at the time seemed to only be for tutorial purposes, or that a game with a cat as a protagonist would provide one of the most delicate and thought-provoking stories about the end of the world that I've seen as a fan of apocalypse fiction.

For me, what really worked for Stray was more? in its minute, subtle interactions with NPCs and the environment than in its overarching narrative itself, but the game managed to keep its hold on me the entire way through to my tearful conclusion of its story. This is a game I've thought abo?ut a lot over the months since I played it, and I look forward to returning to it sometime in the future.

NORCO

I've followed NORCO since it was previewed at Tribeca's Games Festival back in 2021, and while it was absolutely snubbed at this year's Game Awards, I'm still so pleased that it's gotten the love that it has. Being from the South myself, I'm partial to southern gothic storytelling, and NORCO did the subgenre proud as the best to delve into the American South since Kentucky Route Zero.

Also similar to Cardboard Computer's modern classic, NORCO leaned hard into surrealism and used it to deliver some truly unforgettable commentary about capitalism and our connection to the land on which we live. NORCO's writing is poetic and s?ometimes downright hilarious, and it has some of th??e most beautiful pixel art I've ever seen in my life. Some of the gameplay elements weren't exactly my favorite, but it's overall a good time if you like point-and-clicks, and its storytelling should certainly not be overlooked.

Signalis

Signalis is a game I wasn't sure I was going to be able to play at all on account of my aversion to horror, but I'm thrilled that I was able to push through. Signalis' story is told in a less traditional manner, and in more of a way that I can only describe as "vibes" outside of its journal entries scattered around the map, and I think it was brilliantly done. I love a story that poses a lot of questions, and while Signalis provided many more questions than answers, it succeeded tremendou?sly at exploring the lengths we're willing to go for the people that we love, especially when we have nothing to lose.

As you make your way through a ruined space station, the story of Signalis almost feels like it's already happened, with the player left to wander around in the aftermath wondering how it all could have gone down differently?. It leaves you with this sense of futility, and yet somehow still hope. It's a story you feel more than think your way through, and in that sense, it has more heart than any game I've played in a long time.

Pentiment

I feel like there are two types of gamers in the world: those who like Pentiment, and those who don't. Point-and-click is already ?a polarizing genre, but I feel like when people saw the game's authentic medieval art style, they decided right then and there that the game was or wasn't for them. To those who were quick to write it off, I'm begging you to reconsider, because this is one of the most compelling murder mysteries I've ever played in a game, which is also helped by the streamlining of some of the more cumbersome point-and-click conventions.

Pentiment is a game that surprised me again and again in the absolute best ways, but what really stands out the most is how it refuses to give the player definitive answers, which not only re-contextualizes the whodunit genre, but also how a lot of us think about video game storytelling in general. This is a game that has incredible replay value, so I'll likely be starting another playthrough before the year's out just to see how much everything changes on ??a different path.

Immortality

To me, Immortality is not only the best narrative game of the year, but also a milestone of the medium's continued innovations in storytelling, following in rank with Disco Elysium and The Last of Us ?as one of my favorite interactive narrative experiences of all time. It explores its themes so intimately and in such compelling ways, and I can't get over how well the three "movies" of Marissa Marcel play off of each other. This game has some of the most incredible acting performances of recent years as well, and the gut-wrenching twist is one of the gaming moments that will truly stick with me for the rest of my life.

When people talk about video games as art, especially a storytelling art, Immortality needs to be at the top of that list. It's a narrative that could truly only be told ??through an interactive experience. I feel like I could write volumes on the depth and complexit?y of this game, and I likely will in the future after subsequent playthroughs. For now, though, I'm still kind of basking in it �and of course, going back, again and again, to try to find every last clip that I'm missing.

The post 2022 was an amazing year for narrative games appeared first on Destructoid.

PC indeed

As someone who heretically prefers to play games on a controller, PC may not always be my first choice. But even I have to admit that it's a platform that has some of the most compelling releases of the year, every year. When it's easier for small, independent teams to publish to platforms like Steam or itch.io, the cream usually tends to rise to the top, so that PC is always one of the most stacked "best of the year" categories, in my opinion. 2022 was no exception, because this banger-filled list is making it really difficul??t to try and decide which game is gonna take my vote.

First you've got Signalis, which is not only an awesome tribute to classic horror games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil, but also one of the most stylish and heart-wrenching games I've played in a long time.? Everything from the art style to the soundtrack to the puzzle design elevated the creepy, slow-burn atmosphere, and it's a game I've been left thinking about weeks after having put it down.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KFiOp2o4L8

Citizen Sleeper is yet an?other innovative title that released in 2022 among a swath of other games that are moving the medium forward. Its focus is on a tabletop-inspired, dice-centric narrative, and it executes that premise with all of the polish you can imagine. What it is able to achieve in unique yet somehow familiar gameplay, it also wins you over with its stories, even ?after leaving us with some mysteries to explore on our next adventure.

For all the shoot 'em up fans out there, Vampire Survivors has you covered. The game has minimalistic art and gameplay design, but with good reason �the gameplay loop is so well-designed and lean, it doesn't need any of the extra fluff. It's one of those games that's perfect to sit down and play in little bouts, but every time you do, you know you're gonna have a blast. Vampire Survivors snuck up on me for sure, but it did in?deed turn out to be one of the h?ighlights of 2022.

Trombone Champ is the obvious stand-out of the year. At a glance, it's not a game I think any of us would have expected to appear on a list like this, but when you look more closely, it's all there. It's simply a well-designed rhythm game (going so far as to actually imitate how it feels to play a real trombone with a scary amount of accuracy), the visual style is downright hilarious, and t?he soundtrack has the perfect lineup of songs that you're either super familiar with, or make you go "I know this song but I never knew what it was called."

It was one of those ideas that the team would make or break in its execution, and they absolutely nailed it. If nothing else, the entire gaming community's reaction to Trombone Champ is enough to warrant its place on this list, I think, because there was something magical about seeing a game collectively bring all of us joy upon i?ts ??release.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpQ8a3c7EAQ

If you're not a speedrunning person, you will be after playing Neon White. While you can really take or leave the story, the gameplay alone is enough to land Neon White on this list. It's bombastic, it's creative, and of course fast-paced, and it'll make even the most tepid players (aka me) twitching to set a new record. This title is really able to capture the raw, tactical fun that only tightly-designed gameplay can really deliver, and is maybe the best game to do so since the release of Hades.

Then there's NORCO, which is easily one of the weirdest games of the year, in the best way. It's a Southern Gothic point-and-click narrative set in the marshlands of New Orleans, and let me tell you, it is one wild ride. NORCO has absolutely beautiful prose and breathtaking pixel art, and then you'll encounter one of the most strange set pieces you've likely seen in a game in a while. I found the game incredibly moving, and easil?y one of the best narrative games of the year. If nothing else, it simply deserves more eyes on it, because it was an absolute delight to play.

Last but certainly not least, we have Victoria 3. It may not be for everyone, but for those who are fans of grand strategy games, the newest release from Paradox Interactive is considered a truly great title. The cult following of the Victoria series has been long-awaiting the series' third installment, as Paradox themselves call it "one of the most anticipated games in Paradox’s history." The general consensus is that Victoria 3 did in fact live up to the hype, making it one of the best grand strat??egy ??games to come out in recent years, and certainly in 2022.

Here are the nominees for Destructoid’s Best PC Game of 2022:

• Signalis
• Citizen Sleeper
• Vampire Survivors
• Trombone Champ
• Neon White
• NORCO
• Victoria 3

The post Nominees for Destructoid’s Best PC Game of 2022 appeared first on Destructoid.

Take a trip down to the bayou

NORCO was one of my favorite games of 2022, with an eerie tone, surreal visuals, and a setting that has some of the most profound political commentary I've seen from a game of late. It's a must-play if you like story-driven games or point and click adventures, and it's honestly a crime that it wasn't nominated for Best Narrative at the Game Awards, because the writing is absolutely gorgeous. NORCO has been out si?nce March, but the game's developer Geography of Robots just announced today via Twitter that the southern gothic adventure is ??now available to play on PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

Naturally, the game's controls were entirely reworked for controll??er instead of mouse and keyboard, and the devs also confirmed in the Tw??itter thread that the PC version of the game also has controller support now. They even included a helpful graphic that breaks down how the control scheme will work on a PlayStation Dualshock. Basically, you can either use the left stick as a virtual mouse, or simply use the D-pad to select "hotspots or other UI elements." Big win for controller simps like me.

//twit??ter.com/roboticgeo/status/1593265507939098625

For those who may not know what to expect from NORCO's gamepl??ay, Geography of Robots describe?s it pretty well in yet another tweet:

"Gameplay-wise, it resembles classic first-person text-based pixel adventures like Snatcher, Deja Vu, Policenauts, VA-11 HA-11 A, Read Only Memories, Circuit's Edge, Rise of the Dragon, etc. There are also combat minigames. You can auto??mate them if you want."

NORCO is one of those games that I enjoyed so much that I want to buy it on another platform, and I have to admit I'm enticed by the idea of playing it on a bigger screen. Regardless of any awards, it's one of the most stylish, thoughtful indie games of recent memory, and I think in the long run, it'll?? ??stick around.

The post Best Narrative snub NORCO i?s now available for consoles appeared first on Destructoid.

The wait is finally over

This has been a pretty awesome year for indie games, with titles like Cult of the Lamb, Immortality, and We Are OFK, just to name a few. One game has stuck with me since I reviewed it all the way back in March, and still remains one of my favorites to come out in 2022: the Southern Gothic narrative adventure NORCO that was "inspired by first-person pixel noirs like Déjà Vu & Snatcher and rooted in years of research," according to the game's creators. Set in a dystopia??n cyberpunk version of New Orleans, Louisiana??, the game takes you on a journey through the infamous "Cancer Alley," an area of Mississippi that accounts for a quarter of the US's petrochemical production.

Now, the game's developer Geography of Robots has announced that NORCO is finally coming to consoles with a PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One release on October 20. You can also play on Xbox Games Pass, if that suits your fancy. I obviously own NORCO on PC already, but I'm super excited for this release, because it means the game will be accessible to more players �and this game deserves all the hype it can? get, if getting hype for old-school point-and-clicks is your thing.

//twitter.com/roboticg?eo/status/1570?188618647437312

A press rele??ase from publisher Raw Fury provides ??more in-depth details on the game:

"NORCO is the debut title from developer collective Geography of Robots. Lead creator Yuts was born and raised in Norco, Louisiana, an acronym for New Orleans Refining Co., located in the so-called 'Cancer Alley,' a stretch of the Mississippi that accounts for 1/4 of the US's petrochemical production. The game blends real location?s, personal stories, and Southern Gothic literature with a captivating original soundtrack featuring a guest track by Southern metal Band THOU."

If you're at all interested in checking NORCO out on your favorite console??, I can't recommend it enough!

The post Southern gothic narrat??ive adventure NORCO is coming to consoles appeared first on Destructoid.

How games depict America, for better and for worse

It was fun to sit on my rooftop and watch the fireworks over the Los Angeles cityscape for the Fourth of July this year, but I gotta be honest �it didn’t feel like there was much to celebrate this y?ear. Regardless of the depressing state of our country, the holiday got me thinking about Americana in video games and how they depict our country, for better and for wor?se.

Aside from Japan, the United States is the world’s leader in video game production, so it makes perfect sense that developers would borrow themes, imagery, an?d iconography from their country of? origin. Sometimes it’s to pay homage to where they came from, other times it’s with the express purpose of critiquing the systems and ideals that run our nation, and sometimes it’s a mixture of both.

Small Town Life

[caption id="attachment_291280" align="alignnone" width="1400"] _{Life is Strange: True Colors}[/caption]

Having grown up in one myself, games that take on the American small-town setting will always hold a special place in my heart. One of the series that portrays the classic “small down with a dark secret�trope well is Life is Strange �and it does an excellent job of capturing on a smaller scale that America has a lot of dark secrets hiding under the surface, many of which have come to light over the past few years. For so long our country pushed this narrative of being an ideal, alm??ost utopian place (at least for some), but the whole thing was built on a broken system to begin with.

Night in the Woods nails this theme as well. Most of the game has the player making friends, hanging out around town, and dealing with the fallout of poor decisions that are really manifestations of trauma. However, there’s a cult running around murdering peop??le because they think they’re doing their part to keep the town running. Sounds a little familiar, right?

The American Dream is Dead

[caption id="attachment_265358" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{Kentucky Route Zero}[/caption]

Another classic tale of Americana in video games is big corporations decimating middle America �a phenomenon so common, it’s the subject matter of multiple games, including Kentucky Route Zero, NORCO, Night in the Woods, and Life is Strange: True Colors. Coercion, cover-ups, and buyouts ar?e the name of the game, and in a country that’s run by some corporations in a trench coat, it’s a fitting narrative, to say the least.

What I love about games like Kentucky Route Zero and NORCO as well is that they’re so specific to the regions in which they are set �Kentucky and New Orleans, respectively. The games' settings use iconic American imagery like gas stations, highways, and factories to great effect. The creators are from these areas and also did a great deal of research, so you can really fe??el both the love and the heartbreak that emanates from these titles as you play them. They may take place in very different parts of the country, but the story of a giant corporation coming in and killi?ng off not only industry, but actual citizens, is disturbing in how true to real life it is.

[caption id="attachment_314922" align="alignnone" width="1876"] _NORCO[/caption]

I also can’t mention Kentucky Route Zero without bringing up one of its interludes: The Entertainment. This sequence portrays a fictional play in the game’s world, which depicts a mundane and somewhat depressing sequence of events in a bar that has seen better days. The whole thing feels so evocative of American playwrights of the twentieth century, like Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams. Kentucky Route Zero’s dialogue is formatted like a script throughout the entire game as well, further ev?oking a theatrical framework throughout the rest of the episodes.

For God and Country

Of course, we can’t have a conversation about America and not mention religion, because our country has pretty much become synonymous with evangelicalism. No other game showcases our country’s obsession with religion, American exceptionalism, and racism better than BioShock Infinite. It doubles down on Americana in a video game like I've never seen before, and what it lacks in nuance, it makes up for in style. While it’s still a dated game, and its social commentary could have been greatly improved even in its time, Infinite doesn’t shy away from the uglier parts of our history, which is more than many ga??mes do.

Then there’s a game like Far Cry 5, which I still haven’t played, but it’s certainly on my list considering my fascination with Americana. All I know is that it takes place in Montana and the main antagonistic force is some kind of militaristic doomsday cult. I remember when the game came out in 2018 that its story felt like an exaggeration of the way man?y in our country practice religion, but these days, it’s feeling a little bit too on the nose.

[caption id="attachment_324071" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{BioShock Infinite}[/caption]

Tangential to America’s obsession with religion is our obsession with the military. There have been dozens and dozens of games that feature the United States armed forces in some capacity, but the series that encapsulates this the best is definitely Call of Duty. They have been some of the most popular games out there since the series started back in 2003, depicting wars from World War II all the way up to the present, and some might argue, glorifying them to a certain extent. Don’t get me wrong, I myself have played and enjoyed Call of Duty games, but we can’t separate the games from real life when the military is straight-up using these games to try and recruit players into their ranks.

Man Versus Nature

One of the most American story types ever created is the western, which of course we see in the Red Dead Redemption series. These games are an extension of America’s deep-seated love of cowboys and outlaws, which rose to prominence thanks to the westerns that were made popular in the twentieth century by actors like John Wayne and Clint E??astwood.

Of course, plenty of the games we have now put a new spin on the western genre �The Last of Us is one that immediately comes to mind. H??aving a deadly infection going around definitely makes for a hostile environment, and Joel is somet??hing of a lone wolf you might say (at least until Ellie breaks through his shell a little). I find it pretty interesting that our updated version of a western has you walk away with the idea that opening yourself up to the idea of love in a harsh world maybe isn’t such a bad thing after all.

[caption id="attachment_105941" align="alignnone" width="620"] _{The Last of Us}[/caption]

In conclusion

The games I mentioned here are some of my favorites, or at ??least the ones that stood out to me, but there’s a myriad of other titles out there that reflect American culture in various ways. There are tons of other games out there that touch on topics I haven’t mentioned, especially when it comes to the stories of marginalized people, and I know I’d love to see more of those stories highlighted in the future, espec??ially because most of those come from the indie space.

The history of American media reflecting the country’s culture is a long, difficult, but also beautiful one, and it’s ex?citing to see Americana in video games becoming part of the canon in that regard as well. As games continue to tell innovative and compelling narratives, I look forward to seeing how a new generation of developers uses the medium to express their relationship to Americana moving forward.

Story Beat is a weekly column discussing anything and everything to do with storytelling in video games.

The post A storied history: Americana in video games appeared first on Destructoid.

Learning from Picasso's iconic art style

Photorealism in games can be really fun. Having c??haracters and environments that look just like real life can help immerse you in a game's world, and it can be exciting to see how graphics continue to improve year after year. But here's the thing �I sometimes feel like we can obsess a bit too much over how real or not real a certain game's art style is, picking apart every environment and every little detail on the character models.

I think back to the PS1 era, when people thought that the first Metal Gear game was as realistic-looking as they come. Player??s gushed about the immersion because of how lifelike it was. We laugh about it now, but a?necdotes like that really speak to how much our minds fill in the gaps when it comes to storytelling, something I don't think we give ourselves enough credit for these days.

Picasso's philosophy

A thread I saw on Twitter the other day does an excellent job of starting a conversation about how different styles of art can be effective in different scenarios. The initial tweet is a m??eme about photorealistic versus stylized art, but it's actually referencing a famous quote from the classical painter Pablo Picasso. You know, the guy famou??s for making everyone look like a bunch of colorful shapes. Picasso was prodigious from an early age, and could paint at a level that was basically photorealistic when he was still a young child. Of course, as he got older, he developed one of the most iconic art styles in history �one that many argue portrays human emotion better than photorealism ever could. As the quote goes: "It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child."

Wait, isn't Destructoid a video game website? Why ar??e we talking about art ??history?

Well, I think that this point can also be applied to video games, too. Just like how in visual arts, m?any mark photorealism as the height of one's skill as an artist, we tend to think the same of games. Realistic art can and has been used to great effect?? in games, but sometimes, having a really distinct art style can boost the game's story and themes into the stratosphere.

Making ugly beautiful

A great example of this is NORCO, a narrative point-and-click that is so far my game of the year. While NORCO has some of the most beautiful pixel art I've ever seen, it also str??addles the line of ugly/beautiful most of the time, while also leaning into the grotesque. Some of the characters look terrible (intentionally so), the environments are dingy and run down?, and the whole thing just kind of gives you this sense of dread, like you want to get far, far, away from this place. And it's amazing.

Using a harsh, ugly art style works so well for this game, because it exactly mirrors what's going on in the narrative. Those moments of beauty are contrasted against a landscape of bleak, sometimes horrifying pictures, which again ties beautifully into the moments of hope buried deep in the game's plot. NORCO's art style is as much part of its storytelling as its characters or dialogue, and when developers use every part of a game to point toward a single artistic vision, w??ell, that's how we get some of the best games ever made.

Making cartoony serious

Another game that comes to mind is Firewatch �its art style is really beautiful, but also kind of cartoony. The game is fu??ll of bright, saturated colors, which show off the landscapes and sunsets really nicely. So much of the game is about nature and our enjoyment of it, so that aspect of the art ties into the story nicely.

Then there's the fact that the game has a dramatic tonal shift, and suddenly the cartoonish nature of the art feels othering and uncanny. What was once pleasant and added a sense of ease at the start has turned into something that makes the darker subject matter of the latter part of the game somehow feel even more menacing. While Firewatch??'s art didn't get nearly as much attention as its writing or voice acting, I do think it's a key component in how we experienced its narrative.

The list of?? games with gorgeous but also effective art styles is endless. I could go on and on, but I think you get my point here.

Other art style considerations

On top of what a good, unique? art style can add to a game's experience, there's also the fact that it makes both development and playing a game much simpler, and sometimes better. The more photorealistic we make our games, the longer it takes to perfect them?? (any slight deviation from real life suddenly veers us into the uncanny valley), the bigger the files get, and the more susceptible our games are to crashes and bugs. I'm a huge proponent of simpler being better sometimes, but I know not everyone shares that sentiment.

There's a reason why most of the games that make bold choices when it comes to their art are indie games �it takes huge teams with tons of resources to make a game look photorealistic, and even the most monolithic of AAA studios can struggle with perfectly lifelike art sometimes. The limita?tions placed on indie studios have not held them back, but have instead propelled them forward into making some of the most stylish titles out there. My bias is showing again, but I never understood the push to turn games into the new Hollywood blockbuster when we can make pieces of art that look unlike anything anyone has ever seen before, regardless of medium.

I'm not saying that we can never have a photorealistic game again, or even that people don't appreciate stylized art in games enough, becau?se they certainly do. I just want to emphasize how important art can be in hammering home a gam?e's message, whatever that might look like, and I don't want that to ever be discounted. Raphael and Picasso both have their merits, but I find Picasso a whole lot more fun to look at.

Story Beat is a weekly column discussing anything and everything to do with storytelling in video games.

The post Painting with pixels: how stylized art can heighten a game’s narrative appeared first on Destructoid.

Welcome to a dystopian take on New Orleans

When I played a preview of NORCO last ye?ar, I was tentatively excited to play the rest of the game. It had the makings of a really cool experience, but I've also been let down by such promising beginnings before. I'm still reeling after finishing the game, but one thing I can say for certain is that this is easily my favorite game I've played so far this year.

Just as I said after playing that preview, NORCO is a really bizarre game. However, it doesn't fall into the trap of being weird just for the sake of it �it uses its strangeness to unsettle you in ways that tie into the game's main themes really well. Every plot point and character is nuanced, and the game sympathizes with each idea it in??troduces, regardless of how ugly or off-putting or pathetic it may seem at the outset.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFVhJNfnxCY

NORCO (PC)
Developer: Geography of Robots
Publisher: Raw Fury
Released: March 24, 2022
MSRP: $14.99

The visuals in NORCO are some of the most stunning and evocative I've seen in a game in a long time, and it has some of the most beautiful pixel art I've ever seen. It's moody and atmospheric, feeling like a real space that these characters inhabit, whil?e at other times, the visuals are trippy, otherworldly, and grotesque. It walks a fine line between reality and fantasy, and I felt that it balanced the two perfectly, whether it was in the writing, visuals, or gameplay.

Genre fiction at its finest

As a piece of genre fiction, NORCO does an excellent job of using its genre to say something meaningful about our present time outside of just?? being an enjoyable point-and-click mystery game set in the Deep South. The game creates this incredible sense of futility, dread, and inevitability. It's a portrait of people who are just trying to get by to the best of their abilities, and the acceptance of a life that they didn't envision for themselves.

It's about life feeling different than you wanted it to, something that really hits home in the mi??dst of a global pandemic, and the developers were able to perfectly capture that struggle of wanting the world and the future to be better, but also feeling the world push back when one tries to bring about any sort of change.

NORCO also has one of the best implementations of phones I've seen in a game, not just in gameplay, but in the story as well. It never feels like a mechanic that was implemented for superficial reasons, but instead feels like a natural extension of the characters and how they interact with the world. It somehow manages to critique our over-connectedness, as well as the predatory corporations that run the apps that we use all too often, while also still understanding why we use them, and ??sometimes really en?joy them, in the first place.

Southern Gothic meets magical realism

And the writing �?ugh, it's so good! It's poetic and whimsical and dark, and feels evocative of other Southern writers? like William Faulkner or Flannery O'Connor, but with a nihilistic sci-fi twist. The characters all feel so alive and dynamic, even if we only see them for a second, and when the prose gets more abstract, it really does feel like you're reading poetry.

As someone who is from the South and absolutely adores Southern Gothic, NORCO truly feels like a love letter to both its genre?? and its setting. Like I said, you can see clear inspirations from Southern writers of the twentieth century, and the story dives deep into the ecological and geographical characteristics of New Orleans, and the reciprocal relationships between the big corporations, the land, and the people who inhabit it.

I can also feel clear parallels to another Southern Gothic game that leans into magical realism: Kentucky Route Zero. Even with all of its influences, though, NORCO manages to carve out its own space and identity, not just in the games industry, but in the Southern Gothic canon as a whole. I can't think of anythi??ng else that feels quite like it, and it's a game that I know I'm going to be thinking about for weeks to come.

A few small things

I do have a few gripes, although they're relatively small compared to the rest of the game. There were?? places where I felt the gameplay dragged a bit, mostly because of set pieces that felt slightly out of place for being too "game-y." It broke immersion a bit when characters would stop what they were doing to explain and re-explain gameplay mechanics to me, but it only happened a few times over the course of the game's run time.

I will say that NORCO is designed in a way that it doesn't let you feel lost very easily, which can often be the case for point-and-click games. I didn't have to spend a lot of time backtracking or trying to figure something out, and while a few moments felt a little hand-holdy, I'd rather have that than a game that throws me into the deep end all by myself. First and foremost, NORCO is a story game, so prioritizing progressing the narrative ??over stumping players was a smart move on the developers' part.

NORCO takes you on? a wild, bizarre journey that makes you feel like you've? really gone through something when you come out the other side. In a sea of point-and-click narrative adventures, it oozes style, polish, and earnestness in a way that makes me think it will become a staple of the genre in years to come.

Geography of Robots may be a studio that's still in its early days, but after playing this game, you'd think they're seasoned pros. When I get excited about video games' potential in what they can do as a brand new storytelling medium, NORCO is exactly the kind of experience I envision.

The post Review: NORCO appeared first on Destructoid.

This month's Game Pass offerings cover a pretty wide variety of genres

More games are coming to Xbox Game Pass in March, and there's actually a little bit of something for everyone. This month's offerings run the gamut, from death games and adventure to sports and strategy. And, you know, whatever is happening in the weird Weird West.

The highlight of the month for me, personally, is Zero Escape: The Nonary Games. It's a collection of the first two Zero Escape entries, 999 and Virtue's Last Reward. Each one is a standout in their own right, and even better together. If you like Professor Layton or Danganronpa, or?? just e??njoy a good puzzle-adventure game with a pretty brilliant narrative structure, make time for these. They hit Game Pass for PC, console, and cloud on March 22.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKgwrm_7Zsc

A few new releases are hitting the Xbox Game Pass in March, too. The console version of Crusader Kings III arrives on March 29, Weird West is available on day one at the very end of the month, and snowboarding game Shredders hits the powder on March 17.

Additionally, Xbox Touch Controls are getting added to a bunch of new games. Games like Among Us, Telling Lies, and Spelunky 2 are getting special touch controls, so Game Pass Ultimate players can play them on their phones without controllers?.

Coming to Xbox Game Pass in March 2022

• Shredders (Cloud, PC, Xbox Series X|S) - March 17
• The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos (Cloud, console, PC) - March 17
• Tainted Grail: Conquest (Console) - March 22
• Zero Escape: The Nonary Games (Cloud, console, PC) - March 22
• Norco (PC) - March 24
• F1 2021 (Console) - March 24
• Crusader Kings III (Xbox Series X|S) - March 29
• Weird West (Cloud, console, PC) - March 31

The post Xbox Game? Pass for March has console Crusader Kings III??, Nonary Games, and more appeared first on Destructoid.

Give me the melodrama

Melting candles, dark, cobwebbed corners, crimson blood stained on white lace �aesthetically, gothic horror is one of my favorite genres out there. Staples of gothic horror include anything as broad as a suspenseful, mysterious atmosphere, prophecies, and intense emotion, to t??he specifics of a castle setting, a damsel in distress, and stormy weather, just to name a few.

Before gothic horror became a whole aesthetic, inspiring media from every form, it had its humble beginnings in literature. The genre originally got its start from a short story called The Castle of Otranto, which was subtitled A Gothic Story. From there, we got the classics like Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, just to name a few.

The number of games that fall neatly into the gothic horror genre is surprisingly and disappointingly small. In the mainstream, the only games I can think of that fit into this category are Bloodborne, Darkest Dungeon, Castlevania, and Vampire: The Masquerade. I bet there are some smaller indie games that are up to snuff, but they're not well-known enough to really solidify gothic ?horror's place in the mainstream gaming market. I'm not even sure that that last one entirely counts, because it was a tabletop game first.

There are plenty of games out there that are tangential to the true vein of gothic horror like the Diablo series, which I'd consider to be more of a gothic-fantasy hybrid. Then you have beloved series like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, both of which I would say borrow from gothic horror, but the distinction there is that those games are more aligned with eastern horror conventions, while gothic horror relies more heavily on western tropes and imagery. I would argue that games like Kentucky Route Zero, Alan Wake, and the yet-to-be-released NORCO do a great job of representing t?he ??American gothic subgenre.

There's even a game like Dream Daddy?, where the eccentric romanceable NPC Dami??en became a fan-favorite representation of a gothic vampire. To me, he's a great example of how gothic horror can integrate well into today's pop culture, which is honestly a really cool idea and something I want to see more of.

Maybe I'm splitting hairs here, and maybe this whole conversation seems pointless to you, but as someone who is incredibly fond of the aesthetic associated with gothic horror, I think we're really missing out on some cool games here. While horror is part of the name, gothic horror isn't outright about scaring the crap out of you �instead, it often dives deep into topics of mortality, despair, and regret, and so on, which makes it rife with potential to tell really compelling, albeit dark, stories within a highly stylized framework.

I want to see a community sim inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher, where you manage a cursed old home as the last surviving member of a once prestigious family. I want a dating sim with dark, mysterious suitors inspired by the likes of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights??. I guess you can just file this article into my ever-growing category of trying to manifest my gaming fantasies. At the end of the day, I see a whole lot of unused potential, and I want to start a conversation about? the hypothetical games of my dreams that I could be playing this Halloween.

Story Beat is a weekly column discussing anything and everything to do with storytelling in video games.

The post Where are all the gothic horror games? appeared first on Destructoid.

A story-heavy point-and-click that stands out amongst the crowd

As soon as I read the description of what NORCO is, I knew I had to try it for myself. "Sou??thern gothic sci-fi?" Yes please. Those are two very coo??l genres you don't often see mixed together, so immediately I knew I was gonna be in for a unique experience.

As soon as I booted up the gameplay demo, I was right about that. It's one of those games that feels familiar to play, because it's a good 'ol classic point-and-click. Navigation and dialogue options are pretty simple to figure out. However, what really stands out about NORCO is its ??setting??, its characters, and its overall style.

You immediately get a sense of the setting �the run-down, decaying suburbs of a futuristic New Orleans �and its hyper-advanced technologies like androids and AI that are scattered around. The mix of the primal and the futuristic is a tentpole of the cyberpunk genre, but seeing it mixed with the Southern Gothic aesthetic is what I think makes NORCO special.

I found myself almost a bit disoriented at the beginning of my short time in the game, but this was by design. The world of NORCO is dark and messy, and you can tell right away that this game is going to challenge you in interesting ways. If it can already set me on edge in the first 45 minutes, I can't imagine how intense th??e rest of it is going to be.

The visuals are often gorgeous, and the pixel style gives the game a sense of being grounded in its setti?ng really nicely. I say that the visuals are often nice, though, because they can look ugly and grotesque, but in a way that's thematically relevant and says something about the characters or setting. Basically, the art in th?is game is great, and the risks they take to do something bizarre end up working in its favor.

The text describing your surroundings is often brief, but is able to t??elegraph interesting ideas that are more centered on a memory or a feeling than anything else, at least early on. These descriptions really s?et the mood, and establish the setting in a way you might expect from a good novel.

The gameplay may have been simple within the first hour, but I can see a lot of potential for how NORCO will escalate as the plot grows more complicated. Dialogue options were pretty standard, but did a great job of establishing a voice for the player character early on. One notable feature was the Mindmap, an introspective mechanic that allows the player to go over information they learned about other characters, and decide how they r??eally feel about things.

After playing this demo, I can't help but think how lucky we are to be in a time where ?indie games are really thriving. I don't know that this game would be what it is without being bir?thed from that environment, and I mean that as the highest compliment.

NORCO is so different from anything I've played, not really because of the mechanics (although I'm sure there are tons of awesome things awaiting further into the game), but because of its tone and style. It's weird and different in ways that I find intriguing, and that makes me want to come back for more. I think the weirdness that makes it special is one that publishers may not have been willing to take a risk on in the past, but it's what people are going to love about NORCO the most.

Under the release date section of NORCO's official Steam page, it just says "hell is a place with patience." First off, it never occurred to me that you could even do that, so that'??s rad as hell. I think this small detail is a perfect example of the voice the game uses to speak to players, and the fact that tha??t voice extends into its Steam page says a lot to me about how innovative this experience is likely to be.

I've always had a soft spot for indies, and I think it's because I always held them up as the next step for games to take in the journey to bec?oming a more artistic storytelling medium. Games come along every once in a while like Disco Elysium and Kentucky Route Zero that make me thi?nk, "man, this is what this medium is truly capable of??," and I really think that NORCO has the potential to be up there with the greats.

Hopefully, this one can live up to the hype, but from what I've seen so far, I have high hopes. NORCO does not yet ha??ve a release window, but it's set to be out on Steam�??sometime?

The post NORCO looks bizarre, but that’s its biggest strength appeared first on Destructoid.