Norco

This Southern Gothic piece of magical realism felt like it sprang from nowhere, with the confidence and talent of a team that had been making games for decades. And yet, it was a first-time project from a tiny team, with the writing and code by one person.

Set in a dystopian Louisiana, Norco casts you as Kay, returning to her childhood town and home after her mother dies of cancer. Her brother is missing, although that’s not especially surprising, and there’s a sentient robot in the backyard that shouldn’t be there.

But, despite that setup, this is a very lowkey, very recognizable world, where the real danger is melancholy. There’s this creeping sense that things are far more wrong than they appear, expertly delivered through its beautiful art and exquisite writing. Norco has some of the best writing I’ve ever seen in a game, absolutely stunning prose in even the most throwaway descriptions.

This is the sort of game that I wish the broader critical industry would play, to get an understanding of how sophisticated a medium gaming can be, to understand its unique abilities in storytelling. You should play it, too!