Deep into “Norco,” the video game, one of the characters finds herself trying to break into an abandoned mall in Kenner to steal a magical object of unknown origin from the apocalyptic cult that has hidden it away.
It’s but one scene in a procession of increasingly surreal and bizarre situations in a game that counts talking birds, malevolent robots and messianic cultists among its cast. More than the people, though, the game’s setting is the main character.
The scenes will be familiar to anyone from southeast Louisiana, despite the fantastical plot. Characters criss-cross the New Orleans area, from battures along the Mississippi River to City Hall, traveling on Interstate 10, Airline Highway and Apple Street in the actual community of Norco.
The locations give the game a visceral feel, despite it being drawn in pixel art rather than the immersive video style of some popular big-studio games.
‘Evocative storytelling’
A demo of the game won the first-ever Tribeca Games Award last year, sending an early signal that it could be something special in the gaming world. Last month, the full version was released on the game platform Steam to rave reviews, putting its namesake St. Charles Parish community in the mouths and at the fingertips of gamers everywhere.
“On a good day, ‘Norco’ is a bastion of beautifully evocative storytelling that invites any player to take refuge in its world,” wrote PC Gamer, a computer games website and magazine. “On a bad day, it cuts deep as a sobering, but loving portrait of a modern dystopia.”
“‘Norco’s’ first scene creates an atmosphere of intimate suburban gloom,” said a New Yorker article in January.
The game is the brainchild of a programmer who goes by the name Yuts. The 36-year old Yuts, who was raised in Norco and graduated from Destrehan High School, describes the game as a “love letter” to his hometown.
The award at Tribeca put Yuts, who uses his gamer name in his public facing life, on the gaming map. And since the release, things have only gotten more hectic.
“It’s been a wild couple of weeks,” he said recently.
Yuts and his collaborators, collectively known as Geography of Robots, have been busy since the game’s release fixing bugs and trying to keep up with the game’s reception.
“We are feeling a bit shocked,” he said.
‘Pulpy noir’
Perhaps the quintessential Louisiana company town — Norco’s name comes from the old New Orleans Refining Company — the juxtaposition of huge industry and much smaller human housing around his hometown became the inspiration for the game, Yuts said.
But the game draws from more than just St. Charles Parish. There are scenes in the French Quarter, Fat City, swamps, even a largely-mothballed mall in Kenner, clearly a stand-in for The Esplanade Mall.
Yuts, who is trained as an urban and regional planner, is fascinated by the idea of telling stories through locations.
“I’m very interested in the geography of Louisiana,” he said. “Weaving a narrative through all of these various landscapes in a way that I find emotionally resonant.”
The game’s style has led some to compare it to the film Blade Runner. Others have likened it to popular independently produced games “Disco Elysium” and “Kentucky Route Zero.”
The comparisons are “flattering,” Yuts said. But to him, “Norco” is “more of a quick pulpy noir video game.”
As a point and click game, the plot moves forward largely through text. Reviewers have praised the game’s dreamy prose, and Yuts said he was acutely conscious that people would consume the game through the words on the screen.
“I do think the text of the game takes primacy,” he said. “In a lot of ways it’s a more literary work.”
After living out of state, Yuts said he’s looking to move back to New Orleans this summer. While he plans to continue to work on games, he doesn’t see “Norco” developing into a broader family of products.
“I’m not particularly interested in building out a universe that way,” he said. “There definitely won’t be a sequel.”