Base game is fantastic but this port is very typical of ports made in the early era of VR. It doesn't add any tactile interation with the world, your hands pass through everything which breaks immersion and means you don't pick up objects by grabbing them but just by pointing and pressing a button gmod physgun style. At least barebones FPS VR ports have the inherent enhancement of using and aiming a gun with your hands but the Talos Principle is a lot of walking around and moving objects so it makes playing in VR feel very redundant. The major attraction though is that the enviroments look stunning in VR.

A casualty of scope creep, NORCO consists of many methodical and haunting tone pieces and prose paintings that sparsely link well or command time effectively. I really enjoy the narrator writing, the broader strokes of mood, and the qualities of southern Louisiana and New Orleans brought forth, but the adventure game plotting doesn't give space to breathe or reflect in the way that I'd like. Combat feels tacked on and so removed from violence that the larger set pieces become the least exciting.

The most fun I had was zipping around the swamp to different text entries, just kind of getting washed over. I wish the more game-y parts were slower and less desperate to feel like a puzzle or to throw a bunch of character gags that felt out of place with the reflective narration. NORCO is quite fun and I'm happy it exists, but it's a little confused on its own identity and the kinds of politicized and class constructions it wants to discuss.