The Norwood Suite shames all other walking simulators with the quality of its storytelling and the way it uses player interactions in the narrative. It’s a unique, intelligent and ambitious game that eludes simple interpretation. [13/2017, p.37]
Forsaking both challenging gameplay and a traditional narrative structure, The Norwood Suite is a welcome odyssey into oddity that will more than satisfy those craving strangeness or just another piece of the delightful Off-Peak universe.
The experience of The Norwood Suite is incredibly unique, each design choice, be it of the musical or visual arts, very much reflects Cosmo D's style. The world in which you play feels well developed and full, but not cluttered, keeping you on the path of the game, but not on rails. The Norwood Suite — along with their first release, Off-Peak — are two games worth the effort and confusion.
The game doesn’t ultimately suffer from its technical issues. Instead I felt more like it was muddled by lack of creative cohesion or foresight. The game’s story was intriguing, but doesn’t really resolve in a manner which is coherent. The level of visual fidelity works, but doesn’t entirely seem premeditated. Yet it’s over very quickly, and in its broad strokes paints a captivating picture. Had it required me to spend more time to reach its pay off, I might have been bothered by this. To compare it to music, this works well as a free mix-tape, but I wouldn’t tolerate it as a full album. That said, I’m interested in what the artist’s point of view is. If they were to be signed, I’d likely want to check out what they could put out with the support of a record label.
SummaryThe sequel to Off-Peak, The Norwood Suite is a surreal first-person adventure game by Cosmo D. Journey to the secluded Hotel Norwood, where odd characters, forgotten secrets, and head-nodding music await.