Title: NorrlandCreator: Cactus (Jonatan Söderström)
Platform: PC
Price: Free
"This seems neat, the whole retro thing has been done to death, but this is kinda cool....just exit the house or whatever...what the...wait a minute...what the fuck is going...well okay if I press that and then those I can reload for some reason...okay, he's gotta take a shit, he is out in the forest after all...wait how do I...okay I get it but what's with the blood...okay this is getting a bit too pretentious, but maybe there's something to it..." These are some of the thoughts that ran through my head during the first few minutes of Norrland. It is extremely avant garde in its own right, yet at the same time, appears to be poking fun at avant garde gaming (a genre which, even in my extensive experience, I have rarely encountered). The ColecoVision level graphics are beautifully executed (even when seeping drops of urine onto what I assume were ants), the atmosphere compelling and the silent film style narration brilliant. Though I'm not entirely sure what creator Soderstrom was trying to achieve or what message, if any, he was trying to get across.
The game follows a lone man making his way through the woods with his trusty rifle and a healthy heaping of bizarre (not to mention, hugely NSFW) minigames which are encountered everytime our hero either has a bodily function that needs tending to, or enters a dream state. I won't go into detailing these segments as I believe this is a game best left to be explored by each individual for himself; every person who plays this game will come away feeling something different (with the sole conjecture of at least one "what the fuck?" moment unifying all who play it). Regardless of what Norrland is supposed to exist as, I feel that every gamer (especially any of those interested in the indie scene) owes it to himself to experience this obtuse little piece of pixelated befuddlement.
Generally I would, at this point in my diatribe, attribute the game a solid "yea" or "nay" and go about the tried and true practice of divvying out a "blah" out of "blah" for graphics, replayability, etc. In the case of Norrland, however, I'll end with a simple "take 20 minutes out of your day and PLAY THIS GAME through"...ya might love it, ya might hate it, ya might give up on it and curse me for suggesting it to you. One thing ya will most likely say, though, is that you've never played anything quite like it. Get it HERE.
***HINT***
Though I won't give away the controls (the game itself purposefully provides no instructions) I will tell you that you do NOT need to use the mouse, only the keyboard keys. I won't say which, as part of the experience is just figuring it out for yourself...just don't give up...you'll find the right keys if ya try hard enough....
