One of my favorite media events during GDC is the Xbox Play Anywhere Showcase, formerly known as the ID@Xbox Showcase (but something makes me think they’ll go back to the old name next year, assuming they’re back). On top of the awesome games on the floor, normally with a developer or two alongside them, there’s a bunch of food, an open bar, and it presents an opportunity to network with other people in games media. It’s a reunion of sorts with unreleased games and great vibes, but once you get through all that, the real joy is uncovering a gem here and there. That’s what I think I might have done with Nomori.
It’s like the headline says, what if Portal was cozy? It kind of already is, considering you don’t die, but everything about Nomori is whimsical and as soon as I picked up the Xbox controller, I wanted to be in that world.
I’ll be honest, there wasn’t much of an introduction to this game and I only jumped on because aside from its colorful art style, I saw it was the only free game with no queue behind it–that’s an awesome combination. After the 20 minutes or so I spent with it, while I understood why there was nobody else there, it’s definitely something I can easily spend a few hours on and not even notice.
The colorful world of Nomori is just begging to be explored.
The game sort of presents itself like a platformer in what looks like something inspired by Studio Ghibli’s The Secret of Arrietty. You use this girl Kiko, and while the press briefing provided us with information that she was in trouble, I didn’t notice anything about her being in any sort of danger. While you can fall off the maps, there didn’t seem to be any punishment for failing, which is great because I can’t think of anything more excruciating than dying while trying to figure out a puzzle.
The demo seemed to have a linear path to follow, and I discovered things like jelly cubes that you could bounce on, use as platforms, and they were also things that you can bring through portals to solve other environmental puzzles.
This was all fine and dandy, but this is where I found out why this demo station emptied (aside from the fact that there’s also a demo on Steam).
These big jelly cubes are useful as they are confusing.
As cool as the portals were for puzzles, you eventually get to the point where you’ll learn the ability to manipulate perspectives. When near a portal, Kiko can turn the environment on its side, upside down, and on its other side, totally changing the outlook of where each portal is going. This left me all sorts of confused. Ceilings became the ground. Trees became beams to walk on. Throw in the fact that you also have to decide which perspective is best before you actually travel with the jelly cubes, and the cozy game becomes frustrating.
To help, the dev onsite mentioned the fact that you can lay arrow markers at any point, and one useful way to use them was to lay them out in front of where the portals lead, so that would be a method of tracking what you’ve already tried. Eventually the frustration for me got heavy, but I also was told I went further than most of the other journalists there who tried the game. Yay for positive reinforcement!
Nomori is currently planned for a release in the second quarter of this year. Considering we were at an Xbox event, it’s not yet known whether it’ll come to more platforms besides PC and Xbox Series X/S, but this game has me intrigued, so expect a better more coverage as we get closer to the game’s release.
One of my favorite media events during GDC is the Xbox Play Anywhere Showcase, formerly known as the ID@Xbox Showcase (but something makes me think they’ll go back to the old name next year, assuming they’re back). On top of the awesome games on the floor, normally with a developer or two alongside them, there’s a bunch of food, an open bar, and it presents an opportunity to network with other people in games media. It’s a reunion of sorts with unreleased games and great vibes, but once you get through all that, the real joy is uncovering a gem here and there. That’s what I think I might have done with Nomori.
One of my favorite media events during GDC is the Xbox Play Anywhere Showcase, formerly known as the ID@Xbox Showcase (but something makes me think they’ll go back to the old name next year, assuming they’re back). On top of the awesome games on the floor, normally with a developer or two alongside them, there’s a bunch of food, an open bar, and it presents an opportunity to network with other people in games media. It’s a reunion of sorts with unreleased games and great vibes, but once you get through all that, the real joy is uncovering a gem here and there. That’s what I think I might have done with Nomori.
It’s like the headline says, what if Portal was cozy? It kind of already is, considering you don’t die, but everything about Nomori is whimsical and as soon as I picked up the Xbox controller, I wanted to be in that world.
I’ll be honest, there wasn’t much of an introduction to this game and I only jumped on because aside from its colorful art style, I saw it was the only free game with no queue behind it–that’s an awesome combination. After the 20 minutes or so I spent with it, while I understood why there was nobody else there, it’s definitely something I can easily spend a few hours on and not even notice.
The colorful world of Nomori is just begging to be explored.
The game sort of presents itself like a platformer in what looks like something inspired by Studio Ghibli’s The Secret of Arrietty. You use this girl Kiko, and while the press briefing provided us with information that she was in trouble, I didn’t notice anything about her being in any sort of danger. While you can fall off the maps, there didn’t seem to be any punishment for failing, which is great because I can’t think of anything more excruciating than dying while trying to figure out a puzzle.
The demo seemed to have a linear path to follow, and I discovered things like jelly cubes that you could bounce on, use as platforms, and they were also things that you can bring through portals to solve other environmental puzzles.
This was all fine and dandy, but this is where I found out why this demo station emptied (aside from the fact that there’s also a demo on Steam).
These big jelly cubes are useful as they are confusing.
As cool as the portals were for puzzles, you eventually get to the point where you’ll learn the ability to manipulate perspectives. When near a portal, Kiko can turn the environment on its side, upside down, and on its other side, totally changing the outlook of where each portal is going. This left me all sorts of confused. Ceilings became the ground. Trees became beams to walk on. Throw in the fact that you also have to decide which perspective is best before you actually travel with the jelly cubes, and the cozy game becomes frustrating.
To help, the dev onsite mentioned the fact that you can lay arrow markers at any point, and one useful way to use them was to lay them out in front of where the portals lead, so that would be a method of tracking what you’ve already tried. Eventually the frustration for me got heavy, but I also was told I went further than most of the other journalists there who tried the game. Yay for positive reinforcement!
Nomori is currently planned for a release in the second quarter of this year. Considering we were at an Xbox event, it’s not yet known whether it’ll come to more platforms besides PC and Xbox Series X/S, but this game has me intrigued, so expect a better more coverage as we get closer to the game’s release.
by Danreb Victorio
