Son of Nor

If this was a free student project piece that was asking for feedback, I would say it’s moderately well and worth maybe a low C as a grade... However, this is being sold for $20 and it is definitely not worth that price!
No. The sand manipulation was a very cool concept but the game should have primarily focused on that instead of adding fire blasts and aura(???). The low resolution models also appear to be purchased from a 3D model site which they probably were but it’s not too much of a big deal.
As the game went on I just toned out of it and started avoiding it. I think the sand manipulation would be a good starting point for a different game but this one is best thrown in the recycle bin.

Game could have been really good. A shame for the awful graphics.
Also, if you have started the game, then accidently press on "battle grounds" while in the main menu, all your progress in the "real game" is lost and you have to start over!

Shame, shame, shame...

I might have a toaster for a PC, but I have played better looking games on it that had no problem, this game though... It stutters, it lags and it looks aweful.

I remember that I could not create a character because the fire at the into screen made my pc freeze up at early access, I mean it is now a bit better, but it is still bleh. Also it deleted my progress once or twice, always nice of a game to do that.

Gameplay wise it can be summed up like this: Fun at first, but viarity comes too slow to be fun for longer.

Pity I blew 20 bucks on this sucker.

This game was a bit of a mess. The engine didn't seem quite able to keep up with the physics, the environments seemed created with a toolkit of some sort, and the hit detection never quite worked as expected. The game does feel inspired, however, and was a valiant effort. In addition, some of the puzzles in the game are quite clever. These positives can't quite overcome the unpolished feel of the entire game.

Let me start by saying this is a very weak recomendation.

Son of nor has an good idea for a story, fun gameplay mechanics and interesting level design. The problem is that the game doesn't really do anything with those elements. One would expect a game where you can raise and lower ground and move objects around with the power of your mind to have a bunch of puzzles and secret areas right? nope, puzzles are few and far between and the secret areas are generaly eather scenic roads to the objective (pretty to look at but otherwise boring) or small caves with some collectable or another.

There is some story but it's pretty bare bone unless you want to spend time translating the game's invented alphabet. I found it too tedious to do so.

The combat is where the game actually gets my recomendation. Its fun throwing enemies around, launching huge burning rocks at them, using wind to blow them off cliffs, ect. Indeed the sadistic will find plenty of ways to creatively dispatch creatures trying to kill them.

Objects in the environment break in a rather satisfying way the levels are rather pretty in my opinion but are rather short often leaving you asking "oh we are done already?".

Overall it is a fun game but it isn't going to wow you.

The game's optimization is very low. So, even on the lowest of the low graphical settings, I still can't get past more than one frame per second.
Now, my computer isn't the most beefy, but I damn well know it can run games like BioShock infinite on high.
So sorry, but I can't recommend this game if I can't even play it.

it feels like an alpha, very un-optimized.

I used to recommend it, but bugs and fixes are needed that just aren't being done.

Not recommended.

I liked the concept for this game, and thought it had a lot of potential, but it suffers from shoddy execution.

PRO

• Concept is novel, and gameplay not typical.
  
• Co-op is available, and playing co-op can help make up for the game's shortcomings by making interesting combos possible.
  
• Puzzles and platforming with physics - a great combination in almost any game that does it. It's possible the game would have been rather better for me if it had been about the puzzles instead of boring combat against swarms of boring enemies.
  

NEUTRAL

• Dated graphics - only a con if you want AAA visuals.
  
• Railroading - the world isn't open
  
• The plot and characters are forgettable
  

CON

• Voice acting is cringeworthy.
  
• Inaccurate physics in a game where the physics is vital to gameplay
  
• Controls are... slippery? I think that's the word for it. Hard to explain, but controls sometimes react slowly, and other times suddenly.
  
• Surpsingly demanding on hardware for an older graphics style.
  
[*]Combat is repetitive and dull. You can be creative, but the game encourages you to just bash everything with whatever is handy.

90s PC throwback aesthetic? Cool, especially when it looks and sounds that pretty. Telekinetic manipulation? Even better.

Slippery controls, poor physics, laughable animation work, shit-tier writing with the voice acting to match, bugs out the ass (why is my screen shaking for no reaso- wait, my ROG G750JZ can't even run this at maximum...? Are you fucking kidding m- I'M STUCK AGAIN?!) and a lack of basic player aids (decent map, stage-based collectibles tally, etc.) trampling all over an otherwise novel idea?

Not so much.

A blast to play, and actually quite enjoyable as a co-op experience. The mechanics of it can lead to some funny situations between players and I had a great time. I didn't quite beat it yet, but I love the way the whole thing feels.

It does feel a little bit janky, but in a good way if that makes sense. You can tell it's not a big budget game right away but it adds to the mystery of what you might find. It feels like there are lots of things to discover and toy with and generally I can say I recommend this to anyone who wants a fun co-op experience or who likes to play games that aren't really your standard affair.

It might not have an epic quality to it (like Elder Scrolls), but I liked the simplicity of it. It feels like a casual game in a 3D world. If you like the Prince of Persia series, you could probably get into this game. The puzzle aspect is a lot of fun (most of the time). One of my favorite things is feeling like a sand version of Silver Surfer (closest thing I can compare it to). This game was not only fun, but also unique. Just like flappy bird, I see their unique character abilities showing up in other games down the road. Truly innovative. Its not the perfect game, but its an awesome game!

Anyone that gave this game positive reviews should be ashamed of themselves for misleading people so terribly. The concepts behind the gameplay could have been good, but the premise is trumped by the presentation. Clunky controls, worse camera, unoriginal lore (humans are nearly extinct because of a race of evil whatsits that enslaved them long ago, hide in the desert, lizard men still hunt them for no reason blah blah), boring visuals with graphics reminiscent of the original Black and White (character models as jagged as the cliffs that restrict your movement). Just a bad game in every way but the physics based combat and enviromental control idea, but that is put into action so poorly you'll wish you just had a way to punch your foes on the nose. It'd be more effective.

I also suggest everyone flag the Character Action tag as being applied incorrectly. This is in no way a part of that genre.

People need to get on the multiplayer for this game! The spell combos are amazing and I'm dying to PvP. I'll be hosting matches until people show up.

As for a game review, the mechanics and spells are awesome, puzzles are fun, but the AI and story leave something to be desired.

As a local co-op game, this is definitely worth the money. There are too few games that have local co-op in campaign mode to be picky. I played 2 hours with a friend, and it was good fun.

But, as a single player game, Son of Nor just isn't worth the time when there are so many better single player games out there.

The gameplay is dull. There's only one tactic effective against each type of enemy, and only a few different types of enemies. Telekinesis, which doesn't require mana and is available from the start, is the easiest way to kill most enemies, so there's very little reason to use the spells that cost mana.

The story is not very interesting. I feel like a lot of it was lost in translation, because there just isn't much there. It alludes to there being a lot more lore that wasn't explained. Also, I have no idea what happened in the ending - did my character save his people, or cause the destruction of the world, or was it a cliffhanger? I have no idea. It just cut to credits.

As a better alternative to Son of Nor, I recommend the game "Tiny and Big: Grandpa's Leftovers". It has similar telekinesis-style mechanics, but is MUCH more fun and it has a coherent story.

Firstly I would like to say that this game had some good concepts and ideas, if were not poorly executed- this game had great potential and generally would not be poor in terms of gameplay, mechanics, performance, dialogue, transitioning; these are the core elements in which should be top quality in a video game.

After playing an hour, attempting to fix an issue of lag, bare in mind my GPU is above the recommended yet it seems to be the case where my GPU is running at maximum capabilities in terms of memory and shader allocations; and yet I still have an issue with framerate and ligthing. I even lowered my resolutions from 1920x1200 to 1280x720, yet still the issue persue. More on the topic of graphical issues, the 'telekanesis' ability when picking up rocks, in fact anything you pick up has a glitchty outer texture, whether that was supposed to be some sort of glowing effect- I do not know, but it was not well executed either way.

Okay, enough about performance issues and graphics, more onto the gameplay. Do not get me the wrong, the story has a good concept just the characters seem too wooden, emotionless and the whole dialogue just seems to be cliche, typical. The transitions seems to be unnatrual, with instancing between certain areas of the level you are on, meaning you get a loading screen for fixed points in the level. Most items you can control with your abilities, along with shaping the ground with terraforming, I believe that due to most things be prerendered, you get a lot of lag on the start of levels.

Combat is poor, I was expecting good combat with these great concepts, but mostly the AI is poor and enemies are too easy to deal with after playing 3 levels there is no challenge present (I am also playing on hard difficulty). And NPCs do most of the killing for you, which again, ruins the experience.

In conclusion, I would not recommend this game- it was a great idea but sadly was not expressed or brought out upon it's full potential. Which is a shame.

Its a fun game, rediculously fun.
Part platformer, part puzzle and all magic.
From the basic push and pull magics to being able to terraform sand this game is amusingly fun.
Outside a minor error where the game wont load me into chapter 7 or level 7 this game is highly enjoyable.
That and the giant carrots.

A great Indie title which I have owned for a while now. From a fairly small team comes this title which allows you to terraform, use telekinesis and manipulate your environment to swing things in your favour! Multi-platform, extensive co-op/multiplayer modes as well as co-op story mode with lots of challenging levels and puzzles. Combine magical powers with your friends and make fire tornados! Who wouldn't want to be able to use their mind to throw boulders at your enemies' head?

Gameplay?

The gameplay reminds me a lot like Jedi Academy while the visuals and the feel of the game makes me think of Stargate, Indiana Jones and Prince of Persia. Not a bad combination! It forces you to think about your surroundings and the abilities you have to hand in order to defend yourself. Unlike a lot of action-adventure games, you don't wield weapons but have to use elements and take advantage of your surroundings. You can kind of use weapons, but not physically hold a spear, but take it from a Sarahul's hand (the bad guys in this game, like big lizard men) and throw it right back at them. There is also freedom to choose different paths as to how you're going to proceed to your goal. Are you going to go stealth? Go in blazing and take on an army of lizard guys? Flank strategically with your friends? Up to you. For an Indie game title, it's not as linear as you would expect. I believe there is roughly 12+ hours of gameplay available single player and/or co-op, plus PvP arenas and a few other multiplayer game modes.

Cool stuff, GADGETS!

Another thing which really caught my eye was the amount of gadgets you can use in this game. It's compatible with Oculus Rift (although I believe there are some tweeks needed), Tobii EyeX which is an eye sensor bar and finally, EPOC Emotive which enables you to almost literally control the game with your mind! Other than being awesome features, it really broadens the market to other avid gamers who may not be so physically able to enjoy games. Having eyetracker software, and being able to train your hardware to the thought patterns of your brain is truly astonishing. Again, I don't know of many Indie games that enable you to do this. So kudos to Stillalive Studios!

Overall?

Well, I can't be the judge of this game only you can. With anything I would always advise to check out some gameplay of something first and this would be no exception. I personally think it's a really cool little game and a bit of a diamond in the rough. The team at Stillalive have been awesome to everyone by listening to feedback, developer diaries to keep you up to date with changes and to give you a chance to express your views whether they're positive or negative. You can tell a lot of hard work and love went into this title and even if the game isn't your cup of tea, you'd still want to support the developers.

*Edit* I had an issue with the game and a dev responded in less than an hour.

Great support, great dev team, and might I add great game.
Although it is hard to find players for multiplayer (game released hours ago so I expect that to change soon), the campaign is really fun!
At first glance it appeared like moving sand was all you could do, but just wait, literal skill trees
and several sweet spells later, I find myself really enjoying this game. The game has a lot more than the trailer makes it appear.

It doesn't have skyrim graphics, but who cares about graphics when the gameplay is this fun!

Love it.

After having had mouse issues, this morning the game worked as compared to not working the night before. I have no idea, but I could speculate that whatever API is used for controller support was messing up the mouse controls. (all Unity 4 games seem to have this bug, the first time you start the game the mouse is broken)

Ok, so it seems to work now. Here goes a quicky review:

I haven't played through all of the single player yet, but the game offers very nice and colorful graphics with very interresting effects. Yay for sand waves! Audio sounds fantastic. I'm very excited to play through this game now! Gameplay is a 3rd person view and a magic system that is easy to use. It's quite hard to describe, but very easy to learn the basics.

Impressive for early access and since I got the mouse working I'm changing this to big thumbs up.
The only thing I'm missing is more than four players for online games, but hey, four is better than zero, which is what many indie games offer. (network code is hard, really hard)

Looking forward to a full release and seeing how Stillalive studios will continue to develop this really interresting game idea. ^_^

EDIT: got more gametime in and the single player mode is EXACTLY how you introduce players to new games and hook them. BRILLIANT!

I haven't gotten very far into the game yet-- i'm still in level 1-- but so far, i've been loving it. It's not the easiest game, and sometimes i get frustrated with my inability to beat the baddies, but it's the kind of brilliant idea that just stays in your head for days. I sometimes dream about having the earthbending abilities i do in the game. It's fun! and the developers are awesome people who need your feedback! i recommend getting it if you have $20 to spare :)

Every once in while a game comes along that reminds us of something we played before, but still stands on its own as a separate entity. When you enter the world of Nor you are assailed with nostalgic feelings of Magic Carpet, Gothic 2, Myst, Alladin and other Shaherezad tales. The game gave me that googly eyed feeling of listening to a campfire story from the village elder.

Onwards to features... You get to throw rocks, no wait. You get to bury a lizard in a pit of sand, charge up a rock with awesome wind power and ram it in its snout at supersonic speeds. Or toss some lava rocks at em and watch em burn. You make the rules. Aaaaaand once you pile all the corpses in a neat pile in the corner you can grab a cup of tea and wrack your brain on the intricately designed puzzle that lets you get to the next room.

Obviously this game needs polish and work, but the framework is solid. Devs seems to be dedicated to making a good game. And once they get the cash, feedback and time the final product is sure to impress.
PS: You get to throw rocks... Any SWTOR Shadow needs to get this game like NOW!!!