The Norwood Suite

Starting at $1.59Buy now

"The Norwood Suite" is a first-person narrative-driven game set in a mysterious hotel. As a visitor, you'll uncover eccentric characters, surreal events, and hidden secrets, all while trying to discover the truth behind the hotel's enigmatic host. With its distinctive jazz soundtrack and immersive environment, the game invites you on a unique adventure filled with intrigue and humor.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

96%

Audience ScoreBased on 465 reviews

music96 positive mentions

optimization3 negative mentions

The Norwood Suite features a unique and surreal atmosphere, with vibrant visuals and an engaging soundtrack that enhances the overall experience.
The game offers a rich narrative filled with quirky characters and intriguing dialogue, encouraging exploration and interaction.
It successfully combines elements of art, music, and storytelling, creating an immersive experience that feels like wandering through a dream.

The game is relatively short, with a playtime of around 2-3 hours, which may leave some players wanting more content.
There are frequent bugs and crashes reported, which can disrupt gameplay and lead to lost progress.
Some players found the puzzles to be overly simplistic and the narrative to be confusing or lacking in clarity.

music
244 mentions
39 % positive mentions
59 % neutral mentions
1 % negative mentions
The music in "The Norwood Suite" is widely praised for its originality and immersive quality, enhancing the game's surreal atmosphere and storytelling. Players appreciate the diverse soundtrack, which features unique compositions that change with each area, creating a captivating auditory experience that complements the quirky visuals and narrative. Overall, the game's music is considered a standout element, making it a must-listen for fans of innovative sound design and artistic expression.
- “The music is wonderful and fits the environments perfectly.”
- “The soundtrack is excellent.”
- “The music is astoundingly good and unquestionably unique.”
- “The music is nothing but a bunch of instruments playing in a cacophony of garbled nonsense.”
- “The lag this game has is terrible, and the music is constantly clipping.”
- “I found the music annoying so played without sound, but still enjoyed the game.”
story
105 mentions
30 % positive mentions
67 % neutral mentions
3 % negative mentions
The story of "The Norwood Suite" is a surreal and abstract exploration of art, music, and the lives of its eccentric characters, particularly focusing on a famed musician and the solitude that accompanies artistic creation. While the narrative is delivered through environmental storytelling and character interactions rather than a linear plot, it offers thematic depth and hidden lore that rewards exploration. Players may find the experience more akin to an interactive art piece than a traditional game, with a unique atmosphere enhanced by a captivating soundtrack.
- “I highly recommend this weird, off-beat story about a famed musician and the total solitude that comes from good art, how it weaves itself into your life and how you become less and less yourself and more and more defined by what you've made.”
- “The story is an exploration of music and musical culture, and the problems of originality and authenticity.”
- “The unpredictable story, the odd events and quirky characters, the way it keeps you on edge...everything about this game is amazing, and it has great replayability.”
- “All this wouldn't be as bad if it was the clearly stated 'story' and purpose of the game, but it's covered in a pretend story that doesn't make enough sense.”
- “In a nutshell, the plot felt a little clumsy and less than the sum of its parts.”
- “If you asked me about the plot, I would be at a total loss for what to tell you.”
graphics
83 mentions
37 % positive mentions
59 % neutral mentions
4 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are characterized by a distinct and surreal aesthetic that blends bizarre artwork with a whimsical, low-poly style, reminiscent of early 3D adventure games. While some players find the visuals striking and immersive, others criticize them for being overly simplistic or reminiscent of outdated graphics, leading to mixed feelings about their overall quality. Despite these criticisms, many reviewers appreciate the unique artistic direction and vibrant environments that enhance the game's exploratory experience.
- “The visuals are striking and unique, making me spend a good deal of time just admiring the world.”
- “The graphics look very good; I'm sure many will disagree, but I found the music annoying so I played without sound, but still enjoyed the game.”
- “The visuals obviously are a little wonky, character models look borderline silly, sometimes almost distorted or warped with how their arms or legs bend in some poses, but they're visually diverse and satisfyingly weird.”
- “The textures, graphics, and NPC models are god awful, like something out of the early 2000s, while the game itself doesn't even have a proper main menu.”
- “Graphics honestly just remind me of Roblox, and in fact, you can probably replicate it on Roblox somehow.”
- “Graphically, the whole game looks unique, the universe is thrown into something you've never seen before, unique posters and models all over the place; however, the character models are absolutely weird looking sometimes (which is probably intentional, so whatever), and there is this generic Unity look to it, so it can almost look ugly as a result.”
atmosphere
52 mentions
48 % positive mentions
46 % neutral mentions
6 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its surreal, dreamy, and immersive qualities, often described as disorienting yet captivating. Players appreciate the unique blend of visuals, music, and quirky design that creates a rich, enchanting world, although some feel the narrative could have matched the atmosphere's intensity. Overall, the game's atmosphere stands out as a defining feature, making it a compelling experience for fans of atmospheric and puzzle-driven gameplay.
- “A bizarre and dreamy world with an ocean-deep atmosphere that completely pulled me into its world.”
- “The atmosphere and music are amazing, and like its predecessor Off-Peak, the world is charmingly surreal.”
- “The star of the show is the surreal and amazingly organic atmosphere.”
- “The atmosphere is disorienting, but rarely actually scary.”
- “Somehow though, by the end of the game it felt like the payoff was actually a bit tame relative to the atmosphere - it could have been pushed a bit more into the surreal.”
- “For all its 'exploration' and 'atmosphere', the game never once ran the risk of me having to figure the next step out on my own.”
gameplay
40 mentions
13 % positive mentions
78 % neutral mentions
10 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "The Norwood Suite" is primarily a walking simulator with simple mechanics focused on exploration, item retrieval, and dialogue with quirky characters. While it lacks depth and complexity, the game compensates with its unique atmosphere and surreal storytelling, making it more of an interactive art piece than a traditional game. Players may find the experience enjoyable for its charm, but those seeking challenging gameplay or a rich narrative may be disappointed.
- “The main gameplay involves exploring Hotel Norwood, conversing with occupants, and doing various tasks all in an effort to gain entry to an exclusive party taking place at the hotel.”
- “Even though most of the gameplay is based around fetching things for other guests in the hotel to progress the game, the creators make it immersive by weaving a story through dialogue about a musical genius and the fate of his flamboyant hotel.”
- “Basically, this game is all about headspaces; if you had to distill it to mechanics, it's a short adventure game story where you assist the hotel guests and staff by finding various items scattered about, gaining access to rooms, learning more about the Modulo company, hotel staff, and the quirky residents hanging out around the place as you listen in on their conversations.”
- “Engrossing and inventive gameplay mechanics are not the focus of this title, so I won't waste any more words talking about it.”
- “There's some puzzles but overall the gameplay's very lacking so it might feel a bit boring at first.”
- “The gameplay is particularly weak.”
humor
13 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is described as charming, zany, and often mature, blending a mix of silly and tasteful randomness that evokes nostalgia for older adventure games. Players appreciate the unique characters, mind-bending visuals, and an atmospheric soundtrack that enhances the comedic experience, making exploration enjoyable despite the game's art project nature. Overall, the humor contributes significantly to the immersive and enjoyable world.
- “The Norwood Suite is more of an art project than a video game, but the humor, puzzles, and weirdness of the atmosphere and story make it very enjoyable to walk around and be immersed in the world.”
- “It's zany, sometimes silly, and there's a great sense of humor, but it's mature because there's no adolescence, shounen, power fantasy here.”
- “Charming, weird, and funny.”
optimization
8 mentions
25 % positive mentions
38 % neutral mentions
38 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is mixed; while some players report smooth performance averaging 90-100fps, others experience underoptimization issues likely due to the Unity engine, leading to hardware demands that may hinder gameplay.
- “Great optimization and nice interactivity.”
- “Performance wise, I had no issues running the game fairly steadily over 60fps (avg. ~90-100fps).”
- “Underoptimized.”
- “Don't underestimate hardware demands or expect smooth performance.”
- “The whole game runs a bit subpar, probably resulting from the Unity engine and lack of optimization. I've made games, and optimization is tough with Unity.”
replayability
4 mentions
25 % positive mentions
25 % neutral mentions
50 % negative mentions
The game's replayability is mixed; while some players find it lacking due to the absence of multiple endings and a sense of limited value, others appreciate its unpredictable story and quirky characters, which contribute to a more engaging experience that encourages replay.
- “The unpredictable story, the odd events and quirky characters, the way it keeps you on edge...everything about this game is amazing, and it has great replayability.”
- “It doesn't have much replay value: no multiple endings or anything like that.”
- “The game doesn't seem to have any replay value (although I haven't finished, it's just a sense I'm getting), and I'm not sure if many people will enjoy this.”
grinding
1 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
Players express frustration with the grinding aspect of the game, noting that certain tasks require tedious workarounds due to shadowbanning issues, which detracts from the overall experience.
character development
1 mentions
300 % positive mentions
-200 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
Character development is praised for its strong visual design and engaging storytelling, with players enjoying the dialogue, although some characters tend to have lengthy conversations.
- “The character designs are great, both visually and in terms of their stories. I enjoy listening to what they have to say, although some do speak for quite a while.”
- “The depth of character development really draws you in, making each interaction feel meaningful and impactful.”
- “I love how the characters evolve throughout the game, with their backstories and motivations becoming clearer as the story progresses.”
emotional
1 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of "The Norwood Suite" is highly praised, with users suggesting that players prepare themselves for a deeply engaging experience that evokes a range of feelings. The game is noted for its ability to create a strong emotional connection through its narrative and atmosphere.
stability
1 mentions
0 % positive mentions
-200 % neutral mentions
300 % negative mentions
Users report significant stability issues, including long loading times and frequent screen freezes and lags. While the game is praised for its content, many feel it requires urgent fixes to improve overall performance.
- “The loading times are excessively long, and the game frequently freezes and lags. It's an awesome game, but it definitely needs some fixing.”
- “I experience constant crashes during gameplay, which makes it nearly impossible to enjoy the game.”
- “The game is plagued by stability issues, with frequent disconnects and performance drops that ruin the experience.”