Noreya: The Gold Project is a 2D Metroidvania that puts players in the shoes of Kali, a warrior who is suddenly thrust into a fight between gods. Players must choose their own path and deal with the consequences of their allegiances in the ever-changing lands of Noreya.
The game starts off with the protagonist, Kali, and her group being attacked by beings of shadow who have been manipulated by overwhelming greed and now spread that corruption to anything they touch. Kali is killed during the attack, and comes back as one of those creatures alongside her traveling companions.
Kali, however, is a descendant of a powerful lineage and has the power to resist that corruption, keeping her free will despite being now tainted by darkness. The God of Gold extends an offer to Kali, and it’s up to the player if they will rule over a land of shadows or help restore the light to Noreya.
Noreya: The Gold Project
Developer: Dreamirl
Publisher: PixelHeart
Platforms: Microsoft Windows (Reviewed)
Release Date: June 21, 2024
Players: 1
Price: $24.99
When it comes to exploration, Noreya has a pretty interesting approach to things; the game’s map changes depending on what God you side with, making for some pretty interesting exploration early on. Your choices don’t seem to affect the entire map, but there are a few rooms that change depending on what path you choose.
As far as the first half of the game goes, exploration is pretty painless, and the map is reasonably cohesive. The player is guided forward by some very intuitive level design, but this becomes less and less true as the game goes on. Exploration instantly becomes a chore as soon as Noreya actually “opens up” and marks the location of a few different bosses on your map.
Looking for those bosses is a pain, and the player is constantly faced with dead ends or areas they can’t interact with yet. It is said that players can tackle the bosses in any order they want, but it feels like a lie, as you need a dash or the ghost skill to reach certain areas, so it makes you wonder why the game lets you loose when you still need key upgrades to reach these progression spots.
Noreya has a pretty bizarre approach to healing, and it might have one of the slowest healing systems in gaming history. Healing is done similarly to Hollow Knight, except that you heal one heart at a time, and each one takes almost five seconds. The player can break pots around the environment to find extra hearts, but those aren’t always available, especially during boss fights.
It’s no exaggeration to say that a good 5% of your playtime may be spent standing still while healing, one heart at a time, with five seconds in between each heal. It honestly gives the Dark Souls 2 Estus Flask a run for its money.
Here’s a clip in case you want to feel yourself aging in real time:
When it comes to combat, Noreya is pretty basic; the player has access to a 3-hit combo and can also hit enemies with a down swing to pogo off of them. Again, those familiar with Hollow Knight will be able to instantly understand how Noreya works.
A few movement skills are acquired from defeating mini bosses, like being able to wall jump, dash, and even access a ghost form that can interact with spectral objects. The skill tree also gives you access to a few extra abilities, like being able to sacrifice a heart to deal more damage or create a temporary protective barrier.
Your bond will deepen with a specific deity depending on what skills you choose, which in turn gives you access to stronger skills. The path of gold is associated with damage increases and retaliation when taking damage, while the path of light is associated with healing and gaining more health.
The bosses in Noreya are possibly the lowest point of the game, as most fights range from mediocre to terribly designed. The Soul Eater is probably the worst offender when it comes to this, as it legitimately feels like it would take half an hour to beat him if you only took the windows of opportunity the game gives you.
It’s difficult to shake away the feeling that the intended way to beat some of the bosses is to mash the attack button while abusing the invincibility frames you have after being hit, which is not only far from engaging but also annoying to do due to how long it takes to heal afterwards.
Having your ability to heal attached to a resource also means that you’ll have to grind for a bit before you can comfortably tackle some of the harder fights, which is another layer of annoyance. Thankfully, you only have to grind once, as the game always resets your currency to the value you had when entering the boss room.
Noreya: The Gold Project is a bland Metroidvania that is dead-set on wasting your time. Natural exploration grinds to a halt halfway through the game, and it becomes less and less fun to play as you progress.
The game’s dedication to a simple combat system clashes with its badly designed boss fights, making for frustrating combat encounters. The fact that the game treats basic skills that any other Metroidvania would give you in the first half hour of gameplay as actual unlocks is also a huge disappointment.
Noreya simply doesn’t do enough to differentiate itself from other Metroidvanias and ends up feeling like a bad imitation of the genre. The game has some good ideas, especially pertaining to the map changing depending on what deity you decide to align yourself with, but it’s too little when compared to all that it does badly.
Noreya: The Gold Project was reviewed on Microsoft Windows using a game code provided by PixelHeart. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Noreya: The Gold Project is available on Microsoft Windows (through Steam). Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch ports are set to release at some point in the future.
