The Story - ‘The Edge’, the last refuge of the human race; located in the northern mountains of the desert world, Noshrac and home to mankind after their defeat in ‘The Great War’ against the reptilian Sarahul Empire.
With the intention of exterminating the human race, the refuge is soon discovered by the Sarahul Empire whose armies are being readied for the attack.
As a Son of Nor, a human blessed by the moon goddess, you possess the power of telekinesis and the ability to terraform. Your purpose is to protect what’s left of your race and to save it from almost certain extinction.
Unfortunately, there is more than one power working against you in Son of Nor. You will discover a traitor from within your own ranks is secretly plotting with a mysterious entity. As you follow them into the depths of the earth you discover unimaginable powers, protected by temples of an ancient race that was wiped from the face of Noshrac millennia ago.
Exploring the temples and robbing the magic held within enables you to control the elements of ‘Fire’, ‘Wind’ and ‘Essence’. A very valuable gift in the wake of the impending attack of the Sarahul. But remember, magic always comes with a price...
Depart on a fantastic quest to transform your destiny, save mankind and restore the balance of power on Noshrac.
What Is Son of Nor?
Son of Nor is a 3rd person action adventure game for Windows, Mac and Linux that can be played in single player or with up to 4 players cooperatively online or via split-screen.
Players will command their natural abilities of telekinesis and terraforming through all stages of Son of Nor. On their mission to stop the impending attack of the Sarahul army, they will discover the many varied environments of Noshrac’s manifold desert world.
They will stand their ground in fights against indigenous wild creatures or Sarahul scouts, warriors, seers and mages. These fights are not to be underestimated! Telekinesis and terraforming have to be used creatively in order to succeed.
Your abilities can be used as more than just weapons in a fight. As you discover the long-forgotten temples that are protected by clever mechanisms, you’ll have to rely on your telekinesis and terraforming powers to disable them or to solve puzzling contraptions that stand in your path.
These obstacles are the source of power that many inhabitants of Noshrac are searching for. Succeeding in opening or solving them, frees the magic held within, granting you the additional ability to bend the elements of the world to your desire and increase the odds against the Sarahul.
With this, fights, puzzles, exploration of the temples and the world as well takes turns while progressing through the diverse story of Son of Nor. – Not sure what this sentence is supposed to be saying?! Takes turns? The elements of the game take turns or players do?
The Abilities in Son of Nor
As the player you command the following:
• Telekinesis: Use your environment as a weapon. Throw rocks and other objects with the power of your mind to deal damage or to trigger carefully-prepared traps.
• Terraforming: This power allows you to manipulate and shape desert sand. Use it to overcome overwhelming obstacles with ease, build paths where there are none, raise up protective barriers or slow down incoming enemies.
• Elemental Magic: Use the power of the elements in your surroundings. Cast powerful spells made of fire, wind, or essence magic and combine them with each other to conjure even more powerful effects.
Think and use these powers wisely. Some enemies can only be defeated with strategy and a clever combination of your abilities - not only raw power.
The Combat
Action packed battles are one of the main ingredients of Son of Nor’s gameplay.
Raise up protective barriers using the desert sand surrounding you to shield you from ranged attacks or to hide from enemy patrols. Stack up rocks on a hill and trigger a rock slide to bury your enemies underneath as they pass by. Take advantage of every loose object, set carrots on fire, conjure earthquakes or gale-force gusts of wind to stand your ground in fights against Sarahul and other hostile creatures.
It is therefore in your best interest to explore the diverse environments and exploit tactically-advantageous places that nature has prepared.
The ability to combine magical elements enables you to unleash especially intense attack events. Let your friends cast a fire burst so you can immediately enrich it with your previously acquired wind magic; Let the forces combine into a firestorm that is even more powerful than each individual spell!
The Puzzles
Through the physics-driven gameplay, Son of Nor will have several interesting physics-based puzzles that can only be solved by using a clever combination of all the player’s abilities (telekinesis, terraforming, magic and its combinations).
Cast a wind spell to fill sails and trigger its mechanism. Cast a fire spell on desert sand to turn it into glass which you can use to reflect light. Use terraforming to raise sand below an impenetrable wall and make it crumble by using pressure to clear the path. Finally, with telekinesis you can trigger distant force plates, traps or block incoming enemies.
Co-op Multiplayer
Son of Nor has an extensive cooperative multiplayer mode in which up to 4 players can join forces against the Sarahul Empire. During the players’ journey they will encounter places and puzzles that can only be explored or solved with the help of friends.
Only by combining telekinetic powers with other players will one be able to move that huge rock blocking the path to new areas of the game. Also with the help of your friends, you’ll be able to solve certain puzzles that require several actions to be executed simultaneously.
Fights in multiplayer mode add a lot to the game as well. Though preparing traps and combining spells is possible in single player, it is a whole new experience of success if crafty plans forged by a whole team with an impressive choreography of actions, grant you victory.
For example: one player can absorb a fire element and enhance several rocks with this type of magic. Then, they can levitate them in a narrow space where enemy patrols pass by regularly. Another player sets up a camp nearby and waits for the patrol to pass again while having some smaller stones ready. As soon as the patrol shows up, the second player shoots the stones into the levitating blazing rocks which then explode getting rid of the patrol in one go.
Figuring out puzzles in Noshrac’s lost temples is just more fun with friends, too!
Immersion
The game is being designed in a way to have as little HUD or UI as possible. There will be no on-screen icons you have to click to trigger magic and no life bars that show how many hit points a player has left. As much information as possible is delivered using natural interaction, visual effects, animation, or sound.
Son of Nor’s Features In A Nutshell
• Shape the desert using your natural terraforming and telekinetic abilities.
• Create new spells by combining different types of magic.
• Play 4-player cooperative mode, online and/or via split-screen
• Play Your Style - Achieve the same outcome by using force, sneaking, using traps or magic spells. There are several paths that lead to success!
• All powers are useful to defeat enemies and to solve puzzles.
• Noshrac is a new and original world with a rich backstory and lore.
Genre: Action-Adventure
Player: 1-4 (Single player, Co-op Multiplayer Online and Split-Screen)
Release date: 2014
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
