Ludography
70/100
Players3 ratings
More scores
Metacritic usersuser score
78/100
GameFAQsJust Right
3.56/5
Player reviews
91% positive95 reviews
Runs on
Windows
Price
US$2.99

Where to get it

Normality cover

1996 · Gremlin Interactive · Adventure · Cyberpunk

Normality

A sinister force now controls the city of Neutropolis. A once-thriving city full of beauty and light, Neutropolis has been reduced to a a stagnant pit of apathy.

Released
1996
Platforms
LinuxMS-DOSWindowsmacOS
Genres
AdventureCyberpunkPoint-and-click adventurePuzzle
Developers
Gremlin Interactive
Publishers
Interplay Entertainment
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
First person
Themes
ActionScience fiction
Country
United Kingdom
Age ratings
USK 6ESRB T
Languages
English, French, German
Time to beat
4.5hmain story6hcompletionist

About

Normality is a 3D graphic adventure, released in June 1996 by Gremlin Interactive. All cut-scenes in the game are pre-rendered. The game's engine was later used in the game Realms of the Haunting. It was re-released in 2011 with Microsoft Windows support on GOG.com, with macOS support following in 2013 and Linux support in 2014.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Story

The story revolves around Kent Knutson, a rebellious slacker in the city of Neutropolis, where various places take up the setting of the game. Neutropolis, a once thriving and vibrant city, is now a dark and polluted police state where any kind of fun is prohibited. When the game begins, Kent is released after having been imprisoned by the "Norms", the city's police force, for whistling a happy tune while walking down the street. While in prison, he receives a note from an anonymous inmate telling him about the underground insurrection group that he might want to join.

After being released from jail, the player starts the game in Kent's apartment, having to find and join this resistance group. After winning the trust of the resistance group, Kent must assist them in overthrowing the dictator Paul who is responsible for the city's sorry state, where his twin brother Saul was rumored to be dead because of him.

Reception

Reviewing the game in Maximum, Rich Leadbetter praised the rendered intro, the believability of the 3D environment, the setting, and the user-friendly interface, while criticizing the dull scenario and repetitive speech. He concluded, "Although technically innovative and visually impressive, this one is for adventure fans only." A reviewer for Next Generation said the free roaming, real-time 3D environment is an impressive change of pace for the adventure genre, but feels incongruous in light of the fact that the game does not allow any interaction beyond what is traditionally seen in adventure games. He complimented the puzzles as being logical and not overly difficult, but said veteran adventure gamers might find them too easy because of that. He summarized the game as "at least mildly fun and entertaining."

Scorpia of Computer Gaming World had a generally favorable opinion of Normality, although she disliked its load times and certain interface bugs. She summarized, "Overall, though, Normality isn't bad."

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
MS-DOS30 June 1996Worldwide
Windows14 July 2011Worldwide
macOS18 June 2013Worldwide
Linux24 July 2014Worldwide

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Collections1 collection

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.