Start to Finish: 'Portals' in Nomori: Prologue

Playing Nomori, you'll more often than not think "what the hell just happened?"

The way portals, gravity, direction and seemingly impossible to reach destinations mix into this game, is amazing. Especially in later levels, when controlling time and rotating portals come into play, your mind will really need some time adjusting to these warped kind of realities.

The first level is pretty straight forward though, so let's get going!

Welcome to Nomori

The first level of Nomori is just to get you into the world and teach you how to walk.

Controls are simple:

• WASD to walk forward, left, back, right
• Spacebar to jump

Admire the world around you. When you start, look up. That's where you need to be, that little Chinese looking gate house.

When you start 'Portals', you will see the end gate high above you on the wall.

As you can't climb up the walls, you'll need to go through a portal. But, what does a portal actually do?

Change gravity and direction

As Newton once figured out, gravity will pull you down to earth. This is also the core mechanic of Nomori. But the interesting part of this game is what your perspective of 'down' is. 

Simply put, going through a portal will change 2 things:

1. The direction of the world around you by 90 degrees; and
2. Your gravitational down.

When you walk through a portal, you exit on the other side. But now, the world around you has turned by 90 degrees. So actually, you're walking on what used to be the wall.

As that wall is now the floor, you are still walking on it. Gravity is still pulling you down, but your sense of down changed.

This change affects anyone and anything that travels through the portal. In later levels, you will encounter helpful blocks that, if you don't take them through the portal with you, will keep their gravitational down as it was. 

That means that even though you turned and now 'walk on the wall', the block will actually be stuck to 'the new wall'. That is because the world didn't turn for the block. Their floor is still the original floor, which is now the wall in your perspective.

Crazy, huh? 🤯

Through the portal, towards the gate

To finish this level, walk straight ahead until you reach the 2 portals. The portal ahead has green sparkles, the one to your right purple sparkles.

You can't reach the portal straight ahead, as there is a divide too large to jump across. You can walk through the portal on your right.

What will happen is that you walk out of the portal with the green sparkles. This is indicated when you look at both portals: you will see yourself reflected in the green portal ahead of you, but sideways. That means that if you walk through the purple sparkled one, you'll exit through the green one. 

Don't worry about falling down once you exit: as the world turns around you, you will exit with a floor below your feet. 

The gate in 'Portals', the first level of Nomori.

Once you go through the portal, just move straight ahead towards the wooden building and jump through the gate.

This is the end of level 1 and you will be transported to the start of level 2: Gate!

Hint about modals

The informational modals popping up at key locations have a 'close' button. 

This isn't a click-to-close button though, it's a hold-to-close button. 

It's very confusing, but you'll get used to it eventually.

Play Nomori: Prologue on Steam

Is your interest piqued? It should be!

You can play Nomori: Prologue on Steam and give it a go yourself.

It's an Early Access Game right now, which means you'll run into glitches, lacking gameplay and all that sort of stuff. The full game can be wishlisted and is expected in Q3 2025.