The characters themselves are weak and one-dimensional, which is a shame because so many of them have interesting premises and backstories that are never capitalized on fully – or in most cases, at all. It almost seems as if whole portions of dialogue were accidentally skipped over. The game keeps hinting at a dark past, but refuses to go into detail about her parents and relatives while continually trying to poke you in the direction of something clearly ominous. This leaves a number of loose ends upon completion of the story, even about Mizuki herself.
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There’s no real rhyme or reason behind it.
In one scene you meet Mizuki’s friend who apparently committed suicide several years before, and in the next you have to click on dream cats that eat numbers in order to figure out a combination to a safe. The game swings back and forth so much that eventually you give up trying to figure out what the developers were aiming for.
#MEMORANDA GAME FULL#
It cannot make up its mind whether it wants to be a whimsical, Japanese version of Alice in Wonderland, with funny, interwoven vignettes chock full of magical realism, or whether it wants to be dark and rather brutally real. While short stories often leave questions intentionally unanswered, the way these are crammed together and translated to the computer screen leaves much to be desired.Īnother big problem is that the story suffers from a severe case of mood whiplash. Why is there a guy in a wheelchair on the beach waiting for his mom? Even now, I really couldn’t tell you. Why does she need to create an ice flower for a friend who’s going to the Arctic to search for that very flower with her husband? Search me. Why wouldn’t the old man let Mizuki sleep? Who knows certainly not Mizuki or the player. The plot strands jump from one to another without much reasoning, and none of them are ever satisfactorily explained.
#MEMORANDA GAME SERIES#
It becomes obvious that the game is based on a series of short stories rather than any one cohesive tale, as they all start to run together like watercolors. Her immediate concerns take precedence, such as the fact that she hasn’t slept in over a week due to an apparition of a strange and creepy old sailor appearing by her bed every night to keep her awake. It’s an intriguing concept on which to base a game, but although having a colorful cast of characters, a unique art style and a wealth of interesting stories to draw from, its puzzles become frustratingly obtuse and much like Mizuki, it seems to have lost its own plot along the way.Īctually, while it is the starting point of the story, Mizuki’s name search quickly becomes a secondary consideration. It follows the story of Mizuki, a young woman who keeps losing track of her name and sets out to rediscover it. Based upon the short stories of Japanese author Haruki Murakami, Memoranda is Bit Byterz’ first adventure game that was partially funded through Kickstarter. This review is based on the original release.Īmnesia is a common theme in adventure games, but the star of Memoranda has a very particular type of memory problem.
#MEMORANDA GAME UPDATE#
Meet more than 35 characters in 40 different locations.Note: Since time of writing, an update has added new dialogue and memos, as well as other improvements intended to improve gameplay. Thousands of lines of dialog with English voice over. Original soundtrack with more than 15 tracks. Inspired by many of Haruki Murakamis short stories. Unique and beautiful hand-drawn full-HD 2D graphics. A classic 2D point and click adventure game in a magic realism setting.
The story is inspired by various Haruki Murakami short stories that describe a surreal world full of lonely characters. It could be a name, a husband or even someones sanity! There is one thing all these characters have in common: they are losing something. Including a World War II surviving soldier to an elephant taking shelter in a mans cottage hoping to become a human. The story happens in a quiet little town where a few ordinary and strange characters live together. Is she really losing her memory or is there something else that could explain the strange circumstances? Memoranda is a game about forgetting and being forgotten!Ī point and click adventure game with magic realism elements that tells the story of a young lady who gradually realizes she is forgetting her own name.
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