Memoria

Memoria is a point and click adventure game and is the sequel to Chains of Satinav, under development at Daedalic Entertainment and will be published by Deep Silver. The game is set in the fantasy world of Germany’s most popular pen and paper role-playing game, The Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge).

The game’s visuals are a mix of 3D and 2D. The characters are rendered in 3D, while all the backgrounds are 2D.  Everything is beautifully hand-drawn and some of the sceneries are simply breathtaking. The game will take you through different environments, from lush forests, to ancient oriental ruins, to medieval villages and snowy mountains filled with all sorts of characters be it amazons, golems, powerful warlocks or even demons. Unfortunately, despite its beautiful environments, the game is let down by its animation quality, most of it being really janky and stilted.

Music design is another strong point of the game. The medieval inspired soundtrack is simply chill inducing, and breathes even more life into the world, while at the same time providing the proper mood for whatever situation you find yourself in.  The preview version offered only German voices (since the English ones were still being recorded), but, to be honest, I think this is the best way to play the game since it adds another layer of immersion. Quality wise, voice-overs are good, with only a few lines, here and there, being poorly delivered (mostly when it comes to the side characters).

The story picks up where the last game left off, with the bird-catcher Geron (the protagonist) searching for a way to turn Nuri (the main supporting character) back into a fairy. For this he visits a wizard that supposedly has a spell that can turn things into whatever he desires. The wizard agrees to help Geron, but on one condition, listen to the story he has to tell and then solve his riddle.

Unlike the previous game that focused on just the story of Geron and his companion Nuri, Memoria follows two converging stories, the story of Princess Sadja, that takes place 450 years in the past, and the story of Geron and Nuri. With all the charm it has, the game does a great job at pulling you into the story and making you wonder what will happen next.

Like any point and click adventure game, you will be presented with different puzzles that you’ll have to solve in order to progress the story. Most of the puzzles are straight forward and the difficulty is balanced enough to make for a fun experience. The game spices things up, by providing the two protagonists, Geron and Sadja, with different magic abilities, from the ability to reconstruct broken things, to turning objects into stone.

Though most of its gameplay is fun, there were two infuriating moments. First one, when trying to overwhelm someone with false information in order to make him take notes, you have to tell the right lie, which makes no sense. The second is the forest level, where you’re basically tasked with navigating out of a labyrinth-like forest. This interrupts the pace of the game, especially since it provides you with almost no puzzles to solve. Fortunately after a certain time spent in the forest it gives you the option to skip the stage, but it feels like it beats the purpose.

Despite its clear faults, the gorgeous backgrounds, interesting story and beautiful music easily carries the game, creating a vivid fantasy world that will provide you with hours of entertainment.  They’ve done a great job at immersing you into the story, and I can’t wait to play the complete version of the game.

Cirstoiu Alexandru Constantin, NoobFeed