This game was originally covered as part of our Nindie Round Up series that sought to give coverage to a wider breadth of Switch eShop games beyond our standard reviews. In an effort to make our impressions easier to find, we're presenting the original text below in our mini-review format.
The unconventional cocktail of a World War 2 allegory, robots, and Sir Patrick Stewart might seem like a strange choice for a platformer on paper, but My Memory of Us delivers generally strong storytelling mixed in with some solid – if conventional – gameplay.
You take on the role of a pair of children, a boy and a girl, attempting to make your way through a monochrome land ravaged by tyrannically robot overlords. The story unfolds largely through dialogue-free scenes spliced with voiceover work by Sir Patrick himself, whose stately tones undeniably add kudos and weight to the story. The allegory for Nazi Germany is good at first but veers into slightly questionable territory later on as the more sci-fi elements start to clash tonally with the severity of the real-life events.
The gameplay dynamics work well between the two children, allowing for environmental puzzle-solving challenges that, while not hugely challenging at first, are weaved well into the story, particularly in the tenser moments. You progress by holding hands and moving together, with each child having different abilities. For example, their movement specialisms allow the girl to run and the boy to sneak past enemies, so choosing your lead enables you to solve puzzles and navigate hazards appropriately. Additionally, enemies can be warded off by the boy's use of a blinding mirror, or the girl’s slingshot.
Visually, My Memory of Us is really appealing. The choice of a black-and-white world parallels the dirty, grim, depressing events on which the game is loosely based, but a splash of red every now and then not only allows objects to stand out pleasingly, but has allegorical story implications that become much more apparent.
Overall, My Memory of Us is a solid platformer with decent puzzles, most of which are tied to the plot. It has great sound design (including exceptional celebrity voiceover work), but its main criticism is the sometimes-jarring tonal inconsistencies between creating a tangible threat from the mind of a child and the true horrors on which it is based. That said, the good absolutely outweighs the bad and the majority of the game is a delight to play through.
Comments 2
Now this sounds very interesting. Puzzler, decent story on the whole and Sir Patrick Stewart. I think I'll out this one on the wish list. Cheers for the mini review.
SirPatStew is the best abbreviation of a celebrity name I've ever heard of.
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