Its not all that often when developers take the video game genre and use it specifically to tell very personal stories in a poetic and artistic way. While all games are forms of art, A Memoir Blue chooses to go a little deeper and only asks for a little bit of your time to go on this beautiful and heart-felt journey. Developed by Cloisters Interactive and published by Annapurna Interactive, this first game under their belt is something to behold. It’s clear this little team has immense skill, with not just design, but in direction. I could be wrong, but it seemed evident that this was a personal story by the creative director herself, Shelley Chen.
In A Memoir Blue, you play as a professional swimmer, Miriam, as she takes some time to pause and reflect on memories past. Throughout the experience you will be transported to several different periods of time in her life, all with little clues about her relationship with her mother. That’s sort of all I will say about the story itself, there isn’t much more to say, it’s really just something you need to experience on your own. The game is only about an hour or so long, depending on how quick you are at solving the fairly easy puzzles presented to you. While that isn’t a very long time, I do appreciate that the game knows what it is, it doesn’t want to waste your time, lets tell a beautiful little story and let the brief emotional experience speak for itself.
One of the biggest highlights for A Memoir Blue is, of course, the visuals. It was a surrealistic treat that does an amazing job at blending regular 3D video game art with 2D hand drawn animation. Most of the time you are in a 3D world, but sometimes when you begin to reminisce about an old memory, the game portrays some amazing 2D animated moments that even look very cool overlapping the 3D landscape. I don’t know if Miriam decided to take some drugs before this trip down memory lane, but sometimes it sure felt that way (not judging!). The result is really one of the most beautiful dreamlike experiences I’ve seen on screen in quite a while.
As much as I’m singing the game’s praises, unfortunately, it’s not without its flaws, which is primarily in its gameplay. There really isn’t much there besides some very mild point and click options. Throughout these memories, you’ll eventually be presented with a scene that pretty much just has you clicking on things or moving things around a little bit to trigger the next cut scene and continue the story. For a game that has zero dialogue and needs to tell its story purely out of visuals, it would really go a long way if the player had a bit more to do a long the way or else you play with that fine line of being a mildly interactive movie.
Of course, I’m sure the team behind the game knows this, but they still set out to make a game and experience they wanted to make. At the end of the day, it did its job and left me an emotional mess by the end. That’s not to say I also couldn’t help but want something just a little more than what I got. But again, this is Cloisters first outing, I’m very excited for what they bring to the table next. For gamers ready to take on a less interactive experience in favor of visuals and storytelling I recommend A Memoir Blue very highly. While the game is indeed short, the price of $7.99 is also very fair for this beautiful experience about a woman and her mother.
8.5/10
For more information, visit: https://www.cloisters.games/
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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