A Memoir Blue – Review
An “interactive poem,” A Memoir Blue maintains the publisher’s hot streak, and I had no intention of missing this opportunity. It’s because early 2022 has been crammed with massive games like Elden Ring, Horizon Forbidden West, and Gran Turismo 7 that these short indie titles that focus on style and atmosphere are welcome breaks. Unlike Twelve Minutes and The Artful Escape, does A Memoir Blue dive as deep as A Memoir Blue Is it one of the best PC Game Pass games out there? It could also be a belly flop, right? With those two terrible swimming puns out of the way, I promise to be more restrained in the future (for reasons you’ll see in a moment).
A Story of My Life With no dialogue, Blue’s story is heartfelt, touching, and told in a unique way that makes it all the more poignant. Skip this section if you prefer to go in blind. To avoid giving anything away, I’ll just make general suggestions about the themes and premise of the game, which you may have gleaned from the description. Miriam, a medal-winning diver and swimmer (hence the puns), has an introspective dream about her relationship with her mother throughout her childhood and adolescence in this story. It takes you on a journey through key moments in her life where the feelings you had as a child contrast sharply with what your mother was experiencing in the real world.
A mother’s desire to provide the best for her child can be misunderstood as overwhelming pressure, or a person’s focus on a passion can be a distraction from the burden of anxiety. The water serves as strong yet subtle symbolism throughout this dream world, which tells you the story without using a single word of dialogue. To paraphrase one of my favourite poets Stevie Smith: you’re not waving but drowning when you’re swimming through your own pain. Sometimes it’s a positive progression, but it can also be a painful experience. Music and two fantastic animation styles drive all of this: a 3D world that your character explores, and a 2D cartoon animation that forms the foundation for her memories. It’s not just that they’re visually stunning, but they’re integral to the story as well, allowing you to see this growing dichotomy between mother and daughter in a unique light.
All of this culminates in a gorgeous, heartwarming, and ultimately sad conclusion that will leave you both smiling and crying. This is a story that will stay with you for a long time. Using real-life experiences as inspiration, Cloisters Interactive (and its Creative Director Shelley Chen) have crafted a powerful story that is sure to leave a lasting impression. To get to the next part of the story, you have to solve a series of puzzles and interactive elements in A Memoir Blue. Because Miriam can’t be navigated, this is more of a point-and-click experience in the real world. Since this is a deep story, I don’t mind the linearity or gameplay style as long as the interaction parts are done well. In the same vein as The Artful Escape, they can be far too simple at times. While I understand that this isn’t meant to be a game, a little bit of challenge to certain puzzles would have kept me riveted in these moments between the story’s climax and twilight sections. As you near the end, these may begin to feel more like annoyances than exciting opportunities.
Unfortunately, it did not detract from my enjoyment of the game or the plot, but there is a strong emphasis on presentation and story over gameplay, and this should be taken into consideration when making your purchase decision. A Story of My Life An animated short and point-and-click puzzles make up the rest of Blue’s 45 minutes. Count me in for many more verses if this is what you mean by a “interactive poem.” It’s true that not everyone will enjoy this. Interactions are extremely limited, puzzles aren’t all that challenging, and the game crashed a few times. However, none of this detracts from the overall impact of the story, art, and sound design. Like listening to Death Cab for Cutie’s “I will follow you into the dark” for the first time, this brief break from the usual rigours of video games is like experiencing it for the first time.
It’s going to be an emotional roller coaster.
