Amnesia™: Memories

This was in fact the first Visual Novel that I played and loved, not only for the quality of the drawing itself but for the story. Each story is unique and holds the screen who plays. If you have never played a Visual Novel you should play this to start and you will not regret it. Let's say it's an interactive anime with the player.

Engaging enough to finish, but only truly enjoyable if: 1. You don't need an interesting heroine. You learn a couple minutes into the game that the Heroine has lost her personality in addition to her memories. When she gets it back, she's still not particularly interesting. 2. You're okay with the Heroine having no thoughts of her own. For most of the game Orion just tells her the thoughts she should have. 3. You're fine with player choices being only what to say, not what to do. Orion, not the player, controls the Heroine's actions. When he seems to offer a choice, it's often fake. (Example: Orion asks, "Do you want to go or not?" If the player chooses "not go," Orion replies, "But I think we should," and the Heroine goes.) 4. You're cool with last century's beliefs about sexual harassment and violence. Quote from a love interest in the game: "If you invite a man into your room when you're alone, you've basically already consented [to sex]." Quote from another guy: "If you're not careful, I may do terrible things to you." And another: "If you don't struggle, I won't know when to stop." (Is this a Japanese thing? There were sexual threats/harassment by love interests in the other two Japanese otome I've tried.) It gets much, much worse—trigger warning worse—from two of the love interests, and that's in their bleeping Good Ends! Bad Ends can be terrible, but a Good End shouldn't have the player wishing the Heroine would get away! 5. You believe a declaration of love will magically solve any emotional problem, no matter how violent and complex. Mentally ill murderer? Jealous attempted rapist? Tell them you love them, and all will be right! The truly awful thing is, the game did some things very well, with lovely art and a sometimes-immersive story, so some people will really enjoy the game and make mental excuses for the way the Heroine is treated. And it's easy for mental excuses to go from being about a game to being about real life relationships.

The two 1 star soyjacks neither know what a VN is nor why its good so ignore them. I had the luxury of playing this on my friends account via Steam Share and its probably one of the few VN's I enjoyed alongside the chuunibyou masterpiece that is Dies Irae and Stein;s Gate. Although technically a galge, Amnesia sure as hell doesn't feel like one. So don't let the first impression of "dating dudes" scare you away. Cause there's way more to it.

Very fun. Like the stories and how they intertwine. Not normally a "completionist" but I am determined to figure out how to get all the endings, lol.