Memoria

Honestly, I haven't felt so for a game since the late 90s! I was under the impression that I had just played too many adventure games to be ever impressed again. But memoria had me so fascinated that I had a grin to my ears when I finished it at 4am! First of all, I suggest you play it right after finishing "Chains of Satinav". It may not be a masterpiece like Memoria, but it's a good game and serves really well as Chapter 0 of Memoria. What is exceptional? The voice acting! The characters! The graphics! The music! The world! The story! The ending! The puzzles! Everything!!! Can't stress enough the puzzles... Not that I play games for the puzzles (I don't), but having played 100+ adventure games, it's easy to see that puzzles are recycled all the time (ie "take the crowdbar, open the door"). It's convenient since you don't have to actually think, but on the other hand you are deprived of the "I'll be damned moments". And I don't know what demon they made a pact with, I was constantly surprised by puzzles that were so original and well-integrated to the story! But above all, they were so logical, that I had no excuse for getting stuck. I tell you, it feels both bad and good having no excuses such as "the puzzles were obscure!" or "How did they expect me to find this 1x1 pixels hotspot?". What was not so good? Nothing. It's one of the rare adventure games like Grim Fandango, Fate of Atlantis, Loom and Longest Journey that stain you forever.

I knew Memoria looked good by the pictures, but opening up the lushly designed landscaped really made sitting through and thinking through this game a treat. The story is enthralling. Even if there were some references to Chains of Satinav, and I wondered if I should have played that one first. The story is compelling enough to play through and put together the missing pieces. There were a few blunders with the game such as German answer upon clicking a lamp, and one or two graphic glitches inside the puzzles. This game is stunningly beautiful and the story is rewarding. I think I'm approaching the end, with a mix of simple solutions plus some that I really had to sit and think about. I'll definitely be buying Chains of Satinav, as I think it will be a similar epic.

An entertaining point 'n' click adventure in the old school sense - which means challenging puzzles, beautiful 2D backdrops and an immersive world. Unfortunately the voice acting can be pretty terrible at times and music is sometimes non-existent for certain scenes, so there could've been a lot more work done in the audio department.

If you have enjoyed Chains of Satinav, you just have to add this gem to your collection. Memoria is even better than its predecessor when it comes to storytelling, atmosphere and plot twists. You'll get immersed in its world, grow to like it's characters and be eager to see how it all plays out in the end. Daedalic has outdone themselves, again.

Some usual imperfections - errors in dialogue, many not very believable moments, but I still liked it a lot. It has good characters, great story, it's romantic, even the ending is not too dark, the difficulty is not too high - I only needed to consult a walkthrough near the end. I appreciate it's the kind of adventure game without any time pressure, action or player deaths. I was pleasantly surprised that it's placed in Aventuria, I love it since Star Trail.