Memoria: The Dark Eye – Review (PC)

Memoria: The Dark Eye – Review (PC)

Memoria suffers from a bad case of sequel syndrome. Plot elements are left untied, and are often poorly introduced – characters talk whimsically about things which have absolutely no frame of reference to the story at all. What makes Memoria different is that it is in actual fact the first in a franchise.

As a sidenote, I’ve tried really hard not to give away any spoilers as I understand that in this genre the game is the story.

It comes from the creators of Desponia, a point and click series set in a science fiction universe. This time around they have opted for a fantasy setting The developers used the tropes of the genre well, to really evoke high fantasy. There is a distinct lack of orcs and monsters, thankfully. Instead the franchise focuses its gaze upon sorcery and its potential uses within a pseudo-medieval society.

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The narrative starts off poorly, and gives little context in to the actions and decisions of its primary characters. While some of these are eventually revealed, a lot of core questions remain unanswered – or are at the very least not sufficiently explored. The dialogue can be a little awkward, it lacks the whit of the Monkey Island titles that it is clearly trying to ape. Some of the lines are just not as funny as they are trying to be. This may be because of a certain lack of context, but it fails to create even the slightest response.

It might also be worth noting that one of the two protagonists, the princess, is far more interesting than her opposite number. Primarily because her story has a clear begin and end state, and secondly she isn’t quite as clear cut. Unlike her counterpart, Geron the bird catcher, whose whole story wrests on hers. Everything interesting that happens in his narrative is related to hers, however the same cannot be said of his affecting hers. If the developers have actively made a decision to have a duel narrative there should be a direct link, where we can see the difference they make to one another. A good example of this being achieved in a point and click game is the relationship between George and Nico within the Broken Sword franchise.

I guess what really aggravates me about Memoria’s storyline is that the two great characters exist within the princess’s narrative. So I have to work through the, often needless, puzzles to look at the content I’m actually interested in. While I understand that this is my personal bias, it is a direct result of having a linear narrative and not having a more developed world. I remember even in other point and click games having a more fleshed out narrative. It strikes me that the writers were more focused on the backstory and events that happen off-screen than ones that the player can actually interact with. I would cite several, but I have made a promise to not spoil anything. It is worth noting that a lot the stuff that the characters make reference to sounds fantastic, it is a shame that I cannot see it as a player.

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The game has a refreshing art style. It looks clean and crisp, without being too graphically demanding. It occupies a space between being somewhat cell shaded and the graphics being pencilled in. It makes the game look almost like a graphic novel. While I do not feel that the narrative was as well invested as it could have been, it is clear that the art department pulled out all of the stops. Each and every area you walk in to comes across as a fantasy diorama, with a smorgasbord of the mystical and magical.

Intertwined with the gorgeous narrative are various pieces of terrain. While this particular trope of point and click games shouldn’t really be worth mentioning Memoria does have one feature which improves the search. On the item menu the developers have added a magnifying glass which shows all of the actionable features in a specific scene. So we avoid that cliché search for various items and features that I can interact with as a player. I realise that the purists are probably cocking their rifles as they read this, but it does genuinely streamline the game and allows players to get to the nuts and bolts – the puzzle solving.

Moving me neatly on to the puzzle solving – its pretty erratic. Each puzzle is different and fresh, giving you a new challenge around every corner. While I was certainly using similar tools, I never felt that I was doing the same puzzle twice. However, there are some puzzles which are noticeably inserted in to the game for no apparent reason, apart from just padding out the game. It’s a minor criticism, but I feel that the puzzles should feed in to the story as a whole.

Pros:

  • The art style creates a great stylised high fantasy setting.
  • The puzzles are complex enough to keep a player interested.

Cons:

  • The story takes a while to get going.
  • The game plays like a sequel, despite not actually being one.
  • One of the narrators is just dull.
  • Some of the puzzles feel a little out of place.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.
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