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Website: http://dontforgetme-game.com/
Price: $14.99 USD
Blurb: “What if our memories were at the center of a conspiracy? ‘Don't Forget Me’ is a narrative investigation game where you explore your clients' memories using keywords to protect their freedom. In this cyberpunk world, only you can outsmart the government's plans.“
According to steam: “A jazz-punk adventure game with a twist, Don’t Forget Me is a new breed of puzzle game. Dive into the memories of your patients, use your own observations to unwrap their minds and uncover a dark conspiracy set to claim dominion over humanity.“
Okay, let me level with you, it’s hangman pudding with another sauce. There, I said it. There is no “new breed”, it’s a guessing game.
I hate guessing games, especially when you have no clue what is required. This is the reason most text adventure games died a horrible death. Without a key telling you “dig” is a valid word, you could not have guessed it, as you just tried “run” and got ‘invalid command’. You know North is valid, but is North East? Aaaaand this is the crux of Don’t Forget Me. The tutorial has you connecting the dots in a cat’s memory. You are to look for its toy mouse. Yet mouse, toy, play, ambush, hunt, are all invalid, but ‘danger’ is OK? This was the problem with some point-and-click adventure games, and why they went out of favour; the puzzles were stupid. Scream until you are hoarse. Now get on said horse and gallop into the sunset… What?… But I am getting ahead of myself.
The game is a pixel-based adventure game, trying to cash in on the Cyberpunk theme that is all the rage at the moment. There are no cut scenes, the start of the game sort of tells the story as you go along. Falling into the house with the door, so-to-speak. The story makes no sense either. The NPC “copyist” can read your memories and copy them, but once copied, no-one can read them… What? Yes, it is likened to Cryogenics. One day someone will be able to revive you. Here, one day, someone will be able to read the copies that he makes. So if they can’t be verified, who knows if it is not just complete rubbish? Oh, and I forgot to tell you…. It is supposedly illegal, yup, for something that cannot be verified and people want copies that nobody can read. Snake oil salesman much?
Now the part where you guess words… Like hangman where you guess letters to progress, here you progress to the next node when you do. I don’t know if you can fail here, but I got super bored and gave up. Don’t disrespect your gamer’s time. People don’t feel cheated when something is difficult, if it still makes sense and respects their efforts.
The OST that shipped with the game is a very jazzy, swingy, experimental type that brings up images of seedy, smoke-filled rooms in the back alleys of Paris. Though the tracks are not bad, they just do not fit the game. There is one track called “neutral synth” that is just one long “aaaaaah” at different pitches, at different times in the “tune”. Depending on your taste in music, your mileage may vary. The SFX gets nasty really quickly when you have that Nintendo buzz, buzzing as words are printed onscreen while you are trying to read. Most people read with an internal monologue, so the “brrrr” can be really annoying. Luckily there is none of that in the “guess the word to connect the dots” screen.
Speaking of this part, sometimes you can type in the word after the next one and you will be connected straight to it, and sometimes not. I will be darned if I know why I can’t go from “danger” to “heat”, but in the very next part I can go from “heat” to “sink”, skipping the words in-between. Thereafter there are no branches, you need to get “noise” and “vacuum” or be stuck in word-guessing hell forever. This does not even get you to your goal, but reminds the NPC that he has a broken vacuum and you need to type “exit”. What a way to alienate your players. Then the cat is gone, so whose memory did you just access? (Spoiler, the NPC tells you he didn’t make a copy of the cat’s memory.) Continuity just feels broken, and if you want me to suspend my beliefs and just go with it, you better make it interesting.
I know there are other parts in the game, but 45 minutes into the game and you are still in the same room, doing more of the same. At this point, I really could not be bothered any more. I was promised a thriller – with my memories at the centre of a conspiracy! Bring on Total Recall! Bring on Arnie! Bring on ‘we can remember it for you’, wholesale! Meh, this lot cannot even remember breakfast at inflated prices. I want to feel like Douglas Quad, not granny Altzheimers! This is where I leave you dear reader, you can make your own mind up, but there are other things that are more fun, like picking navel lint.
If you are a fan of bad text-based adventures, hangman, and a lot of reading with a buzzing sound, you will be in for a treat; otherwise I would advise you to move along to greener pastures.