Memoranda (2017)

Memoranda is a game for those looking for something a bit different. It’s only likely to take you an afternoon to reach its conclusion, but spending a few hours exploring this beautiful world is a unique and memorable experience. But be aware that you will likely have to resort to a guide during some of the game's more surreal moments.

Memoranda is a stunning game with beautiful graphics and amazing music, only to fall short with lackluster gameplay and an incomplete story.

I wanted to love Memoranda. It comes across as a quirky, slightly dark, and fun little point-and-click game. While the story was a little strange, it was also fun and interesting without being too long. The graphics and sound design were spot-on for the tone of the game, instilling a subtle sense of unease all the way through. Unfortunately, the obscure nature of the puzzle solutions lowered my enjoyment a lot. They were just too bizarre, and as a lover of logic puzzles this went completely against what I enjoy in a puzzle. All in all, a nice little experience, but expect to be scratching your head more often than not!

Just like the fluent and realistic prose of Murakami, Memoranda has built a colorful world that despite its flaws, never fails in fascinating the gamer. if there were more hints in solving puzzles and more background for characters, we had no reason for not calling it a masterpiece.

Memoranda is an enjoyable game that simultaneously benefits from the exploratory nature of the adventure genre whilst being held back by the inevitable repetition that puzzle-solving requires.