My Memory of Us Review - War Has Changed
My Memory of Us: A dramatic tale not devoid of charm or faultsThe Second World War was repeatedly approached in video games in an often demonstrative and sometimes more metaphorical way. It is this second approach that was chosen by Juggler Game in his My Memory of Us, an allegory of the torments experienced in the Warsaw ghetto.
MAGNETO, XAVIER!
The player will understand it from the first minutes of play, My Memory of Us will tackle serious themes but will give them the form of a tale told by an old librarian, whose face of a young client reminds him of his childhood friend. The title adopts a monochromatic aesthetic of the most beautiful effect and allows only a few sprains to the rule by smearing the interactive elements with red, but not only. With its character rather cartoon type years 30/40, My Memory of Us succeeds from the first moments its aesthetic bet and will multiply the good ideas from one end to the other of the adventure. Note also that it is the excellent Patrick Stewart who takes care of the oral narration and delivers a very good performance. The rest of the tale will go through ideograms and some documents to learn more about the real historical context developed in the game.Because, we told you, My Memory of Us is an allegory in which the Nazis gave way to robots. If the start of the game takes place a few days before the occupation, we will witness the dropping of the bombs and the setting up and insurrection of the Warsaw ghetto. Without ever falling into complacency, the title of Juggle Game manages to evoke the dramas of the occupation and segregation, in particular applying the color red to all the individuals suddenly discriminated against by the occupiers and the surrounding population. That said, the purpose of My Memory of Us is more tailored for the youngest, and it goes without saying that an adult look will often find the metaphors a little too demonstrative or coarse. If we accept this fact, we manage to grasp to appreciate this touching story, never devoid of a certain optimism.
A SIMPLE, EFFICIENT BUT NOT FAULTY CONCEPT
You will therefore have to control a young boy and a young girl, and will have to solve puzzles and mini-games to progress in the story. For this, each character has complementary skills. The boy can move stealthily, to hide from enemies or to steal objects. He is also able to use a mirror to dazzle characters, allowing the girl to access otherwise inaccessible places. For her part, the girl is able to sprint, make the short ladder to the boy and use a slingshot to activate levers from a distance.As you may have guessed, the two children will have to work together to solve the puzzles. It will therefore be possible to control them individually, but also to allow them to hold hands. If the girl is in front, the two companions can sprint, if it is the boy, they can both hide behind the ramparts. Simple and fairly effective, the controls of My Memory of Us lack fluidity, however, and certain actions, such as stepping over a simple block of stone, require interactions that are too numerous for the movements they trigger. Certain heavinesses should therefore be noted, as are certain infiltration phases which do not always work very well. Sneaking behind enemy ranks is certainly never really complicated, but the imprecise maneuverability of the two companions will cause you to be regularly detected, which causes a return to a checkpoint sometimes placed a little too far behind.
Apart from these few pitfalls, My Memory of Us is very easy and can be crossed in around 4 hours, without forcing too much. From one chapter to another, you will be faced with many puzzles and other mini-games. If the procedure to follow will never be indicated to you, the solution of the various puzzles is obvious enough quickly and will only take a handful of minutes to be solved. The ease of the title is however counterbalanced by the originality of certain puzzles, but also by their diversity. Indeed, My Memory of Us skillfully avoids serving again and again puzzles based on the same patterns, so much so that we never get bored. Note also that the game has split into small "action" phases which, if they are not the most successful, at least have the merit of further supporting the variety of game phases. However, the game gain in diversity what it loses in coherence, certain puzzles not really having a logical connection with the story, decorrelating the phases of reflection from that of narration. Thus, we will have to agree to take actions that are not always consistent to take full advantage of the space left for history.
In short, My Memory of Us is very pleasant to navigate but struggles to take off fully as much because of imprecise and heavy handling as for the feeling that it gives not to have completely discussed a subject in depth. was however. However, the adventure remains sufficiently well told and touching to make the player spend a pleasant moment and borrowing a real optimism.
The notes
+ Positive points
An aesthetic success
Narration by Patrick Stewart exemplary
Simple but varied puzzles
A successful war allegory seen through children's eyes
A nice story of friendship
Superb soundtrack
-Negative points
We would have liked the subject to remain less on the surface
Some heaviness in controls
Little logic puzzles in this universe
My Memory of Us is undoubtedly a pleasant game, which, under its air of tale for child, knows how to approach with accuracy, but also with a little too much evidence, serious themes. His varied and sometimes original puzzles, even if often uncorrelated with the logic of the story, and his charming aesthetic manage to catch the player and make him partially forget the heaviness of his gameplay and the metaphors that remain a little too much on the surface. A pretty adventure that knows, rare thing, skillfully mixing dramatic and optimistic.
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