My Memory Of Us Review

Where to begin with My Memory of Us then? Well, I am a sucker for a story of friendship. Equally, I love to sink my teeth into a big slice of good old 2D platforming. However, I detest most stealth games, and puzzling elements leave me wishing my brain had evolved as wonderfully as my ear hair has (it is wonderful).

So, without further ado, welcome to my review of My Memory of Us, a story-driven tale of friendship set against a stealthy 2D landscape rife with puzzling puzzles galore! This could be interesting…

My Memory of Us has a genuinely harrowing story to tell. It has one foot firmly planted in the horrors of WWII, focusing closely upon the invasion of Poland and the devastation that followed, only, we view things as though it’s a sci-fi tale of invading robots bringing the horrors of conflict to the forefront. It is an incredibly tough period of human history to bring to a game, however, don’t be put off too quickly, what we actually get is a game that brings love and joy to the table above all else.

The story, narrated beautifully by Patrick Stewart is one of friendship in incredibly trying times. We have a boy and a girl. They get up to the usual hijinks and scrapes before the bombs begin to fall, and then, well, the stakes become much higher. I don’t want to go too deep here, part of the joy is allowing the game to let its tale wash over you and to become invested in its players, and with Sir Patrick Stewart at the helm, it is wonderfully easy to do just that.

So let us talk about the game from a player’s perspective.

Before I even contemplate digging into the various points of the game itself, something else needs to be said. My Memory of Us is instantly striking. This is the thing that grabbed me before anything else had a chance. In fact, I think the first time around I missed the opening of the story because the art style was dancing a merry jig on my eyeballs. It is quite simply delightful. I don’t often use the word delightful either, being a gruff northerner and all (This sort of word is heavily frowned upon by my northern brethren) but damn it if this game isn’t as delightful looking as they come. The clash of sparse colour against a largely monochromatic background makes everything pop beautifully, and the almost hand-drawn style works an absolute treat.

In terms of gameplay, My Memory of Us is a very slick mix of platform dashing and tricky puzzling. One minute I was leaping along the rooftops pursued by enemies, or ducking in and out of shadows, and the next I was scratching my head trying to work out the steps required to solve the latest puzzle and open the way forward. The characters can go it alone or you can have them hold hands and move together. The boy can sneak and steal, the girl can run fast and fire a catapult among other things, and as a pairing, they are equipped to tackle every obstacle put before them. The rest is just down to your own grey matter and a large dose of logical thinking. And this is something to be praised too. Logical puzzles are the order of the day here and it is refreshing to have a game that offers such.

The puzzling sections are wide and varied, removing the potential for repetition, and the fact that many sections require the player to utilise both characters’ strengths to proceed is superb.

What really shines throughout is the bond between the characters and how the narrative builds upon this making it impossible not to feel a genuine attachment to them as play moves along. Games with such a strong story driving them reach much greater heights when the player can find themselves invested in the characters in my opinion and My Memory of Us does this with ease.

So it’s a strong hand being played here, but of course, this is a videogame, so there are a couple of issues to contend with too, unfortunately (nobody’s perfect right?). At times during the more action-heavy phases, the controls can prove a little imprecise, meaning you have to repeat sections and fend off the rising turbulence of frustration. Also, there are levels that I thought I was very close to completing before blowing it somehow and being whisked back to the start rather than a mid-point checkpoint. This again is frustrating and did see me turn the game off a few times.

However, these are small niggles within an otherwise very strong package. We have a game that offers plenty of variety in its challenges ranging from stealth to speed, and puzzling to power, and it always drives the player forward with a narrative demanding to be told.

My Memory of Us is a truly engaging game of contrasts. It is harrowing and sombre, yet joyful and warm. It demands speed one minute and patience the next, it delivers a true evil but then talks of love and friendship, and, it takes old staples of gaming and makes them relevant and enjoyable in this modern age. I went in unsure of how the stealth and puzzling would affect my enjoyment, but leave feeling all the more fulfilled for having travelled the road My Memory of Us paved. This one will, I’m sure, become a very welcome addition to the games catalogue of Switch players everywhere.