Chromatic Memories Review

So, let’s talk about Chromatic Memories. This is the second game from Perla Oculta, and I was intrigued by the concept. Set in the 2000s in the Canary Islands, Nayara is a young woman who works as a painter of memories, and she has erased the memories of her time meeting one specific person. It’s up to her to figure out what happened to these memories, and how it works.

By all accounts, I enjoyed the music, and I enjoyed the Avant-Garde art style that there was, however, there were some very, very, significant flaws. I’ll be honest, I was unable to complete Chromatic Memories because of them, as I was literally unable to proceed.

One of my first issues was that there are entire passages of dialogue script which are entirely in Spanish. This meant that I didn’t have a clue what they were saying, despite the fact that I was playing the English localisation. Whilst a few Spanish words are fine, after all, I’ve read Junot Diaz’s work, and he always uses a combination of language, but these were entire passages, including choices of what to talk about next with another character. Grammar and spelling? Oh, I’ve come to accept that I can ignore that, but entire passages did make it more confusing for me.

Then, I noticed that I had to replay memories, with one memory unlocking a new colour at a time. While this wouldn’t normally be a problem, there’s no fast-forward to go through dialogue you’ve already seen. That meant clicking through for a long period, and considering the number of times you’ll have to replay a memory, then, well, it won’t mean that it’s a fun experience, especially when doing this several times in a row.

Upon unlocking a colour, you’ll need to find the right one for each greyed-out item. These will then unlock another part of the memory, and I do appreciate that. However, having to replay each part and click through it all did offer a level of tedium I didn’t enjoy. Especially, when at one point, I clicked through it quickly, only for Unity to crash, and that was it for me.

I wish I could say that was the only time it crashed, but that wasn’t the case. At one point, I tried clicking on Grandpa before interacting with Nayara’s mother in one memory, and the game froze to the point that I could do nothing else. I had to reset the game, and therefore the memory more than once. So, just a note for everyone, don’t click there.

It wouldn’t have been so much of an issue if I didn’t have to constantly do a little mini-game to use the Memory Channeler to see each memory. There was no rhyme or reason to it, where you have to select blinking lights in a certain order, or you’ll have to start over. Considering it will change each time you use it, and is clearly randomised, I found it even more frustrating, especially as I was going through each memory.

After selecting each and every option available to get further and unlock the third memory, I realised there was just nothing left to click. I clicked all there was to click, I went back to the first memory in the cafe, I went back to look through the present day, and I searched through every option in the second memory: absolutely nothing.

So I’m sorry to say that despite my interest in the concept, that in the way it is now, there are too many bugs for me to play through Chromatic Memories. Even after uninstalling the game and re-installing it, there was no way for me to proceed further, and it’s disappointing, because I would have liked to know why Nayara erased her memories.

As of the time of writing, Perla Oculta has announced that they are working to fix the issues that they are having, however, it has taken longer than expected. With some hope, I wish the best for them to provide the best possible experience for everyone playing it.