Poetry here is expressed with song and scenery rather than words and punctuation. It’s also an excellent exercise in upturning your conception of poetry and game mechanics. It’s simple and sweet and it fits right into a lull between bigger, less abstract titles. If you’re the kind of person that seeks out titles like A Memoir Blue, then I’m confident in saying you’re going to enjoy it. You’re dragged down further and further until the game flips the delve into this stranger’s - Miriam’s- memories on its head and recontextualizes your one mechanic in a simple, yet effective flick of the wrist. The snap of the eject button on Miriam’s tape deck, the inertia of a merry-go-round, and the bright, abrasive flash of a reporter’s camera all create a convincing dreamscape of memories.ĭrag down the ice cubes to pass the time.ĭrag down the furniture to throw your little tantrum. By leaning on the physicality of Miriam’s memories, A Memoir Blue convincingly draws us into her internal world. For Miriam, just as for us, pamphlets from road trips or smashed pennies are the keys to unlocking stories we’ve forgotten. I’ll probably never forget dragging a beautiful sunset into view while lighting up a billboard off in the distance, but all of these evocative flourishes rely on a well-realized sense of physicality. Gentle music is perfectly choreographed to your brief stint through Miriam’s memory, the mishmash of representational styles work in concert with each other in several moments. Time and again you’re presented with a thing to prod at until something clicks into place. The trick A Memoir Blue pulls off is similar to that state of mind. There’s a particular state of being many of us have entered while cleaning out a closet. This game evokes a strong, lasting sense of digging through someone else’s memories. You’ll find yourself waiting for the music to swell just right before you tug a line of balloons into place. The experience is so natural and engrossing that it’s easy to forget that all you’re really doing as a player is clicking and dragging things around with an almost invisible cursor. Writing has been replaced with thematic wingdings, speak is a distant pseudo-language, and Miriam herself barely utters a sound. You dive into Miriam’s world without much context and the game asks you to pull together her emotional state one psychic sketch at a time. You’re descending from that scene as you uncover Miriam’s memories submerged under a decade of clutter.Ī Memoir Blue pulls you into this meditative experience by excising all distraction. For example, the title screen gracefully teaches you the gist of the entire game by having you drag a tape deck under the water. Moving from scene to scene, you’re tasked with poking at things like the contents of her bag or the cubes in a glass of water on the table in hopes of triggering some sort of shift in the vignette presented to you. Primarily, you’re exploring the memories of a young prolific swimmer named Miriam as she dozes off after dodging a phone call. You’re taking on an abstract role with an incredibly limited set of interactions. As a game, A Memoir Blue is a seemingly bare experience.
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