Reviews// Remember Me

Your journey begins in the year 2084, in a futuristic version of Paris known as Neo-Paris. You are a memory hunter named Nilin. Well, you were...

A huge corporation known as MEMORIZE has created a brain implant called Sensen (Sensation Engine) – this allows the recipients to upload or share their memories using the internet. Now, you were a memory hunter for MEMORIZE – you could steal or alter memories. That is, until they wiped your memory and forced you on the run.

With the assistance of the “Errorists” rebel group leader, Edge, you set out on your mission to recover your lost memories and overthrow MEMORIZE.

Now, Remember Me gets very interesting, very quickly. Shortly after escaping your captors, you find yourself in the sewers of Neo-Paris, surrounded by what appear to be mutant-humans. It turns out these guys are known as Leapers, and they saw memories as Crack. They developed an addiction to absorbing memories, which in turn caused their Sensens to degrade and their bodies to mutate.

This is where we have our first taste for combat, and it’s a flavour I’ve never experienced before. As the Leapers become hostile, you’re prompted to access the ‘Combo Lab’. Now, in Remember Me, you choose your own combos. It’s not that simple though. Each combo slot can be filled with a Pressen – a specific type of attack. There are four types of Pressens; Regen, Power, Chain and Cooldown.

As you can guess, Regen and Power Pressens are healing and damage. A Chain Pressen matches the move before it with double strength, and we’ll come back to cooldown Pressens shortly. As I said earlier, you build your own combos using a variation of Pressens – It’s often useful to switch your Pressens around judging on the situation you find yourself in.

Depending on how far into the combo you place a Pressen, determines how powerful that attack will be. For instance, placing a chain Pressen after a Power Pressen right at the end of a combo will give you one final mighty hit – often finishing off the enemy.

As well as the four Pressens mentioned above, you unlock Super Pressens as you progress through the game. These Pressens can only be used once, and then require a cool down period before you can proceed to use them again. If you haven’t guessed already, that’s where the Cooldown Pressens come into play. Using a Cooldown Pressen as part of your combo will reduce the wait time on all S-Pressens before they can be used again.

This ‘Build your own combo’ stuff isn’t just an interesting feature in Remember Me either. It’s the difference between smooth, stylish gameplay and disastrously sloppy combos – and believe it or not, it’s a good feature. Combos are all about timing, you see. If you start hitting buttons left, right and centre, you’re going to ruin your combo and as a result, get yourself beat up.

Another particularly interesting feature in Remember Me is the memory re-sequencing sections. If you come across a character that can assist you, but refuses to due to past events, you’re able to tap into their memory. At first, you’ll see how the events took place. Then, you’re able to rewind the memory, looking out for glitches – things that you’re able to change. For instance, a bounty hunter is out for your blood at the start of the game as you killed her Leaper husband. By tapping into her memory and making a MEMORIZE doctor kill him, she joins forces with you seeking revenge on the corporation.

These sections can be slightly tedious and frustrating – it’s often one big game of trial and error; you need to find the right combination of glitches in order to achieve the correct outcome. At the same time, seeing each possible ending to the scenario depending on what glitches you initiate can be particularly interesting.

The traversal in Remember Me is similar to that of the Assassins Creed games in the sense that while manoeuvring the environment, you find yourself jumping from ledge to ledge, climbing up buildings and generally acting like some sort of ninja. It’s not quite as free-flowing as AC though – you’re only able to access certain ledges and areas of the city – it works alright though, so no complaints from me.

As well as all of these memory-related possibilities, we also have Remembrances available to us. To cut a long story short, you’re able to steal an individual’s memories. This can often help you with security codes and other useful tricks such as how to manoeuvre through a minefield without blowing your legs off.

All-in-all, I absolutely love Remember Me. Most of the factors we see here are new and innovative. Admittedly, it does have some flaws, but in this particular case, the pros definitely outweigh the cons.

I think the easiest way to describe Remember Me is this: Take Tekken and Assassins Creed and leave them alone in a bedroom after a few too many Rums on a Saturday night. Then wait 9 months, and woooo, Remember Me is born.

P.S. Yes, it does have an annoyingly short campaign just like every other story-based none-RPG game of this generation.

Pros
+ Memory re-sequencing is particularly interesting
+ ‘Build your own combos’ is a great way for the player to personalise their save
+ Plenty of innovative features

Cons
- Memory re-sequencing can be slightly tedious + frustrating
- CAMPAIGN IS TOO SHORT

SPOnG Score: 9/10