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It’s certainly an interesting occupation: releasing chamber projects, for an hour or two of playing time, that take on symbolism and unusual visuals. One thing is bad: the gameplay in them is often quite simple or non-existent or replete with strange solutions, which probably should emphasize the symbolism. A Memoir Blue is one of these projects.
Story and Characters
The girl Miriam is a successful swimmer, as can be seen by the many cups in her room. But her relationship with her mother doesn’t work out. And much earlier, her mother ran away from her husband, taking baby Miriam with her. That’s why the girl is holding the phone in her hands, clearly not with the brightest of memories. But she still remembers, scrolling through the years that have passed.
How she left with her mother on the boat, how she splashed in the water, how they both settled in a new place, how her mother was away at work, and she herself – fell in love with the water element. How she made her first steps in the pool and how she made a decisive step – she left everything for the sake of professional sports and went somewhere in the unknown world alone. A real-life story, in general, with a benign sentimental denouement.
And it is served, on the whole, diligently, based on the stylistic intent as made in best online pokies in Australia. It’s all about combining the 3D setting and the protagonist model herself (from the present tense) with the 2D models of the mother and daughter (from memories). It looks, with the only exception of that scene at the end, where 3D Miriam meets herself in 2D: it’s like being back in the 90s, with their cheap effects in animation.
But the 2D models of mother and daughter fit into the 3D environment, and this is often played in an unconventional way: as a shadow theater, for example, in the city. When it comes to 3D-Miriam, we play with her fate as a swimmer: there she is on a cliff under the strata of the ocean sunset, as if suspended in an aquarium, then she makes her way through thickets of algae.
Gameplay Mechanics
And that brings us to the gameplay. In A Memoir Blue it’s simple as can be but tightly coupled with the plot, so to speak, an empty narrative scene. For example, a mother and her daughter move into a new apartment, and box after box appears we “unpack” them (click on them), and in the meantime, the apartment is filled with things. Or Miriam got her first medal at a children’s competition.
So, we inflate balloons, attach fish of different colors (gold-silver-bronze) to the podium, complete the podium with wooden figures of other medalists – and only then appear 2D-Miriam. Or an aquarium overgrew with mud, which we “scrub” by clicking (watering it) as if with a sponge. Or the subway: to go further, we dismantle the family letters-drawings, click on the icons of dad and mom, then take two tickets, but the images of water on the composter, tickets are put out, then we feed them to the machine.
And all of this, again, in one (or more than one) click. But there is no pixel-hunting in the game: the point is circled when pointing to the active object; it is impossible to miss. But is it interesting to do so? The question is rhetorical: it seems that from time to time, a great many people play such casual games just for a relaxed evening.
Joys:
- A Stylish Combination of 2D and 3D
- A number of curious visual choices
- Points of interest you don’t have to dig out
The Nasties:
- The story and symbolism are so-so.
- The gameplay is obscenely simple
- Very short running time
Conclusion
A Memoir Blue is not the best but also far from the worst representative of its genre, which can be defined as a symbolic art adventure. In any case, a number of curious findings in the game are there. Therefore, it is quite possible for fans of such projects to play it.
