Test – A Memoir Blue: Annapurna’s failure

Less known than Electronic Arts or Ubisoft, Annapurna Interactive has nevertheless established itself as one of the most productive independent publishers in recent years. We owe him a few classics including the excellent What Remains of Edith Finch, or the very original Outer Wilds. However, his latest production risks being debated…

Recognized for its very original games, Annapurna Interactive does not hesitate to take very big risks with sometimes totally delirious projects, like the very successful The Artful Escape. The publisher is doing it once more this year with “A Memoir Blue”, a new narrative game produced by the small studio Cloisters Interactive.

In this sequence, you have to print your metro ticket yourself, validate it and enter it into the machine…

The project started with solid intentions. The story of the game tells us the story of a professional swimmer, medalist at the Olympic Games, who revisits through her dreams several memories of her past… and in particular, her relationship with her mother, who was the victim of an abusive relationship. . An interesting approach on paper, but which however has great difficulty in captivating the player during the game, the fault of a staging that is far too surreal and game sequences without tail or head.

Before delving into A Memoir Blue, it should indeed be known that it is a surreal narrative experience. The past of the central character is narrated in an illustrated way through a series of game sequences that alternate between mini-games and purely visual sequences related in one way or another to the underwater depths.

In this sequence, you have to drop drops of water to reveal the photo…

Let’s not cut corners: from a purely playful point of view, A Memoir Blue is a real disaster. We link here sequences often without tail or head, playfully very poor. These are indeed reduced to very short “mini-games” poorly integrated into the adventure and above all not very engaging. In the first minutes of the game, the player will thus have to print two metro tickets, punch them to validate them and enter them into the machine. The operation takes one to two minutes, and the player is not assigned any instructions. He will, in general, have to guess everything himself in this adventure. Admittedly, most of the time, this goes without saying, but since it is a surreal experience, we sometimes find ourselves stupidly stuck desperately looking for a clickable element on the screen. It should also be noted that in terms of getting started, the title looks more towards a point & click than a party-game, since the player will literally have to constantly click on the screen to move his cursor to perform actions. … We have already seen more exciting…

The story of the game is also not really exciting for ordinary mortals. In large part, due to its surreal style. The slowness of the narration and the very contemplative aspect of the game do not really work in its favor. It’s all the more unfortunate that artistically, there were great ideas with superb animated sequences, which contrast with the ingame sequences, in 3D, which are much less successful, and make the scenario progress. Unlike boring and excruciatingly repetitive game sequences.

The game sequences are very contemplative.

On the soundtrack side, we find on the other hand very pretty things with very successful sound effects and quality music, signed by some big names in the industry. And, in particular, long-time partners of the publisher, such as Joel Corelitz (Gorogoa) or Eric Hillman (Ashen).

Hell is paved with good intentions and we feel it with this “A Memoir Blue”, the developers have tried to offer us a unique narrative experience. However, the formula is very difficult to take, largely due to uninviting game sequences, an excessively slow pace and an ultimately uninteresting story to follow. It should also be noted that the game loops very quickly. You will see the end of the adventure in less than two short hours of play. Annapurna Interactive seems to be well aware of the weaknesses of its game, since it is only charged €7.99. The good news is that it’s integrated with Gamepass, so it’s possible to try it out for free if you’re a subscriber to the service…

Conclusion

If he is used to giving us small nuggets, Annapurna Interactive misses the mark with his latest production. Everything started on solid foundations. The developers of A Memoir Blue promised us an artistically very successful surreal narrative adventure. If, from a technical and artistic point of view, the production is doing rather well, the title struggles to convince in terms of its narration with its extremely slow pace and its surrealist approach, which creates a certain distance with the story. of this relationship between a young girl and her mother, victims of an abusive relationship. From a playful point of view, the title also struggles to convince. Each gameplay sequence takes the form of some kind of extremely basic mini-game. It will be necessary, for example, to validate a ticket by punching it or to gradually make an image appear by dripping drops on it… Not very engaging, the title is moreover very badly paced and very short too. Count 1 hour of play by passing the animated sequences, and less than 2 hours by taking your time. The good news is that it is not necessary to buy it to play it since the title is integrated into the Gamepass offer.

A Memoir Blue

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