Amnesia: Memories

Amnesia: Memories is an otome where the MC awakens with amnesia and must figure out what her life was like (read: who was she dating?) and what happened. Interacting with the LIs triggers memories that she can use to piece together the mystery. Also, there’s some little invisible hair gremlin that gives advice. Just roll with it.

I played through this game about a year ago and never properly bitched about it. The premise and setup are kind of interesting. Each route consists of a version of that character’s life in an alternate universes where different characters have different levels of significance to the MC.

Unfortunately, the game insists on being annoying about everything. You can’t tell anyone you have amnesia, you just have to fake it until you make it. And you definitely shouldn’t seek the help of a medical professional or confide in your best friend.

All the guys have personality disorders. So there is some amusing wtf mixed in with the usual casual conversation about date rape. Many of the “choices” consist of minor conversation variations that logically shouldn’t matter. (Is there really a meaningful difference between “…” and “…Ah, um…”?) Just Otome Things.

Anyway, AM does a few odd things design-wise, like faux loading screens between days and lots of pointless “time passes” scene breaks. It has quality sprites, but terrible BGs. The most glaring issue is it doesn’t have rollback or a history. I’m a fast reader, so I would skip over a line, then think–wait, what?–and… too late! It’s gone bye.

The only character I actually want to date is the MC’s best friend Sawa who, completely illogically, cannot be trusted or confided in even though she is very clearly THE BEST PERSON to confide in. If this game had a Sawa route I’d be happy.

Anyway, I decided to take the plunge and play through Toma’s route. A friend already apprised me of the particulars, so I didn’t go into it blind.

My favorite thing about the route, and this is a stroke of genius, is that Toma is the only guy who doesn’t immediately set off the assholeometer. He actually seems like a decent guy, so of course he’s the one who locks the MC up in a giant dog cage. Not just the bad ending, either. Apparently every ending. It’s perfect. I nailed the bad ending effortlessly, just by acting like a rational human being.

Having played through Ken and the Ickster’s routes, I appreciate it just for being different and unexpected and honestly pretty delightfully fucked up. The OMG HOW DARE reaction of some of the players is a precious bonus.

Yes, how DARE I revel in a dude locking the object of his affections in a cage. I am morally bankrupt I hmphgmmm **snarfle-shovels popcorn into mouth**

In summary: Paid $3, got locked in dog cage without a mat to sleep on, 11/10