Remember Me is an original IP developed by Dontnod and Capcom in the PS360 generation. It's a game that, ironically, few people remember, but that I find super underrated. It takes place in the year of 2084, when human memories can be digitized, enabling people to share, trade and even sell them. This technology revolutionized human society, which now has it as part of everyone's daily lives.
In the first minutes of the game, you're introduced to the notion of sharing all your memories with someone, either to feel a stronger connection, or to keep close to someone who passed away. Then, to the notion of wiping someone's brain completely so to neutralize them, which is what happens to the protagonist, Nilin.
As we meet her, she's imprisoned, and her memories are being erased in what seems to be a very painful process. A voice reaches out to her, begging her not to submit, and under the guidance of this mysterious man, she breaks out. Remembering only her name, Nilin sets out to recover her past and find out why she was captured.
The world she lives in houses an elite isolated in the reconstructed center of an otherwise devastated Paris, filled with flooded slums that contrast with a gentrified city center. Here, every person has a brain-computer interface called Sensen installed to their spine, and through this interface, memories can easily be added or removed from their minds. The result is a world where memories are treated as a commodity: good memories are sold, often as recreational drugs, and bad memories can be changed or even removed entirely.
It's one of many interesting ideas and thought experiments present the game's sci-fi lore. Another one I like, one that is referenced by the game in several points, is Mnemopolis, a proposal for an utopic city where the thoughts of every person would be shared with everyone else in order to eliminate mistrust among the community. After all, says its creator, fear is a reaction to not knowing what others are thinking, and if you do, then there's no reason to panic.
Mnemopolis is particularly emblematic because the world of Remember Me is one where technology has effectively wiped out personal privacy, and that's whether you want to or not: in the shadows of this neo-Paris roam memory hunters, people whose purpose is to invade others' Sensen, stealing their memories and selling off the loot to their enemies or to information brokers.
"I am a memory hunter. I can know everything about you. And I can make you believe whatever I want. This is my gift. My legacy."
Nilin herself is a highly skilled memory hunter, and more than just take away memories from people, she can also alter them in-place, radically altering a person's allegiances or beliefs. This ties into the Memory Remixes, one of the most fascinating gameplay sections of the game, both in a gameplay and storytelling sense.
You're shown a pivotal memory from someone's mind -- a moment in their lives that defined who they are -- and have to interact with it in order to change what transpired, for instance, by saving/killing someone, or shifting blame, all in the person's mind. It's a novel idea that's very engaging, letting you play the scene back and forth until the result looks like what you want it to be.
Other than remixes, Remember Me is structured much like action games of its time, with linear platforming sections leading to combat sections and cutscenes -- think Uncharted. Each section of the world is intricately detailed, and the game looks phenomenal for its generation while still maintaining a stable FPS. This is true even when there's action going on.
Unlike many of those contemporaries, though, combat in Remember Me is pure melee, and in this, there's another very novel concept the game introduces: the combo customization. In Remember Me, you create your own combos by picking from a list of button sequences and assigning properties, called Pressens, to each attack in the sequence.
The system is a bit intricate, and I'd be lying if I said I remember every detail so many years later, but each hit can either do extra damage, heal Nilin, shave time off skill cooldowns, or enhance effects of subsequent hits in the combo. There's also a multiplier for the effect applied depending on the position it is in the combo.
It might sound like you'd go for more power all the time, but that's actually a fast way to die. Different enemies often require completely different strategies: Some enemies need to be killed fast, but others resist that approach, such as those who deal spike damage and require you to balance damage output with healing. This forces you to be mindful of each hit, of each enemy's positioning, and of your own combo setups.
(Disclaimer: I did play on Hard. I can't say whether Normal allows you to mash to victory -- I suspect it might since I've heard some people say the combo system is useless.)
Now, maybe it sounds like I only have praise for the game, but-- wait, actually, that's true, I do only have praise for the game. Remember Me was just such a solid and novel action experience to me. There was never a moment where I felt cheated, or bored, or felt like the game was leading me nowhere.
If anything, its greatest problem is that I wanted more, especially more memory remixes, but other than that, Remember Me feels like it has everything. Strong worldbuilding, a gripping story, beautiful visuals, fast and deep gameplay, smart use of the setting and lore... And a fantastic main character to boot. Ten-ish years later, I can only hope this game and IP doesn't end up forgotten.
In the first minutes of the game, you're introduced to the notion of sharing all your memories with someone, either to feel a stronger connection, or to keep close to someone who passed away. Then, to the notion of wiping someone's brain completely so to neutralize them, which is what happens to the protagonist, Nilin.
As we meet her, she's imprisoned, and her memories are being erased in what seems to be a very painful process. A voice reaches out to her, begging her not to submit, and under the guidance of this mysterious man, she breaks out. Remembering only her name, Nilin sets out to recover her past and find out why she was captured.
The world she lives in houses an elite isolated in the reconstructed center of an otherwise devastated Paris, filled with flooded slums that contrast with a gentrified city center. Here, every person has a brain-computer interface called Sensen installed to their spine, and through this interface, memories can easily be added or removed from their minds. The result is a world where memories are treated as a commodity: good memories are sold, often as recreational drugs, and bad memories can be changed or even removed entirely.
It's one of many interesting ideas and thought experiments present the game's sci-fi lore. Another one I like, one that is referenced by the game in several points, is Mnemopolis, a proposal for an utopic city where the thoughts of every person would be shared with everyone else in order to eliminate mistrust among the community. After all, says its creator, fear is a reaction to not knowing what others are thinking, and if you do, then there's no reason to panic.
Mnemopolis is particularly emblematic because the world of Remember Me is one where technology has effectively wiped out personal privacy, and that's whether you want to or not: in the shadows of this neo-Paris roam memory hunters, people whose purpose is to invade others' Sensen, stealing their memories and selling off the loot to their enemies or to information brokers.
"I am a memory hunter. I can know everything about you. And I can make you believe whatever I want. This is my gift. My legacy."
Nilin herself is a highly skilled memory hunter, and more than just take away memories from people, she can also alter them in-place, radically altering a person's allegiances or beliefs. This ties into the Memory Remixes, one of the most fascinating gameplay sections of the game, both in a gameplay and storytelling sense.
You're shown a pivotal memory from someone's mind -- a moment in their lives that defined who they are -- and have to interact with it in order to change what transpired, for instance, by saving/killing someone, or shifting blame, all in the person's mind. It's a novel idea that's very engaging, letting you play the scene back and forth until the result looks like what you want it to be.
Other than remixes, Remember Me is structured much like action games of its time, with linear platforming sections leading to combat sections and cutscenes -- think Uncharted. Each section of the world is intricately detailed, and the game looks phenomenal for its generation while still maintaining a stable FPS. This is true even when there's action going on.
Unlike many of those contemporaries, though, combat in Remember Me is pure melee, and in this, there's another very novel concept the game introduces: the combo customization. In Remember Me, you create your own combos by picking from a list of button sequences and assigning properties, called Pressens, to each attack in the sequence.
The system is a bit intricate, and I'd be lying if I said I remember every detail so many years later, but each hit can either do extra damage, heal Nilin, shave time off skill cooldowns, or enhance effects of subsequent hits in the combo. There's also a multiplier for the effect applied depending on the position it is in the combo.
It might sound like you'd go for more power all the time, but that's actually a fast way to die. Different enemies often require completely different strategies: Some enemies need to be killed fast, but others resist that approach, such as those who deal spike damage and require you to balance damage output with healing. This forces you to be mindful of each hit, of each enemy's positioning, and of your own combo setups.
(Disclaimer: I did play on Hard. I can't say whether Normal allows you to mash to victory -- I suspect it might since I've heard some people say the combo system is useless.)
Now, maybe it sounds like I only have praise for the game, but-- wait, actually, that's true, I do only have praise for the game. Remember Me was just such a solid and novel action experience to me. There was never a moment where I felt cheated, or bored, or felt like the game was leading me nowhere.
If anything, its greatest problem is that I wanted more, especially more memory remixes, but other than that, Remember Me feels like it has everything. Strong worldbuilding, a gripping story, beautiful visuals, fast and deep gameplay, smart use of the setting and lore... And a fantastic main character to boot. Ten-ish years later, I can only hope this game and IP doesn't end up forgotten.