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Memoranda

A point and click adventure game with a touch of magical realism.
Memoranda Game Cover
61%Game Brain Score
story, graphics
optimization, emotional
68% User Score Based on 100 reviews
Critic Score 55%Based on 10 reviews

Platforms

Nintendo SwitchLinuxPCMac OSPlaystation 4Xbox OneWindowsPlayStation
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Memoranda Game Cover

About

Memoranda is a single player puzzle game with a mystery theme. It was developed by Bit Byterz and was released on January 25, 2017. It received neutral reviews from critics and mostly positive reviews from players.

"Memoranda" is a single-player, mystery point-and-click game with magic realism elements, where you explore a quiet town filled with unusual characters who are all losing something vital. The game is inspired by the surreal short stories of Haruki Murakami, featuring beautiful hand-drawn graphics, ingenious music, and a thought-provoking plot about a young woman forgetting her own name. The game aims to immerse you in a memorable adventure of discovery and self-realization.

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Memoranda screenshot
Memoranda screenshot
Memoranda screenshot
Memoranda screenshot
Memoranda screenshot
Memoranda screenshot
Memoranda screenshot
Memoranda screenshot
Memoranda screenshot
Memoranda screenshot
Memoranda screenshot
+2
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68%
Audience ScoreBased on 100 reviews
story22 positive mentions
optimization2 negative mentions
  • Gorgeous hand-drawn art style and unique character designs create a visually stunning experience.
  • The game features a quirky and surreal storyline that captures the essence of magical realism, reminiscent of Haruki Murakami's works.
  • The voice acting and soundtrack contribute to an immersive atmosphere, enhancing the overall experience.
  • Many puzzles are illogical and frustrating, often requiring a walkthrough to progress, which detracts from the gameplay experience.
  • The story feels disjointed and lacks closure, leaving many plot points unresolved and characters underdeveloped.
  • The gameplay can be tedious due to excessive backtracking and unclear objectives, making it difficult to maintain engagement.
  • story
    112 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story of "Memoranda" is a surreal and whimsical narrative inspired by Haruki Murakami's works, featuring quirky characters and bizarre plot elements. While some players appreciate its artistic charm and intriguing themes, many criticize the disjointed storytelling, illogical puzzles, and lack of cohesive direction, leading to a frustrating experience. Overall, the narrative is seen as both captivating and confusing, appealing primarily to those familiar with Murakami's style.

    • “What a beautiful ending and what a brilliant story.”
    • “I believe Memoranda tells its story very well, conveying humor, pathos, and nostalgia beautifully through gameplay and exposition.”
    • “It's a story about an elephant vanishing overnight and about a girl that forgot her name because it ran away.”
    • “The world building doesn't make any sense, the story doesn't make any sense, the dialogue is totally disjointed and never makes any sense... in short, this is some of the worst writing ever perpetrated.”
    • “The story itself is silly and characters flat and illogical.”
    • “The nonsensical story, one-dimensional characters, and lack of direction or a clear idea of what to do next makes for a frustrating—not to mention brief—experience.”
  • graphics
    59 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of "Memoranda" are widely praised for their unique, hand-drawn art style, which creates a beautiful and inviting atmosphere that many players find appealing. However, while the visuals are a standout feature, they are often overshadowed by frustrating and illogical puzzles that detract from the overall experience. Despite the aesthetic charm, some players feel that the game's graphical strengths are not enough to compensate for its gameplay shortcomings.

    • “Stunning graphics!”
    • “The graphics, and overall atmosphere in Memoranda is beautiful, consisting of beautifully painted backdrops and rich sounds.”
    • “Aesthetically, the colorful palettes and exquisite textures make every scene in the game so lively and picturesque.”
    • “To which I could add a subpar interface (requiring massive keyboard input in what is supposed to be a point-and-click), rotten animation (of otherwise pleasing graphics), some illegible texts, and a main voice actress who can't articulate her words (making subtitles a must).”
    • “For all its artistic graphics and musical counterpoints, I was about as emotionally invested in this game as folding laundry.”
    • “I do suggest weighing your thoughts between if visuals or the puzzles are why you are going to play this, as both cancel each other out when analyzing the whole game.”
  • music
    30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is widely praised for its ability to enhance the atmosphere, with many reviewers noting its soothing and immersive qualities that complement the beautiful art style. While the soundtrack is described as lovely and fitting for the game's mood, some critiques mention that the voice acting varies in quality. Overall, the combination of music, art, and sound design contributes significantly to the game's unique charm and emotional impact.

    • “It's a beautiful journey, though, as the background art in Memoranda is colorful, memorable, and gorgeous, and the whole game is accompanied by a lovely soundtrack that does a great job of setting the mood.”
    • “The visual style is gorgeous and the superb soundtrack greatly adds to the atmosphere.”
    • “For all its artistic graphics and musical counterpoints, I was about as emotionally invested in this game as folding laundry.”
    • “No great music or dialogue; some riddles are not logical at all and the story has a lot of inconsistencies, but these faults don't stop it from being really interesting.”
    • “The soundtrack is also very specific but suits the mood of the game.”
  • gameplay
    24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of Memoranda is characterized as a standard point-and-click adventure, often criticized for its illogical puzzles and pixel-hunting mechanics, which can frustrate players and detract from the overall experience. While the game features a charming art style and attempts to weave narrative elements into gameplay, many players found the lack of intuitive hints and logical progression to be significant drawbacks. Overall, the gameplay is seen as a mixed bag, with some appreciating its artistic integration but many feeling it falls short in terms of engagement and coherence.

    • “I really liked the fact that this made the gameplay reflect the story, and hence become part of the narrative itself.”
    • “Memoranda is a smooth game, in the sense that its parts mesh well in terms of mood and gameplay.”
    • “Gameplay-wise it's a user-friendly point and click, that is a bit harder than recent games, for example the Wadjet Eye games.”
    • “I liked Memoranda's art style, voice acting, and many other artistic or impressionist aspects, but found the gameplay and its puzzles very illogical and unintuitive, so I resorted to a guide pretty much the whole way through and just tried to enjoy the story.”
    • “But the gameplay boils down to pure pixel-hunting and nothing more.”
    • “Although the gameplay is nothing more than the typical 'examine, collect, combine, and talk' interactions in point & click games, making progress can be really hard from time to time due to the leaps of logical reasoning and the lack of straightforward hints, which can really hinder the continuous flow of experience and wear down the players quickly.”
  • atmosphere
    15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its beautiful art style, rich sound design, and dreamlike quality, creating an immersive experience that resonates with fans of surreal narratives. Players appreciate the polished visuals and soothing soundtrack, which enhance the game's magical and contemplative ambiance, despite some critiques regarding voice acting and puzzle logic. Overall, the game's atmosphere is considered a standout feature, inviting players to explore its enchanting world and narratives.

    • “The graphics and overall atmosphere in Memoranda are beautiful, consisting of beautifully painted backdrops and rich sounds.”
    • “This is a slow, calm, contemplative little point-and-click adventure game, with a wonderful, dreamlike, surreal atmosphere, surrounding a number of little short narratives our main character comes across during her attempts to recover her name.”
    • “Emotionally, the soothing background music and light-hearted dialogues with affectionate voice acting build up an immersive atmosphere for the players.”
    • “However, the weird voice acting (I enjoyed the main character's slight lisp, but I found her tone off with the game's atmosphere) and the 'dreamlike' logic of the puzzles got me wanting to just get it over with.”
    • “It advertises as a game where you go around in a seaside town trying to piece together a girl's memory and does well in bringing that atmosphere.”
    • “I think Memoranda is a fresh point-and-click game mainly in terms of atmosphere, storyline, and characters.”
  • optimization
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Overall, "Memoranda" demonstrates solid optimization, with minimal stuttering or pauses during gameplay. However, some users reported occasional audio stuttering in voice acting, though these instances were brief and not overly disruptive.

    • “Memoranda performed pretty well, having almost no stuttering or pauses in normal circumstances.”
    • “I only came across some audio stuttering in the voice acting here and there, and even then it wasn't too bad as it only lasted for a word.”
  • emotional
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Reviews on the emotional aspect of the game are mixed; while some players find the soothing music and affectionate voice acting create an immersive atmosphere, others feel disconnected due to poor voice acting, confusing puzzles, and a lackluster story, resulting in minimal emotional investment.

    • “Emotionally, the soothing background music and light-hearted dialogues with affectionate voice acting build up an immersive atmosphere for the players.”
    • “The voice acting is very poor, making it hard to connect emotionally with the characters.”
    • “The puzzles are confusing and the hints are unhelpful, which detracts from the emotional experience.”
    • “The story is boring and fails to evoke any real feelings or engagement.”
  • character development
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game suffers from a significant lack of character development, leading to a disconnect that prevents players from feeling empathy for the characters, who appear briefly and then vanish. While the visuals and soundtrack are praised, the shallow character engagement detracts from the overall experience.

    • “Combine that with a lovely soundtrack, beautiful backgrounds, and distinctive character designs, and you have a trip through a working world of magical realism.”
    • “This utter lack of character development makes the game feel even more like a chore because at no point do you feel empathetic towards any of the characters that appear once, say their piece, and are never heard from again.”
    • “The characters are one-dimensional and lack any meaningful growth throughout the game, making it hard to invest in their stories.”
    • “I found the character arcs to be predictable and uninspired, leaving me feeling disconnected from the narrative.”
  • replayability
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's replayability is considered very low, leading some reviewers to question its full price value; however, it may be worth trying at a discounted rate, especially for fans of point-and-click adventures.

    • “The replayability value is low, so I don't think the full price is really worth it, but if you see it on sale and enjoy point-and-click adventures, it's worth a try.”
    • “The replayability value is zero, so I don't think the full price is really worth this game, but if you see it on sale and like point-and-click adventures, it's worth a try.”
  • grinding
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be empty, tedious, and dull, detracting from the overall experience.

    • “But in every other respect, it’s empty, tedious, and dull.”
  • humor
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game features a captivating art style and a humorous storyline, complemented by an engaging soundtrack that enhances the overall experience.

    • “It has a beautiful art style, a funny story, and great music.”
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55%Critics’ scoreBased on 10 critic reviews
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9h Median play time
7h Average play time
3-11h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Memoranda is a puzzle game with mystery theme.

Memoranda is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac OS, PlayStation 4 and others.

On average players spend around 7 hours playing Memoranda.

Memoranda was released on January 25, 2017.

Memoranda was developed by Bit Byterz.

Memoranda has received neutral reviews from players and neutral reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its optimization.

Memoranda is a single player game.

Similar games include Truberbrook / Trüberbrook, Cradle, Belladonna, Broken Age, Ether One and others.