Memoranda

About

"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.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

68%

Audience ScoreBased on 111 reviews

story22 positive mentions

optimization2 negative mentions

The game features a stunning art style and beautiful hand-drawn graphics that create an immersive atmosphere.
The voice acting and soundtrack contribute positively to the overall experience, enhancing the game's surreal and whimsical tone.
The story, inspired by Haruki Murakami's works, offers a unique and intriguing narrative that can be enjoyable for fans of magical realism.

Many puzzles are illogical and frustrating, often requiring players to resort to walkthroughs to progress.
The narrative can feel disjointed and lacks closure, leaving players with unanswered questions and an unsatisfying ending.
Some characters and plot points are underdeveloped, making it difficult for players to connect with the story or feel invested in the outcomes.

story
112 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
73%
7%
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 ambition and unique atmosphere, many criticize the disjointed storytelling, illogical puzzles, and lack of coherent direction, leading to a frustrating experience. Overall, the narrative is seen as intriguing yet incomplete, often requiring external guidance to navigate its complexities.
- “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 the characters are 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
63%
32%
5%
The graphics of "Memoranda" are widely praised for their unique, hand-drawn art style and beautiful visuals, which create an inviting atmosphere and enhance the game's overall aesthetic. However, some players noted issues with animation quality, interface design, and legibility of text, which detracted from the experience. While the art is a standout feature, many reviewers felt that the illogical puzzles and gameplay mechanics undermined the game's artistic achievements.
- “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 the other one out when analyzing the whole game.”
music
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
23%
10%
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 generally considered lovely and well-suited to the game's mood, some critiques mention that the voice acting varies in quality. Overall, the combination of music and visuals creates a captivating experience, despite some minor flaws in other areas.
- “The soundtrack is wonderful, bringing in small and ambient parts but brings in the heavy stuff when needed.”
- “The visual style is gorgeous and the superb soundtrack greatly adds to the atmosphere.”
- “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.”
- “For all its artistic graphics & 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
17%
71%
13%
The gameplay of Memoranda is characterized as a standard point-and-click adventure, but it suffers from illogical puzzles and a lack of intuitive mechanics, leading many players to rely on guides. While the art style and narrative elements are praised, the gameplay experience is often hindered by frustrating pixel-hunting and unclear objectives, making progress challenging. Overall, the game is seen as lacking depth and coherence in its gameplay, despite some improvements like the addition of a hint system.
- “I believe Memoranda tells its story very well, conveying humor, pathos, and nostalgia beautifully through gameplay and exposition.”
- “Gameplay-wise, it's a user-friendly point-and-click that is a bit harder than recent games, for example, the Wadjet Eye games.”
- “Memoranda is a smooth game, in the sense that its parts mesh well in terms of mood and gameplay.”
- “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 whole gameplay is 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
60%
20%
20%
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. While some players appreciate the magical and contemplative ambiance, others find certain elements, like voice acting and puzzle logic, detract from the overall experience. Overall, the game successfully establishes a distinct and engaging atmosphere that invites players to explore its world.
- “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.”
- “Fans of Murakami's work may enjoy this game thanks to the references and atmosphere, but in all other aspects, it is meaningless, boring, and tedious.”
- “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.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Overall, "Memoranda" demonstrates solid optimization, with minimal stuttering or pauses during gameplay. The only notable issue is occasional audio stuttering in voice acting, which is 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
67%
100%
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 of the story.”
- “The story itself is boring, failing to evoke any emotional response from the player.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game has minimal replayability, leading some users to question its full price; however, it may be worth trying on sale for fans of point-and-click adventures.
- “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.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
150%
The game suffers from a significant lack of character development, leading to a disconnection from the characters and making the experience feel tedious. Despite its beautiful visuals and engaging soundtrack, the fleeting nature of character interactions prevents players from forming any emotional connections.
- “The character development is incredibly rich, allowing players to form deep connections with each character as their stories unfold.”
- “Each character evolves in a way that feels authentic and meaningful, making their journeys truly engaging.”
- “The blend of unique backstories and personal growth creates a captivating narrative that keeps you invested in their fates.”
- “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 was disappointed by the shallow character arcs; they felt more like plot devices than real people with depth and complexity.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The grinding aspect of the game is criticized for being tedious and boring, with some players feeling it lacks meaningful engagement, although fans of Murakami's work may appreciate the references and atmosphere.
- “Fans of Murakami's work may enjoy this game thanks to the references and atmosphere, but in all other aspects, it is meaningless, boring, and tedious.”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game features a charming 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.”