Dememorize

You know you are not... don't you? Anyway LET'S BEGIN!

Dememorize is a game made in Unity by psy_wombats for the Screamjam 2021 that you can downloat it here also for MacOS or play it in browser too. It's a mystery/horror exploration game (I guess) pretty linear with just one ending, it can be considered a sort of walking simulator or interactive story. There is no combat or risk of death, and no possibility to save but right from the beginning you can start for the chapter you want.

Oh, do not be dumb and start from the beginning!
(I had to interrupt the game after I reached day 3 so it was handy to start from that day). Game is divided into 4 days and three nights while the "night" of the fourth day is called Twilight. These chapters differ from a particular: during the days we play in third person, during the nights we play in first person.

But who is our alter ego? The protagonist is Tess, a girl of the Ward#6, a pediatric section of the Allsaints Hospital where the residents are boys and girls infected by the Neural9, a degenerative neurological disease that seems to be transmitted through the eyes. The disease seems to make people forget things, names, memories... for example Tess can no longer speak.
The story begins when a new roommate, Lia, arrives to Ward#6 and then we get to know the other residents. But what's behind the shady doctors and this mysterious disease?


Nadine seems to be just like me! Errrhm...

As mentioned before the game is a sort of "walking simulator": there is no menu (no inventory, nothing, not even an option menu) or hud or anything else, the game just shows the command keys (that are always the same and pretty intuitive) in the beginning of each chapter, then we have to walk, interact with things and people, and read documents (that are normally highlighted by a white light that make them stand out everywhere, no use to interact with anything else). Rarely there is the option to choose the answer to a question, but nothing much.

For me the first strong point in the atmosphere of the game, first the suggestive 2.5D visuals (only provlem is that a few areas were a bit too dark, but just a couple, the others were fine and some had some nice lightning effects and colours) and the eerie, mysterious music (that appropriately gets extremely tense in some situations). The second? The story, of course, and I won't tell you anything except that after the ending... the game closes automatically! Eheh if you want to know the rest play it. During the (an hour long) story I made many assumptions and theories, but I was always surprised by what happened next. And this is tricky, since the game is about people with memory loss, but you, the player, will remember what happened before, don't you?

Now, some little flaws I found: first there are some minor glitches when Tess' head compenetrates the forniture (in third person) or when she was hovering walking above the floor (in first person). I also found hilarious that Lia vibrates when walking, sometimes she gets in the way and other times she is left behind. Walking speed is also a tad slow (I'd have liked the possibility to walk faster pressing Shift, for example) but it is not too bad. The place is small and the areas visited are often the same, but the repetitivity is linked to the theme of memory.
And then the (only) bug: the fourth day is half in third person and half in first. When the perception shifts, do NOT go back to the big room with the elevator and the stairs access or the perspective and controls will be messed up, and the game will turn unplayable. Only solution will be quitting the game...remember this!


The world of Dememorize may be small but has some suggestive scenarios and lightnings

Final Verdict
Despite some small, minor flaws the game is an unforgettable (ehehehe, it is a game about memory loss!) experience. Short and simple but with lots of style and an immersive story and environment. It is a rather unique story game and surreal experience, It may be simple and short, but it entertains from the beginning to the end and doesn't drag for too long, on the contrary, it is compact, I think.
What else? Well try it and tell your opinion, I'd a lot more to say, but I would surely spoil the entertainment.
So enter the Ward#6, and you won't forget the stay.