Temple of Memories

Get ready to enter the Temple of Memories.
Ok, what is this?

Temple of Memories is a short but well done adventure, really classical and without great surprises, but extremely well done.
We start the game as Gordon, a traveller that will be also our alter-ego.
Soon the perspective shifts to a group of adventurers that visited the same location in the past, and that's where the real adventure begins: Martin and his friends are exploring the ruins where they will find monsters, some puzzles aaaand... a greater evil, of course! But I won't tell you more about the plot and how it connects to Gordon's adventure.


Come on Clarabelle, this is the adventurer's normal day!

Be prepared to an entertaining fantasy short story (my gameplay time is about 40-45 minutes) that for some aspects it reminds to me some old faery tales also because of the number three that is found in several occasions:
Martin has three companions
He well solve three puzzle
He will find and use three magical artifacts
He will fight three powerful enemies (besides many weaker and unnamed ones)
Maybe this was not made on purpouse but it's pretty cool.

Difficulty is balanced, I had no problem with the puzzles except the second one (first and last are rather easy, but not bad at all) that is a bit "random", or maybe I wasn't so clever to figure out a clear solution. It is suggested to unlock the two exit routes immediately before proceeding because later there will be a situation that will leave few time to do that (or it's game over, my friend!), so... if the path is already unlocked, it will clearly be easier!
Another hint, remember to equip the artifacts when they are mentioned since this won't be done automatically (and I was nearly massacred in the beginning since I forgot to equip the sword. What a shame!).


OW! Pay attention, Gordon... guess what will happen if you are wrong?

As I said before, the game has a well balanced difficulty not only for puzzles but also for what concerns combat encounters (that are random except for boss fights, of course. And there is no need to grind). Even if combat is nothing new or different from the usual, characters have various different abilities and it's almost a shame that the game is so short since I wish I could have used them more. But it's ok, because the adventure is a short tale that's very well organized.
Oh and you can always save anywhere and anytime, BUT the game also reminds you to do that when things are going to reach the final encounter.

Graphically the game is not particularly original, but there are some edits and many facial expressions for the characters' facesets. This is a cool thing that really make characters alive. Mapping is serviceable and not bad, being this a short game is probably appropriated to this situation.

Story is really cool, and even if it's a complete adventure, I hope to play a prequel or sequel someday. There are some touches of class (when the bad guy breaks the fourth wall, Steffano, and other minor but entertaining parts), not to mention how well characters are rapresented effectively in few lines and moments.

Verdict
This is a pretty good game, the story and characters are extremely well done, there are also some easter eggs, and I did not find any kind of bug. The only problem is that there are many small typos (one that made me laugh was "rest in piece"... oh well!), but I guess that this is just a minor flaw compared to the huge work on puzzles (that are not easy to make!) and character details (facial expressions, visible wounds, and so on! When Martin puts on a circlet this is reflected by both his faceset AND charset!).

This game is a well made story of well written characters. Classic gameplay and graphics complete this cool bittersweet tale. I am pretty sure that Temple of Memories will leave you only good memories, so it gets a 4/5.