Memoir En Code: Reissue

It's tough. It's a narrative game with a lot to say, without saying anything in particular. Not brilliant, or even remarkable, but definitely creative and agrees with new videogame tendencies, as seen in games (or if you prefer, interactive animations) like Plug & Play, Pony Island (maybe Pony Island is stretching it) and in unorthodox game jams, that might be what you're into. It's a really personal work but sometimes relatable. Weird, but weird isn't always good. It's easy to call something good when we don't understand it, but even when we don't understand things we can be blown by them. When I finished Memoir En Code, I've just verbalized "Ok", because is far more author purging than it is player focused. Since Steam forces me to choose between a "Yes" and a "No" I've chosen "No" taking in consideration the state of the art and the curent players. So my "No" is a "Yes" if you know what you're buying, but take in consideration that this isn't one of the best games of it's kind I've played.

Yey my first game! I have read about Memoir En Code on the web. I'm not really a "gamer" and I was interested in the concept behind the game so I bought it. The game is fairly short, but this to me is a positive thing since I don't have much time. After playing the game I get the impression that there is a lot more to find and there are some secrets that I still don't fully understand (I didn't figure out how "DEC" works). I'll give it another shot maybe next week. But in general I found this game very personal and I really liked that. I think it has to be very difficult for someone to be so open about specific parts of your own life, so I think this is a very brave effort in that direction.

I never considered myself one interested in experimental games. I've played Loneliness by Jordan Magnusson and I find it brilliant for its minimalistic design and the possibilities of creating one's own story without making any direct choices. But there you go, this is likely the only experimental game I've tried or at least the only one that caught my attention enough for me to remember it. So while I was a little interested in seeing what is Memoir En Code, I was far from being enthusiastic about it. Store page told me to expect 40 minutes of play time on my first attempt to beat the game. So after I finished it in around 15 minutes, I got confused. I had this terrible feeling that I must have missed something, or even a lot of somethings, but honestly, at this point I didn't really want to try again. The game felt chaotic, being a mishmash of various scenes, with each of them having entirely different rules of gameplay, and even some of them having very little gameplay. That said, I'm not one to get angry over a game being short or confusing, so after a while I gave it another go. And this time I spent around 1 hour exploring the game, replaying some sections trying to get a different outcomes and reading the dev commentary. And this time this was a pleasant and most warming experience. Overall this game is something very new to me, so perhaps this is the reason I eventually found it interesting and entertaining. Autobiography seems truly an unexplored theme in games and I find it most impressive that someone managed to gamify one good bit of his life. As I mentioned before, there are of course some scenes which are not much a game but even those scenes are entertaining. There is a part when you're a little child and you're being told a story - and just as a child would, you get to interrupt and ask questions, sometimes almost unrelated to the story (e.g. "... the boy lived with his mother in a small cabin" "Did he have a dad?"). And on the other hand there is a part that's almost a time management game as you try to prepare yourself to an exam and you need to find a good spot where you can learn efficiently and where no one will bother you. I really enjoyed discovering this game. To make it short, the more you give yourself to the game, the more you get out of it. Almost every scene might end in one of a few different ways, depending on your actions and it's fun to discover the possibilities. Although sometimes it feels disappointing when even though you perform better than the last time, you still don't get a better result (using the example of the exam mentioned before, I couldn't get a score higher than 80/100). But well, that's life I guess, so it's good the game is disappointing the same way. I'm a bit concerned about the price tag. This seems to be a case where players pay for the developer's effort rather than the final product they get, but as I have received the game as a gift, I cannot complain about this. Even if I consider the price too high, it doesn't change my opinion on the game - this is a well made title showing a very personal story. It's innovative and you just gotta appreciate that. I'm absolutely sure that this is not a game that everyone will enjoy but in case you're not sure about yourself, check out the "Should I buy this game?" section on the store page - I find it accurate, honest and very helpful.

More Art than Game where the developer let you know very personal thinks about his life. Some parts are funny (the Dutch ^^) and some are very sad (Lovestory). It was an interesting game experience I had with the "game" and I enjoyed it. ...but the lovestory makes me really sad, I could unterstand the developer so well and I tried multiple times to change the ending but without success.

https://youtu.be/213XYI2CqXI This tastefully made made game that has quite the backstory. Each little scene is a reflection from the developers life - allowing you to interact with the scene and deside what it meant to the developer and to you. You can also see developer comments to learn more about what is going on in each chapter - I would recomened taking the time to read each of these comments as it adds so much more story into the game. Clearly this narrative is personal and with that you really get to see a window into someone else's life. Its a very well made, visually pleasing, game.

Disclaimer: I know the developer This is a great game that manages to be both funny and touching in a short amount of time. Recommended for everyone who doesn't just judge games by hours of gameplay/dollar!

This a very intimate gaming experience and I personally enjoyed it very much. What you do is basically getting to know small pieces of the developer's life through mini levels. The game is also intended to be played like you would play a record, while you stroll down memory lane. This was the first playable autobiography I ever experienced and I recommend this short game to everyone who is seeking for something different.

questo gioco è un'esperienza unica, fatta di colori, musiche, sensazioni, ricordi. sembra di rivivere i ricordi di un'altra persona, a tal punto da immedesimarsi in essa, capitolo dopo capitolo, storia dopo storia. a tratti commovente, a tratti esaltante, paranoico e nostalgico... un mix di emozioni uniche. complimenti allo sviluppatore...e alle sue storie!

While I haven't uncovered all of this game's secrets yet, I wanted to write a review anyway because of a post I came across by the developer. This is an experimental game, and is undoubtedly close to the developer's heart. Some parts have their charm and address parts of the developer's life. However, even though I found some parts to be quite nice, as a Belgian I was also quite stunned by the dev's portrayal of the Netherlands. It has so much more to offer than the game makes it seem. Some parts seem unnecessarily drawn out, and some I can't seem to figure out. There is no spoiler-free guide available anywhere so for now I'm stuck, it seems, and this is where the game loses some more of its initial charm for me. Once the obvious parts are done, it becomes pretty hard to stay motivated to uncover more, especially if it doesn't seem to come logically. After about an hour of gameplay, I feel pretty much done, even though I know there's more to be found. And this is why I'm glad I got this game through the only bundle it's ever been in. The dev has limited the sale price to 20 percent off, and I feel like it's not worth buying/recommending at full price. The reason I feel compelled to mention this is because I love 'experimental' games. The developer has noted not feeling like increasing the audience is in their/the game's best interest, but I think it might actually benefit from some exposure and the follow-up community feedback and guidance. I feel like the concept is there, it just needs some final tweaks to actually be worth its price.

I'll start with a disclaimer: I know Alex, the author of this game. But now I feel like I know him better. And getting to know a person by playing some of his memories is nothing short of amazing. The game is a brief but very interesting and polished trip in different moments in Alex's life. Make everything fit together and find a way to read his hidden message. A very personal but also very relatable game, done with care and a fantastic attention to detail. I can sum everything up with one word: Magone, google it.