If I could give a Neutral review I would, but the best I can give is a negative and a tepid recommendation to those who like this style of game.
Memoirium looks and feels like a classic Dark Souls on the surface, but with a twist of being in a surreal hallucinated dreamland that can and will murder you for standing too close. The world is quite well crafted, the music is great, and the general moment to moment experience isn't bad. Weapons, Armor, and Masks are neat, but kind of plain and the noticeable downsides on masks make some worthless. You also unlock the ability to decorate a room as you go deeper, like a little oasis in the nightmare, It's just for show though and conveys no gameplay benefit. However, as much as I liked parts of the game this one really soured hard after a point due to three things; the additive combat mechanics, unavoidable area effects, and a pair of bosses I'd like to highlight.
To start, some of the additive mechanics are a bit...annoying. To explain a bit, the game has four different attack types to deal with from enemies, all with the an appropriate tell which is fine. Purple requires you to jump over the attack. Blue requires a reflect, which is basically this games parry. White actually stumped me at first, but you just need to dodge through the attack. Finally there's, Red requires a charged attack to break. Pretty straight forward, but this also extends to targeted spells (a.k.a Lullabies) from enemies as well. This causes it's own problems as some attacks are physically impossible avoid when you have to input a jump to dodge an enemy attack then a reflect a targeted ground attack all within seconds of each other. Additionally, this is where the frustration starts as these additions both convolute the melee of the game and can be completely ignored with the right items or equipment. However, there are some things you can't ignore.
Secondly, There's one area I'd like to mention after the Library, it is akin to the South Thunder Plains from Final Fantasy X but instead called the "Dismal Depths". Yes, there will be lightning. Yes, it chunks your health. No, you can't dodge it because it's completely unavoidable. Only way to mitigate it is by sitting in a pillar of light which kills the momentum of the game a bit, as they are quite few and far between. Thus Traversal and Platforming is the name of the game, but throw enemies into the mix and you got pain and the antithesis of fun. The combination of the unavoidable lightning pressing on you, the enemies that hurl crap or block your path, and the janky platforming that will slide you off the tower to your death will make getting to the boss of the area a chore in a half.
Speaking of Boss fights, after the First Boss of the game (The Grave Warden) the game opens up and you get to explore a bit if you so choose. You get the options of going into the Library, School, or Streets. However, if you take the games advice, the next boss you'll encounter is Tobb, the Deacon of Dreams in the School. Sadly his fight is a great showcase of the more annoying parts of this game, as his attacks are pretty quick with decent range and most of his move set incorporates the additive combat mechanics mentioned above. However, he also has some obnoxious homing ranged attacks he tends to spam if you're just outside his melee range. It doesn't get any better when he enters phase two the arena's pillar hazards activate which render you immobile every so often if you fail the dodge check and he gets a new set of ranged attacks. Overall, just an absolutely terrible experience for a potential second fight without proper equipment. I'd recommend skipping him and wander a bit to find more tools and gain some levels, taking the Streets route leads you to the City of Pain and Rain, which dumps you out either in the Giant House or Fort Valor. Both of those options are better than taking him on without tools and even if you do defeat him, the fight plonks you down right in the sewers to Fort Valor anyway so it's best to get there via another route.
And all the way at the end there's the optional "Secret Boss". It's the equivalent of fighting a Warframe while you're knee-deep in mud. Oh, did you not know he has phases where he recovers all his life? I sure didn't and I only managed to get to phase 2 of his fight where he goes ballistic and starts hurling homing projectiles. This is the only boss that is phased like this, where its death is only the beginning and you don't have the luxury of replenishment. So GRIND HARD before this fight, equip the shields that reflect projectiles and replenish keepsakes. Just maybe you might have enough to subsist, or just skip it and go to NG+ because you just want done with it.
In closing, the game is fun for a while but it really declines due to the above weighing heavily on the experience. If you can look past the issues I've stated, all the power to you. I managed to get to cusp of NG+, satisfied that I put in the effort, and then put it down.
