#5 - 2064: Read Only Memories


Platform I played on: Steam
Available platforms: Steam, gog, Humble Store, itch.io, PlayStation 4, Xbox One soon
Developer/Publisher: MidBoss
Length: 12 hours

Story:
Taking place in Neo San Fransisco in 2064, you play as a writer who hasn't exactly made it to where they want to be yet. One day, you find a robot person in your house named Turing. Turing informs you that your mutual friend has gone missing and it is very important you find him. There are some people who may have kidnapped him for his skills with technology, including creating our new friend Turing. You'll have to investigate and find out what's happening and why. Outside of the investigation, you'll see that Neo San Fransisco is struggling with their technological singularity and the political and ethical issues that come with it.

Gameplay:
ROM (for short) is a point-and-click adventure style game. This means that you point at things and also click on them. You can interact with your surroundings by looking, touching, speaking to, or using an object on various things in your environment. You'll also have dialogue options and some logic puzzles here and there as you progress the game. You'll also get a map so you can move from place to place.



Environment:
The game takes place in Neo San Fransisco ~in the future~ with a good variety of places to visit. It can feel a bit limiting at times in that you're stuck to a few locations in a big city, but overall it's a decent amount of locations. Additionally, while you do revisit locations, it never feels annoying as there will be new things to do and examine. The environments are highly interactable and one of my favourite things is that you get a pair of headphones early in game which you can plug in to various things across the city and have a listen to. There's a lot of detail in the environment and that one small thing helps to demonstrate that.

Ambiance:
There game really does achieve the mood it sets out to convey, I think. One of the major elements is inclusivity and humanity and that shows in every aspect of the game from the characters to the dialogue to the world you explore. They don't just say they want to explore these topics, they actually show it in every way that they can. It's got a good sense of humour to it, but it can still get heavy and tense when it wants to and it conveys that sense of futuristic mystery really well through the sounds and visuals.



Choices:
These game is pretty choice heavy, with the major aspect being how you interact with Turing. This can and will affect the endings you receive. It will also affect what the other characters think of you. Most of the choices are related to character relationship building, but you'll also have some other choices to make throughout the game.

Puzzles:
Being a point-and-click you will have some puzzles, mostly in the form of knowing where to look and what to interact with in the correct way. There will be some logic puzzles as well, and also some puzzles having to do with how you interact with others to get information and clues from them.



Cons:
-Makes its political views very known, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if you disagree it might be annoying
-Could have done with a few more locations to explore
-The story was very focused on the specifics it set out to explore, which isn't bad, but it could have expanded its focus a bit more to make it even more immersive and interesting

Pros:
-Very inclusive
-Great themes
-Very realistic character development for Turing
-Memorable characters
-Good sense of humour

Overall:
I really enjoyed my time with Read Only Memories and it is my favourite point-and-click that I've played so far (not that that's many). I do believe they've updated it since I've played, so I'm not sure what the changes are. But I thought it explored really interesting themes about what it means to be human, both when it comes to sentient machines and when humans themselves start becoming more machine-like through the use of implants and surgery. Turing was an excellent character. He wasn't always likeable, although he usually was, but he was flawed and imperfect in a way that made him believable and relatable. At the end of the day, this game was very human, not necessarily in spite of all of the robots and human augmentation, but maybe because of it.

Verdict:
One Maple This Off and two Mo' Sugar Rushes