A Memoir Blue, which launched final March, solely takes an hour to complete. On condition that considered one of my New Yr’s Resolutions was to beat 52 video games in 2023 (or one per week), seeing the HowLongToBeat.com estimate pushed Cloisters Interactive’s small, private recreation proper as much as the highest of my record.
I am glad it did. A Memoir Blue did not change my life, nevertheless it was a worthwhile option to spend an hour. I hope, in a world the place Xbox Recreation Cross and comparable providers have made unconventional video games extra potential to make, that extra builders borrow its less-is-more method.
“Video games must be shorter” is not an argument that has often been touted by shoppers. When video games price upwards of $70 and you’ve got restricted funds to spend on leisure, you doubtless need as a lot bang on your buck as potential. That is very true provided that gaming has, traditionally, been marketed to children and youths, a demographic that always have extra time than cash. But it surely’s a standard argument from folks in video games media, like myself, who wish to play as a lot as potential whereas nonetheless making time for buddies, household, and different hobbies.
Clearly, a recreation that solely takes an hour to finish is a godsend for grownup followers of the medium who’ve time-consuming obligations. In the event you get residence from work and are too drained to decide to watching a two-hour film, a 20-hour recreation will doubtless appear much more daunting. A recreation like A Memoir Blue, which is about the identical size as an episode of Home of the Dragon, makes a compelling argument that you do not have to go away the medium behind as you age.
Xbox Recreation Cross provides shorter video games the leeway to not must justify their price ticket on their very own. A Memoir Blue retails for $7.99 on Steam, which is not exorbitant, nevertheless it’s tough for devs to show a revenue with quick video games when Valve’s PC platform permits returns inside the first two hours. Recreation Cross makes it potential to take artistic dangers like this and nonetheless make cash.
These are the sensible and business causes that A Memoir Blue’s size is sweet, however there are artistic advantages, too. A Memoir Blue is concerning the relationship between knowledgeable swimmer and her mom, and on account of its size, the sport can keep laser-focused on that. Whereas longer video games must differ their environments as a way to hold gamers engaged — assume, Tremendous Mario 64 together with desert, lava, and snow ranges or Half-Life 2 together with the gothic horror of Ravenholm alongside the dystopian sci-fi of Metropolis 17 — A Memoir Blue can stay centered, all through, on its exploration of water. It does not should be all issues to all folks.
Equally, the sport by no means will get slowed down in mechanical complexity. On the title display screen, you begin enjoying by holding A and urgent down on the management persist with dunk a radio underwater, and variations of this motion stay your solely verb all through the sport’s quick runtime. The factor you are tugging on is perhaps a medal the protagonist has received, the sliding glass door on a bookshelf, or the reply button on a smartphone, however A Memoir Blue has one factor it needs to do. This would possibly make the sport sound overly simplistic, however I want to think about it as centered. Cloisters Interactive is aware of what sort of recreation it’s and is not making an attempt to make it one thing totally different.
A Memoir Blue’s small scale signifies that it may possibly inform a private story, too. The sport started life as director Shelley Chen’s masters thesis undertaking and Chen has talked concerning the ways in which the sport attracts on her relationship along with her mom. Although builders go away fingerprints, to at least one diploma or one other, on every little thing they contact, huge triple-A video games that want to attain enormous mass market gross sales can not often be as autobiographical as A Memoir Blue. Although it did not set the world on fireplace on the time of its launch, I hope A Memoir Blue can function a template for different builders who wish to make real private statements. For now at the very least, Xbox Recreation Cross makes it potential for them to search out an viewers.
