Don’t Forget Me | PC Review

Don’t Forget Me (2021)

It’s a very good year for cyberpunk games. In fact, it might even be safe to say that it’s been quite a decade for cyberpunk games. And no, I’m not talking about Cyberpunk 2077, although that game played a big role in getting the genre more attention. Video games and cyberpunk go hand in hand. I’m a big fan of cyberpunk games, so I jumped at the chance to play Don’t Forget Me, the new game by developer The Moon Pirates. 

Cyber/Jazz/Punk/Noir

Don’t Forget Me is described by its developers not as a cyberpunk adventure, but as a jazz-punk one. This implies that there is a form of noir feel to the game, and they might be correct about that. This game is all about memories, as the title suggests. The main characters are Bernard, the owner of the illegal memory clinic, and Fran, an amnesiac that is played by you. Fran shows up at Bernard’s door, not knowing who she is, and Bernard – being the good man he is – wants to help her. But when a certain scientist shows up in the clinic with some very dark and dangerous secrets in his head, their lives are turned upside down. Bernard’s chequered past comes back to haunt him, and Fran might just have to save the world.

Total Recall

The big selling point of Don’t Forget Me is the unique puzzle system that revolves around the memories of people. Fran’s job is to listen to the clients who come in for a specific service that revolves around copying memories. In order to know which memory must be copied, Fran must know enough information. Sometimes, that information is clear and the procedure is done in a few minutes, but sometimes it’s unclear what needs to be found. That’s when Fran must use the information she gained from the client to trigger a path towards the memory. For instance, Fran knows the memory has something to do with the client’s work, so a logical choice would be to enter the name of the client’s employer.

This unlocks more information that leads to new keywords and, hopefully, to the memory that is targeted. But it can also lead to dangerous secrets being uncovered, as Fran and Bernard soon find out. This also means that you have to pay attention, because if you miss a clue mentioned by the client, then this can get you stuck real easily.

Atmospheric

Most adventure games nowadays are point and click adventure games, and in a way, Don’t Forget Me is that as well. Except that it’s a point and click game without pointing and clicking! Maybe they forgot about that. You move Fran around by keyboard and interact with your surroundings by pressing space. This may sound a bit archaic, but it works surprisingly well. You can pick up objects, read notes, or talk to other characters with ease this way.

The pixel art graphics lean heavily into the cyberpunk tropes, and this works excellently. Pixel art lends itself well for the neon glow of cyberpunk futuristic design, but also the noir side of the game comes across well. Same with the music in the game. Bernard likes to listen to jazz while he works, so there is a great jazz score in the game. There is no voice acting, but that was not something I missed. The game works very well without it.

This Is The End

I liked the story a lot. There is plenty of mystery to discover, and the memory puzzles are done very well. If anything, I thought the game ended too abruptly! The story was finished, but I wanted to play more, so my criticism here is that the game is short. Leaving someone wanting more is fantastic of course, but here I would not have minded to play through a few more puzzles. However, the game does allow you to replay parts once you’ve finished it to try out different choices and different endings, so that was pretty cool.

Conclusion

Don’t Forget Me doesn’t have to fear that we will forget about it, because this is a very good game. Despite me finding it too short, and I’ve heard that the developers already took some steps to address the abrupt ending, I found it highly entertaining and I would not mind playing more in this universe and with these characters. The puzzle system is quite unique and the setting is fun, so I recommend playing it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go do something. If only I could remember what.

To hear me talk more about Don’t Forget Me, be sure to listen to Episode 346 of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 1:22:24 time stamp.

This review is based on a PC copy of Don’t Forget Me provided by Player Two PR for coverage purposes. It is also available on Mac and Linux.