Remember Me - New Game of the Day #64

REMEMBER ME – NEW GAME OF THE DAY #63

What? A dystopian sci-fi thriller from Capcom and newcomers Dontnod Entertainment

When? Sometime in 2013

Where? Xbox 360, PS3

Set in Neo-Paris in 2084, the dystopian future of Remember Me presents a world where memories can be hacked, stolen, erased or rearranged in the blink of an eye. In this world, ‘Memory Hunters’ like protagonist Nilin can change the fate of entire nations by ‘remixing’ memories to influence or remove key individuals. It’s all a big bed of roses, until someone does it to Nilin.

Waking with a freshly-wiped memory in Bastille Prison, our ass-kicking, British-accented heroine sets out on a mission to regain her stolen memories and uncover the reasons behind their erasure – while unravelling the conspiracy in which she has been unwittingly caught.

Judging from the announcement trailer (at the bottom of this article) and the 7-minute 'Memory Remix' gameplay demo that Capcom showcased at Gamescom in Cologne, Remember Me is a mix of styles and genres not entirely dissimilar to Ubisoft’s show-stealing Watch_Dogs (the game that pretty much ran away with E3). The aesthetic is a hybrid of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Mirror’s Edge and Mass Effect, the combat is reminiscent of Catwoman in Arkham City, the stealth and verticality borrow heavily from Uncharted and the hacking element reminds us of the aforementioned Watch_Dogs (though here you’ll be tapping into minds, not mainframes). Somehow, what Remember doesn’t appear to be is derivative.

While traversing the neon-lit, Blade Runner-esque streets of Neo-Paris looks slick and classy, the meat of the gameplay – and its most enticing feature – is memory-remixing. Get close enough to a person without them knowing you’re there, and the groovy device on Nilin’s right arm will allow you to breach their psyche and directly access their memories just like leafing through files on a computer – though it looks considerably cooler. In fact it’s all very ‘Animus-y’, as Nilin highlights the memory she wants to change and then ‘zooms’ into it for a closer look.

Interacting with objects inside the memory will cause it to change, forever altering the subject’s perception of a particular past event. For example, in the demo we see Nilin dabbling with the memory of a Frank Forlan; by altering subtle elements within the memory such as moving a bottle from the table onto the floor so that he remembers tripping over, and then removing the safety on his gun so he thinks he killed his girlfriend during a heated spat, Nilin persuades him to blow his own brains out. And she does all of this without ever speaking to him, allowing him to see her or harming a single hair on anyone’s head. It’s an intriguing premise, and the various interactive objects within the memory hint at multiple paths through missions.

Until we have more concrete information on mission structure (is it open world or linear? Is it RPG-lite like Deus Ex or is it a straight action game?), all we’ve got to go on are the videos – but then, we’ve already fallen in love with the art style alone. Regardless of how fast Capcom feed us the relevant information, one thing is fairly certain already: Remember Me is not a game you’ll soon forget.

Developer Legacy: Dontnod Entertainment are a brand new outfit based in Paris. They were co-founded by Oskar Guilbert, Criterion Software’s former Head of Developer Relations, along with sci-fi writer Alain Damasio and art director Aleksi Briclot. Remember Me is their first title.

Predicted Interest: Huge. Remember Me is one of those games that commands your attention and imagination from that very first reveal. If the gameplay is half as interesting, slick and imaginative as it looks in the Gamescom demo, this could be another reason why 2013 will be the best year the games industry has ever seen.

Website: Capcom-unity.com

Facebook: Facebook/RememberMeVideoGame

Twitter: @remembermegame

Words by Mick Fraser (Twitter: @Jedi_Beats_Tank)

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