If there’s one thing I can’t take away from many games in the indie space, it’s that they have some degree of daring and ambition. Whether that’s in the form of trying to replicate games made by massive teams with a group just a fraction of that size, or coming up with new or niche ideas that are by no means a guaranteed success, these folks tend to take chances. One way to do that is to experiment with things that simply haven’t been done before, especially when pushing the envelope of what games are capable of being. While I applaud the idea driving Memory of Memorie, I think it has veered a little too far from any sort of mainstream path, in this case to the point that its success could only ever likely be meager at best.

In truth, it’s actually a little hard to describe the experience this title brings to the table, mainly because through the lens of a gamer it’s quite odd. The best way I can think of to describe it, would be as a virtual companion of sorts, but only in the most passive way for the most part. While you’ll eventually get bits and pieces of the chill story described, what is unusual is how spaced out it will be for the most part, since the means you have for unlocking new content is really to spend quite a lot of time simply waiting. You’ll essentially queue up the time you’ll be focusing on some tasks of your own, including some time for periodic breaks, and the idea is that you’ll work on something as Memorie is focusing on her own studies as an apprentice witch alongside you.

The thing is, I’ve always been a bit of a fan of fishbowl simulators of sorts, going way back to the Commodore 64 days and a title called Little Computer People. The thought of passively observing someone else you may not even have the means to interact with, watching what they may do over the course of the day, is at least an interesting one. The problem is that in this case, outside of unlocking achievements, the ability to alter the environment, or little tidbits of story, there’s precious little going on with Memorie the vast majority of the time. What it feels like is more of an app that you’d have running on your phone, not something tying up your dedicated gaming system, so while I appreciate the concept I’d say it feels like a stretch that it would find even a humble audience in the end. Credit to the developers for swinging into a direction I’ve yet to see any other example of in the eShop, but this doesn’t feel like it offers enough for your invested time to make it worthwhile.