A Memoir Blue Review: Just Keep Swimming

Comprehending parental sacrifice as a child is quite complicated. It’s an experience that may be interpreted as feeling unloved, invisible, and ultimately betrayed. But as we mature and reflect on our past, can we begin to understand the motivations behind those who raised us and express forgiveness? These are the precise themes Cloisters Interactive explores in beautiful and impactful fashion within their surrealistic debut, A Memoir Blue.

An Ocean Apart

A Memoir Blue is a reflection into one’s past through the lens of champion swimmer, Miriam. On the day of what appears to be her greatest achievement, Miriam is lost, uncomfortable, and profoundly not present. Upon arriving home, a dream led by a seemingly nostalgic and personal song spirals into a surrealistic meditation of the relationship she holds with her mother. 

Cloisters strikes a tight balance of experimental abstraction without losing the focal point of the core narrative. Throughout the hour experience, the line between reality and imaginative hyperbole is consistently explored in elegant fashion. Where the narrative could have easily been muddied in favor of “artsy for the sake of being artsy,” Cloisters knows when to put a period at the end of a sentence.

Taking the awe-striking imagery and symbolism out of the equation momentarily, the relationship between Miriam and her mother is portrayed in sincere and heartfelt fashion. Pacing shines as key moments are played out with purpose starting from an emotionally traumatic event, followed by the reaction to said-event, and ultimately through a final resolution. Focused memories drive the narrative of the relationship forward without any needless fluff. Even the most subtle scene held a portion of the weight carried through to Miriam waking from her dream.

The relationship on display is remarkably personal. Frankly, it’s one I found myself relating with throughout. The narrative struck a chord which ultimately triggered a heavy emotional response as the final act played out. While there will be many players such as myself who will see themselves in Miriam, I fear those who don’t find that connection may feel lost in the surrealistic sea.

Deepest Blues

Where Cloisters truly flex their creative muscles is within A Memoir Blue’s visuals. The blend of delicately defined 3D art with simplistic hand-drawn 2D character models is superb. The juxtaposition between aesthetics is handled with precision and stands out brilliantly. Memories represented in art reminiscent of a bright, wholesome Nick Jr. cartoon contrast against the dark, deep sea dreamlike setting in striking fashion. The art pops in an expressive manner that supports the narrative. While environments capture the heaviness and conflict within Miriam, the 2D renders exaggerate emotional responses from a memory poignantly.

Complimenting the outstanding visuals, the music and score plays a prominent character throughout the experience as well. The simplistic piano-driven score drowned in reverb captures the ambience behind reflections. Where the music shines is when the score blends into indie-folk pieces led by the haunting and graceful vocals of Imogen Williams. Williams’ performances are notably the only moments of any vocal-work throughout the game, so lyrically, the songs hold a major responsibility. It’s easy for a game without dialogue to utilize direct and obvious lyrics to do the heavy narrative lifting. Thankfully, this is not the case with A Memoir Blue. The songs are not only considerate and thoughtful, but also provide a sense of reward to those who choose to listen intently.

The visuals and music deliver a trance-like experience to be lost within. Everything works together harmoniously in a true study of Miriam’s memories. And with this wonderful sensation of falling into a trance lies the only minor critique in regards to the presentation: loading screens. The loading is by no means egregious. On the contrary, they’re fast. But as scenes faded into black to hide loads, or small loading symbols popped into the corner of the screen, I found myself taken out of the trance for a moment and was reminded I was, in fact, playing a video game. Again: a minor critique, but purely to the credit of Cloisters astonishing artistic vision.

Bronze Medal

With a distinguished aesthetic and powerful narrative serving as the prominent elements of the experience, Cloisters’ debut begs a simple question: was a video game the appropriate medium for A Memoir Blue? 

At its core, A Memoir Blue is a point-and-click adventure with slight variations on the formula throughout to keep the gameplay from feeling too stale. Certain scenes will find the player clicking particular objects to trigger an event, where others may require dragging objects around, pantomiming wiping surfaces, or solving basic puzzles. An intelligent system in place is the ability to snap the cursor to interactable objects. This quality of life feature to the traditional point-and-click formula will keep players from feeling stuck within a scene.

The gameplay is fine and serviceable enough, but feels lackluster compared to the rest of the fantastic experience. The gameplay never felt as if it was supporting the narrative or Miriam’s character. Alternatively, the purpose of the gameplay seemed to purely align with unlocking trophies/achievements by performing certain actions. If these particular actions triggered a hidden narrative beat, my opinion here would be the opposite. But nothing I experienced had any consequence, rending the bonus actions empty aside from popping an achievement/trophy. 

After a few chapters, I found myself snapping to interactable objects as opposed to exploring the scenes for myself in order to speed things up. Eagerness to experience the story took precedence over gameplay. Harkening back to the trance I would fall into courtesy of the narrative and art, at a certain point, I couldn’t help but to wish I was watching a short film as opposed to playing a video game. 

Breakdown

Game: A Memoir Blue

Developer: Cloisters Interactive, Annapurna Interactive

Availability: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox Game Pass, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac, iOS

Reviewed on Xbox Series X

Pros:

+ Creatively expressive

+ Artistic juxtaposition

+ Simple, yet profound narrative

+ Music

+ Visual and audio presentation with purpose

Cons:

- Video game-ness can take away from the experience

- Serviceable, yet empty gameplay

Final Thoughts

Cloisters’ debut is an aesthetically creative showstopper. The eloquent blend of contrasting visuals is not only profound to see unfold before the eyes, but also supports the deeply personal and emotionally impactful narrative with purpose. While the gameplay fails to deliver on that same notion, the relationship between Miriam and her mother is one that will resonate with me for quite some time.

Reviewed by Mike Towndrow