Song of Memories

Song of Memories is an anime style, romantic visual novel with a dark side. While the art style might be cute, the story shows the player a world that is ravaged by a virus (perhaps a bit too close to home these days) that transforms people into monsters. It’s a unique blend of genres in an already niche area of gaming, but fans of games like Our World is Ended and Tokyo School Life will definitely find something of value.

Slice of Life

The way that Song of Memories delivers its content to players is a little strange. Those looking for a visual novel set wholly in the collapse of society due to a pandemic outbreak will surely be a bit disappointed in the game’s first half.

The first portion of the game is dedicated to setting up the various characters, love interests and setting. While this is important in any game, Song of Memories moves at a glacial pace to really let the player get used to the world and its inhabitants.

This part of the game is basically a breeze compared to later sections. Players’ biggest concerns here are going to school, building relationships and making choices that will determine things later down the line.

Making Choices

One of the biggest draws for players will be the choices that Song of Memories offers throughout its campaign. Throughout the story there are plenty of decisions to be made, both big and small. These decisions soon ripple across the narrative, leading to consequences you might not have foreseen.

The problem with these decisions is that there is not much to highlight how or why your decision might have resulted in a certain outcome. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of correlation, which makes it hard to make informed decisions when players are essentially rolling the dice.

That said, in the first half of Song of Memories, players are treated to the fruits of their labour when the character they have the most affection for will appear with unique dialogue scenarios. This is built upon when your second-most-loved character will also have their own scenes, leading to complex relationship building that’s based on your own actions.

There are also lots of choices to make and different endings depending on your relationship to the game’s characters. It’s clear that the developers really wanted to push the boat out here, but unfortunately the game’s many endings all follow a general structure and the same series of events. So while the content might differ, you won’t be blown away by how massively different each ending is.

A Raunchy Art Style

If you don’t like sexualized content in visual novels, then it’s recommended that you give this game a skip. While Song of Memories doesn’t have any outright nudity and is relatively tame compared to other visual novels, there is still a lot of sexualized content. Characters that are in high school are depicted with large, bouncing breasts, are shown with panty shots, and are generally just sexualized throughout the game’s course.

Understandably, this will make a lot of players feel uncomfortable. This alone makes the game hard to recommend to many, despite the developers clear passion for the project.

PROS

• Lots of different endings depending on player choice
• Very animated compared to other visual novels
• Handy chart feature helps players view their decisions

CONS

• Constant sexualization
• Not appropriate for kids, despite the cartoony style
• Lots of endings, but they all run a similar course