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Before I Forget (PC) Status: Finished playing I started playing this game on Tuesday 6 October, 2020 // I stopped playing this game on: Thursday 15 October, 2020
Current opinion of this game
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October 15, 2020 09:17:30 PM
This one's unusual. I cited this game in a paper based on description from an interview (or something published, I don't recall off the top of my head). But, I never actually played the game. So, now I have! It's nice and short and the subject matter definitely puts it in the "this is not supposed to be fun" category. I was confused for a bit because I wasn't sure what to do - you're given an impossible objective (find someone) and then the game doesn't let you complete that (which is fine) but it kind of stalls out if you don't start exploring...basically finding objects and interacting with them. At that point color returns to the area where that object was - and you start to learn about the character you're controlling. She's got alzheimer's, is easily confused, and doesn't really know what's going on. You piece this together by observing the environment - noticing the dates, and so on. I enjoyed the experience and there are some nice "interludes" - flashbacks of a sort, and the whole experience is tinged with a lot of sadness as you realize that the protagonist is unaware of her situation - and her "rememembering" is there mostly for the player's benefit, or perhaps they represent "flashes" of memory? They're mostly rooted in the past - years ago...and then there is the obvious twist. The person you're looking is no longer around. You learn what happened to them and when of course. It's an unusual game experience, to be sure. My overall emotion was sadness...not just because of the protagonists situation, but also because of the sense that her life didn't "end well" - her marriage was struggling towards the end and...well, she doesn't really have much left except mementos from the past... Her life seems, meaningless in some sense? (despite being an accomplished and important scientist - you get the feeling that her professional career also feel of a cliff in the end)

Before I Forget (PC)