Amnesia: Memories

Amnesia: Memories is a Japanese otome visual novel about a young woman who wakes up on Aug 1 with no memories. The spirit Orion helps her rediscover relationships, past experiences and her own identity.

Instead of combat or free exploration, the focus is on dialogue, choices and five different love stories. Each route develops its own version of events and can have multiple endings.

The original Amnesia was released on Aug 18, 2011, in Japan for PSP. The international PC version of Amnesia: Memories was released on Steam on Aug 25, 2015. A separate version for PS Vita followed in Europe, and mobile versions for iOS and Android came later.

The English-language Nintendo Switch version was released on Sep 20, 2022. The different dates result from the respective platform and regional releases.

Amnesia: Memories has versions for PSP, PS Vita, PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android. The original Japanese PSP version came out before the international English-language release.

On Switch, the game is available as a separate version, not as a PC port via cloud streaming. A Switch 2 console does not turn it into a separate native Switch 2 version. Each platform requires its own matching version.

Amnesia: Later x Crowd is a separate release with additional stories and mini-games from the same circle of characters. Later offers, among other things, new experiences along familiar routes, while Crowd adds further situations and gameplay tasks.

The companion game is not a necessary expansion for completing the five main stories of Amnesia: Memories.

According to the original product information, the Steam version requires at least a Core 2 Duo at 1.2 GHz, 1 GB RAM, DirectX 9.0c and 3 GB of storage. An Intel Core i3, 2 GB RAM and a resolution of 1920 × 1080 are recommended.

The older Windows versions in these historical requirements are not equivalent to the current requirements of the Steam client. It only supports Windows 10 or later.

After losing her memories, the protagonist meets Orion, a spirit connected to her consciousness. She tries to rediscover her past without immediately telling the people around her about her amnesia.

The story does not unfold in a single fixed order. Different relationships change the starting situation, the behaviour of the characters and the information about past events.

The five routes center on Shin, Ikki, Kent, Toma and Ukyo. Their stories take place in different worlds, so relationships and the roles of the other characters can change.

Choosing a route is therefore more than a cosmetic decision. Each one opens different conflicts and clues about the protagonist's past. If you want to understand the bigger picture, you experience several stories.

Players determine through answers and reactions how trust, affection and other relationship values develop. Some choices bring you closer to a character, while others lead to misunderstandings or dangerous situations.

The consequences become apparent later on. The visual novel therefore requires you to pay attention to dialogue and the personality of each character.

Amnesia: Memories offers more than 20 possible endings. Alongside good conclusions, there are also less happy and threatening outcomes. Which version of the story you reach depends on the choices made within the route you pick.

Replaying is an important part of the structure: other answers can unlock previously hidden information or additional scenes.

Between the narrative scenes, small contests liven up the game. These include rock-paper-scissors and air hockey with characters from the respective stories.

These mini-games replace neither the dialogue choices nor the relationship systems. They complement the text-based narrative.

The gallery collects unlocked character illustrations from the different stories. Certain images also have voiced dialogue, which can be played by touching specific areas of the picture.

This lets you revisit special moments from the different routes without playing through the entire story again.

The international PC version offers English on-screen text and subtitles with Japanese voice acting. A German text version is not listed on Steam.

To understand the story, you therefore need to read English. The Japanese voices accompany the characters but do not replace the English dialogue text.

Amnesia: Memories can also be played on iPhone, iPad and Android devices. The mobile releases offer the main story and use controls suited to touchscreens.

Depending on the store, opening chapters and additional chapters are offered via in-app purchases. This distribution model differs from a classic PC purchase and does not create a separate standalone story.