Dear me, I was is a short and sweet story inexplicably stuck on Switch 2

While the Arc System Works Showcase stream in June may have been disappointing for fans of their key franchises, one announcement stood out from the rest. Dear me, I was…, a beautiful (but confusingly named) narrative title with an art style familiar to anyone familiar with the Another Code or Kyle Hyde games.

Dear me, I was… features no voice acting, or any dialogue at all, with very little in the way of interactivity. You can finish all chapters in under an hour, and there’s no “content” or additional reason to replay. And yet, it’s an incredibly charming story that’s worth experiencing at least once.

You follow an unnamed woman throughout her life, from the early years with her family, school, work, and beyond. Everything is presented in a beautiful rotoscoped style, filled with lots of bespoke animations during each scene. It’s tied together by a particular focus on watercolour, using bright colours for happy moments and a complete lack of it during the main character’s low points.

It’s hard to actually talk much about the specifics of the story, due to it being both the only significant part of Dear me, I was…, and its overall length. As mentioned earlier, you’ll finish the game within an hour (for me, it took around 40-ish minutes). Because of this, mentioning even small moments could take away from the experience.

You’ll generally be able to pick up on the overall theme Dear me, I was… in a single run, as the story is often not overly subtle about the main characters motivations or mood (such as aforementioned lack of colour when she’s feeling down.) It’ll also briefly flash back to moments or characters to make things even more obvious.

I will say that, even if Dear me, I was… doesn’t try be overly complex, there’s still some depth to the characters and narrative. The lack of dialogue leads to some interpretation being needed from the player, and I found myself repeating chapters after my first playthrough to better understand certain scenes.

My only real gripe is that, as a game, there really isn’t much being done. Interaction takes the form of touching specific highlighted things, or dragging the cursor around to complete a drawing. It does focus your attention on certain scenes, though you’d generally get the same experience if this was a story with no interaction at all.

I also don’t really know why Dear me, I was… is only available on Switch 2. Even discounting other consoles or PC, there’s seemingly nothing here that couldn’t work on the original Switch. Ideally this is only temporary, with the game coming to more platforms over the coming year.

Dear me, I was Review – Final Thoughts

Dear me, I was… is a short story that barely skirts the line of being called a game, but that doesn’t matter at all. With its low price (£6.73), there’s little reason not to play this if you’re after a charming narrative experience that doesn’t try to drag things out.

A review code for Dear me, I was… on Switch 2 was provided by the publisher for this review.

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