Memento of Spring Review (PC)
Bright Onion Studios have come out swinging with their Steam debut title, Memento of Spring, which has recently released for only £6.99. My initial thought would be that this would be a cute, fluffy title, but instead I was introduced to a nightmare child: Juliane.
Juliane is a sorcerer with immense power, but she believes that teachers from the academy are below her, and she chases each tutor out of her home without letting them educate her. Staying in the holy chapel, which is paid for by the academy, with her guardian, Amalie, she whiles her time away by bothering the townsfolk, sleeping and eating.
My initial thought would be that this would be a cute, fluffy title, but instead I was introduced to a nightmare child: Juliane.
Not having much in the way of common sense, it isn’t long until she tampers with something she shouldn’t and is whisked away to someplace unfamiliar. Juliane, who has never taken responsibility for anything in her life, finds herself alone and, well, this makes very little difference to her. She instead bothers the inhabitants of a world not unlike ours, until help comes to find her.
The difference in worlds makes way for situational humour, and my worries that things will change for the worst were unfounded. Actually, I loved seeing these two worlds collide, and I’m glad that the majority of the narrative is set in the latter world.
Memento of Spring is an easy read and although Juliane herself is the epitome of trouble child, the visual novel itself is enjoyable to go through. Mystery, humour, a rich, descriptive world, and a colourful cast of characters keep things from becoming stale. I found myself struggling to tear away from the game when beginning a new scene.
While there are some subtly heavy themes, they’re presented in a way that’s easy to digest. Like the season itself, Memento of Spring is a gentle, breezy read with good places for breaks, and is easy to jump back into even if you take a short break from it.
Like the season itself, Memento of Spring is a gentle, breezy read.
Calming piano makes up most of the soundtrack, making for the perfect background music as you make your way through the game’s abundance of text. The visuals are bright, crisp and appealing, and I’m a big fan of the character designs — it’s great that the game’s descriptions of them match, too. The environments initially make the game feel small in scale, but it isn’t long until it really opens up in ways that you won’t expect.
It’s credit to the team to shake things up so much and have it still be just as engrossing though and, don’t worry, the tone of the game is consistent all the way through. Of course, the game’s few CG images are delightful, and each character has a few poses and expressions to switch between.
If you’re looking for a good story which doubles as a relaxing experience, then you won’t go wrong with Memento of Spring. This game has ensured that I’ll follow whatever Bright Onion Studio does next, and it’s impressive that they decided to self-publish their very first Steam title, too. I love sitting down with an engaging visual novel, and Memento of Spring did not disappoint.
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