Six of the best reasons to play Amnesia: Memories on Switch

Otome players have been eating well for most of 2022, and the latest and greatest treat to quench our insatiable thirst for 2D men is with the port of Amnesia: Memories.

As a classic otome that was originally released in Japan all the way back in 2011 and later localised in 2015 as a digital-only release across mobile devices, PC and the PlayStation Vita, it has become even easier to access thanks to this modern day port. Alongside its very welcome return is the extremely exciting packaging of the original game with the never-before-seen localisation of its two fandiscs, Later and Crowd.

There’s a lot to get through with such a hefty amount of reading material coming in one go. To put that into perspective, if we’re talking about just numbers, then it is a whopping 50-60 hours’ worth of story. We’ll be taking our sweet time over all three parts of this new Amnesia offering — so for now, here’s why you should be giving it a look for the first time if you haven’t already, or revisiting it if you’re a hardened veteran. You missed Toma as much as any other (in)sane person, don’t lie!

A classic within the west

Amnesia: Memories has been ported to the Nintendo Switch, and will be releasing alongside its two fandiscs, Later and Crowd. This is a first for these latter two entries here in the west.

Amnesia: Memories, meanwhile, was one of the original localised otomes we got over here. Quite frequently, veteran western otome fans would point to either Amnesia: Memories or Hakuoki as their gateway into the genre, and now it’s become all the more accessible thanks to its latest port. And there are plenty of reasons you should give this otome hit a go if you haven’t already.

In a nutshell — and without any spoilers whatsoever to explain why that is the case — Amnesia: Memories has a few staple tropes and clichés otome players love to hate and hate to love. For example, in the former case, its heroine is a prime example of being a blank doormat of a main character – she’s the complete opposite of someone like Hibari from Variable Barricade, but this makes for a nice point of comparison for how far the genre has come.

Funnily enough, for me, this is the only real lacking factor for the game — and supposedly this is one thing that is improved on in the fandiscs.

The game itself withstands the test of time for utilising the visual novel formula to its advantage. It’s unconventional in some degrees, such as having absolutely no common route and instead blindly chucking players into picking one of four worlds — with a hidden character route being locked until you have experienced all four good endings.

There are subtle differences in the game’s shared universe of alternative timelines, ranging from stupidly entertaining — such as the ever-changing personality of the heroine’s boss Waka — to downright eerie. If you ever see the woman pictured below, for example, don’t hover for too long around her!

The game is extremely unpredictable and keeps you guessing every step of the way, no matter which route order you take, while linking them all together with a phenomenal and highly satisfying final route.

Less romance, more horror

Amnesia: Memories is not recommended for those looking for a romance-heavy story in their otome titles. If anything, Amnesia: Memories is structed more as a sort of “survival horror” take on the genre because of its sheer amount of bad endings, most of which are extremely easy to come by.

While it’s mostly manageable if you keep an eye on the three Affection, Trust and Suspicion parameters found in the main menu, every single choice carries high stakes, because there is no immediate visual indicator as to the effect of the choices you commit to.

This means there are plenty of moments where you’ll worry for the heroine’s safety. The game does a brilliant job in making you seriously consider and, at times, overthink just how to approach each of the many selections, and what the outcomes might be. After all, the whole point of the game is to keep the heroine’s amnesia a secret while figuring out the truth behind it, the intentions of those around her, and the important facts about the wild world she’s in. If you stumble along the way, the heroine will most certainly meet a bad ending — sometimes at the cost of her own life. This game goes places.

Your initial playthrough will be especially terrifying no matter which route you settle on, due to the tension and unpredictability. To talk specifics, the unusual choice of poster boy, Shin and his “Heart World” is the way to go — or you could instead start with the most seemingly mundane and normal storyline with Kent’s route in Clover World, with the subsequent routes getting increasingly outrageous.

I highly recommend playing Amnesia: Memories late at night and in the dark — if only for the scenes where the music tracks Malice and Peril play. These scenes will remain ingrained in your mind for the rest of time — along with the sprite changes of certain characters’ expressions, somewhat reminiscent of the more recent Gnosia. It’s worth all the nightmares.

Do it for the memes

More recently we have had our fair share of Yang-specific memes with modern otome games, but just before that widespread wave came was what the community fondly (or not so fondly — it depends on the person) refers to as the “uguu cage of love”.

We are not naming any names here because spoilers — and if you are one of the very few fortunate Internet dwellers who have not yet been spoiled on the events of Amnesia: Memories, then that deserves to be protected at all costs. Amnesia: Memories is best played with as little knowledge as possible, which is tough after it has been around for English audiences since 2015.

Amnesia: Memories hides a lot of darkness behind its seemingly slice-of-life appearance. It will not be all sunshine and rainbows; specific routes in particular will rip your heart out and trample all over it, while others will scare the living daylights out of you. If you’re wanting a good fright, then Amnesia: Memories delivers on some of the most uncomfortable and terrifying scenarios and still images to have ever graced the genre. It’s quite timeless in this case because we are not kidding. Some scenes even rival those of Piofiore: Fated Memories.

It’s a classic for a reason, after all — and once you are in the loop to what all its iconic memes mean and what they are referencing, you’ll be a changed person — for better or for worse. You can thank us later.

A historic moment for Amnesia fans

Amnesia: Memories has been a beloved entry within the genre for years now, and it truly is an amazing moment within the genre’s history in the west for its fandiscs to finally be localised. It’s been a long time coming for fans of the game, so we’ll finally be able to enjoy almost the entire series in English.

So be sure to support the game directly either digitally or physically (another first for Amnesia: Memories, since it was originally digital-only in its initial Western release) by ordering from the Nintendo eShop store or online in the hope that its last entry of its sequel World comes to us too.

Lastly, I’ve said it once and I will say it again, a limited edition of any otome deserves being highlighted now and forever for how rare they are. Idea Factory has three editions listed for each game on their webstore for Amnesia: Memories and Amnesia: Later x Crowd, Amnesia: Memories, and Amnesia: Later x Crowd.

Literally solve mathematics to woo its best boy

A point that deserves its own category and no one can tell me otherwise, Kent of Amnesia: Memories remains as one of my favourite love interests even to this day — and I absolutely adore how answering maths questions is a route-exclusive feature of his. If you’re looking for a wholesome overload, just see his route, where the player quite literally plays relationship counsellor to the initially doomed shipping between the heroine and Kent while solving math questions.

Kent is extremely out of his depth with romance, but is a super-nerd. He’s analytical and overbearingly smart, where everything has to make absolute sense to him, and his academic work and logical brain have not given him much dating experience. Instead, you’ll be making him fall for you by impressing him with your mathematical abilities multiple times in his route when he presents question sheets. It might remind plenty of us of our failing grades in school, but it’s stupidly endearing to include it.

The original Cupid Parasite experience, but horror-esque

Cupid Parasite is one of my favourite otomes ever for managing to make each love interest as interesting, memorable and deep as the other, yet it gives all of them such distinctive and highly enjoyable routes. That’s pretty tough to do; it requires consistently good writing. But what is particularly striking is how they all involve playing up tropes and genre staples to make each one feel fresh and unpredictable. Although here’s the thing: Amnesia: Memories did that first.

Amnesia: Memories manages to provide five love interests whose routes are all framed with differing genres. We won’t say specifically which is which, but one has the player in a detective role to figure out how the heroine became an amnesiac; another has her in a typical school drama situation turned into a thriller; and as a final example, one of them is an all-out horror where you’ll be screaming through the TV or screen, begging the heroine to just leg it.

There is something for everyone in this game, and it will manage to surprise you for its versatility. It’s unexpectedly imaginative, not just visually with its absurdly intricate character designs, but in its more fantastical elements with its ever-growing story threads and worldbuilding. It can take a while for its very best elements to appear, but when they do, you’ll know when — and you’ll be highly appreciative for it all. Amnesia: Memories is a classic for good reason, and this is just one of many of them.

I rate the game highly, so please go play it as a fellow member of the Otome Armada.

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