Visual Novel Spotlight: True Remembrance

True Remembrance is a different sort of visual novel as it’s not about what it could be about, and what it is about feels comfortably human. It follows the story of Blackiris and La, a doctor and patient if you will, who go about a semi-comfortable life between the stories of themselves and other people.

 

True Remembrance is set in a world plagued by a condition called The Dolor – a serious bout of depression caused by bad memories, if you will. People called Mnemonicides (from mnemonikos, “memory” and –icide, “kill” if that helps) treat those with Dolor by sealing away their unwanted memories. They operate from within an isolated city, which is where we meet Mnemonicide Blackiris and his Guest, La, along with a small cast of other characters.

 

The game was initially released in 2004 by indie developer Shiba Satomi. In 2006, it was re-released as an updated version, complete with opening animation, new storyline and enhanced graphic effects. Insani’s translation (the official English translation) is based on this ‘Director’s Cut’ release and I don’t think anything has been lost in not covering the initial version.

 

 

While the premise lends itself to action or supernatural intrigue, the story focuses more on the characters, their daily struggles and the parts they play in a story that started many years ago. This isn’t to say it’s Slice of Life, or a story akin to the depressing Narcissu, but it’s a visual novel that subtly weaves the lives of multiple people together and plays it out for us to read.

 

There is something to be said about how the writing (or translation) has been handled. Blackiris’ narration has a vague poetic air about it, yet it doesn’t stray into purple prose. La, one of the main characters, has a different way of speaking, which is refreshing in this case as it’s simply truncated and not peppered with verbal tics as other games would use to signify ‘different’.

 

 

The game’s presentation is rather simple. Sprites have a few poses and expressions while all backgrounds are low-resolution photographs. There are a handful of short tracks that repeat in the background but don’t become annoying if you tune them out. True Remembrance’s tiny 640×480 resolution is sure to be confronting if you’re used to playing larger visual novels. While there is an option to make it fullscreen, doing so on any modern monitor is simply not worth it.

 

The story offers no decision points but does make up to it by the fact that elements are foreshadowed so early and the story is woven so carefully. Sometimes it feels like plot elements are solved or forgotten too easily (a certain subplot with a character called Lips comes to mind) but otherwise it’s interesting to try solve the mystery behind everything – even after you finish the game.

 

 

It’s a valid concern whether the game gets lost in explanations or philosophical ramblings. I felt that the focus on day-to-day activities and simple interactions kept the game safe from forcing viewpoints on readers. Certainly, there are a few moral issues that come up, but the focus of True Remembrance is firmly on its characters, how they dealt with their past, how they should deal with the present and how they interact with everyone else.

 

True Remembrance isn’t too depressing, or full of supernatural intrigue, but in the end is comfortably human. It’s a visual novel about people above all and is rather well articulated. Sometimes the story feels like it is solving problems too easy, but it offers a number of interwoven stories that are nonetheless interesting and don’t try to force an opinion on you.

 

As with Narcissu, Insani received full permission to translate and release Shiba Satomi’s True Remembrance on their own website for Windows. While there is a remade version for 3DS on Nintendo’s eShop, it is for Japanese systems only.

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