A well realized cyberpunk story wrapped in a standard point and click adventure game
Read Only Memories takes place in Neo San Francisco where robots are everywhere and cybernetic and genetic engineering are commonplace. Similar to the San Francisco of today, Neo San Francisco faces a similar crisis where the rich and elite are all in the tech industry. Also similar to current San Francisco is the openness concerning the LGBT characters. In fact in Neo San Francisco, no one bats an eye to see a man dressed as a woman or flinches when a woman says she’s in relations with another woman. Read Only Memories treats its’ LGBT characters with respect, not as running gags or people with lesser qualities unlike many many games that I have played before.
You play as a cash strapped reporter, writing reviews of just about anything to make ends meet. After writing a review for some sweet GX Ultra Beatz headphones, you go to sleep and wake up to a blue headed robot that has snuck into your home. After some brief dialog you discover that this robot named Turing is the first of its’ kind, capable of rewriting its’ own code. Turing tells you he was created by Hayden, a friend you knew a long time ago. Turing explains that Hayden was kidnapped and he fled to find help. It’s your job to find out what happened to the Hayden and the larger conspiracy surrounding his disappearance.
Gameplay wise, Read Only Memories is a standard point and click adventure game. The game doesn’t do anything to differentiate itself other than a few mini-games including one where you have to divert traffic to prevent a cab from escaping and another where you navigate through a maze. I found Read Only Memories easy. Puzzle solving always takes place in the same area and Turing often provides enough hints on what the do so you’re never really lost.
The game goes for a retro aesthetic dividing the gamespace into 3 sections, a menu/character portrait window on the left, the game window to the right and dialog on the bottom. I don’t have the appreciation or the nostalgia for that specific style. I found the small game window difficult to look at because it resulted in pixelated characters and items. I couldn’t really discern if a character is wearing a helmet, a wig or if it’s actually their hair. I also found it hard to read the text because it is so heavily pixelated. The only redeeming quality to the look is the portrait window, where characters are nicely detailed and displayed a variety of emotions.
The audio is good not great. The music is nothing too memorable but fits the whole cyberpunk theme. There is also some light voice acting. It’s completely serviceable, but nothing I would describe as amazing like I would for Supergiant Games’ Bastion.
Overall Read Only Memories tells a great well realized cyberpunk story wrapped in a standard point and click adventure game. I can’t recommend this game wholeheartedly, but if you have a soft spot for old school adventure games and/or cyperpunk stories, Read Only Memories is definitely for you.
