The first game Dontnod ever made, does it hold up? Acutally yes, while it for sure isn't the same tier of game that their next entry, LiS1 would be, it's still a pretty repectable AA game from its time if you pick it up on discount, that is key tho because Capcom's full price NOPE.
But what is on offer here? Well you got the setting in a future Paris which looks great, these devs were based in France so they did a really nice job giving a twist on their city, there'll be plenty of landmarks to see meshed with the future world. Much of the game is exploring point to point through levels so enjoy it. The game is pretty linar, but there are often little side spots or slightly more open areas where you can find collectibles that make you stronger or are lore dumps that are interesting to read as this game has lore and with Dontnod it is cool lore too.
The graphics for 2013 are... okay, the art style is good and the UI too, but yeah you can tell this is a 2013 game that was made with only 7th gen hardware in mind, defo looks like a suped up 360 game rather than anything that launched on PS4 later in the year. But the style for sure keeps it good enough to look at, with some interesting designs you won't find in much else. Plus it means the game runs light and you can supersample it well on modern hardware. Also Nillin looks... good, I'll leave it at that.
Then gameplay, well yeah action, you do button combos that get more effective with a longer chain and as the game goes on you unlock longer ones, as well as more moves to customise with. There is some sort of meta way, but you can do what you find works best for you. There are also abillites unlocked throughout that can help boost the gameplay along in fun ways. The foes you fight do repeat often but each type tends to have different things about them so while yeah you'll see a ton of the same models, there is skill in figuring out with how to deal with each one effectively.
Then there is a VERY interesting feature about this game, one that really sets it apart and makes it feel like a prototype for what LiS1 would be and that is the rewind system. Well, at certain points you hack into people's memories and you can change and mess with them by making different choices within it which, has different outcomes good or bad, some that will fail or pass and there is a rewind system that allows you to try out all different ones and really just see what happens. It is entertaining, there's achievement tied for certain outcomes, there's a snarky fail screen saying how you killed someone you hacked the memory of, but "you can't remember being dead, can you?" lol. THIS really feels like what would become Max's power with her rewind in LiS1, which had gameplay where you could interact with different things and do different dialouges, this system here feels like the prototype for LiS1 and just like LiS1 yeah it is fun, you can see why they expanded on this idea to create LiS1.
Then the game also has a story, and it's decent, no, it's no masterpiece of LiS1 or the things LiS2 hit, or even the depth of Lost Records but it does the job well, has some interesting twists that did interest me and hit somewhat, it's worth a playthrough at least for it. You'll find a good lot of the LiS leads started off here, so that is why the story is competent enough, they just weren't in the genre 100% all in on it yet which when they started dev of LiS was inspired by the then recent Telltale stuff. Nillin is cool enough, and even at the start Dontnod liked some rep of women and whatnot, she's a mixed badass and the story of slowly figuring out the past does make for an interesting idea as you rediscover who Nillin is.
So should you get Remember Me? Yeah, it's no 10/10, I'm sure there's flaws with it, like yeah it can repeat some things sometimes, or be a little janky sometimes with things but this is where Dontnod started and it was a good first effort. It just flew under at first and wasn't much of a hit, but reviews on Steam were always postive and have grown more so as this game becomes a classic. The devs had ideas for a sequel but Capcom will never follow, and it's been 12 years. Still, good game on its own, just get it on the regular 80% discounts only.
