A Wonderful Tale of Death and Second Chances

Retrace: Memories of Death is an Indie Horror / Mystery Adventure game created by Spider Lily Studios and published by EastAsiaSoft.

I actually found this game by chance while browsing the Nintendo eShop one day last week. The cover art intrigued me so I started looking into it, and the description sold me.

Retrace's story revolves around Freya and her group of friends as they prepare to embark on a "Ghost Tour". While waiting at the bus stop they are all thrown into a cold and unforgiving place filled with traps, puzzles, and a creature that hunts down anyone trying to escape.

This game immediately brought about a nostalgia for indie horror games of old such as Corpse Party, The Crooked Man, and Ib with it's stylized pixel graphics and beautiful hand drawn character portraits during dialogue. The atmospehre of the area that the friends are trapped in ranges from serene to downright spooky. The story and character interactions are well written and I genuinely cared about what happened to each and every one of them. (One, surprisingly, more so than I thought I would!).

The plot can be a bit confusing, but considering the gameplay loop of this game it's supposed to be.

The main gameplay mechanic is "Retracing" your steps after you die or hit a point at which the player cannot move forward with the story. There are a multitude of choices that the player can make which usually end with some pretty dramatic consequences, but Freya has the ability to rewind to various points in time to make different choices to try and fit the pieces of the mystery together and save everyone. You can use this Retrace ability to manipulate the past and finally figure out what is going on, and the feeling of connecting pieces narratively is very rewarding.

Audio wise, the score is good at setting the tone of the areas and conversations and eventually ramps up as the player gets closer to finding the truth. It worked great to keep me focused and was powerful during some of the more emotional endings. Also, watch the credits and just sit there for a while. I haven't researched who the singer is, but they have a lovely voice and is the only music in the game that I know has lyrics. Aside from music, the general sound effects do their job well; the visceral "death" sound being one of my favorites.

Don't go into this one expecting a full on horror experience. If anything, this game exudes an air of hopelessness and trying to overcome feelings of being useless. The main character experiences quite a bit of this as she tries and tries again to save the people she cares about. But with perserverence you will bring her to a very touching and satisfying conclusion.

I can't recommend this game enough! If you get a chance to play it, do so.

Retrace: Memories of Death is available on the Nintendo Switch at a usual price of $7.99