by: Frankie Negron
A Witch’s Hope
Memento Mori comes from the Latin “remember that you have to die” and has been used as a trope for the inevitability of death. It developed alongside Christianity, gaining popularity in the European medieval era and in the Victorian era. In the case of Bank of Innovation‘s new RPG, Memento Mori refers to how girls are cursed to become witches and madness courses through the world. As for the cursed girls, they are hunted down by the Church of Longinus in “The Witch Hunt”.
Divinity and the Damned
Memento Mori plays with religious themes, a lot more than simply using institutions like the Inquisition. The name of the religious institution in the game, the Church of Longinus, comes from the name given to the Roman soldier who pierced the side of Jesus with a lance in the Bible. Additionally, The cursed girls are called “Witches of Qlipha” with Qlipha, coming from the Jewish Zohar. They are the exact opposite of holy Sefirot and this shows the amount of research that the developers put into Memento Mori. While the girls are under a curse, they aren’t actually evil. Free the girl’s from their curses (instead of allowing the inquisition to execute them) and they can actually help save the world.
Dreamlike Art and Tragic Story
The art of Memento Mori is breathtaking and there’s even individual songs that accompany the stories of each character. Companion backstories don’t are interesting and show how they see the player as their ally in a fight they aren’t even sure they can win. While the player symbolizes hope in a hopeless situation, the NPCs were fighting long before the arrival of the player and would have continued fighting without them. Their belief in doing the right thing is what propels them forward, even at the risk of their own life.
It’s the watercolor style of the art that brings a dreamlike feeling to the whole game. Honestly, it reminded me of old JRPGs where the battles and sprites were simple but beautiful.
Lots Of Bugs But No Crashes
While playing, I came across a few bugs and issues. Luckily, however non of these led to the app crashing. Units wouldn’t appear at times throughout battles and there were more than a few times where combat was lagging. One glitch that happened was that units would be attacking each other, but their health bars wouldn’t go down. Error codes would appear a few times, but it honestly didn’t mess with any of the mechanics. The game is simple enough that lagging and bugs won’t set you back or cause you to fail a mission. You also have the option of skipping combat, entirely avoiding the issue. Then it’s just a matter of waiting for story dialogue to load.
Memento Mori shows that a game don’t need to be overly complex with impressive mechanics to be great. If you have a moving story that can stand on its own (along with breathtaking art), then you have the potential for a stellar title.
