Re:Call’s Memory Manipulating Puzzles Are Snappy, Smart, and Truly Standout
When I first played Re:Call, I was wearing green overalls and drinking tea at the table next to me.
Or wait. Maybe they were wearing blue overalls and drinking cocoa.
Or was it pink overalls with coffee?
It’s a twisting labyrinth of memories, like playing Re:Call, a game that rewrites memories and makes them true history. You don’t play as the protagonist of the game, you play as a ghostly being. When paired with a person, they will be able to alter previous events simply by associating with the listener in different ways. This premise quickly blossoms into a fun puzzle game early on in Re:Call. A man named Javier rewrote his account of breaking into the hideout of the criminal mastermind Toymaker, and by arranging enough past events to allow him to escape Toymaker’s clutches. You can create a current situation that
It might be a little confusing, but here’s a very early example. Toymaker asks Javier to explain how he broke into the facility in the first place, and is interrogating him in a room with green-uniformed security guards. In Javier’s recollections, I can recall that the door to the facility was either unmonitored by anyone or was guarded by blue or green guards. He can also find guns or rocks on the ground. Selecting a gun and then shooting a guard causes the green guard who is currently in the room with them to suddenly die. put away. Problem solved, right? maybe not. Javier’s account rewrites everyone else’s memories, but messing around with too much reality leaves them confused and uneasy. Luckily, if you fail a scenario (Toymaker notices your actions and decides to end it…and you), the game conveniently skips over the previously seen dialogue and gives you a new Please try again so that you can try things. Reality changes even faster.
This is the opening of Re:Call for you, but the plot is pretty twisted. Part crime drama, spy he is part thriller and part inner journey of a young man named Bruno Gallagher. The music and visual design also deliver a bombastic visual experience, and the quick cuts from scene to scene give an almost Reality-his-show-like feel throughout Recall his puzzles. It’s a fairly short game, but about 6 hours max. Re:Call manages to cram a lot. The plot that made his adventures worth watching all the way through.
Bruno aside, the premise alone got me hooked on Re:Call. I’ve never played a game that deals with memory puzzles in this way. According to creator Matias ‘Matian69’ Schmied, outstanding mechanics were at the heart of his desire to make games. Re:Call is his second game for Schmied as an independent creator. He previously worked for Argentinian studio Avix games, but went independent and released his first solo game, Evan’s Remains, in 2020. The idea for Re:Call was actually born. About his Schmied struggles with Evan’s Remains and the difficulty of getting the audience’s attention to the game without “crazy, unique mechanics and ways to play.”
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“Re:Call was a concept that came out of one of several prototypes I made. And Re:Call was born out of a prototype where you’re being interrogated by the police and the murder changes depending on how you tell the police what you see. was reflected in Chapter 2 of Re:Call, and that’s what people liked best when we tested the prototype.”
Making something unique can get attention, but it also has its downsides. Schmied said he struggled with Re:Call’s design and mechanics. This is because there was simply no template for similar successful games. He was able to get people to playtest his Re:Call and get positive feedback.
For Schmied, gameplay is king. When I asked him about his inspiration, he cited his Half-Life 2 – not necessarily because of thematic similarities, but because of what players should do without massive signposts and hefty tutorials. Because of the way it leads, Schmied wanted to do something similar with Re:Call. Indeed, in its early chapters, he succeeds in the way he encourages blind experimentation as he remembers his way through various events to find the “exit.”
Re:Call was primarily Schmied’s solo project, with a little freelance help. Still, Schmidt completed it in just two years. While certainly impressive, Schmied said the “cost” he paid was “extremely high.” He says he didn’t have much time to enjoy the creative process and eventually burned out several times. This he won’t repeat on future projects: “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from him, it’s that the bigger the project, the more patience you have to embody.” he says.
Speaking to Schmied, he is very humble and even understated about the games he makes. When asked what he’s most proud of, he said that it’s Chapter 4 and the game he’s most proud of because of how he managed to “dance” between story and gameplay developments. However, he said one of the reasons he loved it so much was because he couldn’t recreate it in later chapters, and felt that the ending was “lacking”. Told.
“I don’t know why,” he says. “I don’t know, I wasn’t very creative when I did the part. I was so burned out. So I don’t know. But I don’t know how creativity works. So mysterious.” is.”
I would argue a bit – yes, the second half of Re:Call is weaker than the first half, but the overall experience is very good, and the emotional payoff of Bruno’s ending, personally, makes the journey more enjoyable. Schmied, who is still very humble about it all, relies on making it successful by making people enjoy what he makes.
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“One of the flaws that I think the game has, and I agree with some of the feedback from the players, is that the game started with a promise. , the game kind of forgets that, I agree with that… Maybe this experience is unique, but I feel like I kind of screwed up, so I don’t know. I feel joy when someone like you says, “Hey, I really connected with Bruno.” So I am still happy. ”
Ultimately, it feels a little odd to share this creator’s less-than-positive reflections on his work in this space. But Schmied’s honesty to his craft was convincing. Especially in an industry where marketing often forces creators to create false hype about projects they may not feel enthusiastic about, regardless of whether the failure is theirs or someone else’s. that’s right. No game is perfect. In fact, most games are “okay”. However, I think Re:Call is pretty good. Perhaps it deserves more praise than Schmied would like to admit. He created something truly unique and enjoyable from start to finish. And if you try it, you might too.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. you can find her on her twitter @duck valentine.
