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Remember Me gameplay footage shows off Memory Remix mechanic

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Remember Me developer DONTNOD have released seven minutes of game footage to display memory remixing, what they call an “innovative new gameplay mechanic” (hmmm). It also reveals a dark underbelly to the game that the previous announcement belied.

It’s a little brutal, isn’t it. Twisting a man’s memory to believe he killed his girlfriend, all so you can cause him to kill himself to suit your needs. It’s a neat little development of the memory idea. There seemed to be a few of those on offer -developments of the theme, I mean – in the footage. It’s a small touch, but having Nilin scan the guards mind and steal the location of her target establishes the fiction that little bit more. Plus, it avoids having the time-honoured game design practice of you overhearing guards talk about private information:

Guard A: Boy, does that staircase tire me out. I mean, climbing up to eighth floor every time the boss wants a face-to-face chat…
Guard B: I know, right. And why does he have to stay in the room underneath the broken light fixture. Every time I go up there I almost trip on the uneven and creaky floorboards.
Guard A: Oh, you don’t have to go on the uneven and/creaky/ floorboards. His neighbour, in room 802…
Guard B: Who never locks their door?
Guard A: That’s the one. You can climb from their bathroom window into the boss’ bathroom.
Guard B: I bet that’s a lonely route, though. You wouldn’t pass Terry, Phillip, Max, or any of the other 12 guards he has waiting in his entrance hall.

What really stands out from the footage is the way that the player manages to complete their objective without firing a shot themselves. There’s nothing in the press release to indicate it’s taken to the Deus Ex-treme of being able to complete the game without killing but it’s appealing that personally-induced violence isn’t always the first recourse.

As I said earlier this evening, the game is due out May next year.