We were able to test Memory Lost during Gamescom 2023, with Alex Kudshov, executive producer of the ESDigital Games studio. After a short explanation of gameplay and context, we take the controller in hand to discover this game.
Memory Lost is an isometric 3D Action-RPG, in a cyberpunk universe. Made up of around twenty levels, for an announced playing time of around twenty hours, we were quite won over by the concept during the battles.
Indeed, our character has the ability to take possession of the body of enemies when they are weakened or are not yet aware of our presence. By doing this, we recover their weapons, their abilities, their life bar and adopt their type of movement, which completely modifies our way of playing during the combat phases, which is not to displease us. We can, for example, borrow the body of a golgoth armed with a huge hammer, hitting hard but with limited movement, and immediately change to a sickly and fast enemy armed with a knife.
Gameplay-wise, we are in the same vein as The Ascent, with movement on the left joystick and aiming on the right. The game is quite nervous, even if the handling can be improved. The character does not respond perfectly to our commands, which is damaging during a high concentration of enemies. Additionally, across the three levels we tried, we didn’t observe much diversity in terms of the opponents encountered. In fact, the only real difference was in the weapons they carried, which were much more varied. We were able to try our hand at hand-to-hand combat with bats, knives, sabers and hammers, but also at a distance with pistols, assault rifles and shotguns.
The RPG side is as weak as the enemy variety. Only a few improvements to our character are available, and despite the levels acquired and the points distributed in the various skills, we did not feel any real change. When it comes to graphics, we’re light years away from The Ascent. The settings are quite poor, with few details, and the range of movements of our character close to nothing. As for the soundtrack, we won’t be able to tell you more: due to the surrounding noise and the explanations and injunctions from Alex, it was very difficult to hear anything. In the end, Memory Lost feels like a low-budget game, which is a shame, because the concept is really well thought out.
For information, the game should be released at the end of 2023, playable on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, PS4, PS5 and Switch.
