Game: Memories of East Coast
Genre: Adventure, Visual Novel
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on Steam (Windows))
Developers | Publishers: eastasiasoft, Roomah Games, Ratalaika Games | eastasiasoft
Age Rating: US E | EU 3+
Price: US $4.99 | UK £4.49 | EU € 4,99
Release Date: December 10th, 2021
Review code used, many thanks to eastasiasoft
Memories can be beautiful, but some cause more pain than they may be worth. Which memories are worth exploring? Memories of East Coast is an adventure visual novel about memories, connections, and guilt that explores this very topic.
Story
The story starts off in the modern day with Sam taking a trip with Fate to visit a special place. Making a choice leads the player down a rabbit hole of memories. The player follows Sam through these flashbacks.
Sam is a police officer who has a day off after successfully apprehending a major suspect. He has the choice to sleep in or head of to the East Coast, a place full of beautiful and painful memories alike. Choosing the latter sends the player on a trip where Sam can get lost in memories of visiting the East Coast as a child with his parents. Once he arrives, Sam runs across a young woman named Lisa, who he feels a deep pull towards.
Gameplay
Memories of East Coast plays like a traditional visual novel. There are choices made at certain junctures in the story, which the player has the option to save at. Once the choice is made, the player watches the scene play out until the next choice comes up. It’s fairly linear and some choices only add a bit of dialogue before the game plays out as intended. Choices don’t seem to have a significant impact on the story.
Controls
Controls are rather simple. You navigate between choices and the menu using the left thumbstick. They are selected with the A button and go back with the B button. They’re very easy to pick up and remember and don’t really break the mould.
Art and Music
The art and music are the highlights of this game. The stunning backgrounds were a pleasure to the eye and I was always eager to get to the next section to see how it came to life.
The music was brilliant! It was an emotional yet relaxing lo-fi mix that had me scrambling for my earbuds to listen to it properly. The music lends a nice backdrop to the more intense scenes in the game, fitting nicely into every scene.
Pros and Cons
The music, art, and premise of this story are the best aspects of this game. The music and art breathe life into the game. The premise is interesting, though it doesn’t cover much new ground. Being able to have the story slowly pieced together with flashbacks and seeing how those memories impact the present relationship amongst Sam, Lisa, and Fate is fascinating.
On the flip side, there were quite a few grammatical errors that drew me out of the story quite a bit. There were some issues with the verb-subject agreement and unnecessary plurals. The length also seemed too short for me to bond with the characters, which caused many of the emotional moments to fall a little flat for me.
Conclusion
Memories of East Coast is a nice little romp that gets you thinking about memories, guilt, and loss. It asks some interesting questions that I wish had been explored a little more. The art and music were a beautiful addition to the story. If you have a couple of free hours and want to ponder about life, I definitely recommend this story.
Final Verdict: I Like it. 
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