SINce Memories: Off The Starry Sky, published by PQube and developed by MAGES, is the latest addition to a series that has long captivated visual novel enthusiasts. It’s part of the established Memories Off saga, a narrative adventure that kicked off all the way back in 1999 on the original PlayStation. This fresh entry spins off from the main storyline and is set a decade later. Now, we find ourselves in the shoes of Junya Mizumoto, a college student, grappling with the profound grief of losing his brother in a tragic incident a year prior.
When Junya encounters a mysterious girl with a chilling message insinuating that he, instead, should have perished, he’s left to wrestle with conflicting emotions. But, life throws him a lifeline—or perhaps more turmoil—by engaging him in a project with his childhood friend, Chihaya Hojo. This endeavor involves restoring the Hojo manor, an old Japanese house requiring renovations. Being a significant piece of Chihaya’s family history, involving Junya was a given. As for how this project influences their story, let’s leave that to your imagination for now to avoid any spoilers. However, one should note that the game offers branching narratives, molded by the decisions you make, affecting your relationships with characters like Chihaya, Hinata Ise, Azusa Satomi, Chunyu Huang, and Yuriko Oyama.
For those new to the world of visual novels, these games narrate extensive stories—think novel-length material—in a visual and often interactive format. While they might vary in style and complexity, they usually incorporate voice acting, an aspect not cheap to produce in gaming. SINce Memories: Off The Starry Sky stays true to form, offering a fully voiced experience in Japanese, which means you’ll likely be relying on subtitles unless you’re fluent in the language. This reading aspect is quintessential to the visual novel experience.
The latest in this storied franchise lands you in a setting ripe with emotional depth and engaging narrative tension. Junya’s journey offers an intricate look into coping with grief while navigating the often complicated dynamics of friendship and family legacy. Though some minor localization issues, like occasional grammatical errors, pop up, they don’t detract significantly from the experience. SINce Memories: Off The Starry Sky is available now on the Nintendo Switch for $39.99, providing a compelling dive into a nuanced story interwoven with personal choice and consequence.
Keep in mind that this review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by PQube.
