Remember Me and The Swapper Impressions

Remember Me from Dontnod/Capcom and The Swapper from Facepalm Games have more in common than they'd probably like to admit to. Both put you in the awkward situation of figuring out who you are, what you're supposed to do, and where does it all lead.

The former does it in the style of a well-invested AAA game, while the latter is a member of the intellectual indie platformer brigade, a la Limbo, Braid, and many others. But both have quite lofty ideas at heart, which makes them touching if you're into more philosophical gaming.

  Certainly, the movingly-named Remember Me echoes sentiments we all share. Who doesn't want to be remembered? No one wants to be forgotten, though some things we may want to forget.

  That's the basic premise of Remember Me, which takes place in a rather implausible 2080s post-disaster Neo Paris, where new technology has made human memory a tangible commodity. An interface allows memories to be accessed, altered, shared, and even sold for money.

  Of course there are memory thieves and memory hunters, and a resistance that opposes this new memorial world order and the mega-corporations that seek to dominate humanity through use of this technology. The resistance are labeled errorists by the authorities. Errorists. Good one!

  Remember Me sure recalls many influences, to put it mildly. In terms of gameplay, it's Devil May Cry and the two Rocksteady Batman games for combat, and Enslaved plus Uncharted for traversal.

  The feel and mood vary, harking back to the first two BioShocks and Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The direct brain link is somewhat Matrix-inspired, but actually has more to do with last year's came-and-sadly-went Syndicate. And before you ask, no, it's nothing like Mirror's Edge. Having an attractive female lead that jumps between buildings does not make the two games related.

  Remember Me is a good game not just for play mechanics, though all of them are more than sound. Fighting and moving around are well executed. The art and design are also solid. But no, Remember Me is a good game because much like inspirations Blade Runner and Total Recall it focuses on a character who's the epitome of an unreliable protagonist. She basically only remembers her name, if even that is "correct", and everything else we learn from third parties, so none of it or all of it may or may not be true. Also, our heroine Nilin and her guide Edge aren't necessarily the good guys, which is made plainly obvious from the start. They commit several blatantly evil acts even early in the game, though all have their justification - like all evil acts, the story suggests. Sure, some may say all this philosophy comes across goofy in a combo-laden urban platformer taking place in a Paris where everyone speaks American English. But look deeper and you'll see that Dontnod really put a lot of thought and care into this, and I don't mean just the introspective quotes that come up between levels. And even if you completely disregard the "meaning of being" stuff, then Remember Me is still a very competent game, mixing its two primary genres very well. I've put a few hours into Remember Me and it's definitely one I'll stick with to its conclusion. It may not set the world on fire, but it will live in my memories, for what that's worth! Now, The Swapper! Cool title and quite literal, because here we take the whole identity confusion thing to the next level. Our main character works at a research/exploration facility somewhere off-Earth.

  While the science isn't perfect, to say the least, The Swapper has a very strong sci fi feel, and does a good job paying tribute to the likes of Alien, Outlands, and Silent Running. Game-wise it's Yet Another Cerebral Platform Puzzler, which means that unlike Remember Me I won't be able to finish it without cheating or having YouTube walkthroughs running in the background. The Swapper's been getting rave reviews, as these games often do, mostly for its mood and play mechanics. The focal point is that you can clone yourself on the spot, placing clones around the screen and teleporting into them to get around puzzles and obstacles. Needless to say, this practice makes the whole concept of "you" quite moot. The you that starts the game will not be the you that will finish it. And we really don't know anything about this person or their world to begin with. Exploration brings backstory, which superficially reads like it's more science gone horribly wrong IN SPACE, see Doom and Dead Space for further info, thank you. But no, that's not it. There's much more going on here. The Swapper isn't pseudo-smart. It is smart. It's got talking rocks and enough atmosphere to terraform the moon. Yes, the visuals are iffy, compensating for possible lack of detail with the old blur and grain art look, but come on, this is a platformer. We're not talking next gen here.

  Should you be playing The Swapper? Definitely yes. It's a challenge, and I will try to get through as much of it as I can. More than that, it's also a genuinely touching experience that will make you think. And as these two games show us (sorry, remind us), being encouraged to think is part of what makes gaming such a wonderful pastime. Well friends, as this is my final post here I'll do what many of my favorite sci fi characters have done and sign off. It's been great sharing with you and I know the ROG community will keep on gaming and getting stronger and better! In the meantime, don't forget.