Game Review: Reminiscence in the Night (Xbox Series X)

A visual novel experience with some minor point and click elements, Reminiscence in the Night tells a complex and sombre tale about regret and missed opportunities. Wrapped up with elements of mental health decline. It’s a surprisingly deep game, one with multiple endings, that asks you to think about what you’ve just experienced.

Developed by Team SolEtude and published by Ratalaika Games. Reminiscence in the Night puts players in the shoes of a young woman who awakens in her home to find she has lost her memory. By interacting with objects and by making decisions, the goal is to help the woman remember and find out just what caused all of this.

It is this interactivity, and how it is used to progress the story, that really helps make Reminiscence in the Night stand out from the visual novel pack. Helped by some dreamy visuals (gorgeous colour palettes), music, and decision making that feels like it has a purpose.

Players might be surprised to find that Reminiscence in the Night has a lot of dialogue options and the more you explore and interact, the more become available. There are story-threads that can be missed or changed all-together simply by not interacting regularly with certain objects. Such as a guitar, a teddy bear, or even a house plant. It shouldn’t matter but Reminiscence in the Night makes it matter.

All of this adds a lot more weight to the over-arching sombre story that Reminiscence in the Night is telling. One that doesn’t leave you feeling great, even if you get the most positive ending possible. It does leave you satisfied though, as Reminiscence in the Night has several endings for you to find. Offering more replay value than most visual novel style games. Necessary as the game isn’t very long at all (30 minutes to and hour max).

Reminiscence in the Night leaves an impression, not just with its shifting narrative and gameplay elements, but its willingness to be unflinchingly honest.