Finally something to scratch that Unpacking itch. First playthrough only took a couple hours but it seems like there's a lottt of replayability to get each ending. Simple but cute, lots of lore and flavor text!

A game that tells a story through room decoration. In it, the choices you make about designing and organizing each room affect what sort of future the room's occupant will have.

I wavered strongly on whether to give this game a positive or negative review. There are a lot of good aspects of this game, and it fills a niche by allowing awesome customization of the room.

On the other hand, there are elements that didn't work for me, and left me feeling disappointed.

If I could, I would leave a mixed review, but I arrived at a positive review, because ultimately I did enjoy a lot of the positive aspects of this game, and I think those are worth emphasizing, especially as others weigh their decisions about purchasing the game.

This game was absolutely gorgeous, to begin with. So many of the little details, trinkets, and ability to customize the room were great. The individual items were each unique and cute! And the "snapping" system, for the most part, worked wonderfully, allowing for like-items to be arranged together easily, while also allowing for lining things up in new and interesting ways as well.

There were also many interesting ways that items were presented, from a messy bedroom that was seemingly just-abandoned, to a space-themed room where items could float away! That aspect was inventive and fun, and I enjoyed seeing such a variety of environments.

The game also ran very well, and I noticed very few bugs, if any. There were a few instances in which it could be tricky to arrange items (the perspective from which the room is presented can be awkward for sideways-facing drawers and shelves), and a few times items would start to clip through, especially when trying to use baskets or vases, but usually they would be fixed with a quick rearrangement.

There were also parts of the game that I found disappointing, however.

I struggled to connect to the characters. At times I wasn’t sure if I was even still organizing the same character’s room, at each new stage. I especially struggled to remember and connect the main character’s friends, and what interests they had as well. It was hard to connect with most of the game on an emotional level which made a lot of the payoffs fall flat. I understood that Tyler was sick and then dying, but I felt as though I was muddling through a lot of the finer details about Tyler and Sam’s relationship, let alone their relationships with their friends. This made the ending feel not nearly as impactful to me.

I also really didn’t feel that my room organization was impactful to the narrative, which felt disappointing since the game heavily relied on the idea that my choices would matter.

It quickly became apparent that it didn’t matter if I actually put anything away, and could simply pile all of the items on the floor and end the level. In Unpacking, everything was required to be in an appropriate place before the story could continue. That felt limiting at times, but here I found almost the opposite problem, where it didn’t really matter where I placed anything at all. I wish there were some sort of payoff for how meticulously you worked on a room. Hints of praise or criticism based on how well you did, or a different starting state depending on how “neat” or “tidy” the last level ended. While the open-endedness gives the player a lot of freedom, I wish that freedom could have some sort of payoff as well. I’m not even sure if it affected the story if you threw many of the items into the trash can, though admittedly I never tested that theory.

Ultimately, this game felt disappointing to me. I expected to enjoy myself much more than I did. However, there were definitely parts of it that I found charming, and I think it finds its place as a “cozy” room organizing game. They even launched with a creative mode, to allow people to design their own rooms from scratch. While this wasn’t something I tested out, I saw it as a thoughtful inclusion for their player base.

I think if the gameplay sounds appealing to you, or if you’re looking for something to scratch the itch of Unpacking, it may be for you.

I've had Momento on my wishlist for yearsss, played the demo multiple times and, so far during my gameplay, everything has gone beyond expectations! Congrats to the team for the launch! I adore the art style, the enviromental storytelling as well as the multiple paths. It's such a great take on this genre of gaming.
I've only completed the Artist Studio ending, just in case that impacts how the mechanics work. As mentioned, I adore the story being told through the environment, there were times where I teared up (f you, Dave) and times when I laughed out loud (especially at the Sir Ted puzzle). We won't speak about Svalbard, but crying was not on my bingo card for this game, so well done on the story beats. I enjoyed the puzzle element, I greatly appreciated the hints and the ones I still couldn't get where still fun to figure out and discuss in the community forum.
Onto constructive criticism; The right side tables/shelves/desks etc, it was kind of frustrating not being able to rotate items to face to the left instead of the right, so at times I just shoved things elsewhere. I wish you could replay previous levels, so far I haven't seen how you can. If you select new game it says it'll wipe all of your data, so I take that to mean there are no save files. I skipped the Artist Studio (it's late and I have work, lol) thinking I could go back and finish it, but unfortunately you can't. I would like a short description for each of the momentos you choose also, how they will impact gameplay etc. that would be helpful.
Other than that, I've loved it so far, can't wait to continue the game and wishing all the team the best.