We’re making recollections I would wish to maintain, however they’re extra bitter than candy.
Melon Journey: Bittersweet Reminiscences, printed by XSEED, is a story-focused journey recreation a few lady named Honeydew looking for her buddy Cantaloupe. Gentle exploration components add a slight little bit of depth to the expertise, however in the end you are simply shifting from display to display, speaking to characters, and advancing the plot. Although there is a allure to this world, it may not be sufficient to maintain its pretty temporary narrative.
We meet Honeydew as she awakens for her morning shift on the melon soda plant the place she works. The introduction to her quirky coworkers is a humorous one, and the comedic writing buoys the sport and its tone. The central thriller entails the seeming disappearance of Cantaloupe after he fails to point out up for a bunch social outing, and so Honeydew units off to observe his path and accumulate clues alongside the way in which. On the identical time, an election is occurring within the area, which supplies a enjoyable background for Honeydew’s Journey.
One other humorous factor of Melon Journey is the way in which that melons themselves, the fruit that’s, are thought-about concurrently contraband but in addition extremely ubiquitous. The characters and dialogue characterize the guts of the expertise, although. The writing really jogs my memory a bit of little bit of Earthbound and Undertale in its absurdity, and it positively feels worthwhile to talk with each particular person you encounter. You may even full sidequests by gathering particular objects or coming into sure conversations, however the way in which the precise quests are tracked may stand to be clearer.
One significantly thorny challenge with Melon Journey is its save system, which could be activated from the pause menu at nearly any time. For one factor, your save file shows mainly no details about the place you’re or how lengthy you have been taking part in. For one more, regardless of how temporary the sport is (2-3 hours), it feels ripe for a checkpoint or auto save characteristic. My primary purpose for that is that twice the sport arduous crashed on me, and I misplaced about 20-Half-hour of progress every time. Hopefully an replace for the sport will resolve the crashing challenge, however saving typically looks like good recommendation in the intervening time.
There’s additionally an merchandise menu that serves nearly no function, exterior of sidequests. It is actually powerful to ever get misplaced since there simply aren’t ever many locations to go and in addition as a result of Melon Journey does an admirable job of pointing you in the correct path for advancing the story. Characters often come and go, scenes change, and exits open up or change into blocked off go; all of this alerts to the participant the place to go subsequent. The tip result’s an expertise that feels brisk but in addition considerably shallow.
The clear, pixelated look of Melon Journey calls to thoughts the Recreation Boy period, and the lo-fi soundtrack enhances the laidback story fairly nicely. It is unlucky that there simply is not a lot else to do besides strike up conversations and browse object descriptions. The presentation is a spotlight for certain, and I am undecided I am going to ever tire of seeing up to date titles make use of retro aesthetics. Nonetheless, an attractive presentation can solely carry an expertise to date.
On the finish of the day, I am not left with a lot to recollect about Melon Journey: Bittersweet Reminiscences. The allure of its characters and writing are readily obvious, however there’s merely not a lot to do in locations like Ham City and Hog City. Whereas the arduous crashes actually put a damper on my expertise, it was the truth that I actually needed to power myself to maintain selecting up the sport that talk volumes. These in search of a lightweight and chill story-centered journey could benefit from the handful of hours you may sink into Melon Journey. Others could wish to persist with watermelon for his or her candy recollections.
