Dememorize

About Dememorize

Dememorize is an exploration, story and horror game by psy_wombats and Galactica M., with audio and sound design by crystalchambersounds and character portraits by psycho-sun-interactive, made by the team of three in about two weeks for Scream Jam 2021. It was built in Unity, is free to play in the browser on itch.io or to download for Windows and macOS, and its source code is public on GitHub.

The premise is a disease called Neural-9, which eats away at memory and spreads through eye contact. Ward #6 is a pediatric ward for its sufferers in Allsaints Hospital, and it seems very far from the normal world. You play Tess, patient 2876, who can no longer speak but may have the level head needed to work out what is really going on, and to evade the dangers of the place.

Each day is played in third person: you walk the black-and-white checkered ward, talk to the other children and keep your appointments with Dr. Cooper, who tells Tess to keep her gaze steady. Each night switches to first person as Tess explores the wider hospital, its labs and offices, reading research notes on other patients. Pixel-art sprites stand in simple 3D rooms lit in one colour at a time, green, blue or white, and title cards with clinical definitions mark each new day.

psy_wombats has said the game was written more abstractly than usual, with a mood in mind more than a destination, around the fear of being forgotten, and that some events are open to interpretation. Players praise its atmosphere and story; some note that vertical movement on stairs is slow. It suits players who like short, strange, story-led horror in a retro style.

How to play Dememorize

1. Open the itch.io page and press Run game, or download it for Windows (the maker says it runs better) or macOS.
2. By day, walk Tess around Ward #6 in third person and talk to the other residents.
3. By night, explore the hospital in first person, reading every report and note you find.
4. Follow what the notes and doors point to; when a night seems stuck, look for an office or room you have not entered yet.

Tips

• The Windows download is the maker's recommended version; some players had crashes in the browser on low-power machines.
• On night 2, the director's office next to the report you find is the way forward, as the maker explained.
• Holding two movement keys for the same direction moves Tess faster, players found.
• Read the research notes closely; the story is told as much through them as through talk.

Questions