Game Review #269: Path to Mnemosyne (Nintendo Switch)

Reviewer: A.J. Splutter Developer: DevilishGames Publisher: Hidden Trap Category: Puzzle Release Date: 4.15.19 Price (at time of review): $9.99

Buy Path to Mnemosyne from the Nintendo Switch eShop here.

Exploring the Path to Mnemosyne

Path to Mnemosyne is a puzzle game that has you travelling down a desolate dimension, devoid of color, to try and get your memories back and become who you once were. The game begins in a void with nothing but a black and white landscape, filled with bulging pops and goop to help set up the world and all that awaits you down this long, long road of despair. Your main objective is to walk through the seemingly endless hallway solving visual and audio puzzles as you restore your memories and go further into Mnemosyne.

The most common types of puzzles are going left or right to temporary branching pathways and completing a button pressing challenge—either with a game of ‘Simon’ or hunting down clues on landmarks and matching the button pattern—and though this type of gameplay might not be for everyone, it sure gave my brain a big workout, and fills you with that pride of overcoming a puzzle that most games beg desperately to give you.

Visuals and Audio The soundtrack in this game is filled with ambient noises and humming tones, which help set up the feeling of being lost with no way home with an uneasy gut wrench—and that’s a big plus for the game. I truly enjoyed solving puzzles and getting stuck on challenges while being uneasy of what’s to come the whole time.

For the art style, as mentioned previously, it mainly consists of black and white, with gray, blue, and green occasionally thrown in to highlight objects and shading. By having such a somber tone, the game (ironically) shines with personality, and brings you to a place you know oh, too well, and are ready to escape.

Challenge There won’t be anything stopping you from going straight through the game with no trouble, if you’re witty enough to find all the clues with ease and happen to be amazing at both Simon and Reversi—for me, I wasn’t as lucky, and that only made me appreciate the game that much more. There isn’t much to the gameplay, but the story keeps you going, and the tone set makes you ever more curious, as little narration quips pique your interest in exploring further.

I would constantly play for an hour or so at a time and then get stumped—like the good old days of gaming!—and have to step back and stop playing, only to have it linger in my mind until I figure it out and rush to my Switch to give my new ideas a chance. I miss that in modern games, and I’m glad I know where to find a game that can make me feel dumb again—I like a challenge.

Final Thoughts Path to Mnemosyne is filled with somber music, visuals, and the occasional jump scare, but it’s Gothic imagery and drab colors brought me closer to wanting more than putting me off. This game knows what it is and doesn’t try to be anything else. It’s not afraid to make you give up if you get stuck, it’s not shy to deprive you of progressing to appease the modern gaming world that’s filled with unskippable tutorials on how to start the tutorial, and it’s something I didn’t know I was missing until I had the chance to sit down and play it. The only downside to the game is, once you complete it and have previously worked out the puzzles, there’s not much in a second time replay unless a significant amount of time has passed; but for the first play through, it really does leave a large impact on you.