Low Memory
31 January 2021
at home
5.0 out of 5.0 stars
Escape Tales “Low Memory” is a story driven escape game in 3 parts. It can be played alone or with a group, and includes several important decisions that shape and direct the plot. The game play happens through story books with numbered paragraphs, cards, and tokens to track your progress, as well as an app where you solve the puzzles. A variety of hints is available for each puzzle, as well as the solution if you get completely stuck. I wish they’d also provide an explanation with the solutions as there was one puzzle that completely mystified me and I couldn’t figure out how it was supposed to actually work (I found my answer on Boardgamegeek eventually) and just getting the solution was a little unsatisfactory.
The game plays in 3 chapters that all connect and build a full story, unfolding slowly and changing pace with your decisions and progress. I love games that change with your decisions, showing that these decisions have a real impact on the story and development of the plot. Low Memory transported me back to the late nineties as it felt a lot like a traditional point&click adventure of sorts, which I absolutely loved playing! The gameplay was so fun and immersive, that I immediately ordered the other two stories in the Escape Tales series to play as well.
Each chapter took me about 3 hrs to play, so you get a full 9 hrs of play out of this game as a solo player. It can also be played with up to 4 players, which might hasten it along a little, but probably not too much as there are so many puzzles and decisions that need to be taken care of. Low Memory plays in a digital near-future (2060) where your aim is to discover what really happened to Elizabeth Weber. You get to take different routes to discover lost memories and take steps to find the truth.
The last chapter was definitely my favourite as it felt very high stakes and built upon my previous decisions in the first and second chapter. Every step has consequences and every decision changes your path. Low Memory is very well thought out and tells an interesting sci-fi story that felt very Black Mirror -esque, I highly recommend this game and am looking forward to trying more Escape Tales!