The Dark Eye: Memoria

The Dark Eye: Memoria (also known as Memoria) is a 2013 German point-and-click adventure game, developed and published by Daedalic Entertainment. The game is part of the video game series based on The Dark Eye, and is a direct sequel to Chains of Satinav. The game's story takes place after the events of the previous game, and focus upon Geron's quest to find a way to help his fairy Nuri recover, only to become caught in trying to unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of a heroic princess called Sadja and the quest she undertook.

The Dark Eye: Memoria
Developer(s)Daedalic Entertainment
Publisher(s)Daedalic Entertainment
SeriesThe Dark Eye
EngineVisionaire 
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Genre(s)Point-and-click adventure game
Mode(s)Single-player

Following its release, the game received favourable reviews.

Gameplay

The player views the character on screen as if the player were standing and observing. The player is able to direct the character's actions by clicking on objects in the area. The character interact with the object, usually including dialogue that lets the player know if this action will help them to move forward in the game. The game progresses in a linear fashion with a prologue and eight distinct chapters.

Plot

In The Dark Eye: Memoria, the plot is divided into a story within a story structure. In the present time we follow once again bird catcher Geron where he tries to restore his lover Nuri, a forest fairy, who turned into a raven at the conclusion of the previous game. He meets a merchant named Fahi at the beginning of the game who promises Geron that he has the power to restore Nuri back to her humanoid form; all Geron has to do is to solve the fate of an ancient story about the heroic princess Sadja from the exotic land of Fasar, whom everybody has forgotten during the past 450 years.

Characters

The main characters are:

  • Geron: Protagonist from the previous game, Geron has taken over his deceased master's premises and has set out to discover ways to restore Nuri into her fairy form before her memory vanishes completely into her raven form.
  • Sadja: Ostensibly a princess, Sadja is obsessed with making a name for herself and leave a great legacy of her exploits. Sadja appears alongside a group of adventurers, who discover the tomb of her alleged ancestor, Mallakar and once inside the tomb, she obtains a sentient magic staff that gives her magical powers. Sadja seeks out the fortress of Drakonia, where she hopes to join the battle against demon hordes of Nether Hells. Sadja is ultimately revealed to be not a princess, but a street urchin who was brought to Prince Kasim as a playmate. Offended by Kasim's arrogance, Sadja vows to achieve greatness on her own terms.
  • Nuri: Geron's love interest from the previous game. In order to foil the antagonist from the prequel, Geron binds Nuri's soul inside a raven. However, the raven form causes Nuri to lose her memories at drawn-out process, rendering her forgetful about her past. Geron sets out to restore Nuri's form by stealing books from the local Academy to no avail.
  • Rachwan: A tribal outcast that acts as guide to Sadja but betrays her multiple times. He perishes when Sadja's staff petrifies him completely.
  • Halef (Staff): A former servant of Malakkar, Halef was sent out to find the Garden of Oblivion but failed. Fearing retribution, he flees but is caught and punished by Malakkar. The punishment entailed the draining of Halef's memories and his infusion into a staff that was later found by Sadja. Halef forms a very strong bond with Sadja, who took him on her quest to Drakonia. Following the battle after which Sadja disappeared, Halef waited for 400 years to accumulate enough magic to create a body for himself and seek out Sadja.
  • Fahi: A Tulamede merchant, Fahi is the secret companion to Halef, who protects him from mobs in return for services. Fahi promises Geron that he can transform Nuri into her fairy form if he could answer a particular riddle. Fahi later reveals that he can see into the past of objects that he holds and provides the key clue for the story's resolution.
  • Prince Kasim: The story's antagonist, Kasim is an arrogant prince who attempts to unlock the secrets of the Djinn of Time to create a kingdom bound to his rule. It is revealed that as a child, he would have street urchins brought to his palace where he would play with them and have them cast out when he was bored. His fate is not revealed but he appears to perish at the penultimate chapter of the game.

Reception

Domestic press

Eurogamer Germany praised the game calling it "...what Daedalic was striving for all these years: A fantastical, but at the same time mature, Adventure, well thought-out and a personal experience through and through.".[5] While Game Star praised the title's visual design and style calling it an"...atmospherically dense Adventure impresses with its beautifully drawn and lovingly detailed game world."[2]

International reviews

The game received generally favourable reviews achieving an average Metascore of 79 out of 100 based on 43 critic reviews. User reviews placed the game higher with an average user score of 8.5 out of 10 based on 120 reviews.[6] Ryan Bates at Game Revolution was critical of the games puzzles stating "The puzzles don’t always make sense in Memoria to the point that it repeatedly made me quit in frustration."[7]

Sales

By 2016, Memoria was Daedalic's second-highest-grossing game behind The Dark Eye: Blackguards. The company's Carsten Fichtelmann attributed this success to "a high rate of full price sales", compared to the greater sales quantity but lower revenue of the Deponia series.[8]

References
  1. Wagener, Sven (August 29, 2013). "Test: Das Schwarze Auge: Memoria". Gameswelt (in German). Archived from the original on November 14, 2017.
  2. Forsati, Amir (August 28, 2013). "Von der Sehnsucht getrieben". GameStar (in German). Archived from the original on September 15, 2013.
  3. Brehme, Marc (August 30, 2013). "Das Schwarze Auge: Memoria im Test - Ab sofort im Handel". PC Games (in German). Archived from the original on November 26, 2015.
  4. Naser, Bodo (September 5, 2013). "Test: Das Schwarze Auge: Memoria". 4Players (in German). Archived from the original on November 20, 2013.
  5. von Martin Woger (2015-02-10). "Das Schwarze Auge: Memoria - Test •" (in German). Eurogamer.de. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  6. "Memoria for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  7. "Memoria Review". Gamerevolution.com. 2013-08-26. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  8. Karkalemis, Manos (February 28, 2016). "Interviews with the Daedalic Entertainment team". Ragequit.gr. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016.
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