Memoir En Code Brings a Life Story to Fruition

Games are meant to tell a story. From something more fiendish like the lore of The Binding of Isaac to something more touching and heartfelt like Sam’s story in Gone Home, games can tell the players something more than just what buttons must be hit, or how fast a quicktime event can be accomplished. More often than not, the stories told in the game are not the developers’ own. However, games like Depression Quest have opened the gates for more autobiography in games, and that’s something that developer Alex Camilleri, from Kalopsia Games, is very interested in.

Memoir En Code is what Camilleri is calling an “autobiographical game album.” It’s an interactive game about events in life that have influenced him and molded him into the person he is today. He’d been interested in the topic for a while, but was so busy with other projects that he’d never gotten the chance to focus on an autobiographical game. Wanting to change that, he created Memoir En Code.

A single playthrough of the game will only take players around thirty minutes to complete, but the game doesn’t simply end there. Camilleri designed the game to be played through multiple times so that players can start to understand more about him and different events in his life. Something that may seem small to players on the first playthrough may mean a lot more during the second, after experiencing other events in the game. With secrets and other elements to be discovered over multiple sessions, gameplay time is extended to a few hours. Diving into the game allows players to discover secrets and “have a deeper conversation” with Camilleri.

Memoir En Code features happy and sad moments from Camilleri’s life, and there are plenty of interactive things from his past that players can discover. The game also comes with Memoir De Code, a decryption tool, and a digital booklet that contains extra information about the game. Both of these can be used to discover more secrets.

Memoir En Code launches today, November 2, for PC, Mac, and Linux systems for $3.99 via itch.io. For more information about the game, check out the website or follow Camilleri on Twitter.