The Memories Off series of visual novels first debuted in 1999, and it’s only now in 2024 that we’re finally getting one of them in English. In fact, SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky is the first new entry in the franchise since 2015, and while one or two characters from the earlier games pop in as bit players, this is intended to serve as something of a reboot, and as such doesn’t require knowledge of the previous games. It does, however, lean into the same gentle, slice-of-life with a bit of romance that the franchise is known for, and if you enjoy a slow-burn story, this is going to be right up your alley.
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The player takes on the role of Junya, a twenty-year-old university third-year living in Sumisora. A year before the story opens, Junya was in a car accident with his older brother Takaya, and only he survived. He’s still trying to process his grief, something stymied by the fact that he’s beginning to realize that there were pieces of his brother he didn’t know at all. This is forcibly driven home when he meets a girl named Azusa, who continually accuses him of trying to “replace” Takaya and announces her intention to “monitor” him to keep him from doing so. Alongside Azusa, Junya also meets Chunyu, a Chinese exchange student with a love of antique Japanese architecture, Yuriko, an idol on a break, and also works with his childhood friends Hinata and Chihaya. Each young woman’s route explores a different aspect of Junya’s grief alongside the heroine’s storyline, and there are fourteen endings, a good and the best ending for each heroine, and a few bad endings along the way. As is typical of the genre, everything is determined by your choices at various points in the game.
SINce Memories lives and dies on its story and characters, and that makes it something of a mixed bag. The pacing is incredibly slow, and while every choice is, in fact, meaningful, only two or three of them feel significant in the first four chapters, which comprise the common route. In part, this is due to a very deliberate choice on the part of the writers: many choices aren’t an “either/or” decision; they’re a case of choosing the tone in which you speak to the characters. I actually like this mechanic a lot; yes, the story can feel like it’s progressing at a glacial pace, but the idea of how you say something is as important as what you say works with the idea of each heroine being her own person, with her own individual reactions to Junya. They don’t universally love him because he’s the protagonist; he has to earn their affection – or, in the case of childhood friends Chihaya and Hinata, manage to keep it.
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On the other hand, the story is plodding. Things pick up once you get on a specific route, but there’s still some significant overlap between a few of them, most notably Chunyu and Yuriko. While different themes are tackled in each route – for example, Chihaya is struggling to become her own person after having grown up with an oppressive father – each also deals with the overarching plot of Junya learning more about his late brother and coming to terms with his loss. These are all themes that deserve due consideration, and it’s hard to argue that exploring them in a slice-of-life format doesn’t provide that. But if you prefer your visual novels action-based or more fraught, SINce Memories risks feeling boring, at least in its common route.
The heroines will also be a matter of taste, although that really goes without saying. I personally found Azusa incredibly irritating – she comes in metaphorically screaming at Junya, blaming him for how he’s coping with the loss of his own brother in what feels like a horrifically insensitive way. It’s implied that Takaya was important to her as well, but repeatedly telling the dead man’s family that he’s less than his beloved brother is cruel, and even when Azusa’s reasons for her reaction are explained, it just sat badly with me, making her route the least enjoyable. Chihaya’s route may be fairly pat and familiar, but at least she’s not mean, and Hinata’s moments of unpleasantness feel less abrasive in context than Azusa’s. (This is a shame because my takeaway is that Azusa’s route is possibly the True Route.)
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Fortunately, Junya himself is a solid protagonist. He’s not a voiceless potato; he’s a character in his own right dealing with his own issues, and interestingly enough, his lines in flashbacks or when another character takes over the POV are voiced. It’s not hard to see why the heroines all like him, and a few even point out to him when he’s not coping as well as he could. His interactions with his father support this, and while player decisions don’t shape his personality per se, they do influence how the other characters see and interact with him.
While the story is good, the translation makes a few odd choices that risk jarring players out of the story. The main one is the insistence that the business Junya’s family runs is a “general store.” Perhaps this is an issue due to my rural upbringing, but a “general store” in American English refers (in my experience) to a store that carries everything – food, hardware, clothes, you name it. But in the game’s context, it describes a handyman business that will do anything the customers ask: moves, construction, courier services, etc. Depending on the routes, Junya may renovate a building or search for a lost item, neither of which falls under the “general store” heading. Another linguistic choice isn’t necessarily bad, but instead annoying; Junya’s little sister, Misora, is always “lovesessed” with things, a portmanteau of “love” and “obsessed” that made my skin crawl each time I read it.
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Luckily, the art and music are both very good. The art is especially nice, with each character looking distinct and effort made to show personality differences in their appearances. (The Vtuber Shrimpy-chan must be seen to be believed.) Backgrounds are detailed and give a firm sense of place, and the colors are bright without being overwhelming. Music can be a touch on the tinkly side at times, but it works well with the scenes it backs, and it – and the voices – can be turned entirely off if you’re sound-sensitive.
Overall, SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky is a solid game. It’s slow-moving, and Azusa’s initial character is tough to take, but it’s still a good visual novel with mild romance and a gentle exploration of its themes. The PC controls (mouse and keyboard) are intuitive, and on the whole, it’s a nice way to unwind and experience a quiet story.