11-11: Memories Retold |OT| Those Valiant Hearts

[Dancrane212]

11th November 1916, a young photographer leaves Canada to join the Western Front in Europe. The same day, a German technician is told that his son is missing in action on the front…
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Platform(s) PC (Steam), Xbox One, PS4
Release Date: November 8th, 2018 (Steam) and November 9th, 2018 (Console)
Genre: Adventure
Price: $30 USD
Player(s): 1
Format: Digital/Physical (PAL territories only for physical)
Developers: DigixArt Studio, Aardman Animations
Publisher: Namco Bandai

FAQ
What is 11-11: Memories Retold?
Memories Retold is an adventure game where you play as two characters: Canadian photographer Harry (Elijah Wood), and German engineer Kurt (Sebastian Koch) as they experience the first world war.

How does it play?
You will move from location to location and, depending on the character you are currently playing, solving simple puzzles based around your abilities (such as taking photos or fixing equipment) to advance the narrative.

How long is it?
Reviews put the game at around 6 hours long.

What's the relation to Valiant Hearts?
Aside from the setting, Memories Retold is developed by DigixArt Studio which was founded by one of the co-directors and writers of Valiant Hearts: The Great War.

Xbox One X and Playstation 4 Pro Enhancements?
Yes. TBA for specifics.

Switch?
The developers want to do it but the visual effect that runs throughout the game is very demanding and porting it to the system would take significant effort and is something that falls outside of the current scope of development.

Media

Reviews
Metacritic - 80%
Opencritic - 82%

Digitally Downloaded 5/5
I think that we have a moral imperative to remember wars of the size, scale, and sheer horror as World War 1 and World War 2 for what they were. I find it grating in the extreme that between Hollywood's blockbuster model, and the approach of publishers like Activision and EA, in popular culture we don't remember those wars properly, but rather we reframe them as the stories of adventure and heroism. We rewrite the stories so they more closely remembers the propaganda of the era than the reality. I find that deeply disrespectful to those who died in those wars, and more worryingly, these works of entertainment content undermine the greatest defence we have against ever repeating those wars: a universal consensus that this was all too horrible to ever let happen again. In that context, 11-11 Memories Retold is something precious; it's a rare foil against the lies about war that the likes of Call of Duty and Battlefield get away with far too easily.

Playstation Universe 9/10
A heart-rending parable of tragedy, loss, coming of age and unexpected lifelong bonds made between unexpected individuals in the midst of humanity's darkest hour, 11:11 Memories Retold is a thunderously resonant experience that lingers long in the memory after the end credits have completed their ascent.

wccftech 7.8/10
It's not the most engrossing narrative I've ever experienced, but it's certainly incredibly memorable. I enjoyed all of my time with 11-11: Memories Retold and can heartily recommend it to the narrative adventure fans, or anyone who just wants to see a game rendered in an incredibly unique art style. I can't wait to see what kind of game Aardman makes next.

Links
Steam
Xbox
Playstation Network
Official Site​

 

[Dancrane212]

Went with an import copy to get it physically so I'll be a bit later to playing the game, but the excerpts from the reviews sound very promising.

 

[Dancrane212]

The game is now out on all platforms.

 

[CannonFodder52]

Nice OT.
I want to pick up this game, but I kind of want to play Valiant Hearts first even though it's not directly related.

Anyways it looks great

 

[Dancrane212]

but I kind of want to play Valiant Hearts first even though it's not directly related.

Click to shrink...

That certainly wouldn't steer you wrong. Valiant Hearts is incredible.

 

[ket]

this game looks interesting!

 

[Treasure Silvergun]

Oh, so this isn't a shooter? That cover naturally led me to believe that all this time, LOL.

Very interesting, may pick it up. WWI is a very fascinating topic for me.

 

[Dancrane212]

Oh, so this isn't a shooter? That cover naturally led me to believe that all this time, LOL.

Very interesting, may pick it up. WWI is a very fascinating topic for me.

Click to shrink...

Correct. It shares the same "not a war game but a game about war" mentality of Valiant Hearts.

 

[nasuknight]

Wow this one sure as hell snuck up. Looks incredible. Sebastian Koch!

Will definitely grab it. Would be quite the trip to play on Nov the 11th - 100 years after armistice.

 

[Deleted member 11976]

Definitely adding this to my weekend. Seems to be about the perfect length to be completed in 2-3 sittings.

 

[Dancrane212]

There is also a 3.99 USD DLC story launching alongside the game. Proceeds from it will go to the WarChild Charity.

11-11 Memories Retold WarChild Charity DLC tells the story of Jack and Eva, two children drawn into World War I – a conflict much bigger than they are. Their stories are told in the form of letters, drawings and photographs found throughout the game and collected in your journal. The children's letters are inspired by real stories of conflict from children supported by the charity WarChild. While times change, one thing stays the same: children's lives are torn apart by war.

All proceeds from the DLC will fund WarChild's activities, helping children forced to live with the brutality of war around the world.

11-11 Memories Retold game required; sold separately.

Click to shrink...

 

[Osahi]

Finished it yesterday. Such an amazing experience. The story is touching and poignant (even though it sometimes relies on coincidences), the art style is beautiful (music too btw) and I love how you can often just explore locations and talk with soldiers or civilians, which gives you some more context of the war. Soms scenes will realy stick with me too.

It's not perfect. The art style leads sometimes to muddy or unclear images, and I could've done without the 'gamey' bits like the (very easy) puzzles and minigames. But I enjoyed it even more than Valiant Hearts, and I think it's true testament to the power of interactive storytelling.

 

[Dancrane212]

Finished it yesterday. Such an amazing experience. The story is touching and poignant (even though it sometimes relies on coincidences), the art style is beautiful (music too btw) and I love how you can often just explore locations and talk with soldiers or civilians, which gives you some more context of the war. Soms scenes will realy stick with me too.

It's not perfect. The art style leads sometimes to muddy or unclear images, and I could've done without the 'gamey' bits like the (very easy) puzzles and minigames. But I enjoyed it even more than Valiant Hearts, and I think it's true testament to the power of interactive storytelling.

Click to shrink...

Thanks for the impressions. It's great to see the game getting positive buzz.

Here's hoping my copy gets here soon!

 

[Deleted member 1759]

The reviews sound promising and better than I expected (wasn't aware that it was developed by the Valiant Hearts devs). Will get it later this month.

 

[Vela]

Looks cool, I'll keep an eye on it for sure.

 

[UltimusXI]

Thanks for bringing this game to my attention! Loved Valiant Hearts, will buy this as well, sounds great!

 

[Briarios]

Definitely picking it up sometime, along with the dlc - sounds like it's right up my alley

 

[newgamewhodis]

Done with part 1. It's interesting so far, but I'm not sure if I'm loving it.

First, the visuals are sometimes stunning, sometimes undercooked. The visuals are always moving or repainting. This effect combined with the softness of the brush strokes means that this is the first game I can recall in a while that has caused me occasional eye strain. It wouldn't be too bad if it was just an experience game, but the game's environments are littered with collectibles that tell you more about the war, its history, and provide you with actual historical documents from the time. They're cool, but, unfortunately, the visual presentation doesn't lend itself kindly to item-hunting.

Second, the soundtrack is superb. A lovely orchestral sound that picks up for the game's more grisly set pieces It's by Olivier Deriviere, whose last two projects, Get Even and Vampyr, were also standouts.

Third, the pacing of this game is a bit wild so far. Those introductory hours are really, really slow, without much gameplay or puzzling to get in the way and break things up. The game is slowly ramping up its mechanics, and its storytelling, but it sure tested my patiences getting to the actual substantive parts of the game.

Finally, I think this game has set itself up with a challenge that Valiant Hearts didn't really have. Whereas the first game had this wonderful, whimsical animation style and stylized grunts for its characters, this game is going for a more realistic (albeit impressionist) visual style, and has a lot more voice acting. The writing so far has been alright, but it seems very similar to Valiant Hearts so far without that game's wonderful sense of humor and fun that made its darker moments and historical accuracy all the more stark. Also, I have no idea why Elijah Wood is in this. His voice acting is more distracting than good, for me at least, since he's identifiably "Elijah Wood" both in his delivery and with his in-game model. It gets the game closer than it had to be to the uncanny valley.

It's a mixed bag if I'm being honest, and I don't think it'll overtake Valiant Hearts for me, but this game certainly seems ambitious. It's trying a whole bunch of different things, mechanically, artistically, and in its story-telling, so I'll keep pushing on to see how I like the rest.

EDIT: Also, if you're craving something similar with a bit more of the puzzling and whimsy that Valiant Hearts had, I have been enjoying My Memory of Us, another game that has been overlooked. Its very, very reminiscent of that VH, albeit with a slightly different, sci-fi story, and a pretty striking visual style all its own. Plus it's got Sir Patrick Stewart narrating.

 

[crazillo]

The theme of this game is so good, but I must say my eyes really start to hurt when I look at this graphic 'style' for longer than ten seconds. It's too bad because I loved Valiant Hearts.

 

[More_Badass]

Done with part 1. It's interesting so far, but I'm not sure if I'm loving it.

First, the visuals are sometimes stunning, sometimes undercooked. The visuals are always moving or repainting. This effect combined with the softness of the brush strokes means that this is the first game I can recall in a while that has caused me occasional eye strain. It wouldn't be too bad if it was just an experience game, but the game's environments are littered with collectibles that tell you more about the war, its history, and provide you with actual historical documents from the time. They're cool, but, unfortunately, the visual presentation doesn't lend itself kindly to item-hunting.

Second, the soundtrack is superb. A lovely orchestral sound that picks up for the game's more grisly set pieces It's by Olivier Deriviere, whose last two projects, Get Even and Vampyr, were also standouts.

Third, the pacing of this game is a bit wild so far. Those introductory hours are really, really slow, without much gameplay or puzzling to get in the way and break things up. The game is slowly ramping up its mechanics, and its storytelling, but it sure tested my patiences getting to the actual substantive parts of the game.

Finally, I think this game has set itself up with a challenge that Valiant Hearts didn't really have. Whereas the first game had this wonderful, whimsical animation style and stylized grunts for its characters, this game is going for a more realistic (albeit impressionist) visual style, and has a lot more voice acting. The writing so far has been alright, but it seems very similar to Valiant Hearts so far without that game's wonderful sense of humor and fun that made its darker moments and historical accuracy all the more stark. Also, I have no idea why Elijah Wood is in this. His voice acting is more distracting than good, for me at least, since he's identifiably "Elijah Wood" both in his delivery and with his in-game model. It gets the game closer than it had to be to the uncanny valley.

It's a mixed bag if I'm being honest, and I don't think it'll overtake Valiant Hearts for me, but this game certainly seems ambitious. It's trying a whole bunch of different things, mechanically, artistically, and in its story-telling, so I'll keep pushing on to see how I like the rest.

EDIT: Also, if you're craving something similar with a bit more of the puzzling and whimsy that Valiant Hearts had, I have been enjoying My Memory of Us, another game that has been overlooked. Its very, very reminiscent of that VH, albeit with a slightly different, sci-fi story, and a pretty striking visual style all its own. Plus it's got Sir Patrick Stewart narrating.

Click to shrink...

My Memory of Us got pretty mixed reviews. Did you like it? Feel it accomplished its message well?

 

[newgamewhodis]

My Memory of Us got pretty mixed reviews. Did you like it? Feel it accomplished its message well?

Click to shrink...

I haven't finished it yet, so I can't answer to whether or not its final message was felt, but I do think it managed to effectively copy the model set out by Valiant Hearts. 11-11, on the other hand, more clearly follows Valiant Hearts in its tone and in its messaging, but its gameplay tries something different. This is much more puzzle-lite, with some interesting picture elements and a few instances where you can swing the story one way or another.

Anyway, since it's actually 11-11, I decided to grit my teeth and go ahead and finish the game. I will say that things picked up considerably after 11-11's pretty poor start. The eye strain that I experienced seemed to be just a matter of acclimating to this style, instead of a constant problem. The pacing found its stride, and the game's prettiest set pieces and areas can be found in that second act. And, most importantly, the game seemed to settle back into the sort of tall tale, whimsical storytelling that made Valiant Hearts such a joy.

This visual style is something we're unlikely to see again, and, when it works, it really is just absolutely stunning. It's not a graphical style that translates well to YouTube, or any sort of compression, but seeing it at 60FPS, breathing with life and just bursting with color, it's a game that you can sometimes just put the controller down and appreciate. Despite having a in-game camera, this game NEEDS a photo mode. There are so many areas that are just screaming for proper framing.

I was happy to see the story mostly come together in the end, although I do still think that the tall tale framing was a better fit for Valiant Hearts - with its comic book animation and comedic grunts. This game takes bigger risks by trying to accomplish a similar tone in a 3D, quasi-realistic space, and it doesn't always get away with it.

Finally, the game has a few interesting moments of player choice, some more noticeable than others. I think it'll make for an interesting replay sometime down the line. However, it does sort of hurt the game since the endings are affected. Valiant Hearts' heart-wrenching ending is part of what made the game work - it could make you laugh, and it would definitely make you cry in those last moments. Here, the endings can vary enough that you won't have the same tonal consistency. Your ending will be yours, but I'm not sure if that's the right call in a series that is so reliant on pathos.

Anyway, despite all its warts, and my initial misgivings, I definitely came around to this game in the end and enjoyed it. It is a worthy successor to Valiant Hearts, and I appreciate that it took risks and tried something new. I still preferred the first game, but 11-11 has a style all its own that I won't soon forget.

 

[Dancrane212]

Anyway, despite all its warts, and my initial misgivings, I definitely came around to this game in the end and enjoyed it. It is a worthy successor to Valiant Hearts, and I appreciate that it took risks and tried something new. I still preferred the first game, but 11-11 has a style all its own that I won't soon forget.

Click to shrink...

Nice to hear that things turned around for you with the game.

 

[Dancrane212]

11-11 is nominated for the "Games for Impact" award at The Game Awards.

 

[Deleted member 1759]

Finished the game. Story and choices are obviously the strong points here. But I agree that the start was a bit slow and I was let down at first. The audio and music are pretty good and do a good job tying the atmosphere together. I was wary of the visual style before I started playing the game and it took me some time to get used to it but they did a well enough job overall. And while I didn't mind the visuals as much as I thought I would I think I would have preferred some other art style.

+1 for photo mode or at least the option to toggle the HUD on/off.

 

[Dancrane212]

Rolling credits now. The game went in directions I wasn't expecting with the story and the incredible visual style won me over.

Happy the import copy came with a code for the soundtrack too, going to be pulling that down tonight for sure.

 

[CannonFodder52]

On sale for 40% off on steam atm

 

[DJ Lushious]

I started up 11-11 Memories Retold this week. I'm not through Part I yet, so I won't speak much to my thoughts on the game until I've complete it in full. I will say this, though:

These collectibles are tough! I hate to look up a guide, so as to not spoil the experience, but I've already utilized 1 YouTube video. Does going back to Chapter Select mid-game to get missed collectibles mess up those decisions that the game says will have real effects on the story?