Review: The Art of Remember Me

Remember Me has me more excited and nervous for a video game than I can basically ever recall being. By all accounts, it looks to be everything I love- cyberpunk, female-protagonist (!!!), atypical gameplay, and, most pertinent to the following, beautiful design. The Art of Remember Me, with forward by creative direct Jean-Maxime Moris and introductions by art directors Aleksi Briclot and Michel Koch, has only made my burning want for this game even stronger, and reminded me why I absolutely adore cyberpunk design so painfully much.

First off, let me summarize what Remember Me is about. It takes place in Neo-Paris (a near-future Ghost in the Shell more than Mirror’s Edge) where memories can be digitized and then extracted at any given time- in essence, human memory becomes transferable and externalized. Memory becomes vulnerable to theft and tampering, thus human nature itself gets open for alteration, as when our memories are vulnerable our very self-identity is also vulnerable. The undercurrent of commentary on the role of technology in our lives is unavoidable; it is the hallmark of good sci-fi and especially cyberpunk, after all. The protagonist of the game, Nilin, is a hacker (of course) who can manipulate that digital memory data, but who wakes up to have her own memory hacked and has to work to regain it and figure out why it was taken in the first place.  As I said, it feels very Ghost in the Shell meets Inception(a parallel Koch referenced himself), and as a fan of both those things I am just giddy with excitement for it.

Now, into the art book. Right off the bat you’re greeted with beautiful nighttime cityscape illustrations, with lots of blue-orange contrast (it is cyberpunk, lest we forget). The design of the book is very crisp and clean, which beautifully suits the subject matter.  Where so many books succumb to giving it the most frills possible (the Game of Thrones Season 1 companion book comes to mind), this one knows when to keep it simple. The forward, for example, is just an orange title with black text on a white page, with a fade to game scenery at the bottom- simple, effective, appealing.  Moris’s foreword sets the stage nicely for the following concept art, but extolling the virtues and the importance of concept art itself, citing it as the thing “what sparks imaginations”. It’s a love letter to creativity, worldbuilding, and the team that made it happen. It’s always nice to read something that shows just how passionate the artists and creators of a game are, and the foreword just left me with a really good, hopeful feeling about this game.

The same good design sense is carried over to Aleksi Briclot’s introduction. His introduction focuses more on the process of creating a game and the interplay between concept artists, programmers, writers, and so on. He really expounded on the creation of not only the game, but the studio that created it, DONTNOD, and how Remember Me really arose from five guys wanting to make a cool science-fiction game and deciding to go for it rather than just talk about it.

More images here.

Finally, Michel Koch’s introduction. He discusses how cool he thought the memory theme was and how much creative potential it had. You really get the feel that he 100% loves the project.  We also get a look at how Neo-Paris came to be, and how the team really wanted to keep it in the near-future and believable. The foreword and two intros really give the impression that this was a complete team effort, and that everyone involved is in awe of the others on the team.

From there, the book is broken down into chapters that focus on different aspects of the game. Chapters focus on the setting (Neo-Paris), the main character Nilin, and then hone in on the different episodes and nitty-gritty details of the game itself. At the end is a “Deleted Memories” section, where we get to see the stuff that didn’t quite make it into the game, followed by “Inside the Studio”, which continues the trend of highlighting the collaborative aspect ofRemember Me and emphasizing just how awesome this team is.

The first chapter has an introduction that gives insight into how the team approached the specific aspect of the game about to be delved into. It really helps to get into the minds of the creators and see what their intentions were, while also giving more info about the game itself to really get people hyped up. Comments throughout the book continue this trend, letting the reader know what was going on in the minds of the creators at each step of the way.  Beautiful concept paintings of Neo-Paris are accompanied with comments that point out, “look, that’s the Seine!”, or other such things that give the game a baseline comparison with reality that really makes the design choices stand out. As one comment stated, “recognizable elements were established” so that “larger than life elements could be layered on top”. The scenery looks bright and colorful while retaining the darker edge that a city at night has, avoiding the muddier “realism” that so many games take lately.

More images here.

The thought put into every aspect of the setting, from graffiti to advertisements, is remarkable, and a delight to look at. I was struck, however, by just how similar certain things were to Ghost in the Shell; the Sensen’s neck access points, Senwalls, look almost identical to those used in GitS, and one advertisement had to be a direct reference to the show as it used the title “Bits: Babes in the Shell”.  This isn’t a bad thing- Ghost in the Shell is one of the cyberpunk works, and it’s not surprising to see it referenced here. The problem arises when it’s too much of a good thing, and we won’t really know if it crossed that threshold or not until the game comes out, but judging by the art book I don’t think this will be a concern.

The next part focuses on Nilin (does her jacket kind of look like Major Kusanagi‘s or am I just in a GitS rut now?), and the comments about her genesis are really fascinating and informative. For one, they emphasize that Nilin is of mixed ethnicity, as she is a woman of the future. Everything about her was chosen to emphasize this futuristic setting, to which I say well done- it really does not make sense to have every hero be straight-up white, as that is not at all indicative of the world we live in. Her outfit isn’t sexualized, either- it’s practical, with non-heeled boots, jeans, a t-shirt and a really damn cool jacket. Her proportions also aren’t ridiculous. In fact, Nilin reminds me a lot of my best friend from middle school- tall, slender, mixed-ethnicity, and kickass. 

In this chapter we also get a glimpse of gameplay, and learn that Nilin fights by utilizing her hacker abilities or hand-to-hand rather than with the usual arsenal of guns. It’s a unique approach, and I’m really quite excited to see how it pans out.

The rest of the book focus on the scenery from various parts of the games, enemies found there, and NPCs. They paint a really impressive picture of just how thought-out every aspect of this game is, ensuring a cohesive, believable world as a result. And some really, really damn cool fashions, that aren’t just cool for cool’s sake but serve to create distinctions between the three parts of Neo-Paris and thus distinctions in class and job. They remind me a bit of Deus Ex: Human Revolution‘s fashions a bit, but honestly, done even better.

Rather than just running from some agency that wants to take you down (a la Mirror’s Edge), enemies such as the Leapers come into play. They’re humans that have abused the Sensen technology and mutated accordingly, with memory and mind issues and something like a hivemind that links them- perhaps a warning regarding transhumanism? Regardless, they’re creepy-looking buggers, in no small part because they retain just enough humanity to keep the fact that they once were humans at the forefront of your mind.

More images here.

Another touch I love that came to light via the concept art is that modernity coexists with history. There’s an absolutely stunning concept painting of a traditional stone statue of a woman, in traditional-looking room with a beautiful glass ceiling, but you can clearly see digital, brightly-colored advertisements in the hallways branching off from the room the statue is in. So many cyberpunk settings completely ignore historic traditions and focus on clean, crisp lines and glass and steel everywhere, so it’s refreshing and fascinating to see traditional materials like stone brought back into the equation, no matter how slight a role they might serve.

Then you get pages of info on Memorize, and valets, and architects and drones and- there is so much info here! I couldn’t do a review that does it all justice, there’s just that much, and it’s all presented beautifully and with insightful commentary to help the reader figure out just what it is and why it’s the way that it is. 

Everything is clever, logical, and stunningly done, all while keeping in mind that all this art needs to work well in game (a key point for the creation of X-Mas, a rival memory hunter of Nilin’s). Really, that’s what hit me most while reading through this art book; every aspect was designed to make the game have more impact and be more enjoyable to play, without sacrificing the deeper themes the team wanted to get to.

The team’s goal was to create a believable cyberpunk world for their story about memory, human nature, and the role of technology in modern life to take place in, and if the art book is anything to by they achieved this and then some. The book is a delight, brilliant to read and look at, painfully clever at times (the chapter that looks at the concept art for the Bastile is called “Panoptic Icon”- just brilliant), and provides so much insight into the game that I have no idea how I’m going to be able to wait until June 4^thto play it, I’m so damned excited for it. Seeing how all the concept art was translated into the game will be another layer of enjoyment to the game. The concept art here promises a brilliant game, if the mechanics can live up to the ideas. At $39.99, if you’re a fan of brilliant design and thoughtful concepts, especially of the steampunk variety, it’d be a disservice to yourself not to pick it up. It shot up to the top of my to-buy list, and if you’re at all excited for Remember Me do yourself a favor and pick this up- it’ll make the wait a bit more bearable. A word of warning, though, the art book does include some mild spoilers, so avoid Chapter 10 if you really don’t want that at all.

The afterward by Oskar Guilbert includes a line that sums up my feelings after reading this book: “If the quality of this game can be at the same level as the concept art, then we must never give up.” It’s true. If the game is even half so good as the concept art, Remember Me promises to be a brilliant, fascinating game, and I wait, eager and hopeful, to see if it achieves that.

Jeni “Science Whyzard” Hackett loves all things cyberpunk and cannot contain her excitement for Remember Me, because cyberpunk and female leads and STUNNING DESIGN and oh goodness she needs a moment to compose herself. She also really loved the quotes at the beginning of each chapter and the clear philosophical influences on the game- is it June 4^th yet? You can find her on twitter under the name @allonsyjeni, email her at jeni.is.a.geek@gmail.com, or find her on tumblr at hellomynameisgeek.