[Full Game Review] English Otome- Always Remember Me

Released in 2012, Always Remember Me is a PC English visual novel, produced by Winter Wolves. The game follows a young woman who finds herself having to win back her boyfriend after he loses his memories after a motorcycle accident.

Like I said in my C14 Dating review a little while ago, I am a huge fan of the English language game developer, Winter Wolves. In fact their games along with the Voltage Inc mobile otoge, were my first introduction to the world of otome games. So when I heard that Winter Wolves was working on, Never Forget Me (which you guys can purchase, HERE) the sequel to one of their first English otome games Always Remember Me, I just knew I had to go back and review the first game. So whether you’ve already played this game and are in need of a refresher before Never Forget Me is released, or someone new to the game, you’ve definitely come to the right place!

**So the disclaimer… I don’t own these images or characters, they belong to Winter Wolves. The thoughts and opinions presented in this post are my own, it’s fine if you don’t agree with me, but be respectful when commenting (I’m open to all opinions here). You can purchase the game, HERE or on Steam, HERE.

Story

Amy is desperate! Her boyfriend Aaron doesn’t remember her anymore after a car accident!

Will you be able to make him remember again?

Or perhaps it’s time to move on. Maybe Amy will fall in love with someone else?

It’s up to you to decide. Play this life simulation game with dating sim elements and shape Amy’s destiny.

Featuring a very detailed life simulation game. Explore the town using the map, find what actions you can do on each location and at which day of the week and time of the day.

It’s a real living world, where you must find the right strategy to raise the skill needed to win the heart of each of the four dateable boys: Aaron, Lawrence, Eddy and Hugh.

-Official Description

This was my first ever English otome game and I have fond memories of this game to this day. The game follows, Amarantha (Amy for short), a young college student and aspiring writer. Amy lives with her Aunt Gwenda and her cat Nina while working at a local ice cream shop to help pay her way through school. But, her peaceful life is suddenly turned upside-down when she and her boyfriend Aaron are in a terrible traffic accident. Though Amy is mostly unharmed, the accident leaves her boyfriend Aaron with short term amnesia! What’s a girl to do when the love of her life doesn’t even remember her anymore? Players can choose to stick with Aaron and make the amnesiac fall in love with Amy all over again or move on and find love with three other eligible bachelors!

Gameplay and Features

During the game players take control of Amy as she goes about her day to day life; divide your time between her part-time job at a local ice cream shop, various extracurricular activities, and romancing one of the four potential love interests.

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Explore various locations around town, each with their own set of activities and character interactions. The game takes place over the course of one summer (June to September), and like most Winter Wolves visual novels includes a mix of stats-raising and visual novel story segments. Each of which are equally vital to completing the game.

Each activity corresponds to a specific stat and each potential love interest has their own stat, so tailor your activities to love interest you wish to pursue. However, each activity takes a unit of gameplay time and certain activities can only be preformed during specific periods of the day (ie. going to the disco pub can only be done at night, while talking with Amy’s Aunt Gwenda can only be completed during the daylight hours). Players can also earn money by working at Amy’s part time job during the week and on weekends.

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Each activity either corresponds with four specific stats (Culture, Creativity, Discipline, and Romance) or a one of two Amy specific status effects (morale and energy). The stats based outcomes are determined randomly, but having high morale and energy improves your chances of having a favorable outcome and you can choose between two different gameplay modes that also significantly effect your stats raising success: Normal Difficulty and Hard Difficulty.

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Finally, like most visual novels, the player decides the course of the story based on the types of choices they make during the game. In addition to raising affection points, choices will also trigger story progressing scenes between Amy and the other characters in the game. Always Remember Me features four GxB love interests, each love interest comes with two endings a Normal End and a Special End (there are 9 different endings). Also after achieving all of the special endings, there are a number of short extra features for players to enjoy!!

Character Routes

Aaron Cowan is an easy going and friendly guy from an affluent family. Prior to the events of the game he and Amy had been dating for a few year, much to his overbearing father, Osher’s disapproval. However when he loses his memories of Amy in the accident, Osher and Aaron’s ex, Abigail, conspire to keep the happy couple apart. I really wish I could say more about Aaron, but aside from his amnesia, there really isn’t much to say about the guy. Amy literally spends the entire route attempting to get Aaron to remember her, by bringing significant items to the hospital or by reading books to him. Unfortunately, Osher and Abigail are always on hand to cockblock Amy’s attempts at every turn. I had a hard time deciding which of them I hated the most, they are both equally horrible… If you fail to romance Aaron he ends up getting back together with his ex, which actually didn’t bother me as much as you’d expect.

I was really disappointed in this route, for the canon love interest, Aaron was just not as interesting as I would have hoped and the amnesia storyline just kind fell flat. Once you take away his amnesia, there just wasn’t much left of Aaron as a character, he was just another pretty face… As for the endings, well they’re just as sugary sweet as you’d imagine *spoiler alert* Aaron regains his memories!

Eddy Rayner is Aaron’s attending physician and Amy’s main source of comfort as she deals with Aaron’s amnesia. He is a mature, serious man, whose practically married to his job. He can be a bit blunt, but beneath it all he has a good heart. Most of the interactions between Amy and Eddy occur during her visits with Aaron in the hospital, but about halfway through the game you can encounter Eddy in other locations around town… He even invites Amy over to his house for dinner! However, he can be a bit awkward in social settings, but I found that side of him absolutely adorable! There was a point in the route where it appears that Eddy is flirting with one of the nurses, but that was probably added in to create unnecessary drama.

It takes awhile for Amy to admit that she has feelings for Eddy, hilariously enough, it takes a nudge from Aaron before she confesses. I definitely liked this route more than Aaron’s, but I couldn’t help but want more… But, I will say that his endings were definitely a surprise, especially his Special End… I did not see that coming at all!

Hugh Shore is the guy I was most interested in pursuing. The minute I saw him, I just knew I had to make him mine! Hugh is an aspiring fashion designer and he even runs a clothing store at the mall. He’s an immature upbeat guy with a serious crush on Amy… even if she’s oblivious about it. He always seems to be in a good mood and is just a fun guy to be around. Hugh is a shameless flirt, with a knack for jokes and a flair for cheesy pickup lines! But, with all the drama and stress Amy is dealing with after Aaron’s accident, Hugh is just the guy she needs. He brings laughter and fun back into Amy’s life and I found his teasing and quips cute. The relationship between Amy and Hugh was effortless, but not without a few roadblocks.

However what really sold me on this route was the fact that Hugh is the only guy to ask for Aaron’s blessing before making his relationship with Amy official! I know it’s not really necessary since Aaron can’t even remember dating Amy in the first place, but the fact that he was man enough to even bother with the formality says alot about his character’s growth.

Lawrence White is Amy’s shy socially awkward coworker. He is sensitive guy who has always been in Amy’s corner no matter what. His quiet support helps give Amy the strength to move on from Aaron and the confidence to trust in love again. Like Hugh, he has a huge crush on Amy, but unlike the blue haired flirt, Lawrence doesn’t use Aaron’s absence to to make a move on Amy. Instead he acts the part of the supportive friend throughout the entire route, which I guess isn’t a bad thing, but dude is a love interest for crying out loud! Lawrence is such an unassuming guy, it’s easy to overlook him, he just didn’t leave much of an impression on me. Even though I literally just played his route again for this review, I’m having a hard time remembering any of it… It was just very unmemorable. Ah, yeah, there was this internet secret admirer subplot, but it was obviously Lawrence… *sigh*

This was the last route I played in the game and my least favorite. Sure, Lawrence is a sweetie pie and I’m usually all over the megane characters, but dude was boring. His endings were cute, but nothing really to write home about…

Okay, so I’m going to keep this short… This was one of the first otome games I ever played and I will always have a special fondness for it, but as a whole Always Remember Me is missing something. But, remember this was one of their first otome games and even I can admit that this is a well made game.  The art is gorgeous and the handful of CGs that are in the game are beautiful!  The opening theme was cute, Cristina Vee did an excellent job with the vocals!

This is a solid game, average at best, but still enjoyable. The premise is unique and the characters are likable, but a little flat, even Hugh, my favorite love interest didn’t really stand the test of time… Then there’s the stats raising feature, oh my word, the stats raising is the most grueling and time consuming part of the entire game! 95% of the game is reserved for stats raising and even playing the game on the easiest setting doesn’t make the process any easier! But, all of the hard work grinding makes achieving the best ending that much more satisfying!

So, overall, Winter Wolves’s Always Remember Me is a pretty average game that many long time otome gamers might find boring, but for folks new to the otome fandom this game is a solid introduction to the genre! 

A few days ago, Winter Wolves released the sequel, Never Forget Me, which follows the characters after their happily ever afters. While I was pretty meh about Always Remember Me, the sequel promises to greatly improve on the features of the first game… so I’ll probably grab a copy just to see what happens next!

Have you played other Winter Wolves games before? How does Always Remember Me hold up against some of their other titles? Are you excited about the sequel? Let me know what you think in the comments section. If you like what you see, like this post or follow Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! As always THANK YOU FOR READING!!