Review: SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky Is a Slow Burn with a Weak Pay-Off
Just before the turn of the millennium, a workhorse studio named KID took a chance on creating an original visual novel game for the PlayStation after years of mainly working on action games and PC game ports to consoles. Memories Off was a coming-of-age romance story with surprising depth to its characters. It broke a few unstated rules of the genre, and perhaps in part because of that it found an audience. KID spent the next several years making follow-ups to Memories Off along with other assorted visual novels, none of which were localized because… well, visual novels tended not to be localized back then.
KID collapsed in 2006, with its former staff scattering to various corners of the Japanese games industry. Some key members ended up at MAGES, a developer mainly known for visual novel games like Steins;Gate. As for KID's intellectual property, it bounced around from company to company until it ended up with MAGES. Oh hey, that's convenient. As the star of the package, Memories Off wasn't on the bench long. MAGES picked it up almost immediately, producing more sequels and spin-offs. The franchise seemed to largely peter out as the Science Adventure series rose up on the back of the popularity of Steins;Gate.
SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky is a spin-off of the main series. Its story largely stands alone, but fans of the previous games should be able to spot a number of connections as they make their way through. In an unexpected move, this installment was picked up for localization by PQube. This marks the first time the series has seen an official English release. On paper, it makes a lot of sense for this game to take that role. It's the newest release after all, and its story requires absolutely no knowledge of prior games to enjoy.
In practice, I really wonder if this is the best introduction to Memories Off. It certainly carries a lot of the qualities of those beloved early games. It too is a coming-of-age romance story that deals with loss, grief, and acceptance. The protagonist, Junya, is an actual character rather than a mere player stand-in. The heroines might seem like tropes at first, but they almost all defy those expectations over the course of their respective routes. The game's pace is extremely slow, particularly in the opening handful of hours as it sets up all of its pieces. The real punch of a Memories Off game comes in the pay-off for all of that, though. It's in that respect where I'm not sure Off the Starry Sky does what it needs to.
SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky follows the story of Junya Mizumoto, a young university student who works part-time at his family's handyman business. One year before the start of the game, he was involved in a car accident while riding with his older brother, Takaya. While he survived, Takaya did not. On top of that, Junya's memories of the incident seem to have been mostly lost outside of a few flashes here and there. What really happened that day? The answer to this serves as the main mystery for the story, and one that gets more fully explained in some routes than others.
Junya's brother was something of a local hero in the town of Sumisora, and Junya constantly wrestles with survivor's guilt as a result. He feels he can't possibly measure up to his brother, and that he should have died instead. This inner conflict is another aspect that gets explored to varying degrees depending on which route you opt to follow, but it's one whose resolution I wasn't terribly satisfied with after all was said and done. Junya's spotty memories make him an unreliable narrator, but even with that I feel like some of the jumps his character makes could have been set up better.
Off the Starry Sky is like that across the board, though. It feels like almost every aspect of its is a few steps away from being great, but instead has to settle for middling to decent. What's missing from each element isn't even consistent, which makes for a frustrating aftertaste. Some things are over-explained while others don't get enough explanation. Some characters have interesting personalities with weak storylines, while the ones with more interesting plots are less appealing as characters. The only convergence here is in Hinata's route, a dreadful combination of a bland character and a story that is downright poor.
Otherwise, you're dealing with contrasting flavors. If you want the real plot nuggets, those are sitting in the routes of childhood friend Chihaya and Azusa, the fiery stranger who barges into Junya's life. You'll probably want to save those routes for last, as they pretty much spoil the whole mystery. Those two were the routes I enjoyed the most overall, though I can't say I really cared much for either character. Chihaya is the daughter of a wealthy family. She's headed for an arranged marriage when she graduates but is more or less allowed to do what she wants until then. Her dream is to convert her grandparents' old house into a cafe, and she ropes Junya into it. This one goes about the way you would expect, but it was written well enough to keep my interest.
Azusa takes the bull by the horns. Junya runs into her while out on a job, and she does a double-take when she sees him. She quickly becomes angry and accuses Junya of murdering his brother. She clearly knows some things no one else is privy to, and while I can't talk much about her route without spoiling things that are best left unspoiled, I will say that this route is where the biggest plot movements happen in SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky. Unfortunately, Azusa is a really unpleasant character for much of her route. That's by design of course, as she has a bone to pick with Junya. It doesn't make her any easier to deal with for those hours before she starts to warm up, though.
As I've already mentioned, Hinata's route is a complete wash. She's another of Junya's childhood friends, and also Chihaya's attendant. While she puts up a strong front, she's actually deeply insecure. She's also a closet geek. I really don't know how to describe how off the rails this route goes. It feels like it was written by someone else entirely when compared to the rest of the game. The way events happen and how the characters involved behave both come across as forced.
Chunyu Huang is a Chinese exchange student at Junya's university, and it's hard not to fall in love with her immediately. She's a fun, vibrant character who has plenty of potential to drive a great plot. Her peppy theme music is also my favorite piece in the game. I was extremely dismayed when her route's story turned out to be really weak. Another heroine barges in frequently and at points it comes off like it's her route more than Chunyu's. Perhaps the writers had difficulty creating a satisfying arc for Chunyu because she's more put-together than the other characters from the get-go? I'm not sure, but it's a waste of a great character.
Finally, we have Yuriko. You won't even meet her until several hours into the game, and her late entrance ends up hurting her story a little. She's an idol who is taking a break from show biz, and she's trying to decide if she wants to go back or not. She knew Junya's older brother, as he actually encouraged her to reach for her dream, and she is grieving him in her own way. I like Yuriko. She's a decent character, and while I don't think her route does much for the main plot, I think it's a good breather. Since she comes into the story far later than the other heroines, her arc doesn't get as much time to develop as the others. Somehow, it sticks its landing anyway.
Overall, I found myself somewhat torn by the writing in SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky. It was engaging enough that I wanted to finish almost all of the routes (not you, Hinata), but I admit that finding the motivation to sniff out all of the endings was hard. Each heroine's route has two endings, and you need to be very careful at literally every choice that comes up in the game. Sometimes things you couldn't possibly imagine would have an effect on the ending will muck everything up. You've got room to make a lot of saves; I strongly recommend you exercise that option.
When I reflect on the parts of the plot that I liked, I can admit there's a lot to appreciate in this game. The problem is that there is just so much build-up that doesn't properly deliver on its promise. Some of the characters misfire, some of the sub-plots misfire, and even the main mystery's resolution doesn't exactly feel like it was worth the squeeze. I think it's okay for a game to take it slow and really set its scene before pushing the drama, but SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky asks too much for how little it gives back.
At least with the presentation, it's hard to fault the game. The art is fantastic. The music is terrific. You get full Japanese voice acting, and it's good stuff. Even side characters are treated with care, and it helps create a very believable setting. Sometimes visual novels feel like they have a few sets with only five characters in the whole world, but SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky goes to great lengths to bring its setting alive with plenty of locations, incidental characters, and an excellent soundscape.
I wish the localization matched that level, though. While it does a decent enough job with the broad strokes, the text needed more editing. Typos abound, along with grammar tense mistakes, incorrect pronouns, and outright translation errors. It's not bad enough to sink the game, but it's frequent enough to be noticeable. A slight blemish, but a blemish nonetheless. In a game where you do this much reading, it's really essential to make that prose sing, after all.
SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky has its good points. The production values haven't been skimped on, the setting is well-realized, and some of the characters are very interesting to get to know. Sadly, the writing on the whole is very uneven, leading to a lot of routes that don't pay off properly and a couple really poor characters. There's some potential here but the game ultimately fails to realize it, despite taking a very long time to get everything into position. It's an inauspicious Western debut for such a beloved franchise.
SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky is available for PS4, Switch, and PC.
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