Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is an adventure game in which the player becomes entangled in the bizarre events of a small community where melons are illegal. Amusing and adorable on the surface, but are things truly as tranquil as they appear?
Don’t be deceived by the adorable bunny ears and nostalgic Gameboy art style. Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is not a lighthearted and entertaining little journey. The clue is in the title’s ‘Bittersweet’: this is a kitten with talons.
Watch gameplay of “Melon journey bittersweet memories” on YouTube below:
You play as Honeydew, who has a desk job at a melon soda factory (though you can alter your name if you so choose). Additionally, you reside at the factory, which is terrible for work-life balance. However, your best companion Cantaloupe, who works nearby, brightens your days. Together, you can almost tolerate the corporate idiocy.
That is, until the disappearance of cantaloupe. You’re supposed to skip work and visit the local resort town of Hog Town with him, but he’s nowhere to be found. So you are left to search the streets for clues as to where he may have gone. Wherever it is, it does not appear that he went there of his own accord. There are indications of corporate influence, a group of miscreants, and even a Cheese Cult.
Primarily, Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is an enigma. Finding Cantaloupe constitutes the majority of the objective, and you will complete fetch missions to collect scraps of evidence. Slowly, it becomes apparent that Cantaloupe is entangled in something greater, and you find yourself drawn along with him.
The plot of Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is unremarkable, but that’s all right. You can presumably guess who the major antagonists are based on the summary. The smaller tales are what make Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories palatable.
The finest of these revolve around the Cavity Crew, the local gang you join. They may appear to be menacing, but they’re adorable, and we would have gladly spent the entire time hanging out with them and committing crimes, albeit not really. The leader is a washed-up singer who desires another shot at the big time, while a snake and a mouse continue to make eyes at one another. They send it on impossible fetch-quests that make you ponder – just a little – if they’re doing the same thing to you.
Everyone in Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories suffers from main-character syndrome, and this is what makes the story so compelling. As we retrieve their violins from overbearing critics, sabotage an open-air concert for them, and reunite them with their long-lost parents, we feel like their sidekicks. This is by no means a hero’s journey: you’ll have to become accustomed to being the maid, emissary, and handyman.
We suspect this is the most divisive aspect of Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories. It’s not a game that takes you directly to your destination; you’ll have to take a circuitous route to get there. This occurs in the form of fetch quests, which are typically nothing more than traveling from one person to the next.
The gameplay of Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is limited to strolling around and conversing with people. There are no minigames, puzzles, combat, or even many screens to investigate in this game. The difficulty lies in determining who can assist you at a given time. Consider Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories to be a massive green-and-black rolodex, where each problem must be solved by identifying the individual most suited to the mission. You will locate the key to the problem and then insert it into the lock.
A few individuals are going to be disturbed by the lack of gameplay. In addition to resembling the item-swapping sequence in Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, it also resembled a Gameboy game. If you enjoyed solving villagers’ problems by conversing with others and exchanging goods, you’re in the correct place. We never had the opportunity to play Earthbound, but we’ve heard it has similarities.
Our favorite aspect of Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is its handling of the play area. The cities and villages are so vibrant. When you return to the police stations, parks, and slums of the game map after completing a mission, there may be new individuals with missions to be completed. Although Hog Town is not particularly large, the constant flow of people makes remarkable use of the area. We enjoyed traveling through the city repeatedly just to see who was out and about.
All of this is lubricated by some astute, delightful writing. It may not reach the inventive heights of Undertale or the warmth of Night in the Woods, but it is a close relative nonetheless. The melons of the title are a fair indication of the tone you can expect: in Hog Town, melons are essentially marijuana. They are illegal, but there are advocates for legalization, and politicians use the common melon to fuel discord and win elections. When you visit the slums, there are impoverished individuals in the back alleys nibbling on melons, pleading with you not to report them.
These characters are the ones who will stay with us the longest, as they are the ones whose wit shines the brightest. Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is exceptionally adept at conjuring eccentric characters and placing them in the way of your larger objective. You wish to proceed? You will be required to serve them by accomplishing fetch quests that are a glorious diversion.
This is an excellent summary of Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories. It managed to keep us riveted to the controller for a solid five hours despite lacking ostensible necessities like gameplay and difficulty. We urge you to indulge your passion for melons and give it a shot.
Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories: Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is an adventure game in which the player becomes entangled in the bizarre events of a small community where melons are illegal. Amusing and adorable on the surface, but are things truly as tranquil as they appear? – kendajaya