Release date: 9 november 2018

Genre&Topics: historical drama, World War I, narrative game, 3D graphic action-adventure in TPV

Developers: Aardman and Digixart

Website: 11-11-memories-retold

I played a long preview of Memories Retold at Milan Games Week 2018 and it impressed me so much. It’s a narrative game developed by the multiple award-winning animation studio Aardman ( Wallace & Gromit, Shaun The Sheep, etc.) and Digixart (Lost in Harmony) in collaboration with talents from narration, music production and voice acting (Elijah Wood). Thanks to its peculiar Van-Gogh-like aesthetics, 11-11: Memories Retold seems a living painting depicting what it means to be drawn into war. You can play multiple avatars in two different but intersecting stories, you can also play animal companions of the two main characters! Game mechanics are various: solving environmental puzzles, avoiding to be fired and taking photos during battles, exploring and searching for items and people, quick time events, tightrope walking in an airship factory, etc. It comes with a lot of rich and detailed scenes full of secondary characters, great acting voices, excellent script, movie-like but interactive big scenarios reproduced with great historical fidelity and embellished by wonderful aesthetics.

Storyline from the website: 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… They will discover the reality of war, crossing paths, on the front, and the rear, trying to preserve their humanity for their loved ones in the face of disastrous events… If they can come back. At 11am the 11th Day of the 11th Month of year 1918, they will face the biggest decision of their lives… This is the moving story of the end of World War One.

According to developers, by offering a different take on war that goes far beyond mere entertainment, 11-11: Memories Retold is an antithesis to the common shooters. It ambitions to celebrate peace and echo the centenary of World War I so that the younger generations never forget.

“Engaging audiences with compelling stories through animation is at the heart of what we do here at Aardman,” said David Sproxton, co-founder and executive director of Aardman. “With this project we want to produce a truly emotional experience with a unique graphic style that reflects the feelings of history. 11-11: Memories Retold is a truly exciting step for all of us, as it marks our first collaboration for a game of this magnitude, and we’re really excited to see it come to life.”

“11:11: Memories Retold is a very special game at many levels, “explains Yoan Fanise, DigixArt’s game manager. “From the pictorial graphic style to the emotional journey we’ve created to bring the player back to the past, we’re pushing the limits what a game can be, and we hope it will really leave something in all users.”

“We are really happy to collaborate with talented people with such a different background. Fostering this unprecedented collaboration between Aardman Studios and DigixArt to help them get their vision of the emotions aroused by a video game is truly exciting for all of us.” – Hervé Hoerdt, Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe

Obviously it’s going to be released two days before 11-11 2018, the anniversary of the end of World War I in 1918. Thanks to Bandai Namco Europe for sustaining such beautiful project!