Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories has you meandering around a town where melons are illegal, figuring out personal lives and secrets as you explore.
Honeydew has a couple of problems. She works at a melon soda factory. Not really a viable job when melons become illegal. One of her friends has also gone missing. The answers about the missing pal and fruit legalities are somewhere in this town, but where? Someone knows, but to figure that out, you’ll have to play detective in town. This means you’ll be talking with folks and getting to know their behaviors and activities, tailing whoever you think knows something to hopefully get to the truth. By all appearances you’re doing your sleuthing in a vibrant, happy city, so this shouldn’t be a dangerous case for you to work through. Hopefully.
The Game Boy aesthetic and the adorable locations/people make exploration pleasant and appealing. I just really liked walking around the place and seeing who I could meet and talk with. I mean, I had some important stuff to do, but I couldn’t help but get sidetracked spending a little time making fun memories with the townsfolk. Things don’t seem entirely sinister in this world, so I wasn’t too worried about my missing friend (then again, I tend to wander and ignore the main job in open world games when there IS danger, so…). The writing and conversations are too silly and charming to pass up, so I just really liked walking around and talking with folks.
Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is a pleasant little mystery game that understands the importance of great characters and conversations in an open world game. It does a great job making you want to meet everyone and talk with them, and has woven a world I was sad to leave when it was done.
Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is available now on the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store, GOG, and Steam.
