Before NieR, Shadow of Memories was one of the first games on the PS2 that introduced players like me to having multiple endings and different choices that really impact a character’s fate.
ChaseFace, a YouTuber and voice actor did an amazing video explaining what happens throughout the game and each ending including EX1 and EX2, which for someone like me did not know about as I only managed to get endings A through E. I will never get over discovering Dana (in 2001) is Margarete and Margarete (in 1580) is Dana and how you can leave both in their correct timeline or the timeline they grew up in.
I bring up NieR because it is one of my favourite game series. NieR Geshalt, Replicant and Automata has resurfaced the game industry in the last few years as a series that requires multiple playthroughs to achieve that deepest and somewhat depressing endings you can imagine. Automata is known for having 26 but many result in early deaths, but the personal choices in the game don’t feel like they unlock endings. That’s where Shadow of Memories differs .You’d never think the decision between a statue and a flowerbed would determine Eike’ survival.
A game like Shadow of Memories that infuses time travel and the psychological thriller genre with eight different endings was an exhilarating mission to complete back in the PS2 days. To…