Know by heart sees Misha reconnecting with his childhood crush and some old friends in a time when their precious memories are the most threatened.
Misha’s got a dull job in his Russian town, and is living an equally dull life. Although something strange does seem to be going on in the background of it all. That’s not Misha’s focus, though, when and old love from long ago comes back to town. This brings back a flood of connections from his past, with his old gang getting back together. However good it may feel to relive those treasured memories of growing up may be, though (and you’ll get to live through them through the game, too), something is making them slip away, but by bit. But how do you cling to a memory as you lose it?
Developed by Ice-Pick Lodge, creators of many surreal, challenging experiences (like Knock-knock, one of the few games ever made that fully captures what I feel it would be like to be haunted by ghosts), the events of this game are no less grim and bleak. You do have some control over where the story will go based on your actions and decisions, but this story is still a bleak tale about accepting loss. There are some beautiful moments throughout it – moments that, perhaps, you’ll appreciate all the more due to their finiteness. Being able to have a memory of a beloved moment is a wonderful thing, but how will it feel when even that is taken from you? When even those memories you treasure the most will become lost in the end?
Know by heart is a stirring, yet gutting experience in the value of our memories and what we lose when they’re gone. It asks us to appreciate what we have in that moment, as we never know when all of it – including our memories – could be gone.
Know by heart is available now on Steam.
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