Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is an adventure game for Nintendo Switch. It boasts an ultra-retro style in a world full of cute creatures, despite the dark tales that spring up beneath the surface. Dive into adventure!
This story tells the story of Honeydew, a marketer for a company that makes a successful brand of melon soda. Honeydew seems to have the day off and is going to work to see how things are going before going to a cafe to meet his friends. It’s time to start her investigation as her best friend Muskmelon doesn’t show up.
Gameplay involves walking around different locations and interacting with characters and objects. Works like an interactive novel. While searching for clues to the mystery of Muskmelon’s whereabouts, you’ll discover items along the way that will help solve problems for some of the residents. And this leads to even more sinister plots.
Melon Journey has many charming characters. From the simple tale of a train conductor taking a long lunch break to a ghost who wants to join the local gang, each has a story to tell. There is a cheese cult. Some people lose their pet ants all the time. We find fake pop stars, DJs, and old, jaded musicians. Not to mention a mayor who seems out of touch with today’s citizens. There are many quirky and fun moments.
The game makes discovering hidden conspiracies an integral part and encourages these interactions as well. It’s worth trying everyone you come across. You never know what has changed since you last ventured into the past. Not all elements are required, but if you don’t talk to everyone, you’ll miss parts of the story. Seeking new things will cause some repetition, but generally the effort pays off.
The inhabitants of this strange world are mostly cute animals. There are hedgehogs, mice, rabbits, and owls. Honeydew himself is a human who is made to wear rabbit ears as part of his job (probably). Soda company CEOs are rabbits after all.
Graphically, Melon Journey looks great. It’s immediately clear that the game is aiming for a Game Boy-like feel, with a green tint to accentuate the melon aspect. It works really well, taking the Game Boy aesthetic we know and love and wrapping it in a top-down, pixelated style. The characters exude personality and bring the story to life with their facial expressions and movements. The animation and cutscenes are great, and so is the music. The eShop listing calls the audio style “jazzy lo-fi,” and that’s exactly what it sounds like. Full of bright electro tunes that are perfect for retro graphics, you can immerse yourself in this world view.
There’s a lot to love about this title. Other than sometimes not knowing where to go, my only real complaint is that random glitches cause the game to restart. This happened 3 times in about 5 hours of play and basically rebooted the Switch. WARNING — SAVE CONTINUOUSLY! The developer recently mentioned on his Twitter a patch that fixes this issue, but it’s hard to test because it’s random. I hope the patch works because it’s a great game without it.
Overall, Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is a unique journey into a world full of interesting characters. There’s a lot to discover and enjoy, and the retro graphics are great. This is something to check, but a glitch (now patched I believe) can make things slightly worse. Be sure to save regularly.
