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This silly adventure looks like a Game Boy game - Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories Quick Review

993 View2023-04-11

PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?

Play it if you’re looking for a chill, funny little adventure game; just don’t expect anything too deep in either gameplay mechanics or plot. Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories follows the adventures of Honeydew, a woman who works in the marketing department of a massive melon soda manufacturer. Her humdrum life is shaken up when her best friend goes missing, and the search to find him leads her down the path to even more startling (and goofy) mysteries.

TIME PLAYED

I completed Melon Journey in five hours, and that included all the major sidequests and unlocking the secret ending. While I definitely enjoyed my time with the game and don’t think it needs to be any longer, be aware that it’s a relatively short game and doesn’t have much in the way of replay value.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• Old-school vibes. With its two-tone green color scheme, Melon Journey looks like nothing more than a long-lost Game Boy game. Of course if I were to compare it to actual Game Boy games, I’d see that those decades-old titles didn’t actually have anything close to the level of detail seen in this game’s visuals, but it successfully captures the feel of how my brain remembers old handheld RPGs looking as I played them on road trips with my family.

• Clever, funny writing. Alongside dozens and dozens of melon- and hog-related puns, Melon Journey showcases an infectious sense of humor. Numerous gags from the game had me chuckling out loud, and even the silliest characters are often brought back into the story in a smart, satisfying, and often hilarious way.

• Solid mystery. While the story of Melon Journey is definitely more on the silly side than serious, it ended up spinning a fairly engrossing yarn that pulled me in. Honeydew and her diverse group of friends were entertaining to get to know, and I actually wanted to figure out what dark machinations were going on behind the scenes. Best character in the game goes to Strong Dog, the dog who is very strong (and also very afraid of anything supernatural).

WHAT SUCKS

• Backtracking. A lot of the progression in Melon Journey is based on solving very simple puzzles, or triggering an event on one part of the map and then heading somewhere else where something has now changed. It’s a tried-and-true old-school adventure game structure, but backtracking across the game’s fairly large map screen by screen to try to figure out what to do next got a bit tedious. The game eventually gives Honeydew a pair of rollerblades to speed up travel, but they annoyingly got unequipped when I entered certain areas or talked to some characters.

• A bit shallow. Melon Journey charmed me, no doubt, but I also found myself wishing there was just a little bit more going on. From the humor to the emotion to the mystery to even the gameplay and mechanics, everything about the game feels just a little surface-level, with not much happening under the surface. Like a delicious can of melon soda, Bittersweet Memories was refreshing going down but ultimately just empty calories.

💬 Will you be jumping into a green-and-gray time machine and warping to the world of Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories? Or is this one nostalgia trip you’ll be skipping? Let me know what you’re thinking below.

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