Five years after its initial reveal in 2021, Black Anchor Studio's Before the Dawn has finally seen its official release.
Five years is by no means a short time. Black Anchor Studio invested that entire period into refining and perfecting the game. They conducted numerous tests and maintained an Early Access period until recently, gathering raw feedback from gamers to consistently identify the game's shortcomings and areas for improvement.
The process involved various changes, both large and small. In 2023, the title was changed from Before the Dawn to Lemore, and the game’s overall story, systems, and gameplay were polished to sharpen its identity as an SRPG where strategy and survival coexist.
Three years after entering early access, Remore has returned with its official launch. It arrives with a new subtitle, Memories: Forgotten by Light (hereinafter Memories), and a significantly evolved identity.
Was it too spicy before? We've dialed it down
The official release of Memories features numerous changes compared to its days as Before the Dawn and Remore. Previous versions were heavily focused on survival. The atmosphere was bleak, offering not a glimmer of hope, and the story felt more like a desperate struggle to stay alive than a journey to save the world.
The world-building and story have become much more intuitive. At the center of this is the titular Memolith. To drive back the darkness that arrived alongside a plague turning people into monsters, players assemble an expedition to restore the light-forsaken Memolith.
This setup provides players with a clear motivation and justification for their actions. It is a journey to save the world, not just a struggle to survive. While some may prefer the infinitely darker and more desperate tone of the previous version, the new approach is undeniably more accessible.
The gameplay loop has also been overhauled. The previous version's loop was somewhat simple: a repetitive cycle of combat and camp (rest). Players fought to minimize damage, consumed resources like food gathered during combat to manage character status at camp, and prepared for the next battle. Since health lost in combat did not automatically recover, players had to constantly agonize over resource efficiency.
While this was part of the game's intended appeal, it also created a high barrier to entry. Players had to manage an excessive number of factors, from health and food resources to 'satiety,' which was required for sorties. Memories has lowered this barrier by refining the gameplay loop and streamlining management elements. With many of the original resource management requirements effectively removed, players are no longer burdened by the difficulty of maintaining specific character compositions, allowing for much greater freedom in team building.
The same applies to weapons. Previously, players had to check weapon durability before every battle to see if it was sufficient. Now, like health, durability automatically recovers upon returning to the base, the Catacombs. While players still need to be mindful during expeditions, they no longer need to obsess over maintenance.
This doesn't mean the combat-and-camp loop is gone. Since health and weapon durability do not recover automatically during an expedition, efficient management remains crucial. While players can choose to return to the Catacombs after clearing an area, it isn't always the right answer. Return points are limited, and re-exploring areas carries the risk that previously reclaimed zones may fall back into darkness.
One might think it's always better to stay on an expedition as long as possible, but there is a constraint: 'Willpower.' Willpower decreases every time a turn ends in combat; if it hits zero, the character suffers a mental breakdown and becomes defenseless. Since losing even one character results in a game over, Willpower must be managed as carefully as health. This naturally creates a loop that forces players to move between combat and camp.
Keeping the puzzle-like feel, reducing the stress
While the gameplay loop, world, and story have changed significantly—almost to the point of being a different game—the combat system remains largely the same. The only difference is that elements that felt frustrating have been removed or mitigated.
One of the biggest barriers in the previous version was the 'Grabbed' status. If you were adjacent to an enemy's facing direction, you became 'grabbed' and unable to move. In situations where you had to face enemies outnumbering you 2 to 20 times over, being unable to move unless you killed the enemy holding you severely limited strategic options.
While the intent to increase strategic depth by restricting movement in a turn-based game is understandable, it actually narrowed the player's choices. No matter how much you tried to plan, the lack of options limited the scope of your strategy.
Conversely, with these restrictive elements gone, combat in Memories has become much more fluid. While you still face situations where enemies swarm you with screams upon detection, the increased freedom of movement has significantly broadened the range of viable strategies.
Of course, while options have increased, the fact remains that enemies are numerous and strong. Strategic action is essential to minimize damage. Since a head-on collision is rarely a winning move, common tactics include throwing coins to distract enemies for assassinations or manipulating enemy traits to make them fight each other.
Despite being outnumbered, the player has advantages. The first is Action Points. While enemies generally only move and attack once, players have two types of action points: Weapon Points (WP) for attacks and Tactical Points (TP) for movement and skills, allowing for multiple actions per turn. While some powerful attacks cost 2 WP, it is often more efficient to use two 1-point attacks depending on the situation.
Tactical Points support strategy. While primarily used for movement, they can be used to buff characters with skills when movement isn't necessary. You can increase a tank's defense to lure enemies into counterattacks, or use stealth to eliminate enemies in a single strike. You can also throw tools like torches, which, if used well, can lead to a chain of actions that take out multiple enemies.
Players must maximize these tools to create favorable situations. The basic flow involves thinning the enemy ranks with stealthy strikes before setting up a turn to take out as many as possible. The key here is the traits of each character. Characters have both positive and negative traits, and forming a formation that accounts for these can allow for multi-kills.
Beckett is a prime example. Her 'Iron Wall' stance significantly boosts defense, allowing her to handle approaching enemies with counterattacks alone. Edwin’s support attack allows for an additional strike once per turn whenever another character attacks an enemy within his range, while Diarmuid recovers Tactical Points upon killing an enemy. Diarmuid also has a skill to recover Weapon Points by consuming Tactical Points, and his default two-handed axe can attack three tiles in front, including diagonals, making it possible to wipe out multiple enemies in one turn.
Of course, not all traits are positive. Some characters have negative ones; for instance, the assassin Mienne might move to a different position with a 50% chance when an ally is adjacent, and Edwin might also shift positions when near enemies, which can suddenly ruin a carefully laid plan.
While this might seem annoying at first, the frequency is not excessive. Because positive traits are much more prevalent, these elements act as appropriate variables, much like the fog of war. It is a balanced design that minimizes player stress while retaining just enough unpredictability.
From extreme strategy to strategy everyone can enjoy
In short, the official release of Memories is a game that has drastically improved upon the elements that caused stress in previous versions.
The burden of calculating resource distribution at camp is gone, and managing health and hunger is no longer a major concern. The same goes for combat. The 'Grabbed' status, which raised the difficulty to a near-fatal level for a turn-based game, has been removed, allowing for much freer strategic expression. This is certainly welcome news for players who were previously blocked by the high barrier to entry.
However, for players who enjoyed that 'extreme spice,' this may be a disappointment. The game has shifted from a niche, hardcore experience to a more accessible, mainstream one.
Because niche appeal and mass-market accessibility are often at odds, it is inevitable that opinions will be divided on these changes. However, if you look past those trade-offs, you can see that the core essence the game has pursued since its Before the Dawn days remains intact. While the survival elements have been scaled back, the depth of strategy remains. If you previously found the game too difficult to approach, Memories will surely offer a satisfying change of pace
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