Desta: The Memories Between Reviews

we ballin

Not that long of a game, but incredible nonetheless...

Ok here are my honest thoughts on the game. (This is gonna be short and sweet) When I first picked this up I was drawn in by the art-style, music and VA work. Had no idea there was anything to do with Pronouns or gender related terms so I'll touch on that later. What I came for was an atmospheric adventure learning about Desta and their turbulent battle with emotion. Did Ustwo games deliver on that end? Yes. The story was very grounded making it easy to emphasise with Desta and their struggles to reforge and strengthen fading relationships which all started to crumble after their fathers death. Admittedly some of the conflicts between characters are resolved can be hit and miss but are still believable since all of this is technically a what if scenario in Desta's head. AS for the gameplay. Admittedly it's not the hardest game I've ever played but it does give you enough variety of enemies, maps and skills for you to play with. It took me just under 3 hours to complete the story on the default settings but for those of you who want a challenge there is a Nightmare mode which is the true rogue like of the game as well as some interesting challenge maps available for you to try out and replay. Touching base on the gender topic. Honestly there's not much to say even if you're opposed to anything involving gender politics give this one a shot. The game doesn't preach to you or tell you how you're supposed to feel about the topic like many others do. In fact don't even worry about it. It's barely even mentioned outside of Lee's confrontation since Desta hadn't told him they're non-binary and is anxious about telling Mr motormouth since he jokes around a lot. Long story short, give the game a go. It's a good game that touches some very sensitive topics with great music, good voice acting and plays fairly well

I finished this game ages ago and keep coming back to it for challenges and achievements. I loved the story and characters, and the gameplay is addicting. 💯 🌟

The game was a nice idea, but unfortunately the mechanics just aren't interesting enough to justify making it a roguelite. It doesn't feel like there's enough to the gameplay to justify playing it for any longer than I did.

Genuinely a pretty good game! Better than I thought it would be in any case, I was a bit worried at first with the whole pronouns in dialogue boxes thing that it might be "performatively woke" which always tends to be a bit grating, but nah it's just a simple chill adventure where everything is well integrated. While it's an incredibly low stakes adventure (literally just one person using a dreamscape to try and figure out how to talk to their friends and family during an awkward time), the dialogue is casual and believable and the characters are all generally quite likable. It has a simple fun gameplay loop and a really pretty art style. If you're looking for laid back vibes mixed with surreal dodgeball, then look no further you weirdo!

Relaxing tactical battle / ball game where you play as Desta, who has returned home after a difficult time in their life and is worried how being reunited with their friends and family will go. You play through their anxiety dreams and work through Desta's worries through a metaphorical game of dodgeball representing the difficult conversions ahead. Thematically it's very sweet. The ball game was a technique used by Desta's father, a youth counsellor, to get kids talking about their problems. You confront each of Desta's friends and family in dreams and learn about Desta's life through the resulting conversations. Gameplay wise it's a fun little dodgeball-like game. It's tactical combat, but you have to have a ball to attack, so you can try to monopolise the balls, you can pass them around and use skills for added effects, you can try to neatly bounce a ball off of three enemies and back into your hands... there are lots of possibilities. It's fairly casual; it wasn't very hard, and the framing device used by the narrative reassures you that failure is always an option, it's just a dream and you can try again. I think it's meant to have roguelite elements, but I completed the main story on my first try and didn't continue, so I'm not sure how much replay value there is. It's also fully voiced, and the voice work is pretty good. Personally I think the voice acting and the storytelling are the main positives in this game; it took me on Desta's journey and made me care about their story. I'd recommend if you like tactical games and you want a fairly casual, story-driven experience.