I came across a video from AstrogradeLab, an independent game company. The trailer that they put together for the game felt like a trailer for a movie that was going to be released this summer. Now summer is upon us and so is this intriguing puzzle game from Astrograde Lab.
Puzzles games are perfectly suited for touch devices. If you enjoy classic puzzle games, then you will want to look into Shards of Memories. There is an intriguing story here and you get the sense of that as soon as you start up the game. The first image on the screen is almost haunting and you know that something has occurred… you just don’t know what that is. The game has excellent music and has an easy learning curve.
“Shards of Memories is a puzzle game, based on a short story about a day in a life of an emotionally distraught man. The story is told through the recollections and thoughts of the main character, which are represented by shattered framed photographs. Each level uses a symbolic relationship between the storyline, the photograph and the shape of the frame to show a new portion of the story.” – Astrograde Lab
The game mechanics are what you would expect. You are given all of the pieces necessary to solve the puzzle. You can rotate each piece by tapping on the piece. As long as you continue tapping, it will continue to rotate. Once you have the piece in the configuration you want, you then slide it up to the image. If it is right, it slides right into place. It all works extremely well. I do wish you had the ability to zoom in on the pictures and pieces, it would allow you to place the pieces a bit easier, as most of the puzzles have a fair amount of pieces.
What accompanies each puzzle are a few lines of text that tie into the overall narrative. You are immediately drawn into the story that starts off with a simple line saying, “Rise and Shine. The morning always gets to me.” Just from those simple lines of text, you are drawn into the heavy heart of one of the characters in the story. As you continue to solve the puzzles through pictures, the story begins to unfold.
Shards of Memories Features:
- The game offers many hours of gameplay and progressively the puzzles get harder.
- 3 Chapters
- 84 Unique levels
- Original artwork including custom photography
- Wonderful soundtrack
- Relaxing gameplay. No timers, just jigsaw puzzles!
Shards of Memories is a free-to-play game. You can unlock the game and remove the ads for $1.99 The game is so immersive once you start playing, especially if you are playing the game with the headphones on. This is a testament to the great music that accompanies the game. It felt quite jarring once the first ad popped up after playing a few levels. It really took me out of the zen-like headspace I was in, once I started playing. The game seems like it is trying to connect with Google Game Play Services, but for some reason, it would not connect. The game would be perfect for achievements, but this does not seem to be included.
Overall, Shards of Memories takes you on a journey with good music, photographs and plenty of puzzles. Since there is no entry price for checking out the game, there is no reason you shouldn’t give Shards of Memories a try.
