Patriot Memoirs Review

EpicDream have big plans. They concluded their time-bending Game of Fate trilogy late last year with a story packed full of permutations. While not quite perfect, its ambition cannot be denied. Patriot Memoirs has similar strengths, with a remarkable branching narrative and great romances. And without the confusion of time-travel, the story holds a better tone.

Beginning in 1939, you play as an undercover Chinese agent planted at an administrative office under Japanese control. Your goal is simple: kill a senior Japanese official. But when is the best time to strike? As you help allies, side activities crop up to keep you busy.

The story is more like the day in the life of a spy, rather than an action thriller. This makes sense given the romantic interludes, but it did need a fraction more tension and spy-craft. Many threats are conveniently eliminated, often as a scapegoat, which is a little too easy. The advantage of this is that the funny scenes fit better with the grounded tone.

Romance is widespread and high quality. Not all five main love interests are on equal footing. Veteran actress Zhu Zhilin is usually good, but her character, Zhao Shuying, is a petulant child. Yang Yongzhen is excellent in the first two chapters but then she disappears. The graceful actress, Li Lingyu, has appeal, but the bond is weaker, much like her endings.

So the best romance belongs to Mu Jianqiu and Deng Jiaru. The first works odd-jobs and the other is your boss’s elegant girlfriend. Both have amazing interactions, like a kiss outside a cinema and a coffee-shop exchange. Sentimentality with them is also high. A significant amount of all romance can be missed, depending on player choice, and unrelated endings may offer a different glimpse at their future.

The narrative spider web is impressive. Aside from splits based on affection values, where you go after work unlocks destinations in future chapters. You can run errands for a ‘bad’ guy which gives you an easy out in the finale. If you are generous with a local gangster, he might come to your rescue. You can see different sides of a bank heist. And saying no to a date will offer a video montage that clarifies an earlier bombing. All of it builds a fantastic, layered narrative.

Thankfully the timeline explains how to access each path. While generally easy to follow, the number of choices, randomness of a casino poker game, and flow-on effects mean getting 100% is tedious and might take 16 hours. This is around triple the time for one run through.

Video quality is great, even without the 4K DLC. Audio is good, mostly recorded live on-set, but the foreigner voice dubbing is horrible.

While many FMV games promise choice and consequence, few deliver on this scale. And with such good romance, it is a potent combination. Patriot Memoirs aims high and hits close to its target. Don’t miss it.