Review for Bright Memory. Game for PC and Xbox Series X, the video game was released on 25/03/2020
Version for Xbox Series X from 10/11/2020
Although the launch of Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S lacked top first party games such as Halo Infinite, along with the new consoles a whole series of good level indie titles have arrived, such as The Falconeer and Observer: System Redux; among these is also present Bright Memory, a frenetic fps made in China and made by FYQD-Studio alias Zeng Xian Cheng. Originally released on Steam by Playism via early access in early 2019, and as the first episode of a larger title, it then ended up evolving in March 2020 into the Bright Memory: Infinite prologodemo formula, expected to be released in the course of 2021. Its peculiarity concerns its own realization: work born from the mind and work of a single person, the aforementioned Zeng Xian Cheng, through development on Unreal Engine 4, has reached and obtained the consents of the attentive Steam community to then enter Microsoft's favor and thus reach the console market with the announcement of Infinite first and then the arrival of Bright Memory - Episode 1 on Xbox.
This long premise was necessary to justify the entry of Bright Memory between the titles optimized for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. In fact the first work of FYQD-Studio can be enjoyed on console exclusively on the newcomers of the Redmond house, configuring itself as a small next-gen exclusive despite being technically anything but futuristic. It must be said, however, that Bright Memory is a work that reveals the passion of its creator and his desire to pay a whole series of iconic titles and which are partly explained - especially if we think of the Dark Souls series - during the short and frenetic gameplay in which we will fight and shoot as Shelia.
Déjà-vu
The plot of Bright Memory is anything but obvious and not easily understandable due to the frenzy that characterizes this distinctly action FPS. However, we know that the protagonist Shelia is an agent of the SRO (Supernatural Science Research Organization) who moves her steps in a dystopian and decidedly more futuristic 2020 where the discovery of two millennial swords, Kanshou and Bakuya, brings to light a mysterious one substance contained in their nuclei, called the Soul of Jiu Xuan, capable of bringing the dead back to life. The raid of the SAI - a highly militarized terrorist organization - in the SRO laboratories, using the Quantum Trasporter technology, puts at risk precious information stored there.
Here Shelia's intervention inadvertently activates the mysterious technology by sucking her and the terrorists there into a mysterious island suspended above the North Pole and populated by strange beastly and undead creatures. Needless to go around it: the details of the plot come directly from the information material provided by Microsoft on its store and while all these events take place in the first 2 minutes of the game it will be difficult to grasp certain details of the plot exclusively by relying on the short dialogues present.
It follows that the incipit of the first minutes of the game well summarizes the speed with which we will face the subsequent events of Bright Memory, a title that will surely not be remembered for its longevity despite the attempt to be replayable thanks to the classic "New game +" unlockable after the first run. With its fast and frenetic FPS setting, the title provides a real-time on-screen evaluation of our various shootings and slicing, reminiscent in some respects of the Shadow Warrior series, especially for the alternation between firearms and katanas, yet c 'is much more in the cauldron: there are in fact puzzles, very simplistic and largely clumsy, stages of platforming and boss fights that wink at FromSoftware productions. Listed in this way in quick succession, all these elements seem like a jumble grouped for the occasion, yet they work by giving a few but intense minutes of fun.
But where is the next-gen?
The question that anyone, Xbox pad in hand, will ask is very simple: where is next-gen optimization? Aware of the fact that this is the work of a one-man studio, Bright Memory is, to summarize concisely, a 1: 1 port of the title already seen on PC. This can already be seen from the menus in which the classic pointer is present, familiar to those who habitually use mouse and keyboard to play, and from the possibility of adjusting certain advanced graphic settings (from the level of detail of the textures to the fov), an anomaly not to be little for the console market that has accustomed us, in most cases, to being able to adjust only brightness, sensitivity of the controls and a few other settings.
For being the work of a one-man studio, Bright Memory is technically valid, for the generation just passed, thanks to a good use of Unreal Engine 4, but in a more modern perspective there are several shortcomings. The most obvious is that there is no 4K resolution and neither is support to HDR while the 60fps guaranteed by the Xbox Series X optimization are unfortunately not exempt from frame-rate drops. So very naturally, given the almost contemporary commitment to the main title Bright Memory: Infinite, it is easy to think that Playism has opted for the simplest way, given the hardware power of the new Microsoft console, choosing the path of porting and not committing time and resources on a stronger console optimization work.
So does it make sense to buy it on Xbox Series X? Yes and no. On the one hand it is useful to familiarize yourself with the game world designed by Zeng Xian Cheng, also accessible to those who do not own a PC, on the other hand however on Series X, in its short hour of play, it does not offer anything more than what is faced on the Steam counterpart neither technically nor in terms of gameplay.
Yeah, why Bright Memory was and still is a game-prologue, almost a demo, with a frenetic and action setting characterized by a concept that follows the style of video clips thanks to its short duration, punctuated by an equally fast and frenetic music, and with its focus in a very short time many, perhaps too many, elements and many characteristics that are normally assimilated in a gameplay of wider scope. but yet something pushes us not to completely reject this title and, on the contrary, to try to try our hand at the draft of what FYQD-Studio has in mind to create and from which several interesting ideas also emerge, together with the many technical and gameplay limitations for which a resolution and refinement is desirable with the release of Bright Memory: Infinite.
The feeling after having tried and played the very short experience of Bright Memory a few times can be summed up with the image of the good-natured smile of a professor who looks at the nice student, with good skills still not fully expressed and perhaps a little lazy, while conceding a narrow pass, aware of the fact that the question did not go very well. Here then is that after all the defects listed, the technical limitations, the too short duration and the lack of unique and distinctly next-gen features of the Xbox Series X version, we do not feel like rejecting Bright Memory entirely but, on the contrary, we will facing a bet, enticing you to try it and support the dreams and passion of Zeng Xian Cheng and his FYQD-Studio.
► Bright Memory is a Shooter-Adventure-indie game developed and published by FYQD-Studio for PC and Xbox Series X, the video game was released on 25/03/2020
Version for Xbox Series X from 10/11/2020
