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Game Review

by Rebecca Silverman,

Amnesia: Later x Crowd

Nintendo Switch/ Switch Lite

Description:
Amnesia: Later x Crowd
In these two previously unreleased (in English) fan discs, players get the chance to both revisit the main story of Amnesia: Memories and to explore what might come after it with a variety of short scenarios, mini games, and unlockable bonuses. All five of the original love interests are present, along with Rika's older brother and a special feature that allows the heroine to get closer to her boss Waka. But be warned: math is involved!
Review:

Following on the heels of the Nintendo Switch re-release of the classic otome game Amnesia: Memories, Amnesia: Later x Crowd presents two fan discs previously unavailable in English release. If you're not familiar with the concept, a fan disc is an official release by the company that produced the original game that contains bonus content for fans of the original. It's rarely a sequel in the sense that it's a completely new full-length story; instead it's likely to contain new routes, mini games, and special extras that were unavailable in the original. In the case of Amnesia, both Later and Crowd feature a mix of new content and after stories to the main game, which means that if you don't remember everything from the original, you'll want to refresh your memory before diving into this one – particularly for the quiz in Crowd, which is fairly brutal if your own memory is patchy.

Releasing the two fan discs together makes a certain amount of sense, since neither is particularly long. Of the two, Crowd, which was released second in Japan, is the less forgiving; it is possible to have bad ends in its “Suspense” section. Later is unrepentantly fluffy, and while I enjoyed both games, I have to say that I found Later to be a bit more fulfilling on that front. In both games, the gameplay is divided into sections with subsections for each of the love interests, and Later additionally has unlockable sections for Waka (the heroine's boss at Meido no Hitsuji) and Orion. Each playthrough unlocks something different – for example, choosing one of the guys in “New World” unlocks his section in “After Story” (or “Waka's World” in one case), while choosing one of the girls unlocks “Girls Party,” which in turn unlocks character profiles. Finishing all of the five “After Story” sections gets you a thoroughly satisfying epilogue with Orion that was easily my favorite part of the game. Let's just say that if you wished he'd been an option or you felt that Orion got the raw end of the deal, this segment will make you very happy.

Each of the “After Story” narratives is generally enjoyable, taking the heroine and her chosen love interest into the next phase of their lives together. Two are particularly worth noting – Toma's because a concerted effort has been made to take the creep factor out of his story (while still reminding us that it happened, because that is a feature some players enjoy) while Ukyo's has a sort of menage quality based on his particular mental health issue. It's sweet, but it is a little surprising, and none of the endings go anywhere beyond kissing, albeit sometimes in a bed.

Crowd divides its gameplay up into four larger segments with subsections: “Suspense,” “Working,” “Love,” and “Etc.” The first is a story set during the main game of Amnesia, when the heroine has lost her memories. Further divided by the five love interests, the heroine and Orion face a different dangerous situation in each tale. RPG elements, such as point and click room searches, make up part of the gameplay, and this can, at times be a little frustrating with the Switch's controls, which do not allow for smooth searching in a grid-based pattern. There's also a toggle to switch the POV between the heroine and the love interest, which isn't quite as interesting as it sounds in practice. More importantly, bad endings are possible in the “Suspense” category, though it's worth noting that they vary wildly – in most you die, but in one you end up getting a math lecture from KENT. Oddly enough, that's in Ikki's route, and my dyscalculia did not appreciate the “escape room + math” gameplay.

“Love,” as you might guess, features romantic stories, all after stories to the main game. The longer subsection (After Story) is comparable to the section of the same name in Later, though each takes a slightly different route from that fan disc. They're generally sweet tales, and visually it's neat that the guys' black-based costumes turn to white-based outfits after a certain point in the relationship is reached. This section also features the “Conversation” mini game, where you ask the boy of your choice questions in order to fill his affection meter, resulting in a special CG. “Working,” meanwhile, is a series of arcade-style mini games, including yet another math game. All of them are decently challenging, especially if, like me, you play visual novels because you have zero hand-eye coordination. The art for “Working” and “Orion's Room” (which is part of “Etc.”) is done in chibi style. “Orion's Room” is where the aforementioned quiz is, and players can use the Orion Points they've gathered in the scenarios to buy extra scenes for the “Working” feature. The final section is “Trumps,” which is a chance to play various card games with the love interests. It's fine, but nothing thrilling.

Amnesia: Later x Crowd is definitely worth playing if you're a fan of the original game. It isn't quite as engaging, but seeing how everything works out for the characters is a nice experience, and the special Orion after story in Later is almost worth the price of admission on its own. The whole thing completes the Amnesia experience in a good way, so if you've been waiting for these games since the original PC release of Amnesia: Memories, this is a good time to pick them up.

Grade:
Overall : B+
Graphics : A-
Sound/Music : B+
Gameplay : B-
Presentation : A-

+ Nice art and music carries over from the first game, giving Waka more of a role is a good touch. Orion afterword is excellent.
Math can be challenging if that's not your thing, card games really don't add much.

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