Emerge Shows the Fragility (and Power) of Memory

I've previously played two games from developer Krish Shrikumar; in fact, I still use Playne for meditation. Emerge takes a different approach, looking backward instead of forward. That's not a bad thing when we are questioning what a life is worth. Shrikumar's team also decides to up the ante on the graphics so that we have more to do than sit with ourselves, take a deep breath, and let the world wash over us for a few minutes. I approve of this change since Playne and Inward have already set the bar for meditation games. 

Emerge

Maya thinks she's heading home from work to celebrate her fortieth birthday. A talking black cat named Luna hops towards her and tells Maya that it's her eightieth birthday actually, and she is a grandmother (speaking of grandmothers and birthdays, Emerge reminded me to email my maternal grandmother for her special day). Maya can't believe it; this house doesn't feel like her home, and she doesn't feel eighty. None of the memories are there.

The black cat has a solution: Maya can assemble jigsaw puzzles of her memories, rendered in sepia photographs. Each puzzle has roughly forty to fifty pieces, and their alignment may be off; some pieces come with hints about how to align and rotate them properly, while in other cases you have to engage with trial and error. If you can merge at least two pieces within a time limit, you gain more memory shards. These memory shards comprise Maya's memories. You can also use them to pay for cheats or other features of her home. 

Mechanics of Memory

Jigsaw puzzles are not my forte. I'm decent in real life if the puzzle has a guide, but if there are more than 100 pieces, forget about it. There's a reason that only the board games remained as we cleaned out bits of the house. They don't come together for me, literally. 

Despite that little obstacle, the game doesn't penalize you for not knowing how pieces fit together. At worst, you get an ERROR message or a reminder if you have already filled that slot. One benefit is that all the pieces are square-shaped, so you don't have to figure out how they fit together (thank goodness). The features that help you figure out alignment or placement do work if you can figure them out.  

I haven't paid for the shortcuts that would make the game easier yet. Why? Because I want to know how many shards a player can procure within one session. Knowing the amount means that I can allocate the shards accordingly and find out how many are needed to reach the end of the story. 

Speaking of which, the game offers quite an emotional narrative. Maya comes from a mixed-generation family; we don't learn where her maternal grandparents are from, but her father hails from Poland. Her mother's family disowned her their daughter for marrying Maya's father and said there would be consequences. I am guessing the consequences are more than societal shame from the upper-class Chennai circles. 

Maya's disbelief is quite poignant; she can't believe she forgot her entire life, including that she's eighty years old. Her mind betrayed her, and she must confront it to find the truth. 

A magical cat named Luna activates all my nostalgic vibes, especially with how Luna comes at night with eyes glowing in the dark. I don't know why Maya has a cat named Luna, but I definitely won't complain. My family hates cats so we wouldn't have had a Luna at any point. 

What Happens After You Remember?

That is the big question. Maya has no family with her now, even though she's turning eighty. Where are her kids and grandkids on such a special occasion? Why is she alone in her house? And why does it feel unfamiliar? It could simply be dementia or Alzheimer's, but that doesn't explain Luna. Few magical cats work with memory in Hindu mythology. 

The mystery looms over the narrative. So far I've only learned about how Maya's parents met and the complications that ensued when she was born. Each puzzle reveals a page, but not a chapter. 

Emerge shows a lot of promise, especially for Asian-American players. We understand the mixed feelings that come from an immigrant inheritance, trauma included among them. Second and third-generation Americans don't want it, but we own what we inherit. Remembering is how we accept and process.