Memory's Dogma is a 2016 mystery visual novel by Liz-Arts. It revolves around the mystery of Sorano - the main character's best friend - and her supposed suicide. This review won't go into detail, but inevitably, there are some surface level spoilers. Keep that in mind, please!
Presentation
I was immediately impressed with the game's visual style. Instead of the more bright and shiny moe style you might expect from a dating sim, characters look a bit more 'sketchy.' The colors are soft and muted. It's very pleasant to look at and the characters all look distinct from each other. I thought the soundtrack did a great job during the calm moments, usually taking on a pensive jazzy tone. It was a pleasant surprise, for sure, contrasting the more peppy electronic tracks I've heard in my recent visual novel experiences. I personally wasn't a fan of the distorted voices on some of the tense tracks, though. Or the single dubstep-like track that plays during the climax. I sometimes forget to even mention the voice acting after I play one of these because it's such a given that it's great. I haven't played a Japanese or Korean VN yet where the voice acting was downright bad.
Gameplay
Some visual novels try to do something really unique with their mechanics, but Memory's Dogma is all about its story. There are a few choices, but these fit into one of two categories: Flavor or instant bad end. I was able to break the game a little by quickly switching between the backlog and save file, so don't try to be too fast about it. There really isn't much else to say.
Story
As a visual novel should, this is where Memory's Dogma shines. The premise is immediately very interesting - a world where people's memories are stored for 49 days after their deaths. A mysterious suicide takes place in that world, and our main character - after speaking to the deceased girl's memories - gets a strong suspicion that she didn't commit suicide at all. And the company in charge of the memory storage is very invested in keeping her actual cause of death a secret.
I was quite impressed with the cast of characters on offer. There isn't a single character I thought was annoying or unlikeable (aside from the villains, but yeah). And getting the player to care about the characters makes the tense scenes work. I found myself invested in the story from start to finish.
One slightly disappointing thing: this story is very much built like one small part of a larger story. It resolves its main mystery, at least, but many characters appear for a significant amount of time and then disappear never to be seen again, only mentioned in passing. I'm aware that there are light novel sequels, but even so - it feels sour that by the end, we're really only focused on two characters. In terms of pacing, it can feel a bit odd. Maybe I'll feel differently once I dig into the light novels.
The game initially feels very grounded and serious, tonally. After a certain point, though, magical girl-style characters and villains with sword arms start to show up. While I was taken aback, I stuck with it and found that the story was able to incorporate these elements without falling apart. Just be aware that there is a shift in tone. It might be easier to accept for some people than others.
I'm still reeling a bit from the climax and getting my thoughts in order about it. It has a very uncomfortable torture scene from the perspective of the main character, so if that would be difficult for you to deal with, be aware. I do think it is an effective scene. What follows is the 'big reveal' and a battle against the antagonist. I think you should experience this for yourself first, but in my opinion, it's suitably climactic and has good stakes - but it does pull out a lot of things that might've needed more buildup. Just my opinion.
Lastly, while it's not the worst localization job I've seen, there are a lot of spelling errors - including character names and the infamous grammatical fumble of its vs it's. Even the final achievement gets a character's name wrong. Since the game is from 2016, I doubt anything will be fixed at this point, but it would be nice if someone went over the script for a bit.
So, do I recommend it? Yes. What's on offer here is of high quality. Just know that you may need to buy the light novel sequels to get proper closure on most of the characters. Get it on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/386970/Memorys_Dogma_CODE01/