I’m getting various versions of this question A WHOLE LOT, so here’s AN answer of some sort. If you want a completely blind playthrough of Remembrance, GOODBYE. CLOSE THE WINDOW NOW.

This is long btw.

Before I answer…

If you couldn’t finish Obsession, that’s okay! I get it and I don’t want you to traumatize yourself. An abridged version is included in Remembrance that’s toned down a lot.

The store page has lots of stuff to review: https://arewar.itch.io/particles-of-reality-remembrance

If anyone is not satisfied by this post and ABSOLUTELY NEEDS A DIRECT ANSWER to this sort of question regardless of how badly it might spoil everything before deciding to buy the game, I’ll answer that privately one-on-one. Email or Discord. I will not post it anywhere.

There will be a free demo! By fall at the latest, I hope end of summer.

Obsession had a demo, and that demo was intended to give a clear picture of the game direction and vibe. I am trying to do the same for Remembrance.

(Read all of these in order and stop when you don’t want to risk any more spoilers.)

(VAGUE)

The game is not AS BAD as Obsession. There are no characters <20 years. There is no child abuse. There is no incest (Brandon’s not her brother anymore). AO content will be optional (free). Monika (MC) and Quinn had healthy childhoods. Monika’s a much stronger and (usually?) smarter woman.

But bad shit is happening to her for a very specific reason and that reason, before ANYTHING has any chance at all of getting better, would need to be addressed.

There will still be a lot of gore and death and yandere awful behavior. The boys are still naughty, selfish, manipulative assholes who do very bad things. Monika (MC) will still die. A lot.

The boys you knew in Obsession will be very, very familiar.

Brandon and Julian might be (slightly) more likeable maybe-sorta-if-you-squint-a-bit. Alex & Seb are the same. Quinn’s mostly the same (a bit more secure) inside but story stuff causes him to act weird (so don’t judge him up front!).

(Writer note: Julian is gonna have some little adjustments, his character went through a lot of awkward changes during Obsession’s development and never quite felt ‘right’ to me.)

(MILD)

Much like Obsession, it’s going to be a rough ride in every single route until the very end of the game. HOWEVER!

Remembrance will tackle the Ethereal plot problem. Monika (MC) will suffer a lot, BUT (the intent is) you will feel a sense of progress in both the Ethereal and Remembrance plots in every single route.

You will learn something (plot) for the suffering endured. You will see hope and progress somewhere (small or large) in every route. Obsession only rewarded you with more suffering (intentionally). Now you get a cookie once in awhile.

Remembrance has a real story. Obsession’s story plot was: you’re fucked, enjoy!

I think (hope?) the fact that there is an actual story plot (a plot like any other visual novel), that the pain in the game is made more tolerable because it feels more like there’s a purpose for it and less like you’re being spanked by triggers purely out of cruelty (as intended in Obsession, you’re welcome?).

(MEDIUM)

Obsession was designed to break your heart, make you cry, scare you, and make you feel hopeless. If you did, I did a good job! (Sorry!?)

Remembrance is designed to let you claw your way up from utter hell to grab and cling to that little spark of hope. There is purpose and progress. That hope will absolutely be tested/punished/challenged a lot, but I intend for you to hold onto it. There is a light (however tiny!) at the end of the very, very long tunnel.

(HIGH)

SOME ENDS WILL BE BETTER THAN OTHERS. Some ends you might finish and say something like “If that had ended 3 minutes earlier, maybe she could have been happy… after she recovered from this horrible traumatic experience with years of therapy and meds.” :)

You will see signs that there is potential hope in every route. There will be answers.

Monika has a ‘rock’ in her new sister, Vanessa. She’s not alone anymore. Vanessa might still seem a little meek on the outside, but she is not. Vanessa herself is a source of hope for Monika (assuming she’s alive…)

But ALL ends will be evil until the very end of the game. (Similar to Victor, but with better clues and more substance along the way.) However, the intent is you will KNOW the end is coming along the way and you’ll have theories (and hope) about how it will play out as you learn plot elements.

THE CAT RIDDLE WILL ALSO BE SOLVED. Eventually.

(ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM SPOILER)

You played Virche Evermore?

If you’ve read this far you were probably quite troubled by Obsession. (Sorry!) So here’s a special side note:

I learned a lot from Obsession, it was my very first game and biggest personal & writing project of my life. (Thank all of you for making that possible!) There were a number of issues with Obsession and I’ve done a lot of retrospective on the shortcomings and successes. (I hope!) You’ll see a lot of improvements based off my lessons learned shown off in Remembrance.

When I started Obsession I thought NO ONE would ever touch it with a ten-hundred foot pole.

I think (???) Obsession might have been more tolerable if you’d had any hint whatsoever at any point in the game before the literal very end of it about what the cause of all the hell was. That was a design choice I chose because I wanted to really drill home that hopelessness feeling (obviously, I succeeded!!), but looking back I think that was the wrong decision. There should have been something tangible to hold onto.

I’m doing the complete opposite in Remembrance.

(I’m still not sure…)

Like I mentioned, give the demo a try when it comes out.

If all of that and the demo is STILL not enough, you can join the Patreon in the future. (Not saying this as a plug, hold on!)

Being a Patreon member gives you access to the unreleased game build for as low as $3 USD. If you stay a member longer and pay the cost of the game in membership fees, you get a free key (in case you don’t want to feel like you ‘wasted’ the money).

However, if you’re looking at the Patreon for this reason ONLY, please wait till after the demo is released. Alexander’s route just began development this week, so that’s not enough to properly make that determination yet. When the demo releases, there will be a lot more content on the Patreon build.

All that said: I sincerely busted my ass trying to over-communicate everything about Obsession. You CANNOT say I didn’t try. Anyone who asked and said X isn’t for me should I?, I said ‘do not buy it’ plain and clear.

If you hated Obsession, that does NOT mean you will 100% hate Remembrance. If you made it to the end of Obsession, the end of Victor’s route, and you didn’t have to immediately schedule a therapist appointment, I think (I hope) you’ll enjoy it if you can make it to the end, too.

I hope this word vomit was helpful and informative without being a complete spoiler and bore to read. Again, if you absolutely NEED a crystal clear answer, contact me directly and I will give it.

(Although do be aware, it’s under development. I don’t have every detail of every route laid out yet. I can answer yes/no questions easy but if you want quantity, lengths, side content info, or triggers, I might not have that info ready yet.)