The moment I stepped away from my demo of Last Time I Saw You, I enthused to the developer, “It reminds me so much of Your Name!” If you haven’t seen it or heard of it, Your Name is an animated romantic fantasy film by Makoto Shinkai, who also wrote and directed Weathering With You and Suzume.
Your Name, while critically lauded for its excellent animation, music, and visuals, is best known for being absolutely heartbreaking. It follows two teenagers from very different lives, who find themselves swapping bodies and sharing their lives. I really don’t want to spoil it, so let it just be said that it’s one of the most emotionally devastating movies I’ve ever seen in my life. It doesn’t matter how many times I watch it, I will always end up ugly sobbing by the end credits. I’ve never seen anybody watch it andnotcry.
Related:I Nearly Threw Up At The Tokyo Game Show VR Booth, It Was Pretty Cool
So it’s a big compliment when I say that Last Time I Saw You reminded me of Your Name, and the developer assured me that I wasn’t off base – Your Namewasan influence on the game. Last Time I Saw You follows Ayumi, a 12-year-old boy in the countryside of 1980s Japan. He lives a relatively peaceful and simple life, but he’s been having strange dreams about a girl.
The developer is primarily an artist, which is why the game’s in 2D. It’s a good choice – I was taken by the dreamlike, evocative quality of the visuals, especially in moments where I’m meant to feel unsettled, like when looking into the creepy, eerie forest at the edge of town. There’s something off about this idyllic countryside town, some kind of curse, something that only solidified at the end of the demo when I started being attacked by ghosts and having to fend them off with a baseball bat.
Before combat comes into the picture, the game is very narrative-driven, with lots of people you can talk to and a cast of friends who care very much about your life. It has the gameplay of a typical 2D adventure game, but has some puzzle platformer traits as well and incorporates dream logic, which I’ve been assured will be expanded on in the full game. You’ll be able to use the bat to solve environmental puzzles and bash spirits, and the areas you can explore as Ayumi will expand to include the scary forest.
Despite the initial similarities to Your Name, I’ve been assured that this game isn’t really a love story. It’s about acceptance and letting go, the developer tells me. All the characters will have to accept something in some form, whether that’s just needing to grow up or something more. It was born out of a bad relationship and processing the feeling of grief, I’m told. Portraying that growth through the lens of teenagers is fascinating to me – exploring what it feels like to face difficult things and grow up because it is bound to produce something interesting.
The final game, slated for release in 2024, will have collectables, side quests, and even battles, and I’m excited to see how it all turns out. Last Time I Saw You might present itself initially as a love story, but promises to be much more than that, and I can’t wait to watch this cast of characters grow up and come into their own.
Next:Hideo Kojima Better Not Be Hinting At Using AI For Death Stranding 2
