Momento
Momento is a wholesome puzzle game, built with a warm atmosphere and a creative, unique approach to storytelling that can easily capture your heart. Despite being very similar in style to Unpacking, there are some notable differences that set it apart.
Momento is mainly described as a room-decorating game, but I would argue that it’s not quite that. Unlike in Unpacking, finishing a room does not require you to find a dedicated spot for every single item. The joyful mechanic of unboxing items and arranging them on shelves is still present, together with gathering little narrative snippets from books, sticky notes, letters, and postcards. However, the spaces and furniture are intentionally not built to fit everything. You might find clothes scattered around without a wardrobe to hang them in, and toys simply remain spread out across the floor. Arranging items here is less about organizing things neatly and more about using decoration as a backdrop for a personal story. Plus, unlike in Unpacking, it’s a purely optional activity.
The strongest aspect of the game lies in its narrative delivery. You progress through five sequential rooms, each representing a stage in Sam’s life from childhood to adulthood. Within each space, you will find up to three special boxes that open once you uncover clues from nearby items. Opening a box gives you a choice between several key items. The game calls these “momentos,” likely a wordplay between “mementos” and the defining “moments” they represent in Sam’s timeline. Your choice spawns related items in the room (which often tie into specific puzzles) and decides which branch of the next room you visit. Thus, your decorating choices are linked directly to the story of your character’s life. You start out as a child picking out toys from these special boxes or little objects representative of your dreams, and it is really touching to see how those early choices ripple through the years in the next rooms you visit.
Each room comes with a checklist of puzzles to solve, yet there’s no requirement to complete them to progress to the next room (although achievements are awarded for finishing all tasks). The puzzles usually involve grouping related items or interacting with them. For example, you might be required to neatly place books on shelves, gather all your plushies onto the bed, or create a cozy reading corner by arranging a blanket, pillow, and storybook on a rocking chair beside a lamp casting soft light on your setup. The tasks list shows only the puzzle titles, leaving the exact requirements for you to figure out on your own. Because certain puzzles depend on the momentos you picked, full completion requires multiple runs. There are six distinct endings that you can reach, each reflecting a different career path in Sam’s life. Exploring the full content feels like branching through a huge tree of life choices and visiting each node, always getting one step closer to fulfilling her career path. Subsequent playthroughs along different paths also help you deepen your understanding of Sam’s world, revealing more about her family and friendships throughout the years.
Several thoughtful quality-of-life features make replaying the game very smooth and enjoyable. For example, the momentos you already picked are tracked and highlighted with a checkmark so that you don’t pick them again. A level map is accessible from the main menu, including the completion progress of each level. This lets you jump into specific rooms to finish missing puzzles without having to replay the whole path up to that point, though reaching a new ending (or rather accessing the next room) will always require traversing the whole path from the start. The list of available puzzles clearly shows which of them are completed, together with which momento unlocks them. If you ever feel stuck, a hint button highlights the exact items needed to complete the task alongside the furniture pieces where you are expected to place them.
The gameplay is very relaxing and invites you to explore every room deeply, as almost every object has multiple positions and orientations. For example, a book can be placed on shelves at different angles, closed to show the front or back cover, or spread wide open. You will naturally want to click around to turn on lamps, interact with musical instruments, solve Rubik’s cubes, unfold notes to read them, or crumple scrap paper to toss it into the bin. There is zero time pressure or penalty. Almost every item can be seen as a small piece of the narrative puzzle that you get to put together while arranging the room. You get to uncover stories of love, loss, and even heartbreak behind these keepsakes and sentimental treasures, allowing you to deeply connect to the journey.
The art style is absolutely gorgeous, with lovely hand-drawn visuals that pair perfectly with the soothing soundtrack. Aside from the story mode, a creative mode is also available, where you get to freely decorate a room with all the items you unlocked during your playthroughs.
In a nutshell, Momento is a beautiful and emotional experience that will leave you feeling reflective and perhaps a bit nostalgic for your own childhood. It’s a charming game that manages to handle the themes of growing up and the passage of time with a lot of warmth and tenderness.