Before I Forget Switch Review – Losing My Mind

Video games are a mixed bag. Some times we get some hardcore action that will challenge our reflexes and dexterity, and other times we are handed complex puzzles that require insane amounts of concentration and observation. Then there are titles that do something else entirely, and such is the case for Before I Forget. This BAFTA-nominated simulator examines a world where memories are constantly fading and jumbled. This is a game about dementia and what happens when you can’t hold onto the things you’ve done or the people you’ve loved.

This is a ground-breaking approach to helping people understand what is happening in the mind of a family member who is losing it. So is Before I Forget an experience necessary for human growth? I think so, but let’s find out why.

Before I Forget is a very difficult game to review. Right off the bat, this is a short experience that can be cleared in under two hours, and there is no serious challenge whatsoever. This is a game more along the lines of What Remains of Edith Finch, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, and Firewatch where the challenge is more about expanding the mind and growing in an area called empathy than anything else.

Because of the shortness of the game, it is also hard to not spoil the story at all, but I will do my best to teeter on the line without ruining the game for you.

You play as Sunita Appleby, an accomplished cosmologist who is married to the love of her life, Dylan. The game starts with Sunita at the foyer of her home, and you can tell immediately that she is not all there. In front of her are loads of sticky notes all reminding her to contact Dylan, so you can assume she has repeated this step numerous times in her life without recollection.

This is the centerpiece of Before I Forget, a game that sets out to help family members and friends to understand the struggle of different types of dementia, and our character Sunita obviously suffers from something like Alzheimer’s disease, a common cause of dementia that results in the loss of nerve cells in the brain which are important to memory and cognitive functioning. As the disease progresses, microscopic protein fragments known as plaques and tangles build up between these nerve cells, and normal chemical functions within the brain degenerate and the overall structure of the brain itself is altered, usually becoming smaller in size.

I, like so many people out there, have a relative that is in this same boat right now, and it is often challenging to put yourself in their mind and understand the struggles and mental anguish they are dealing with. Before I Forget not only paints this experience for you figuratively, but it also does so literally.

You see, as Sunita starts piecing things together, her rooms go from bland and lifeless to colorful and vibrant with what appear to be beautiful strokes of watercolor paint. It is a wonderful visual that gives more insight to the difficulties of memory retention and what is going on in the mind of the person trying to bring it all together.

The game is also a one-person show of sorts, as Sunita is mostly the only character you see and hear throughout, and the voice acting for her is magnificent. You feel the confusion and pain in her tone, and the top-notch performance may bring you to tears as you witness Sunita not understanding basic happenings like shopping or her own background.

Progression happens when you trigger certain events by simply exploring the house, and there are a handful of particularly important ones that further the story to completion. The pacing is solid for the most part, especially in the early moments in the game. However, I thought the game could have ended differently to further help players understand the struggles of dementia. Overall, though, it is still an excellent experience from start to finish.

With the Switch version, though, I did run into some technical problems that marred my time with the game. Two separate times when I opened a door I was pushed through the wall by the aggressive door physics, even escaping the boundaries of the house once. There were even some other strange glitches like certain commands staying on screen long after they had been activated, but the biggest issue I ran into was a storyline glitch that prevented a particular item from spawning and forced me to restart the game. Thankfully, the game is short, so this wasn’t too problematic.

Despite those technical issues, Before I Forget is absolutely worth your time. It is a powerful piece of commentary that exposes a harsh taste of reality that many families will face, and it teaches the hardships of dementia in an abstract way that is easy to understand.

Before I Forget was nominated for a BAFTA recently for the category of “GAMES BEYOND ENTERTAINMENT“, and that is precisely the pocket it belongs in. This is much more than a game, and it is something that we should be talking about for years to come.

For the price of a fast food meal, you can educate yourself and be beyond entertained by the story of a woman who has the most difficult time piecing her world together. It is raw, it is persuasive, and it is bold, and it is a game that I cannot recommend enough.

Before I Forget Review provided by Nintendo Link
Developer: 3-Fold Games
Publisher: Plug-In Digital
Release Date: April 29, 2021
Price: $7.99, £6.99, €7,99
Game Size: 345MB