When the Past was Around Review

A girl is trapped in her memories of bittersweet romance between her and the person that captured her, heart and soul. In the game When the Past was Around, you will play as the girl who is trapped in different memories in time. You will have to find clues and items to help advance the game and find a way to unlock the door to allow for you to move on to the next memory.

This is one of the few games that had an emotional effect on me and there was never a word spoken during the entire game. The soft melody that repeats in the background coupled with the distress that you can see the girl going through just grabs ahold of you. There is also the romantic story that is played out before you through different scenes. The art style has this delicateness to it that really pairs well with the music. I think that’s the real reason this game was able to yank on my emotions throughout my playthrough. 

This is definitely not a game for everyone, but I have to admit that I was hooked once I got a full look at the story. Most of the game is centered around scouring the scenes to find things to pick up or interact with, and for the most part all of it is straightforward, there were a couple of head scratching sessions where I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do, but those were few and far between. This game lasted about 90 minutes, so I went through all of my emotions in one sitting, which might have helped me feel the emotions as strongly as I did.