Momento review: a sweet Unpacking-like about the possibilities of life

We all assign meaning to the objects in our lives. They’re often attached to memories or people: a bear you might’ve received from a best friend, an award from a university, or a piece of merchandise from a favourite film or TV show. Momento is a game all about these items, and what transformative power they might have on our lives.

To begin Momento, you’re presented with a simple choice of plush toy to decorate your childhood bedroom: do you want a pink unicorn, a patchwork bear, or a green dinosaur? It seems like a simple choice, but as Momento soon makes clear, nothing in life is simple.

One choice can change everything.

Momento is about life glimpsed across universes

From your first choice, Momento will begin to define your life in its world.

The game is a lot like Witch Beam’s Unpacking in approach – which is a nice bit of synergy, given it comes from fellow Queensland-based studios Fat Alien Cat and Nomo Studio. You’re introduced to a cosy space, and must then unpack and make decisions about items within your space.

Exact placement doesn’t matter as much as it does in Unpacking, with a more freeform approach allowing you to style your rooms as you like. But there are achievements for finding the ‘right’ positions or item collections to display, and choice makes more dramatic pathways through the game’s overarching narrative.

Where Unpacking is more linear, Momento is actually a branching story filled with alternative universes of different possibilities. Different toys or books, reflecting different interests, may lead you down unique paths.

Down one track, where you choose to decorate your childhood bedroom with a star map, you might become an astronaut decorating your room on a space station. Choosing a soccer ball could lead you to sports glory. Choosing a compass may lead you to a room of artefacts, Indiana Jones-style.

With each item placed, in each timeline, you can see how your chosen momentos may inspire you to walk new pathways. It’s not only in childhood where these dreams are shaped – as Momento makes clear, life is full of moments where choices might lead to branching moments.

Even small decisions can have an impact, leading to new lives or careers.

As a cosy game, Momento presents the happy endings in all choices – there’s no overtly wrong pathways – as an encouraging, kind-hearted reflection on where the road of life may go.

Meanwhile, an artful story plays out in small clues

Like Unpacking, Momento also has a light approach to this narrative. There’s no formal narration or guidance illuminating the game’s story. Instead, you’ll find story tidbits hiding in various clues in each room – there’s messages written on Post-It notes, inscriptions in books, and reminders on scraps of paper.

Look closely, and you’ll see the journey of the unseen protagonist Sam, who begins as a rambunctious and enthusiastic child, and eventually matures into an adult with many possible lives. Sam is a stand-in for the game’s audience, but one who’s generic enough to be relatable and easily understood.

Each room you play through becomes a patchwork of their (and your) life and decisions, all leading to a warm finale that draws the story to a kind-hearted close.

Momento will be a familiar game to those who enjoyed Unpacking. Mechanically, it’s a very similar game, and it also shares ideas about the meaning of life and relationships. Perhaps there’s a lack of novelty here, in that regard.

But with a warm approach, a bright, cartoonish art style, and a lovely perspective on how items hold memories, and may guide us, it remains a lovely experience with much to say about the winding road of life. Short and sweet, Momento is a game all about the small quirks of living, and the unseen weight behind each and every choice we make.

Momento is out now for PC. It launches for consoles on 30 June.

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