Back in October of 2020, developer Patrones & Escondites released a very unique titled called Unmemory. It’s one part interactive fiction, one part puzzle game, and multiple parts escape room or alternate reality game. Its back-of-the-box pitch was “Device 6 meets Memento" and that alone was enough to pique my interest. Once I finally tried it out for myself I could confirm that, yeah, Unememory was really something unique in the interactive fiction space. Now the developers are making a similar style game but with an entirely different vibe altogether.
The new game is called Delete After Reading, and rather than the somewhat heady premise of solving your girlfriend’s murder while suffering from amnesia as in Unmemory, this one has a much lighter tone and is about a trio of friends (well, quartet if we’re including you as the player) that set out on an adventure to rescue one of the greatest video games of all time from one of the wealthiest, and most evil, people in the world.
Yes, this is not a super serious plot, but there are some serious themes in Delete After Reading that Patrones & Escondites is hoping players will reflect upon. One central theme is that there’s such thing as destiny, and that everything that’s going to happen is already pre-determined without much anybody can do about it. Delete After Reading wants to buck that notion and empower players to take action to alter their own destiny, but also want players to realize that every action has a consequence and sometimes those consequences can’t be undone.
So yeah, some life lesson stuff but also a light and breezy story about saving a video game. I’m here for it. Delete After Reading is shooting to launch later this year, but there will be a demo of the PC version of the game during Steam Next Fest June 13-20th if you want to check it out early, and you can Wishlist the game on Steam right now to keep tabs on its progress. If you’re not into the whole PC gaming thing, then keep an eye out for the mobile launch of Delete After Reading sometime later this year.
