Memories: Off is a renowned visual novel series that debuted in 1999 and has since spawned several games (including main series games and spinoffs), anime OVAs, manga, and other assorted multimedia. I played Memories: Off and Memories: Off 2nd in my avid importing days and appreciate their storylines having more gravitas than your average anime high school love adventure. SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky is the latest entry in this storied franchise and the first to be localized in English. No prior knowledge of Memories: Off is required to play SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky, but longtime fans will enjoy subtle callbacks to prior games.
SINce Memories: Off the Starry SkyΒ is a sharp-looking game. Its aesthetic motif utilizes many shades of blue to reflect both the melancholy of the protagonist’s circumstances and the hopefulness of seeing a bright blue sky. The backgrounds are colorful with subtle detail, while crisp and stylish character art is quite appealing, even if some girls have impossibly exaggerated body proportions. The title, menu, interface, and transition screens also look lovely. It’s wonderful when the functional screens have thoughtful visual design complementing the primary gameplay screens.
The crown jewels in this game are Takeshi Abo’s synth-driven compositions. It is no secret that Abo is one of my favorite composers who consistently delivers great soundtracks filled with evocative music. I’m most enamored of his wonderfully composed character themes, and those in SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky are no exception. My favorite is Chunyu’s theme, which had me literally dancing in my chair every time I heard it. Azusa’s evocative theme music is excellent as well. Each character also has a unique end credits theme for their good endings, making the effort to reach them worthwhile.

SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky puts you in the shoes of Junya Mizumoto β a university student who works part-time in the family business running an all-purpose store and doing handyman jobs for the community. Junya has a good relationship with his dad Washio and younger sister Misora, but he most idolized his late older brother Takaya, who tragically passed away a year ago in a car crash. Junya still harbors survivor’s guilt from having been in the car with his brother on that fateful day. His pain only worsens when, while out on a job, he encounters a mysterious young girl who angrily blames him for Takaya’s death. Junya’s life gets a lot more complicated because the circumstances surrounding Takaya’s final moments are riddled with more secrets than he ever imagined.
This mystery girl, Azusa, is one of five heroines Junya can pursue storylines with. There’s also the sweet-but-clumsy childhood friend Chihaya and her tsundere best friend Hinata, the energetic new girl in town Chunyu, and the wild card Yuriko (an incognito pop idol). Romance takes a backseat to helping each other through trying circumstances, which is refreshing. Unfortunately, Junya and the heroines are forgettable or off-putting main characters who fail to uplift the heavy premise. My favorite character, Misora’s half-Finnish, half-Japanese best friend Aino, is far more intriguing than any of the heroines, yet is sidelined to mere NPC status. She deserves her own storyline path.
I followed Chunyu’s path first, since I liked her theme music and her storyline seemed like a fun mystery jaunt. However, most of Chunyu’s path abandoned her quest in favor of an all-consuming sidequest starring Yuriko. Chunyu played second fiddle in her own storyline! I’m fine with character stories intertwining, but this was interfering. The intertwining Chihaya/Azusa paths felt more organically connected and featured plot lines with more gravitas. As for Hinata and her pathβ¦ Moms always say, “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

Since Junya’s pain regarding Takaya’s death is still raw,Β SINce Memories: Off the Starry SkyΒ uses the unreliable narrator storytelling device to immerse you in Junya’s fragile and discombobulated head space. As a result, narrative progression feels simultaneously choppy and long-winded. Several scenes quickly gloss over necessary details, while others have characters talking a lot but saying nothing of substance. Transitions between scenes are often jarring, especially when a scene quickly says something like, “Five days passed, during which such-and-such happened.” This made me feel like I had missed out on something.
Stiff writing with noticeable technical errors throughout does not help matters any. In addition, several concepts feel lost in translation and others are entirely mistranslated. For example, an idol group called “Pulsate” is written as “Palsate.” Slipshod localization efforts like this might have passed muster 25β30 years ago, but are unacceptable now.

SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky is best played using a mouse and keyboard, but plays smoothly enough with a gamepad. The gameplay itself is typical visual novel gameplay; you read text and look at pretty pictures until a decision juncture pops up, following whatever outcome that decision leads to.
I like how this game handles those decisions. In most romantic visual novels, what you say determines your progression. In SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky, it’s more about how you say it. For instance, many dialogue choices result in Junya saying variations of the same sentiment, but the results differ based on whether he expresses it bluntly or tactfully. Most decisions influence whether you get the path’s normal or good ending, though some quickly lead to bad ends. There are no in-game flowcharts, character dossiers, or lore glossaries, so you’re figuring things out on your own.
It pains me to say this, but SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky is a subpar Memories: Off game and a mediocre-at-best visual novel. Visual novels live and die by their storylines and characters, which fall flat here. Lovely graphics and Takeshi Abo’s stellar music are not enough to save SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky from being one of 2024’s biggest disappointments.