Desta: The Memories Between hands-on – the tactics game for those who don't like tactics games

I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy Desta: The Memories Between. On paper, the turn-based tactics game with roguelike elements shouldn't be my jam, but I trusted that if anyone could, developer Ustwo games could change my mind about the genre. The studio has a reputation for crafting heartfelt stories with beautiful art direction and engaging gameplay, not least 2013's runaway indie puzzle game hit Monument Valley, so I knew there would be more to this game than just taking turns to move around a battle grid map. 

Much to my delight, the visions I had of a dark, fast-paced, and overwhelming tactics game were quickly forgotten once I had Desta: The Memories Between in my hands. Instead of a dreary dungeon with confusing menus, I was greeted with a familiar scene – an English town. The bus stops, road signs, phone box, and hedges were all very reminiscent of where I grew up, and the serene music along with a cool color palette very quickly reminded me why I wanted to play this game in the first place. 

Get the ball rolling 

In practice, you play as the eponymous Desta, a 20-something-year-old who has returned home after some time away. Upon their return, Desta feels anxious about reconnecting with those they left behind, and so uses their dreams to practice how they're going to reapproach them. To do this, they use a strategy given to them by their late father which sees two people pass a ball between themselves to get a conversation flowing. In a game sense, players must strategically move around a diorama-like world which is designed to reflect Desta's hometown. The aim is to wear down your opponents so they open up to you and eventually join your team – after a few smacks to the face with a dodgeball, that is. 

Desta: The Memories Between starts out in our main character's old back garden. Players must select the tiles beneath Desta's feet to get them moving in the direction you want them to. Once you've managed to pick up one of the balls littered around the map, it's time to take aim at your opponents by pulling back and releasing the ball in Desta's hands. It's this ball throwing mechanic that got the team at Ustwo started with Desta, as chief creative officer at the studio Dan Gray tells me: "Sometimes we do start from just the mechanic, and in this instance, it was a dodgeball – a really basic top down, turn based dodgeball game. And then we'll try and find the meaning in it." 

The meaning behind Desta and their dodgeball boils down to wanting to repair fractured relationships. Whether it's getting back in touch with a friend they've ghosted or getting another to finally open up to them about what's going on at home, Desta has their work cut out for them in these fabricated scenarios. Gray explains: "We used to talk about it even in the Monument Valley days, we used to say, 'what's the nutritional value of the experience?' Is it something that's not just a distraction?" 

Comparing Desta to the recently released Alba: A Wildlife Adventure, Gray adds: "Even though Alba and Desta are really different, at the end of the day one is [given meaning] through gameplay, trying to give you empathy for looking after the planet, and from Desta's perspective, it's trying to give you empathy and understanding of spending some time being introspective and understanding yourself and your relationships a little bit better."

Lucid Dreaming 

Desta: The Memories Between will start out life on Netflix's gaming platform, a first for the studio. When asked how that partnership came to be, Gray says: "We got talking to Netflix and at the time we didn't even know Netflix were doing games. They were so excited about the concept of [Desta] and these ideas we had." Talking about the themes of Desta and Netflix, Gray adds: "From the get-go you could feel [Netflix's] experience with linear media coming through… they were always super interested in the storytelling side of it. So from that perspective, it was really great." One of the other benefits of working with Netflix on Desta is the company's reach. If 25-50% of Netflix's subscribers want to try out some of the games available on the streaming service, as Gray explained to me, "that's suddenly a massive audience, in a way that kind of doesn't force us down a path of going free to play in order to reach that many people." 

It also just makes sense to bring Desta's world to a portable device. Experiencing Desta: The Memories Between on a tablet definitely gives the game a more intimate feel. In fact, as soon as you boot the game up it recommends playing with a pair of headphones "for the best experience." The personal nature of a phone or a tablet also made me less afraid to make mistakes in this new and unfamiliar genre (thank goodness for the rewind function which allows players to undo the last move they made.) Being able to physically rotate the world and touch exactly where you want Desta to move to next made the game feel extremely accessible too. Don't worry if you're not a fan of playing on tablets though as Desta: The Memories Between will also be heading to PC and consoles at some point in the near future. 

Although I have only scratched the surface of Desta: The Memories Between, it's already given me a newfound respect for turn-based tactic games and games with roguelike elements. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to jump straight into the likes of XCOM or Civilization 6 next but it has given me a new perspective on the genre. I can't wait to uncover more of Desta's past when Desta: The Memories Between releases on September 27, 2022 via Netflix. 

Wondering what else we can look forward to playing for the rest of the year? Take a look at our new games 2022 list.