Dear Me, I Was… review – A wonderful life

I’ve always adored art and animation. Truth be told, I’ve never been very good with a pen, and have to focus to make my handwriting legible to anyone but me, which means I’ve grown to admire talented artists even more. As is typical for a white male games journalist, I’m also a big fan of anime and manga, and I’ve become fascinated by the auteurial nature of the medium and the tight time schedule. Having to deliver weekly story updates under pressure often sees the author’s frustrations and passions woven into the story, and over the course of years, the art almost reads like a personal diary. That’s what Dear Me, I Was… reminds me of.

Dear Me, I Was… is an interactive animation – though it downplays the interactive part – and tells the story of an artist’s life. You see her grow from a fragile baby, to her first time drawing with crayons, to how she spends her final days. Her life is filled with love, joy, pain, and tragedy — what’s truly impressive is that the entire story is shown to you in less than an hour, and genuinely has you connect with the nameless protagonist.

Not a single word of dialogue is uttered until the lyrics of the credits theme kick in. I think this is what makes Dear Me, I Was… so engaging, as you can’t critique the dialogue, take sides in arguments, or grow to dislike attitudes. All you can do is empathize with the human experience. We’ve all lost loved ones, lost contact with friends, fallen out of a hobby we love, but we’ve all managed to reconnect with joy after.

It’s hard to talk about the story, it being so short, but one whiplash-inducing plot beat aside, it’s very easy to relate to each moment. Seeing someone mourn a lost parent hits home because we almost all either have or will experience that, and we feel either fear or regret. It’s universal, and doesn’t need dialogue to tell us how to feel about it.

If I’m to analyze the game from a technical standpoint – which feels redundant – then I’ll say that the visuals are fantastic. Rotoscoped animation gives characters a dynamic, lively feel, and it holds up beautifully on a large TV. Each animation is accompanied by a fitting musical score to set the scene, and it helps the animation flow nicely.

It is an interactive animation, but not particularly interactive. You will sometimes have to tap on on-screen objects to accomplish something – the game loves to have you eat a healthy breakfast at the start of each chapter – or drag objects around, but for the most part, the animation just plays out. 

Each piece of art our protagonist draws requires input from the player however, a simple case of moving a cursor around the screen to fill in the blanks. This makes you remember each art piece, each minor decision, and that helps them feel impactful when they return in minor but meaningful ways.

It doesn’t feel like a game – not really – and if it were one of Netflix’s short-lived interactive movies, it’d easily be a solid recommendation for absolutely everyone. But you have to pay for Dear Me, I Was… and as long as you know what you’re in for, I think it’s worth it.

Dear Me, I Was… is a short but incredibly bittersweet story about life, the things we all love and fear, and human connection. If you’re a fan of animation, then it’s hard not to recommend.