Netflix’s Desta: The Memories Between elevates the platform’s game offerings

Netflix has improved the quality of its games. Simple, cotton candy-like fluffThis is a great choice for those who need to be quick in a waiting space. Experiences that are unique and narrativableThis requires hours of strategic thinking. Desta: Memories BetweenIt is the latter.

Now I’m going to say some words that make sense independently but seem confusing when smashed together: DestaIt is a friendship simulator that simulates dreaming dodgeball roguelikes. I can assure you that it works.

That’s the thing that enamored me of this game: those disparate words and genres, when put together, frickin’ Work on a level that I simply have not seen in a mobile game, let alone one brought exclusively to mobile via Netflix — whose first crop of games included such BAFTA hopefuls like Shooting Hoops Teeter (Up).. (Desta’s also coming soon to PC and consoles but will only be available on mobile to Netflix subscribers.) I enjoyed the hell out of my time with the game, going as far as annoying my boss because I spent far too much time playing it when I should have been writing about it — sorry.

Desta: Memories BetweenIt is from Ustwo GamesMakers of Monument Valley I and Monument Valley II. The film stars Desta, a prodigal son returning home from years of abandonment and disarray to his family. Desta is struggling with unfinished business in their waking world. Desta’s dreams show them confronting their fears through the fantastical childhood game dodgeball.

I’ve been desperate for a strategy game since Triangle StrategyI was left cold, and Nintendo refuses to release the reboots of Advance Wars I II. Desta, while not exactly being a strategy RPG on that same level of complexity, nicely — albeit temporarily — scratches that itch. You’re given a ball and field filled with obstacles that obstruct line of sight while providing cover. You have to throw the ball at your enemies, while trying to reduce their HP.

Combat in DestaIt is so much fun. Desta was my role. I tossed the ball around, performed trick shots, and ricocheted the balls off other objects. The game’s physics are complex. I can still remember how excited I was to discover that I could angle my shots. SimplyRight, the ball would come back to me, allowing me to take another shot without having to search the field for the next ball. These abilities are amazing DestaYou can add complexity by elevating combat from just throwing the balls around to full-blown strategic showdowns.

At the beginning of a run, Desta can get one of any number of special abilities — shields when ending a turn with a ball in hand, the ability to steal an opponent’s turn, or health on successful hits. My favorite ability allowed Desta to slingshot in the direction of their line of vision, allowing me behind enemies that create barriers in front of my balls, which is annoying.

Desta meets their friends in dreams. After defeating them in dodgeball duels, they are party members. This makes combat even more challenging with stronger enemies. Before every battle, I was able to see the enemy field and choose which friends to bring along based on their abilities. It’s so fun crafting the right teams for each engagement.

However, the game was suddenly abandoned by me. Desta is structured somewhat like a roguelike, and defeat is extremely punishing — you lose all your accumulated abilities, items, and allies and are sent back to the first chapter to begin again. That was fine for the first few times. Desta keeps their personal progress, so your HP total isn’t reset. Although the abilities you acquire are randomly distributed, all experience points you have invested in them are carried over and, once you master them they remain yours until you die. But resetting in Desta, unlike in other roguelikes, doesn’t make combat faster, resulting in punishing slogs that, all too soon, begin to feel like wasted time.

In Hades, For example, you can make the first few levels easier by investing in yourself and your weaponry. All things die in one hit making it easy to get to the lower levels. In Desta, even if you’ve managed to max out one or two abilities to keep with you, the balls you throw don’t deal more than one point of damage, and enemies, even the lowest level ones, have three and four hit points. Even worse, each chapter is made up of multiple encounters. AllYou must do this again and again until you reach the end. Even Returnal — It was as difficult a game as it got. — lets you restart from the last defeated boss when you die.

To call upon Hades again, the multiple cycles of death and restart didn’t feel too bad because, narratively, the game still progressed. In DestaWhile some repetition is part of the story, it is not enough for multiple runs to feel stale. Each time you battle them, you repeat the same conversation you had with your friends. I started to feel like a hamster wheeled, or Dr. Strange fighting Dormammu and, eventually, in frustration, I gave up.

And that was a shame because I wanted to see Desta’s journey. I appreciated Ustwo’s approach to their character, their friends, and the difficult themes of interpersonal relationships complicated by time and distance and identity. Desta is a nonbinary character with their pronouns front and center in the game’s UI, and so, too, with the game’s other characters. As the game progresses, Desta confronts a friend who hasn’t really gotten the message of Desta’s identity and frequently misgenders Desta. Ustwo realised that some players might not be comfortable with such a plotline, and added a setting which changes the misgendering dialog. Crafting this setting required a lot of attention. Desta’s narrative; I wanted to see more of it, and I held on for as long as I could.

I had the chance to play bits Desta: Memories BetweenSummer Game Fest. I still vividly recall being astonished by this technically advanced and entertaining game. It still amazes me today, just as it did back then. DestaIt was amazing, and I am looking forward to the post-launch support that the developers promised for the game, which includes a hard mode and new characters and chapters. Desta makes a strong case for Netflix as a viable mobile gaming platform — it’s time to start paying attention.

Desta: Memories BetweenIt is available now on mobile devices for Netflix subscribers, and will soon be available on PC and consoles.