We’re all still recovering from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 fever, right? Whilst the dev has revealed there’s more set in the world of Maelle and pals to come, I can only imagine I speak for a fair few of us when I say: I want more French-made role-playing game goodness. To that end, I booked in some time at Gamescom 2025 to play something that may not be on your radar – a follow-up to 2021’s underrated Edge of Eternity curio, Edge of Memories.
Now, if you just want more of the same turn-based catnip present in Sandfall Interactive’s emotional tour de force, I’m sorry to disappoint you: Edge of Memories is more action-RPG than anything else. In a 30-minute demo at Gamescom, it felt more like a mix-up between Devil May Cry and Xenoblade Chronicles than the Final Fantasy X-aligned turn-based system we saw in Expedition 33. But that’s no bad thing: the modern take on old Japanese role-playing game tropes, all realised through a jaunty French lens, is more than worthy of at least a sliver of your attention.
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Let’s start with the pedigree: though the core team making this peculiar sequel is mostly French, there is some serious, well-established talent propping up the plucky young studio. Whether you’re looking at Chrono Trigger composer Yasunori Mitsuda (with NieR lyricist Emi Evans), Xenoblade Chronicles character designer Raita Kazama, orFinal Fantasy XV combat designer Mitsuru Yokoyama, there is storied talent everywhere you look in the game, and the collective work of these veteran devs actually melds really comfortably into a gorgeous, watercolour double-A title that is as refreshing as it is off-beat.
The game is set in the same world as the previous game, named Heyron, where a malignant presence called ‘the Corrosion’ has either killed or transformed the denizens of the planet into “misshapen abominations.” In just 30 minutes, I was privy to some cutscenes that reminded me of the darker moments in, say, Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood – all family trauma, death, and hopelessness – that set a contrasting tone to the bright, airy world of Heyron.