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What Isn't Saved (will be lost)

by Cat Manning

Science Fiction
2018

Web Site

(based on 6 ratings)
2 reviews

About the Story

Zoe is a neuroscientist who's researching methods of resurrecting the dead… by rebuilding them from their memories. When her girlfriend Sara dies, Zoe uses her experimental technology to save her--but there isn't enough room to save all of Sara's memories. You must choose which ones will be saved, and which ones will be lost.

• Indiecade Selection 2017


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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Beautiful & haunting., March 12, 2018

Disclaimer: I'm friends with everyone credited on this game, and married to the sound designer, so I'm as far from unbiased as one can be. But this is common among intfic circles, so.

In What Isn't Saved, Zoe, a neuroscientist, tries to salvage the memories of her recently deceased partner, but there's only so many that can be saved.

It's a gut-wrenching task—memories explode into other memories, a book you can only quickly skim. It reminds me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, when Joel dashes through his disappearing memories. Structurally, it also reminds me of Sam Barlow's Aisle in that, instead of lightly exploring the story's boundaries, each choice cuts the narrative space with garden shears.

There's a sinister, desperate note to every choice in What Isn't Saved that mirrors the anxiety we often feel in romantic relationships, about the effect we have on those we're closest to. Of course, I wanted to rebuild Sara's memory of her and Zoe's first kiss. But what about her memories of Zoe's flaws?

Being in Zoe's shoes, I felt uneasy and invasive, and questioned my own motives when I made decisions about why certain memories were important or not. The story handles these choices with the weight they deserve—there's no hope in this task, just compounding doubt and worries.

There are many aesthetically beautiful games made with Twine, and What Isn't Saved is among them. The confusing way pronouns flicker inside the memories made me kick the dirt and cuss, because I wish I'd done similar for the shared consciousness scenes in Mama Possum.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Reconstruct the memories of a shattered mind in a short Twine game, February 27, 2024
by MathBrush
Related reviews: 15-30 minutes

This game is a short Twine game with glitch-like animations and moody background music. It is designed to be replayed.

In it, you play as a computer program whose job is to interface with damaged humans and sort through their memories, deciding what should be saved. As the title says, Whatever isn't saved will be lost.

So the game is reaching for a poignant picture of humanity, and in a way it can be a projection for you, the reader. If you could only keep a few memories, would you pick the most painful ones, to learn from? The best ones, to treasure? How would you decide?

The words in the text (mostly the pronouns) glitch and shuffle themselves as you try to understand what's going on.

In one playthrough, there were only five or so memories to work through the whole time. In other playthroughs, I unlocked more somehow. Maybe I also did the first time and just didn't notice?

Overall, this is strongly written. The size of it felt a little weird, almost that it would make more sense to be slighter or more substantial but that it was caught in an awkward spot between the two. But the feelings of melancholy and nostalgia are powerful.

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What Isn't Saved (will be lost) on IFDB

Recommended Lists

What Isn't Saved (will be lost) appears in the following Recommended Lists:

2023 Alternative Top 100 by Denk
(18sep2023) This is an alternative to other rating based lists with pros and cons in that it allows for games with fewer ratings (5 ratings required) to reach the top of the list which obviously makes their place on the list quite...

2024 Alternative Top 25 (formerly 100) by Denk
(Created 03-Feb-2024) This is a snapshot of the 25 games on IFDB with the highest average star rating, though excluding games with less than 5 ratings. The purpose is to allow for games with few ratings so people can check out the less...

Polls

The following polls include votes for What Isn't Saved (will be lost):

For your consideration: XYZZY-eligible Best Overall Games of 2018 - by MathBrush
This is for suggesting games released in 2018 which you think might be worth considering for Best Game in the XYZZY awards. This is not a zeroth-round nomination.This is not an official list. The point of poll is partly to suggest games...

For your consideration: XYZZY-eligible Best Story of 2018 by MathBrush
This is for suggesting games released in 2018 which you think might be worth considering for Best Story in the XYZZY awards. This is not a zeroth-round nomination.This is not an official list. The point of poll is partly to suggest games...

For your consideration: XYZZY-eligible Best Writing of 2018 by MathBrush
This is for suggesting games released in 2018 which you think might be worth considering for Best Writing in the XYZZY awards. This is not a zeroth-round nomination.This is not an official list. The point of poll is partly to suggest...

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This is version 1 of this page, edited by Dan Fabulich on 28 February 2018 at 3:16pm. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page