Celebrating All Things Romantic: Amnesia Later

Two years ago (almost to the day), we discussed the otome visual novel Amnesia: Memories.

Now we’re going to talk about its first fandisc, Amnesia Later, released for the first time in English last year as part of the two-game collection Amnesia Later x Crowd.

(Once again, if you’re unfamiliar with the concept of a fandisc, think of it as a game-length epilogue or a sequel focused on the characters enjoying their happy ending.)

I had a lot to criticize about Amnesia: Memories, but when Later x Crowd was announced for localization, I said I’d pick it up for the two love interests I actually liked as well as for the side story featuring Waka.

And, now that I’ve played Amnesia Later… yes, my reasons for getting it remain intact.

Amnesia Later features a short story that lets you spend time with any of the game’s major characters, which unlocks their related content. The core of this fandisc are the after stories, one for each of the five love interests.

I adored the after stories for Kent and Ukyo, my two favorites. They were enjoyable enough that I’m happy with my purchase just for them. Of the other three, I found Ikki’s story to be sweet, but unfortunately Amnesia Later did nothing to make Toma and Shin rise in my estimation at all.

So if you enjoyed the love interests in the main game, you’ll probably like their after stories here.

You also unlock three girls’ night scenarios with the protagonist’s friends, although these are actually just a way to unlock the profile information for the guys. They have some funny moments, though.

Then there’s Waka’s World, one of the main draws for me. Waka is a side character in the game whom I liked more than Ikki, Toma, and Shin all put together. His personality is different in each of the worlds, and Waka’s World is a collection of four short scenarios to let you get to know each version of Waka. Every one of them is pure gold.

I need a Waka game now. I would gladly take each of those four scenarios expanded into a full route. I am begging for a Waka fandisc, Otomate!

Finally, you unlock one final route after completing everything else, featuring Orion, which wraps up the story in a really sweet way.

And what makes everything even better is that since the protagonist has her memories back, she’s no longer a silent protagonist like in the original game, but talks to other characters and has internal thoughts. She feels like a real character here, which is a vast improvement for me.

Even though I had to power through some of the routes because I didn’t care about the love interests, Amnesia Later was worth it for the characters I do like. It was sweet, funny, and a pleasant follow-up to the original game that made me appreciate it a bit more. Amnesia Later is only one of the two fandiscs included in Amnesia Later x Crowd, so we’ll see how things go in the second one in the future.