Return to the world of Neo-San Francisco with both familiar and new faces.
Midboss, the studio behind the cyberpunk adventure game 2064: Read Only Memories, has announced at IGN Fan Fest 2023 that its sequel, Read Only Memories: NEURODIVER, will be released this summer. The game will be available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC via Steam and Epic, and Nintendo Switch, and will support English language for audio, text, and subtitles.
According to Neurodiver’s Steam description, the mystery adventure game takes place in the same world as 2064. It takes players back to Neo-San Francisco, where they will encounter familiar characters such as Jess Meas, the hybrid lawyer, TOMCAT, the notorious hacker, and Lexi Rivers, the ex-cop turned private investigator. In addition, Neurodiver will introduce new characters, settings, and gameplay features, such as the ability to delve into and repair other characters’ memories, as well as revamped visuals and multiple endings.
The Neurodiving power belongs to the heroine ES88, a telepath employed by MINERVA, a powerful organization specializing in neurotechnology and psychic projection. Her primary goal is to find the Golden Butterfly, a highly skilled psychic who manipulates the subconscious of Neo-San Francisco’s inhabitants and poses a threat to the city. Therefore, the key to finding this rogue esper lies in delving into the fragmented memories of various individuals, restoring and repairing those memories, and then finding evidence that leads to the prime suspect invading people’s minds.
As per IGN’s post reveal, the game will be set in the year 2070, meaning that the events will take place just a few years after the events of the first game. In addition, the soundtrack will be provided by Scarlet Moon’s Ken “Coda” Snyder, a talented artist who worked on Drive Ahead, Omega Strike, and Video Ball. Also, according to the developers, the game won’t have as much focus on mini-games as its predecessor, and the overall vibe will be inspired by Satoshi Kon’s Paprika anime (for the head diving parts), in addition to Seijun Suzuki’s Branded to Kill live-action movie and Syufo’s Ai City manga.
A playable prologue demo called The Pilot Memory is now available on Steam. The developers added in a previous interview that Neurodiver is a game suitable for newcomers and doesn’t require any knowledge of the previous game, but fans who have played 2064 will definitely get a better grasp of the whole picture and recognize all the familiar characters.
