Leila – A Thought-Provoking Trip Down Memory Lane

“There are moments when I wish I could roll back the clock and take all the sadness away, but I have the feeling that if I did, the joy would be gone as well.” – Nicholas Sparks

Overview

Leila is a meaningful, hand-drawn, narrative-focused point-and-click game. Players are taken on an emotional journey through Leila’s memories, exploring some deeply personal moments of her life.

Narrative

Leila’s narrative focuses on the titular protagonist. She is not particularly exceptional, and the story escorts the player through her significant but everyday struggles from youth to motherhood. The game begins with Leila using a device that allows her to revisit her memories, some poignant, some painful, and all relatable in some way. The narrative touches on themes such as growing up, relationships, mistakes, acceptance, friendship, and trust, and the subject matter can be slightly mature at times. The tale is told well, though the narration and also the gameplay itself with some very tangible representations of Leila’s emotions.

Gameplay

Leila boasts quite varied gameplay and mechanics, especially for its genre. It is primarily a point-and-click puzzle game, and tasks range from tidying the house to writing a bestselling novel. In order to progress through Leila’s memories, the player must solve puzzles, but these too are highly varied and include jigsaws, hidden objects, riddles, pattern recognition, perspective-based conundrums, and more! The puzzles are well-designed and both fun and satisfying to complete. There are minimal choices in the game, however, players can decide when to face certain memories and therefore change the order in which the story is told.

Styling

Leila features a charming illustrative, hand-drawn art style with crisp outlines and a colourful but slightly muted palette. The visuals suit the themes and tone of the narrative well and switch to a slightly softer feel where appropriate. The soundtrack is varied and ranges from innocuous lo-fi tracks to more evocative music with a touch of gravitas. The songs match each scene and help to immerse the player and build an emotional connection. Similarly, the voice acting is great; it is very believable and emphasises the poignancy of each memory.

Summary

Leila is a beautiful game, both aesthetically and in terms of the story being told. It will take about 2-3 hours to complete and fills the playtime well. It offers delightful visuals, an immersive soundtrack, an emotive and heartfelt narrative, and engaging and varied gameplay. The overall experience is well-rounded and very satisfying, and its relatable yet emotive slice-of-life content makes it rather thought-provoking. I thoroughly enjoyed playing Leila, and I’d highly recommend it to fans of interactive fiction and puzzle games.

Looking for more heartfelt interactive fiction? You may also enjoy these reviews:
Wayward Strand – A Curiously Heartfelt Interactive Fiction – A Memoir Blue – An Emotional Dive into the Past – The Star Named EOS – A Photographic Walk Down Memory Lane

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