Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is a bit deceptive in its title. With a title like that, players expect a much more emotional journey about reminiscing on their past and maybe even realizing that things weren't as good as they remember them. What we actually get is, for lack of a better phrase, weirder than that. Melon Journey is far more irreverent and yet bizarrely touching, all at once.

You play as Honeydew, a young woman who works for a company that sells melon soda. Your best friend/coworker, Cantaloupe, has gone missing but has asked you to come to find him. There's a... well, it's not really a trail of bread crumbs, more like a trail of melon seeds that leads to the neighboring Hog Town, where melons (and melon-based products) are strictly outlawed. I should point out this is a town that sells mayonnaise in both creamy and chunky varieties. Just so that we're on the same page.

Melon Journey makes you think it might be along the lines of Night in the Woods, but it's more along the lines of an even more irreverent Earthbound. Characters all have punny names, like your friends Kitten Princess (who, true to her name, is both a cat-woman and a princess) and her husband Strong Dog (take a guess). Your sleuthing in Hog Town brings you to many colorful characters, from the poor schlub who lost his pet ant Antony to the Cavity Crew, a would-be gang of ne'er-do-wells. If Undertale got on your nerves with the constant stream of goofy monsters, Melon Journey will be absolute hell for you: the game drops a Lieutenant Hamlumbo into your lap, and the hits don't stop coming from there. It's such that the story's glimpses of inflection, like when you reflect on your relationship with Cantaloupe, or Kitten Princess having eloped with Strong Dog, almost feel a little out of place. There are plenty of sub-plots involving arrested siblings or missing parents; it's hard to get a beat on the tone of the game when it's just so irreverent at every turn. That said, make no mistake: the game is charming—the many story beats got more than a few chuckles out of me, and the daily lives of the residents of Hog Town are a genuine delight. It's hard not to feel like part of the neighborhood as you wander around, solving mysteries along the way.

This goes hand-in-hand with the game's presentation. While Melon Journey's monochromatic green display evokes the original Nintendo GameBoy (as well as melons themselves being green), down to the smaller display on the screen and the limited interface. The tiny 8-bit graphics are charming and help sell the cast, make no mistake, but there are moments where the game is clearly cheating with its aesthetics; some sound effects are clearly modified voice clips that are way beyond the fidelity that a GameBoy could ever offer. Provided, far be it from me to begrudge a game for having a high-fidelity “meow” when one of the cat characters in a game about animal people does a shenanigan. However, a much bigger issue is that Melon Journey is so simple: there are no mini-games. A single instance where you have to input a code into a mechanical melon (long story) is about as close as you'll ever get. Melon Journey is, for better or worse, one long fetch quest: go here, talk to this NPC, track down this character, and shenanigans ensue. Thankfully, the humor makes the journey worthwhile, and the game is short enough not to overstay its welcome. By the time the credits roll, you'll only just start to be getting curious if there's more to it. And it's not like there isn't stuff to find off the beaten path: there are a series of sub-quests dedicated to the Cavity Crew based around improving their lives. I didn't even know I was undertaking some of them in my playthrough until I got a prompt letting me know I'd finished it. There's also a secret ending, most likely related to completing all of the side quests.

As mentioned earlier, Melon Journey is a concise game—my playthrough only took about five hours. Any longer would have made Melon Journey feel unwelcome. I've had a critical tone towards the game, but Melon Journey is a delightful and charming romp. Its tone might be rough, but it's a very pleasant experience for a slow Sunday afternoon. Amidst the barrage of irreverence, there is nevertheless a very genuine heart to the game and its cast. While I would have liked more clarity involving the relationship between Honeydew and Cantaloupe, it's still heartwarming to see the lengths they'll go for each other. Much like with actual melon soda, Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories probably isn't for everyone—but folks that will like it will like it for its refreshing blend of sweet humor and character interaction with its tiny moments of bitter memories.