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In Memoriam (UK) - Missing: Since January (US)
Developer(s)	Lexis Numérique
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft (UK/EU), The Adventure Company (US)
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Macintosh
Release	October 17, 2003 (UK, DE) June 29, 2004 (US)
Genre(s)	Adventure, Puzzle
Mode(s)	Single Player

Evidence: The Last Ritual More Info. The Phoenix is back in this sequel to Missing: Since January, and the authorities need your help to catch him once and for all. Evidence has you piecing together clues to break embedded codes sent via real email from virtual characters.

In Memoriam (released as Missing: Since January in the US) is an adventurevideo game for Windows and Macintosh developed by French studio Lexis Numerique. It uses alternate reality-style gameplay, in which the player receives e-mails from other in-game characters, including the game's main antagonist. The player needs to find information and clues to the games' puzzles on the Internet, both from real websites, and from specially-created websites that have been mixed in with other 'real-world' domains. According to director Eric Viennot, the game was a commercial success, with sales above 300,000 units worldwide by late 2006.

3Reception

Plot[edit]

The game centers around the disappearance of journalist Jack Lorski, and his young female companion, Karen Gijman, in Europe while investigating a series of bizarre murders. Some weeks later, the agency they work for receives a package containing a CD-ROM. On this CD-ROM is a mixture of disturbing footage and reports made by Jack, but also some other data including puzzles and messages, created by someone referring to themselves only as 'The Phoenix.'

The agency then decides to release the CD-ROM to the public in the hope of finding out what happened to Jack and Karen. This is where the player comes in.

In 1975, a beach goer accidentally witnesses the murder of Peter Volker, a German professor of epigraphy. Years later, Jack Lorski randomly purchases the video camera with the film still inside. He tracks down Karen, the daughter of the cameraman who went missing the same year, presumably in connection to the murder. The two decide to track down the killers. It turns out a group called Manus Domini, a solar cult, murdered Volker to prevent him from releasing the 'cursed codex' of the Nag Hammadi. The Phoenix in turn, is murdering the members of Manus Domini, in order to fulfill the initiation ritual of Giordano Bruno, whom he claims to be the reincarnation of. After realizing he is being tracked by Karen and Jack, he kidnaps them both in order to bring attention to the murders, and reveal the existence of Manus Domini.

Upon completing the primary games, the player is given the opportunity to play a game with the Phoenix for Karen's and Jack's life. Regardless of the outcome, a member of SKL, the paper investigating Jack's disappearance, hacks the Phoenix's site and locates Jack and Karen, who are found and rescued.

Development[edit]

In Memoriam was developed by Lexis Numérique and directed by Eric Viennot. This group had previously created the successful Uncle Albert's Adventures game series for children, whose three entries had reached combined sales above 500,000 units. In Memoriam cost €1 million to develop, a budget that Lexis Numérique paid by itself.^[1] The game took four years to create.^[2]

Reception[edit]

Sales[edit]

In Memoriam was a commercial success.^[3]^[1] The game sold 15,000 units in its initial 15 days of release in Europe, which the French newspaper Libération described as a favorable sign.^[1] To combat software piracy in the European market, the game retailed at a price of €30, as Lexis Numérique believed that a lower price would encourage purchases rather than theft. However, piracy remained a problem in Europe. Just Adventure's Randy Sluganski reported that In Memoriam had reached 85,000 registered users by the time its European sales hit 35,000 units, and that certain registrants were based in countries where the game was not available for purchase. In Memoriam nevertheless became profitable and 'a hit' for Lexis in Europe by mid-2004, according to Sluganski, but profits lost to piracy slowed the developer's growth.^[4] The game reached 100,000 registered players by September 2004, following its release in the United States.^[5]

In December 2006, Eric Viennot announced that In Memoriam's sales had reached 300,000 units worldwide. Of this number, France accounted for 30,000 units and the United States for 80,000. Viennot noted that the game's audience was 40% female, and that 50% of players were below the age of 25.^[3]

Critical reviews[edit]

Reception

Aggregate score
Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	76/100 (In Memoriam)^[6] 75/100 (Missing: Since January)^[7]
Review scores
Publication	Score
CGW	^[8]
X-Play	^[9]

The review aggregation website Metacritic reported its critical reception as 'generally positive'.^[6]^[7]

The editors of Computer Gaming World named In Memoriam their 2004 'Adventure Game of the Year'. They wrote, 'Missing: Since January isn't just Majestic done right, it's Majestic done.'^[10] In 2011, Adventure Gamers named In Memoriam the 56th-best adventure game ever released.^[11]

Legacy[edit]

An expansion, titled The 13th Victim, was produced and released in late 2005. On July 14, 2006, The Adventure Company announced it was to bring the sequel, In Memoriam 2, to the US under the name Evidence: The Last Ritual, and it was released on October 17, 2006. In September 2006, the sequel was released in France under the title In Memoriam: Le Dernier Rituel.

References[edit]

^ ^a^b^cIcher, Bruno (November 14, 2003). 'In Memoriam Au-Dela du Virtuel'. Libération (in French). Archived from the original on July 17, 2018.
^'The Lounge; Interview with Eric Viennot creator of In Memoriam'. The Inventory. No. 9. Just Adventure. October 2003. pp. 25–31. Archived from the original on 2006-08-13. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
^ ^a^bCabibbo, Herve (December 22, 2006). 'In Memoriam, le jeu sombre et Net'. 01net (in French). Archived from the original on July 15, 2018.
^Sluganski, Randy (June 2, 2004). 'Preview; Missing'. Just Adventure. Archived from the original on 2009-05-24. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
^https://web.archive.org/web/20051017160723/http://www.afjv.com/press0409/040927_in_memoriam.htm
^ ^a^b'In Memoriam (pc: 2003): Reviews'. Metacritic. Archived from the original on July 26, 2007.
^ ^a^b'Missing: Since January (pc: 2004): Reviews'. Metacritic. Archived from the original on July 24, 2007.
^Gladstone, Darren (October 2004). 'Reviews; Missing'. Computer Gaming World (243): 78.
^Bemis, Greg (September 8, 2004). 'Missing: Since January Review'. X-Play. Archived from the original on January 5, 2006.
^Editors of CGW (March 2005). '2004 Games of the Year'. Computer Gaming World (249): 56–67.CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
^AG Staff (December 30, 2011). 'Top 100 All-Time Adventure Games'. Adventure Gamers. Archived from the original on 2012-06-04. Retrieved 2018-10-07.

External links[edit]

Missing: Since January at MobyGames

Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=In_Memoriam_(video_game)&oldid=904631828'

Evidence: The Last Ritual (US) In Memoriam: Le Dernier Rituel (FR)
Developer(s)	Lexis Numérique
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft (UK/EU), The Adventure Company (US)
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release	16 October 2006 (US) September 2006 (FR)
Genre(s)	ARG, Adventure, Puzzle
Mode(s)	Single Player

In Memoriam 2 (known as Evidence: The Last Ritual in the US, In Memoriam: Le Dernier Rituel in France) is an adventure game by French studio Lexis Numérique for Windows platform, and is notable for its Alternate Reality-style gameplay, in which the player receives e-mails from other in-game characters,^[1] including the game's main antagonist, as well as being asked to find a lot of information and clues to the games' puzzles on the internet, both from real websites, and from specially-created websites that have been mixed in with other 'real-world' domains.^[2] In addition to these, the French version of the game (only within France) offers (for a one-time fee) to send SMS messages to the player directly to their mobile phones, as well as the ability to call any of the characters and have a real phone conversation with them.

Plot[edit]

The game finishes the same story previously started in Missing: Since January. Jessica Moses is searching for her missing brother, Adrian; who suddenly disappeared six years ago. Jack Lorski, the journalist who had been previously kidnapped in Part I of the game is found dead, with a large portion of his torso removed. A couple of weeks later, the authorities received another DVD from the Phoenix full of clues, murders and Jessica's movie with different riddles and enigmas. In order to stop him, the authorities have copied the disk hundreds of times for distribution to help with the case.

Jessica is contacted by Adrian, who had been estranged from the family for several years. She and her compatriot Sharon travel to New England in search of him. After meeting with a police officer in charge of Adrians missing persons case and a former roommate, whom Adrian had studied graphic design with, Jessica becomes concerned that Adrian had become involved in some kind of criminal activity. After discovering a secluded cabin were Adrian had been staying, they are led to a Catholic splinter sect known as the OSCS. Jessica visits the groups headquarters, discovering the building is abandoned with the exception of a squatter. They then visit an ex-cult member, who fills them in on life in the cult as brutal and oppressive.

Prior to this, though presented in tandem, Jack Lorski is working with a Portuguese police officer, investigating several apparently random murders of elderly men. After discovering a link between them and a group known as Manus Domini, Jack is convinced the killer is the reemergent Phoenix. They then discover the body of a much younger man near an abandoned copper mine, with his heart torn out. After seeing pictures of the man, Jack is initially convinced that it is the Phoenix himself, but finally agrees that it was only the Phoenix's disciple, Adrian, the computer programmer for the initial CD as well as the lion's share of the programming of the current game. Jessica and Sharon receive a message from Adrian asking to meet him at Ouren castle after dark. Jessica is knocked out and Sharon is abducted. Jessica is confronted with the fact that her brother was murdered trying to warn her away from the castle, and is put in protective custody. Jack and the police are presented with evidence that the Phoenix will be performing another ritual murder at a different castle, and rush to capture him. The realize, after finding a women's severed hand, that it was ruse. Upon returning to the safe house, they find Jessica missing and the entire household guard dead.

At this level in the game, lines of code begin running through various portions of the puzzles. This is, revealed by emails, a spyware program, written by Adrian and the Phoenix, to decode Book XIV using the distributed computing system created by the duplication of the game disc. An ICPA programmer creates a tracer program to pinpoint the Phoenix's current location, believed to be in Scotland, by identifying his IP address. Then the player is tasked with discovering the Phoenix's username and password, which was hidden, by Adrian, in the various films of the CD, as a failsafe in the event of his death.

The Phoenix's location is tracked to northern Scotland, where Sharons mutilated body is discovered, along with additional victims from the surrounding countryside. Gerde Hanke, the profiler from the previous game, tracks the Phoenix to his hideout, an excavated warehouse. After cracking the Phoenix's password, the player is given access to the warehouse's surveillance system, and guides Gerde through a series of gates meant to be similar to and symbolize the interior of a pyramid tomb. Upon reaching the culmination, a new security system is accessed. The body of 'Osiris', assembled from the various body parts of the Phoenix's victims, lies hanging against a wall, with Jessica slumped on the floor nearby. Gerde enters and is attacked, presumably by the Phoenix. He knocks the person out as the room catches fire. Grabbing Jessica's prone form, he dashes from the room, presumably leaving the Phoenix to burn alive. Following the end of the plot, an email is sent to the player from a helper who infrequently contacts the player and is strongly hinted at being the actual Phoenix, still alive.

The puzzles are similar in nature to those of the previous game, with incorporations from newer services and websites, such as Google Earth and Mapquest. Several features are carried over from the previous game, such as the 8 mm film that was central to the previous game, as well as many improvements, including the ability to replay video clips that had previously been seen, which frustrated many fans who operated under the premise that the clips contained clues, but could only be viewed once.

Different kinds of attacks are Brute-force, Mask, Dictionary and Smart. Folder transfer download.

Cast[edit]

Jack Lorski: Olivier Chenevat
Gerd Hanke: Stephane Cornicard
Jessica Moses: Sabine Crossen
Manuela Ortiz: Marta Domingo
Sharon Berti: Susanna Martini
Fernando: Fernando Nascimento

Development[edit]

The developers decided to design an 'add-on' instead of a full-fledged sequel to their 2003 game In Memoriam, due to the excessive time and financial commitment that would have been required.^[3]

Other games in series[edit]

The

E:TLR is the sequel to Missing: Since January, which was released in France (where it had been developed) in October 2003, then in the US in June 2004.

Reception[edit]

Reception

Review score
Publication	Score
CGM	^[4]