Visual novels are a beautiful way of telling a story in a more approachable medium. A mix between comic book and game, visual novels allow for players to experience worlds and stories that differ from their own existence. It’s very rare for me to pass on a visual novel, so when another one came across my email, of course, I accepted.

Be Missed and Remembered: The Letter from Mayoiga is different from some of the visual novels that I’ve reviewed for Gamer Social Club so far as this one is probably the truest definition of visual novel. It is about the narrative and not gameplay. It is about the emotions, the scenery, the art, and not your clicks.

Story

Be Missed and Remembered: The Letter from Mayoiga is set in Japan and the setting is very important to keep in mind. The story revolves around a sibling duo who go to their grandparents old home during the summer in a remote village. The village believes that if you go up to the mountains, you’ll be cursed. Of course, children in the 1970’s were moving farther away from spirituality and closer to science so curiosity gets the best of the older brother. Up in the mountains, during the peak heat of summer, is a shrine where a lake normally sits.

This shrine happens to contain a shrine maiden, unfortunately though, when you leave the shrine or get too far away from the maiden, you forget it all. Thus begins our story of friendship, memories, and what it means to leave a lasting impression on someone. Unfortunately, with it being such a true visual novel, this is where sometimes it loses me. I wish there were dialogue options to make, even if it didn’t impact the overall story.

When it comes to our shrine maiden, it isn’t so easy to make others remember her. If she leaves the shrine, she transforms into a horrifying vision. When townsfolk see her wandering around they scream out in terror. They have to run away from Susu to avoid the curse. So for many years Susu has lived alone, listening to the outside world with just a radio. It would actually have been nice to make some dialogue choices for Susu. What does she say when she heads down into the town? What could she say when people arrive at the shrine? She is still a younger character, so it might have been nice to choose some of her dialogue options.

Of course, her story didn’t begin in the shrine. And if we were choosing some of her dialogue, when we do get her backstory, it would almost feel like a nice way of exploring her past the way that the siblings explore their time with her. Filling in the gaps of our memory as Susu could be a real world experience to try and simulate the way the siblings find creative ways to remember Susu.

Of course, learning about Susu’s past is part of the journey that Be Missed and Remembered: The Letter from Mayoiga takes you on. You get to explore her life before the shrine and how she became the shrine maiden. We also find ourselves understanding more about the shrines, the family head, and about the connection between the sibling pair. There are a few parallels between the siblings and Susu. While Susu is a shrine maiden and the world has forgotten about her, it definitely seems that the duo of Naofuyu and Risa have somewhat been an afterthought to parents. In it’s own way, the shrine takes care of Susu’s need to eat and care for herself. This is similar to how the siblings parents seemingly ensure the kids are okay from afar.

But it’s the bond between the three and the lengths they’ll go through to keep themselves connected. To feel part of the story, to feel invested in the characters, some choices would have been great. How do you remember and stay connected with someone who you forget as long as you are more than 2 meters away from them? What ways could we have tried if we had control of the characters or of Susu? Once within those 2 meters, the siblings do remember Susu and their past experiences. Would we have always tried to keep them close? Would we work out a system? Sometimes, a true visual novel is great, but sometimes, it adds a layer of distance that can feel difficult to get over.

Art & Music

The music is actually quite good. It never overpowers a scene or feels out of place. When there needs to be moments of sorrow, the music adds to the ambiance. The sound of the rain pouring down with the music evokes the bittersweet emotion of knowing you’ve done what’s best for your friends. Upbeat emotions are accompanied by what feels like lighter notes and softer tones. The music does a fantastic job of getting the emotions of summer. The joy of the summer beginning, the heat that feels overwhelming, and the sorrow when it’s over. For anyone who has ever enjoyed a summer vacation, the music can evoke nostalgia of the ups and downs of summer.

The art is also very pretty to look at. There are moments where the colors feel like something that can only be described as something you’d see in a painting. The characters such as Susu and Risa feel like your traditional anime characters and don’t fully stand out. It really feels like it is some of the backgrounds that are actually the shining stars. This isn’t because the character models are bad, they aren’t, it’s just that some of the backdrop is so stunning.

The art also does do a good job of sometimes reminding us where the characters are in their story. Sometimes they are drowning in loneliness. Sometimes they are shining brightly like the sun on their face. Without a doubt, the art does a great job of enhancing the words on the screen. It’s wonderful to see them work together so seemlessly but it would be great if the story felt stronger for the art.

“Gameplay”

I use the term gameplay here loosely. The only clicking you’ll do is how quick do you want to read the text and select the next chapter. After you complete the story, you can go back and revisit memories in the gallery. Since the art is so good, it is sometimes worth going and looking at them.

The nice bit is that you can go back and revisit any of the 27 chapters at any point if you feel particularly drawn to one chapter of the story. Perhaps it is about the previous shrine maiden you’d like to revisit. Or perhaps you want to revisit the beginning and seeing how people react to Susu. The story can only be experienced in one way at the start but you can revisit any chapter after initial completion.

Final Thoughts

The story is a cute story and reminiscent of simpler times. However, in a time where it feels like visual novels are telling very compelling stories, sometimes sad, sometimes bittersweet, it feels like this one is just, okay. It isn’t that it doesn’t do anything wrong per say, it just doesn’t do anything amazing. There are so many visual novels out there and sometimes they really stick with you. I’ve played some this year that hit me even without my full notice. There have been some where I wanted more of the characters. This time I thought, well, that’s an ending, onto the next thing. I didn’t want to revisit the characters or change their outcomes. Something I’ve felt recently in other games.

I don’t regret my time with Be Missed and Remembered: The Letter from Mayoiga, but I wouldn’t tell people to rush to play it either. If you want a 7-8ish hour experience that isn’t too heartbreaking, this is enjoyable. However, when the best part is the art and the music, I’d almost rather tell you to try and find the soundtrack and see some stills instead.

Be Missed and Remembered: The Letter from Mayoiga was reviewed on PC. It will release on July 9, 2026 to Steam. Gamer Social Club would like to thank NEKONEKO-SOFT, OVERLAP GAMES, and AUTOMATON MEDIA for the review code.