Wield an umbrella, parry giant cats, and explore surreal biomes in the first playable slice of Memoria Wake, available now on PC and Mac.
Dreams don’t usually fight back — but in Memoria Wake, they do. The isometric soulslike from indie developer Team Crescendo just dropped its first playable demo on Steam, giving players a hands-on look at the strange, haunting world that awaits when the full game launches in 2026.
In Memoria Wake, you play as Nilo, a lone wanderer trapped inside a dream world with only fragments of memory and a mysterious friend lost somewhere within. Your only real weapon? A tricked-out umbrella that can strike enemies, parry attacks, and give you just enough control over the chaos to survive.
Combat is smart and deliberate. Patience pays off. You’ll need to dodge-roll precisely, learn the timing of your enemies, and master parries to gain energy — which fuels both healing and special abilities. And yes, you’ll need that energy, because the dream world does not mess around.
What’s in the Demo?
The first playable build features two distinct biomes that highlight Memoria Wake’s surreal aesthetic and emotional tone. First, you’ll explore a toy-filled nightmare with talking rubber ducks and broken teddy bears that need sewing-needle surgery. Then, things get heavier as Nilo steps into a crumbling university filled with physical manifestations of his most unpleasant memories.
Also included are two of the game’s 20+ planned boss fights:
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The Feral Cat — A massive feline that attacks with twitchy reflexes and brute force, leaving little room to breathe.
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The Handler — A dual-threat battle where two enormous hands attack separately, forcing you to manage multiple patterns at once. Misjudge your dodge and you’re toast.
Team Crescendo will also be showing off Memoria Wake at PAX West in Seattle, running from August 29 to September 1, marking the first time the studio is publicly demoing the game in person.
“This is a nervous moment for us, as it’s the first time we’ve let the general public go hands-on with our game,” said Hank Xu, founder of Team Crescendo. “But that doesn’t mean we’re not confident – we believe strongly in what we’ve made so far and feedback from the community will only make Memoria Wake better.”
Memoria Wake is available to try right now on PC and Mac via Steam. The full release is scheduled for 2026, so consider this your early boarding pass into a dream world that might just fight back.