Memochi - Dust is a free virtual pet video game that lets you glimpse through the life of a character from a fictional arcade game. Developed by AndyL4nd, this 2D pixelated indie game features simple point-and-click controls as you’ll just mostly be watching GIFs of your virtual pet’s life.

Similar to programs like Shimeji-ee and Desktop Goose, Memochi - Dust features a digital character as your onscreen companion. However, this character is strictly confined to the game’s window and you won’t be able to interact with it as freely as the others mentioned. It also doesn’t have much functionality other than playing GIFs.

Piece them all together

Memochi - Dust introduces you to Dust, a strangely-shaped humanoid creature who lives a fairly modern life outside of your control. His “Memochi”—or rather, his collection of memories—is exactly 100 animated memories in the form of looping GIFs with accompanying audio. These memories encompass his entire life, from childhood to retirement, and playing the game simply offers you a chance to watch them all.

Unlike most games, there’s no actual end goal or victory condition here. You can just check out Dust’s memories at your leisure, as every press of the red button will just randomly showcase one until you press it again. The only real challenge here is trying to unlock the secret memory and trying to find the clues to it by going through all 100 GIFs. 

However, aside from this, there’s nothing else to the game. There are no configuration settings due to how barren and simple its gameplay is—although you can launch the other executable file in its folder to open advanced graphic settings. The only other button you press is the Off switch, which automatically shuts the game down. It’s more of a one-off experience for those eager for a slideshow story.

Doesn’t require player skill

All in all, Memochi - Dust has enough story content to intrigue players interested in that. However, it doesn’t have much variety in terms of gameplay and settings. While you get 100 animated clips and a secret ending, you don’t really have to work so hard for it and just hope that your luck would be good against its random GIF generator.