Martian Memorandum

Martian Memorandum is a dystopian cyberpunk/noir graphic adventure game released in 1990 for MS-DOS. Developed and published by Access Software, it is the second installment in the Tex Murphy mystery series, following Mean Streets and preceding Under a Killing Moon. The story takes place in 2038, several years after the first game. A re-release arrived on Steam in 2014, but only supports Windows, not macOS or Linux.

The plot follows Tex Murphy, hired by business magnate Marshall Alexander—founder of TerraForm Corporation—to find his missing daughter, Alexis. As in the first game, Tex travels between locations and interrogates characters via menu-based dialogue, which unlocks new destinations and conversation options. The investigation reveals that Alexis’s disappearance is tied to an item Alexander possesses. She is traced to Mars, a planet largely controlled by Alexander’s company. Tex learns that Alexander is actually Collier Stanton, a scientist and Mars explorer who killed mutant colonists to obtain the Oracle Stone. Using the stone, Alexander foresaw the future, read minds, and built his empire. Alexis was manipulated into stealing the stone and bringing it to Mars, where it fell into the hands of Thomas Dangerfield, the stone’s original discoverer. Returning characters include Larry Hammond from Mean Streets, while Lowell Percival and Mac Malden are introduced here; both appear in later series entries.

Gameplay shifts from the experimental style of Mean Streets to a more conventional point-and-click adventure format. Interaction relies on interrogations and information gathering, which unlock new locations and dialogue options. A verb bar at the bottom of the screen lets players choose how to interact with the environment. Objects can be collected, stored in an inventory, and used later. Dialog trees were already present in the first game, Mean Streets, so this entry continues that tradition. Conversations include voice and small video clips, elements expanded in later games. It is notable for its use of digitized human voices and video, though this required a sound card or speaker—the internal PC speaker could only produce basic beeps, not digitized voices.

Dragon magazine gave the game 3 out of 5 stars.