Another Code: Recollection - Review

Tracing memories.

Console: Nintendo Switch

Ah, the Nintendo DS. A treasure trove of games from my childhood. From the heavy hitters like Pokémon Diamond, to more niche releases like Drawn to Life. With nearly 3500 titles released for the handheld that could there are many hidden gems hidden in this vast sea of titles that deserve another chance in the limelight. 

Nintendo must've though the same thing when, out of nowhere, they revealed that a DS adventure game about a young girl tyring to find her missing father, but finds the ghost of young boy instead, was getting the remake treatment. Not only that but they were remaking its Wii sequel as well. And in one neat package to boot!

After playing the Demo years ago, I finally decided to buy the game in full after catching it at a discount. It felt like just the type of game I needed after all those open-world (like) games I played recently. A duo of puzzle adventure titles to test my thinking power. Well, sort off test it at least.

So, without further ado, let's talk about the second chance Another Code got with this package and see how this bundle of polished up games is truly a welcome return of two hidden gems!

As this is a remake that combines two games into one, the opposite of the Final Fantasy 7 Remakes really, I'll combine the setup of both titles in one handy, spoiler-free, synopsis. They have been reworked somewhat to fit this '2-in-1' package but have remained largely the same as they were. 

13-year-old Ashley Mizuki Robins thought that her father was dead until she received a letter from him alongside a strange device asking her to meet her on Blood Edward Island. When she steps foot on the island, she finds something someone else: the ghost of a little boy named 'D'. Together with 'D', who has lost his memories, Ashley sets out to find not only her dad but her now missing aunt as well and help 'D' regain his memories. 

Two years after, Ashley arrives at Lake Juliet for a camping trip. Things start out pretty badly when her bag gets stolen by a young boy. Not only that, but walking through the front gate of the nearby resort triggers memories of her late mother. Finding herself surrounded by mysteries again, she sets out to solve them once more. 

Both titles, Two Memories and Journey into Lost Memories, first and foremost do a very good job with their characters. Ashley is a very likeable and relatable protagonist. I became invested in the mystery of her family and her growth. Same went for 'D' who, at times, made me forget about Ashley and her search for her dad because how he was equal parts endearing and tragic.

A little ghost detective? Whoa indeed!

I like how in both games, the big mystery unfolds while its connection to other aspects of the game slowly become clear. I don't feel this is a spoiler since it’s made clear in the very first minute of the first game, but I found it very clever how Ashley and D's stories are connected. They have the same nucleus: seeing a parent shot dead right in front of them. This gives the two a meaningfull connection that makes their partnership, and their juxtaposition, work really well. 

What I perhaps liked more than I should've is how much I could speculate on what could happen next and what the solutions or twists could be.  I came up with quite a few theories and found myslef hitting the mark more than I didn't. That is because Another Code is aimed a younger audience but there is more than enough for a grown-up gamer to enjoy here. There are some pretty mature subject matters, especially with 'Journey into Lost Memories', that adults can enjoy more and kids can learn a small life lesson from. 

Off the two, I like 'Two Memories' better. It has pacing issues, some chapters are very long while others are over before you know, but it's more focused. The mansion most of the game is set in also gives it a very distinctive vibe. 'Journey into Lost Memories' is more ambitious but messier because of it. Things become too scatter shot, with mini-mysteries getting either rather far-fetched resolutions or ones that feel unsatisfactory. I have learned its narrative, especially in its ending, was changed significantly. Many of these flaws arose because of these chances. Just goes to show that not every change is for the better. 

What is change for the better is how the gameplay itself has been reworked. The original DS game was a top-down touch control adventure, while the Wii sequel had you walk in set paths and investigate scenes in ‘traditional’ visual novel style. Here, you control Ashley directly and walk around freely in 3D environments with the narrative being told through extensive, voice acted dialouge with some visual observations sprinkled in. You interact with objects to get through obstacles, solve puzzles or just find a new piece of information to solve the mystery. It’s true to the spirit of the originals, but modernized and dare I say it better. Much more fitting for the ‘adventure’ part of these games.

As a full-on remake, the look of the game, including Ashley's outfits, were changed as well.  For me, these new visuals work but the overall graphics sure aren't the greatest. Recollection goes for a light anime, shell-shaded look. Character models are fine but background elements, such as that minecart full of old rocks, are noticeably of a lesser quality. Very basic and simple and not far removed from Scarlet & Violets oh so lampooned textures. Even the finals suffer a bit from the visuals with its stiff animation and weird lip syncing. Again, not an issue for me but I can see it being a turn off for some. 

A quick tip before we move on: go into the menu at the earliest opportunity and adjust the camera turning speed. The standard setting is painfully slow, sluggish even, with a full 360° turn around of the camera taking seconds. Do yourself a favour and turn it up. That makes looking around, which you will do constantly, so much faster and more convenient. 

Helping Ashley along the way is that mysterious device her father gave her: the Dual Another System aka the DAS. The DAS is basically a spiffy Nintendo Switch like smart device that has a camera, limited map feature and keeps track of all the characters you meet along the way. 

The DAS was a cutsie way to bridge the gap between the DS kids played that game on and, well, the game itself. It is for this reason that the DAS here was redesigned to look just like the Nintendo Switch here. To keep that idea intact. Due to the nature of this new console idea doesn't work as well anymore.

Case and point: the camera. It is sometimes used as a scaner but its main purpose is for taking photos of all kinds of stuff that may help you solve a puzzle later. I recommend using the Switch built-in snapshot feature instead. It has a much larger story capacity and there is only one puzzle that actually requires in-game camera. Once your past that, you're good. 

Now that I’ve mentioned them again, I found the puzzles here pretty fun. The Mansion on Blood Edward Island was made by a man practically obsessed with them. From hidden rooms to things hidden in pianos, this Mansion has it all. These puzzles are not all that difficult but I like them because of how they are implemented. Finding clues in someones possessions for the code to a lock isn't groundbreaking in the slightest, but the way they were tied into those possessions was interesting. 

I do feel like a dunce regarding one puzzle though: I found myself having a bit of trouble with and I started to suspect that I might've soft-locked myself. As it turned out I did the exact opposite of what was supposed to do. D'oh! 

We also have a lot of these investigation sequences clicking on everything and remembering as much as you can is the name of the game here. 

These puzzles have all been redone, my guess is to take advantage of the Switch and to give people who played the original something brand-new think. Developer Arc System Works also cut out some puzzles which I feel is really felt in 'Journey into Lost Memories'. That title has some recurring activities such as a code breaker mini-game but only two of what I considerd to be genuine puzzles. They were both in the back half of the adventure too so it took a while to get to them. This is the one big reason why I found it to be the lesser of the two titles. I came here for the puzzles; where are they?

Another Code: Recollection has some a neat quality-of-life updates. One of them is that you can auto-play all that dialogue. It’s a nice feature to have, considering how dialogue heavy this game is, but it’s far from perfect. Why? Because it also autoplays through any prompts that show up during actual gameplay. My read speed was a lot faster so the prompts stay on the screen far too long for me and this feature goes from a help to a hindrance. It's why I barely turned this feature on.

Lastly, speaking of prompts and text boxes, twice I encountered an issue where old text bubbles wouldn't disappear. These are framed almost like comic book panels so everything that is said is shown on screen as a text bubble. You can imagine them not dissapearing isn't meant to happen. 

Conclusion

Another Code: Recollection is a charming return of two forgotten games. Of the two, Two Memories is my favourite. By the time the credits rolled I couldn’t help but think that kid-me would have absolutely adored its DS original as he made its way through that Mansion with a secret seemingly hidden around every corner. Journey into Lost Memories is bigger and more ambitious, clearly showing its origins as a Wii title, but that ambition also makes it feel messier. Not everything comes together as neatly and some story threads don’t land as satisfyingly as they could have.

The gameplay of both is fairly simple, with light puzzles and tons of dialogue, but it works well for the kind of experience the game is trying to deliver. Moreover, Ashley is a likeable protagonist and the mysteries surrounding her family kept me invested throughout.
Not every change in these remakes is an improvement and the visuals can be a bit rough, but this is still a fun package for those in the market for a game of this type keeping in mind that it is a package aimed at a younger audience.