Reviews from

in the past


Absolutely love how this game uses literally every aspect of the DS's functions. Also a beautiful yet bittersweet story.

Amazing story about learning how to cope with trauma, surprisingly complex for a pretty short game. Truly heart-wrenching.

now that the remake for this and the sequel is out and looks to have shifted more than i expected i decided to go back and replay this (and will play the Wii version of Another Code R) before getting around to the new ones at a later date.

this is about how i remembered it. solid art style, decent music, impressive (but simplistic) use of nearly every feature the DS has to offer. it would be more noteworthy if nearly every facet wasn't improved on massively with Cing's following work with the Kyle Hyde saga.

was less enthused with somehow ending up with the bad ending even though i had investigated and interacted with what i thought was nearly everything in the game up until then. finished that run and followed up with a quicker one today to get the good ending. this has a starred save NG+ system similar to Hotel Dusk so i'll probably be back in the near future to see what changes in a second run on one file.


“The living leave traces of themselves wherever they go; and once you’re gone, it’s the traces that tell the story”

Essa frase dita por um dos personagens de Trace Memory não só descreve perfeitamente como é desbravar a mansão Edwards, local onde se passa o jogo, mas também toda a essência de jogos de mistério desse tipo, ou mais profundamente, sobre como a memória também pode ser material, como a vida continua mesmo após seu fim.

Trace Memory é curto e agridoce, assim como a vida, e te faz lembrar deste fato. Abaixo da premissa simples e pessoal há muita maturidade, com adolescentes de diferentes épocas se encontrando e se aproximando em meio à tragédias pessoais.

Contando duas histórias paralelas de forma realista e com pé no chão, esse jogo utiliza as funcionalidades do DS de forma total e com muita criatividade, e fato disso ter vindo diretamente de 2005 torna tudo mais impressionante. É único e atmosférico, com efeitos sonoros (destaque especial para os sons de passos) e músicas assombrantes, em uma ambientação simples mas muito bem realizada. Para uma experiência de uma tarde, foi bem gratificante, e mal posso esperar pelo remake.

[ps. joguei a demo do remake e… esperarei promoções]

one of the better standalone titles of the ds, even if just showing the capacities of a DS

A heartfelt adventure with the budget of five water bottles.

So this game is about the journey of finding what really happened to our dad.

While I enjoyed the adventure, story wise game felt like a lore dump rather than full on personal story for me? What I mean is majority of the story is about Edward family's past rather than the main character Ashley.

I mean dad story comes back but it's just at the end of it and ends so fast with just only a small connection to the overall plot, also villain's story feels really abruptly ended as well. So that makes me wonder if it was rushed?

Now I maybe look like not enjoyed the story but like I said I enjoyed the adventure especially because of our companion D the Ghost. Their back and forward argues was entertaining enough to make the adventure more enjoyable for me.

But still in my opinion last chapter felt like rushed to me. So because of that story is kinda meh for me. In my opinion game must had at least one more chapter to flesh out the story more.

Gameplay wise puzzles were interesting but also quite hard to figure for the not so good reasons.

One reason is game does not explain how to combine two images at once in our ds machine well. Because of this I needed to check guides for one puzzle later in the game.

Another one reason is game expects you to keep up with every clue location you find. What I mean is sometimes game wants you to do backtracking. I would be fine with it but game never reminds you which objects you need to find again so it was kind of a hassle without a guide.

But rest of the puzzles were nice enough to make me engaged. There were password puzzles, matching puzzles, tool using puzzles etc. So it was enough in my opinion. Like I said my only problems are the ones game couldn't describe itself that well (I hope they didn't do this to lengthen this 5 hour game unnaturally...)

So yeah that was trace memory... Or another code(depending on your region). It was a nice adventure with a abrupt ending and some confusing puzzles. Do I recommend it? If you find it cheap why not. But it doesn't have nowhere near amount of content hotel dusk does (because it's really that small of a game) so keep it in your mind.

A very quaint and sweet game about memory and loneliness. Ashley is a very good protagonist, and her relationship with D as well as his own struggles are very nice and authentic. They really do just feel like two lonely kids finding solidarity in one another, becoming fast friends as children tend to do. The gameplay and puzzles are fun, and the atmosphere is off the charts. The ending is sort of insane in a way that I really, really appreciate, as are the two mysteries regarding each kid respectively that slowly unravel throughout the course of the story. Here’s your warning to be VERY thorough in your investigating or else you’ll miss out on the true ending and feel horrible about it.

This review contains spoilers

BILL CIPHER SUCKS IN THIS GAME

I had fun streaming this, but also kinda laughed at the meta of it being a DS game and the device the main character uses is clearly a DS.

An experiment has gone wrong and the main character's father has disappeared and you need to solve puzzles to get out tough situations and solve the overarching mystery going on.

Beyond this I don't remember much beyond frustration that one of the solutions to the puzzle was to close the DS. Something not too obvious when playing with an emulator.

Stream + Gameplay

Some of the more standard adventure game stuff is kind of annoying, with a lot of instances of backtracking and having to examine specific items to trigger other events or dialogue so I ended up keeping a walkthrough open the whole time. The handful of puzzles that utilize the DS physically beyond tapping and the compelling story and characters made it more than worth experiencing though.

I Wish There Was More Games Like This

A good story executed not that great. The puzzles are mostly fuk but to trigger the puzzle you need to read some specific text first or find an item which makes backtracking usual and annoyingly common. The puzzles in the game are really creative and the gameplay style and art style are really unique and fun.

D is the victorian child who learns about a happy meal for the first time.

Charming in many ways, but it feels like it commits many cardinal sins of the adventure game genre. If you pursue only the most basic ending, most of the puzzles seem fairly straightforward, but there aren't too many, so the game will end fairly quickly. This ending is somewhat unsatisfying though, and leaves critical questions unanswered. The "true ending" path (which isn't that much different in terms of story) requires you to investigate several key points throughout the game, sometimes in a particular order, without much guidance, or feedback letting you know if you've done anything correctly, or if you've missed something and locked yourself out of this ending. After one playthrough, I felt like a guide was required for the subsequent playthrough, to at least point me towards any "missables". Still, it's a neat exhibition of the various features of the DS, and a cool format for an adventure game like this.

It's alright. Short game with pretty simple puzzles that make use of the DS to the full extent. Decent but predictable story.

O fato desse jogo ter uma nota tão baixa me deixa muito triste, uma história simples contada da unica forma possível, um videogame. Esse jogo é obviamente uma tech demo doq o DS podia fazer, mas mesmo sendo isso ele ainda é surpreendentemente interessante, diferente de muitos jogos que utilizam das funções de touch ou mic do DS esse usa duma forma divertida e que não cansa. Agora a história puta que pariu, mesmo sendo bem simplinha, ela é extremamente sentimental e genuína, não tem como tu não se importar com o D e a Ashley, sei lá só clicou muito comigo, fazia tempo que eu não sentia que iria chorar num final.

Único triste é que eu não peguei o final bom, mas mesmo assim puta que pariu que jogo, curtinho e muito divertido.

NDS banger, short but so sweet, waiting for the remake

Decided to try this in preparation for the remake coming out this month and was pleasantly surprised by it. The fact that it’s short and has mostly easy puzzles means it’s really accessible to play. It’s definitely a fun time capsule for the mid 2000’s. Also a Nintendo published game that takes place in the PNW????

Un jeu de casse-tête qui tient encore plutôt bien la route graphiquement pour de la DS Day1. Très court, où l'on se perd un peu, mais l'histoire intéresse et les capacités de la console sont bien exploitées.
Bien cool, à voir ce que donne la suite, Another Code R.

In my early teen years, one day my mom bought me this game, thinking I'd like it. I played it a lot and liked it, then was suddenly owerwelmed by a sense of dread. It began to scare me and made me so anxious that I had my mom return it.
Years later I played it again til the end and I loved it all over again!
Right now I still love it, and it still gives me a strange sense of anxiety, like if I was really a young girl in an empty mansion where ghosts and adults with bad intentions could appear at any moment. But it's a nice thrill now.

I think the soundtrack adds to the suspance: it's very light and ghostly, so you hear very well the sounds of Ashley's footsteps.
The art style is super charming and stylish.

D's story is so sad...

I didn't play the sequel for the Wii. I'd like to, but it doesn't seem to have the same charm of the DS game. And it doesn't have D (I think)!

An excellent adventure game that I grew up playing. It's very compelling in what it does, and I'm hoping the remake is just as soulful and amazing as the original. Never played the sequel, or Cing's other titles (Hotel Dusk specifically)

"Oh, -character-..." drinking game

this game is proof that dementia is just a skill issue


Ashley Mizuki Robbins is a young teenager with a quest to uncover the mysteries that haunt her checkered past, and one day a mysterious invitation to Blood Edward Island seems to be the key to unveil the enigmas behind her vague early childhood memories.

A very short but very sweet point-n-click adventure with clever puzzles and a thrilling backstory to follow. Do not miss it out.

It's truly saddening how Cing made such amazing and inventive takes on the visual novel genre, yet are almost forgotten about since they went under. Still, I'm so excited to replay this and it's sequel on the Switch. 9/10

A game that feels really mature in its themes and tackles them with a lot of thoughtfulness and sincerity. A lot of these puzzles are somewhat standard “use thing on other thing” affair for an adventure game like this, but a few of them use the DS in SUCH a cool and creative way (if you’ve played the game you know the ones I’m talking about), and it felt really rewarding uncovering the game’s mysteries bit by bit through figuring them out. I like how it balances character interactions with its plot, I think the stuff with discovering D’s past being optional to the ending actually adds a lot of pathos to that side of the story in the way only an interactive medium can achieve, makes it feel less like an artificial “video game-y” completion necessity and more like genuinely going out of your way to be helpful and kind to a friend.

Also it takes place on my birthday and me and Ashley share a birthday! That was a fun surprise haha

-dude it’s so wild how edgy things could be in the mid 00s in a way that didn’t seem tasteless or needlessly provocative but instead was just edgy to further the plot n characters. like I think this was rated teen but there’s some v dark themes here that I wasn’t expecting for a game that looks and feels so childlike on the ds.
-love ds 3d graphics sm, chunky and blocky little polygons. flower sun and rain, style savvy and this are all very fucking cute and unmatched in terms of aesthetic. running around on this cute little beachy island that’s like totally abandoned and the dusty af mansion, the caves at the end w the blocky trees hanging over the characters. also just rlly love the designs for all these characters and rlly enjoyed seeing beautiful 2d drawings of the characters turned into blocky chibified rough caricatures.
-tbh when this comes out on switch I will probably pick it up bc I don’t know if my broke bitch laptop can play wii games well (I think it can but idk) but I also don’t know if I’ll replay this unless it’s majorly diff in terms of the story. like they rlly could’ve either cut out a lot of fat/backtracking or made this a lot longer adding in lots of characterization and motivation for the characters, but instead it’s a weird middle length for a game where by the end I was kinda idk bored??? idk I think the switch vers. looks rlly cute, love how switch games look for the most part.
-the two blonde dudes are kinda yaoi idkkkkk…
-the story is soooo cute, mostly why I wanted to play this even though I barely knew anything about the story I just always thought ashley’s design was so slay. but yeah def connected w this and w ashley and her search for family she doesn’t even rlly know if they want her around or who they are. it’s why shattered memories is one of my fave stories the more I think about, this isn’t totally comparable and not nearly as good for a variety of reasons but I still found ashley’s relationship w her dad rlly cute and sweet. also liked all the parallels between her and d and how so many adolescents feel like lost and lonely and invisible. heavy important stuff for what is basically a kids game, wish I played as a kid but tbh I was a dumb kid and would’ve gotten stuck on puzzles early on especially if played before I had iphone.