First of all, just the fact these games were chosen for a remake is already a good surprise by itself.

About the change from the original to the remake, I can't speak much on Another Code R since I never played it on the Wii (I fully intend to though!), but I did play the first game a few years ago. But I can say that this is no mere remake: it's a whole reimagination of both stories, with original gameplay, new puzzles and some changes in how the stories are told. I read in a wiki that Another Code R actually had some plot point changes, so I guess there's that as well.

It sucks a bit that the ingeniosity of the DS version with the puzzles that really took advantage of the touch screen and two screens was lost in Recollection, and I imagine losing the Wii pointer controls from R had similar effects. Makes the games feel somewhat more of a "standard" adventure game, you know? Which is not inherently a bad thing, but a huge change of pace of the Cing games from that era, that were driven by the unique features of the consoles they were on.

But I guess it can't be helped: they couldn't force touch controls or pointer ones since they had to make the game properly playable whether you're playing docked or handheld, on a regular Switch or a Switch Lite, Pro Controller or Joy-Cons... With that said, I was already imagining it using solely the Joy-Cons and having crazy puzzles using the different Joy-Con positions as well the infrared reader... But anyways. It's not like the puzzles are bad, and some even used motion controls! I wish there were more of them though.

Presentation is spectacular. This is, genuinely, one of the best-looking games I ever saw on the Switch. it looks gorgeous. Music and voice acting are also great.

Story-wise, both parts are beautiful, poignant stories about facing your past, and, as a result, facing the truth. "Facing the truth can hurt, but in the end, it's for the best" is a phrase I'm taking with me for life.

I felt much more impacted by the first game's story this time around than I was in the DS version. Again, can't say much about Another Code R at this point.

Another Code Recollection is one of my favorite Switch games ever and I'm so glad that it was chosen for a remake. I really, really hope Hotel Dusk and Last Window are next in line, even if they have to be more standard games this time around (just keep the unique artsyle)!

Reviewed on Apr 15, 2024


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