Another Code: Recollection

Genre: Graphic Adventure

Players: 1

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Review:

The Another Code series of Graphic Adventure games began with 2005’s Another Code: Two Memories on Nintendo DS, and was then followed by 2009’s Another Code: R – A Journey into Lost Memories on Wii, with this sequel releasing in Japan and Europe but never making it to the US. However, in 2024, the Nintendo Switch has received Another Code: Recollection, a game that combines the contents of the two earlier games into one title with a completely remade presentation and some alterations to story and puzzle elements. It bears mention that this is not a Compilation, and you can’t play the two games separately, as they form a narrative and are presented here as one game.

The presentation here has been reworked from those earlier titles, and I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, the character designs are absolutely gorgeous, the visuals are clearly beyond what was seen in the Nintendo DS and Wii games, and it’s nice that dialogue scenes now largely have full voice acting. On the other hand, the environments feature some surprisingly low-poly objects and blurry textures, and it’s extremely irritating that even though the game is filled with voiced dialogue, this doesn’t extend to gameplay, where protagonist Ashley’s extremely frequent comments to herself are now punctuated by short one-word voice clips, sighs, and grunts. It kinda’ feels like Nintendo felt the need to shoehorn in their typical “mute protagonist noises” that they like to use in Mario and Zelda games, even though this protagonist is far from mute, and in any case it doesn’t really work here.

I’m also a bit torn on the characters here. The game’s protagonist, Ashley, starts the game as a thirteen year-old, and as such it’s no great surprise that she’s often overly-emotional, unreasonable, or even at times childish… but that knowledge doesn’t make it any less frustrating when she acts this way. Other characters also act in frustrating ways, and don’t have the excuse of being children – Ashley’s aunt and caretaker, Jessica, not only kept secret the fact that Ashley’s father was alive for ten years, but doesn’t seem to have any doubts or frustrations about the fact that he’s been out of contact with them for all that time.

The game’s plot starts with Ashley getting a mysterious letter and package from her father revealing this information to Ashley, giving her a tablet device clearly meant to be an in-game stand-in for the Nintendo Switch, and summoning her to join him on the “gee that’s not at all ominously-named” Blood Edward Island. Ashley nervously sets out to do so along with Jessica, but the two get separated early on, with Ashley soon after meeting a friendly ghost boy calling himself D.

While the first section of Another Code: Recollection follows the first game’s plot and the mystery surrounding Ashley’s father’s past and D’s missing memories, later on Recollection explores the plot of the second game, where a now sixteen year-old Ashley investigates the mysterious Lake Juliet to find clues to discover what really happened to her late mother.

The gameplay here does involve occasional puzzles, which make use of an in-game camera players can use to remind themselves of things they saw elsewhere in the game, as well as other puzzles, including some that make use of gyroscopic motion control.

Overall, I think Another Code: Recollection works as a Graphic Adventure, and the overarching story is interesting, but it’s also poorly-paced and the characters are not very likeable. Fans of the original DS game or those who imported the Wii sequel will likely be delighted to see them both represented here in this much-improved remake, but those who never played these games before may find other entries in the genre to be more worthy of their time.

tl;dr – Another Code: Recollection is a Graphic Adventure that combines into one game the earlier Nintendo DS and Wii entries in the Another Code series about a young girl trying to uncover the secrets of her parents’ past. This is a good remake with an interesting story to tell, but the material it’s remaking is poorly-paced, its characters are unlikeable, and some of the design choices here are questionable. Unless you were already a fan of the earlier games, you’re probably better off playing another game in the genre.

Grade: C+

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