Dejando aparte el parecido físico entre el prota de este juego y el de Hotel Dusk, no hay nada que se asemeje entre estos. Hotel Dusk está bien escrito, tiene buenos personajes y el estilo visual es único y preciosamente animado. En éste los personajes son unidimensionales y las "animaciones" los hacen parecer recortes de cartón que apenas si se mueven.

De verdad quería darle una oportunidad al juego, parecía estar poniéndose bueno y luego termina, justo cuando parecería que acaba el tutorial. Tremenda decepción.

When I got to the end of this game’s tutorial case, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to play the whole thing. I didn’t know how many cases awaited me, but the Ace Attorney Trilogy collection had 16 cases and went for $30, so five seemed reasonable, given this one’s visibly lower production values and $10 price tag. (I should also add that this game’s first case is significantly shorter than Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney’’s tutorial.) But I wasn’t sure I could stand four more cases of that gameplay. Chase consists almost entirely of memorizing clues and watching the characters figure out their significance on their own, quizzing you not on your problem-solving skills but on your knowledge of trivia like characters’ names. It’s broken up by a few hidden object puzzles, but only one of them has any kind of penalty for an incorrect answer (which is, hilariously, an instant game over). I wasn’t a fan of the writing, either—the main investigator seems deliberately designed to be as unbearable as possible, and while I understood it was just a starting point for his development, that didn’t make his dialogue any more fun to read in that first case. And the rest of the dialogue was a repetitive slog too! When the case’s (admittedly surprising) cliffhanger hit and the opening credits rolled, I was considering putting the game down for good.

And then it turned out those were the closing credits. That was the entire game.

This game scratches the detective visual novel itch, if you have it. Other than that however, its not really worth anyones time. It lacks polish and charm that the director Taisuke Kanasaki is known for as his other games ( Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and Last Window: The Secret of Cape West) are so much better. However, this game seems to have not had the funds to make anything better.

The characters are unlikeable af, especially the main detective. Hes super rude to everyone and its not funny at all. The main mystey is also kinda dull, its not very engaging at all. The saddest part is that it ends on a cliffhanger and we will probably never know or understand how it ends.

Only play this if you really crave a short one hour and a half mystery game, otherwise, I would skip it.

Y’ know what this reminded me of? Layton’s Mystery Journey.

Not only because the protagonist is a detestable know-it-all who’s constantly condescending to their assistants, not only because it’s a spiritual successor to some of the finest mystery visual novels on the Nintendo DS, with sprinkles of that brilliance hindered by wasted potential in the gameplay’s structure (or lack thereof in here); but also an abrupt cliffhanger ending that depressingly crumbles the whole thing down with the devastating realisation that said teaser would never have its follow-up to answer such questions.

… at least for what it’s worth, the story was intriguing up until those final 2 minutes, and the soundtrack is a slapper.

Feel like pure shit just want Cing back.

If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry. That’s what I tell myself as I finally get around to playing and completing this game.
My memory is hazy but I recall getting this at launch, playing an hour or so and then… the Switch came out.
There’s months between so I can only imagine there were other things going on, other bigger games I was playing but the key reason I never returned was I had temporarily moved on from the 3DS.

Fast forward to this year, 2023 and I’m discussing with some people two of my favourite games ever; Hotel Dusk and Last Window.
The conversation leads me to Chase and that in turn leads me to check How Long To Beat.

One and half hours? Was that really it, I thought I’d played that much, I just laughed at how close I must have been but I recall it dragging a little - Nanase looking a lot like Kyle Hyde but being completely unlikeable in comparison.
I had to get this game finished, if just to check it off my list.

So I started it again as I remembered next to nothing about the mystery and, with another gap because I once again found the story telling did drag a little, I finished it.

If you, like me, wish Cing still made games, wish there was maybe a third Kyle Hyde game and you think to yourself “maybe Chase can fill that hole a little”, don’t bother, it doesn’t and it can’t.

Each person’s tolerance for visual novels differs, this leans on being less interactive with a couple of pictures you point at and some conversational choices that have only one correct answer. There are no puzzles, there is very little to no sleuthing, you don’t feel like you’re working the Cold Case but more just a witness to others doing the work and occasionally being checked on if you had paid attention.

The writing is good, it’s believable and you get a good sense of the characters but they’re all quite unlikeable bar perhaps Koto but it’s more of a case you feel sorry for her having to put up with the lead.
The art is beautiful, I don’t prefer it to the sketches of Hotel Dusk but it takes that art and makes it cleaner and I imagine more attractive to some.
The music is decent too, once again it’s very Hotel Dusk.

Those three points should be enough to make the game at least get a favourable review but it isn’t.
Without spoiling the plot because you might think to yourself “what is two hours wasted?” the game just kind of ends, abruptly.
In the final moments it makes you feel like you’ve finished the first chapter but actually, no, that’s the credits and the game is over.

Games can be short, I’ve highly rated games as short if not shorter than this - however endings and value for money are factors and this fails on both so badly.
This game was £6-7 when it was released, not a fully priced game sure but in the same shop front of entire Phoenix Wright games at half that cost.
If this were a first chapter in a series then I’m certain the whole thing would be preferred but this is a glorified demo to a game that never was.
It’s sad, but it’s more frustrating and as I said earlier you can only laugh.

Chase: Cold Case Investigations ~Distant Memories~ is a crime visual novel.
Shounosuke Nanase and Koto Amekura of the Cold Case Unit of the Tokyo Police Department receive an anonymous phone call.
The caller claims that an explosion at a hospital five years ago was deliberately set off to cover up a murder, leading to a new investigation into the case, which was previously shelved as an accident.

The artstyle looks good and the few animations are fluid. The story is also very interesting, but a bit predictable after about two thirds.
Unfortunately, there is little interaction for the players. Only sometimes complete a sentence or find something on a picture.

The characters are a bit underdeveloped. This was probably done to flesh them out in one or more sequels. However, since there is no sequel, this failed. Too bad, because I would have liked to have a sequel.

A very short (about 1 hour and 20 minutes in length) low budget linear detective visual novel directed by Taisuke Kanasaki who is better known for directing Hotel Dusk and Another Code/Trace Memory, both games which I had a good time going through. A story about an arson case being reopened under the tip of an unknown caller being a possible murder and investigated by two misfits of the detective agency. Nanase is the stone cold grizzled detective while his partner Amekura is the lively youngster, pretty much the usual suspects you'll see in any law enforcement show. While seemingly cliche, they are written well enough to have engaging conversations with each other to keep you entertained.

Gameplay wise you can tell there was not much of a budget to work with (explains the $5 price tag) as the entire game takes place in either the interrogation room or your office. When you're not listening to Nanase and Amekura banter you're interrogating possible suspects in a Phoenix Wright sort of way. At times you'll have to present a statement and if it's wrong you'll lose some health. The answers are always really easy and nothing that'll make you think hard. It leaves much to be desired but what carries the game is the story. In such a sort length the plot flows as good as it can and keeps you wanting more as you learn about how everything transpired. For fans of Hotel Dusk you'll feel right at home with the sort of dialogue and music throughout the game (Same Composer too). There is only about 6 tracks in the game and none of them get overplayed to an extent and are memorable tunes especially the one that plays at the reveal of the killer.

Sadly what really holds the game back besides the lack of areas and interactivity is how much it tries to set up a continuation. There's a lot of things that the game doesn't explain such as Nanase's supposedly deeper involvement in the case. This game feels like its a pilot episode of a detective show. It ends abruptly on a huge cliff hanger that would've set up an entire full release game. From the looks of it that'll never happen as this was Kanasaki's last game as of 2016. Nowadays he doesn't seem to be involved in anything outside of this art for Guilty Gear Strive he did a couple months ago https://preview.redd.it/hwghm2addv171.jpg?width=841&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=753bc9ecf43d920a76725c84d9bbe808c781e95f

I do wish these characters and story line could continue in some form in the future.