This review contains spoilers
“Even though facing the truth can be hard, in the end, it’s always for the best.”
Oh god, finally here writing about this game. There might be a lot to say, lots of moments, lots of feelings, and many things that I just have to say. I really don’t know how to start this review off well, I’m feeling so many different emotions about this game, shaking and just feeling worried I’ll express things poorly. My mind is already thinking this could go so poorly but let’s begin the review of Another Code Recollection.
Part 1: My past experiences are non-existent
Another Code Recollection is a remake of two games which were Another Code: Two Memories for the DS and Another Code: R - A Journey into Lost Memories for the Wii. The first game actually did come out here under the name Trace Memory but the sequel would only get localized in Europe. Both were developed by Cing, a company I’m not even aware of and don’t think even exist anymore though some staff from it did work on this remake. From the small bit of research I did, it seems like critics at the time were usually mixed about both games but it does seem they both gained followings among fans, especially the Wii game.
So, what are my experiences with the original releases? Well, none. Yeah, I’ve never played them ever in my life. I thought about playing Trace Memory back last year but ran into battery issues with my 3DS and still haven’t fixed it. The Wii game I haven’t even once thought of playing, mostly because I can’t even remember the last time I’ve played a Wii game. I wanted to say this because I basically went in blind not knowing if I would even enjoy it and this also fits in with the next thing.
Part 2: The reveal and my doubts
Surprisingly the game was leaked first by a Twitter user though wasn’t said outfront and once the next Nintendo Direct was streamed, the game was revealed there. I was really happy for this announcement as I was always curious about that first game, it was easily the best reveal especially compared to how boring it was to see Nintendo constantly unveil Mario games the past two directs. It was a game I was looking to buy day 1 but then, tragedies struck.
Sonic Superstars was one of the worst experiences I had with a modern game. It made me worry about buying more games for $60 even with Super Mario Bros. Wonder casting my doubts a little with how good it was. It didn’t help that I was and still am very poor (cause I’m lazy and dumb but don’t worry I’m fine). I was lucky to get a bit of money before January to get this game. Though my doubts were still there and I would in December play the demo and really enjoy it and was excited to get the game. Though my mind works in the worst ways and well, I wasn’t going to get it.
The game was about to come out and the Metacritic score was a 72. Normally I don’t care about dumb metacritic scores but this kind of upset me because I was excited for the game and was basically told in my mind “you overhyped it Arle…” and told my oomfs I wasn’t gonna get it now. After some conversations, they convinced me to go get the game and thought I’d really like it and then I said “FINE! I’ll go buy it right now” Then it should be here soon…right?
Part 3: Amazon sucks
So I ordered the game on the 18th, the day before the game came out. Expected to wait about three days but instead was treated to one of the worst waits ever. It went from having not shipped, to coming out Feb 5th, coming out in March, and then to Feb 15th. I was pissed and was about to buy it digitally though my Mom ended up yelling at me for issues I had with the order and she ended up buying it somewhere else for me and I would get the game on the 27th. The game was finally in my hands and now I can finally talk about the game.
WARNING!!! The rest of this review will contain major spoilers for both games! If you have not experienced the story yet and are interested in doing so then do not read this review any further!! I don’t even care if this review could have 0 likes if it meant saving people from being spoiled. You have been warned, enjoy the rest of the review if you continue.
Part 4: Two Memories
We start a little ahead of the beginning that gives you a good overview of the mechanics you’ll be doing in Another Code. You move around places examining the area and eventually moving into a mansion to explore just that place. You don’t start in the mansion as you go back a little into the story to learn more about Ashley and why she’s here. She’s getting ready to see her Dad named Richard who she hasn’t seen since she was very young and was raised by her Aunt. She now is told he isn’t dead. It’s a very intriguing start and kind of daunting feeling knowing that the island we’re on is called Blood Edward Island. Later your Aunt named Jessica gets lost and it’s up to Ashley to figure out what’s going on and where Dad is.
I gotta say it upfront but I love Ashley so much as a character. If there were like a top 10 Nintendo characters, I’d argue she’d be in there for me personally. I’ll go into it more as I write my thoughts but she gives a very good impression. Once you’re trying to get to the mansion you’ll find stuff like puzzles to do and they’re fun to figure out and get the solutions to. They aren’t too impossible but the game does have a hint system to help you if you get stuck. During the part of fixing graves and unlocking a door, you’ll meet your companion. He’s a ghost with a lost memory with the name D. Ashley is the only one who can see this person.
Thanks to this companion is where the really cool aspect of the game comes from. You see, you’re not just trying to learn more about Ashley, you also need to learn more about D and the people who lived in this mansion. That’s the main thing going on in the game is going into rooms, inspecting stuff, solving puzzles and learning more. I really like learning about Ashley and D. It really feels like the two really evolve as characters and their relationship as friends as the story moves along. Ashley at first doesn’t really feel fully up to it, wanting to at least help but also worries for Jessica and finding Dad. I will say I was surprised realizing these games involve stuff like death or at least very important characters being dead. Yeah sure you have stuff like D being a ghost but seeing the intro just show Ashley’s family being “dead” gave me a bit of a shock even if Richard didn’t actually die. Uncovering more about the mansion and the family (named the Edward family.) gets surprisingly dark at times for me. There was a war that happened that involved two of the characters named Henry and Thomas and one of them even loses an arm. It’s just wow, deep stuff. Seeing so much loss from the characters is intriguing to me and wanting to see how it all concludes and what even did happen to D.
Some of the puzzles you’ll do in here are also pretty cool. There’s one where you have to play a song on the piano but some of the notes are on a framed picture of a bird so you need to take a picture of the music sheet and picture to combine both and see the full song to play it. I also liked the one where you have to put three coins into slots above the fireplace but you’ll never learn the order without key thinking and putting the note over the flame as one of the instructions is in invisible ink. There’s even some fun backstory you can learn of Richard using the DAS to scan these origami birds and these are fun to read and can even clue you in more on things yet to have been shown in cutscenes. The game will even let you know what room they’re in so you’re never lost. Oh right there’s a map and omg I love how Ashley writes little notes in them about important events and even does little doodles!!
Huh, haven’t brought up the DAS yet actually. So when you start the game, you see it came with the letter Ashley got from Dad. It’s a device that only works for her and looks like a Switch. I assume it looked like a DS in the original considering the name. It can take pictures, look at those logs I mentioned before and eventually you’ll be collecting keys for this device Ashley’s Dad was working on. This is because a little into the game, you actually find him and you have to help him with a project that Ashley doesn’t really understand. At first it seemed simple, look for keys while he looks for Jessica. Sounds easy.
I liked this first person room where you have to involve candle lighting and just finding your way around in the dark. It basically controls how you move with the camera. It can be a little scary since Ashley is afraid of the dark so I was hoping no scares but thankfully none! Man, I have to say all the small grunts and stuff Ashley says for pressing A on some objects are engraved in my mind just thinking about some of this stuff. Same goes for those cutscenes which are done in this neat stylized panel look with the models. Yeah they do have a preset animations that repeat a lot but fuck I can’t help but copy some of them IRL now. Also when doing some of the investigation, I was kind of caught off guard some things I’d say out loud is something Ashley would also say, it was like “ahhh she said the same thing as me so cute!” Whoa, I got distracted, let’s speed through this.
So you help learn more about D, learn some others things about the family that’s pretty interesting. I think the one I was the most fascinated with was the girl named Frannie. She’s a friend of D’s when he was still alive and remembers more and more about her as you go on. I really like the part where you have to go into this room and set these three dolls to represent the family and the Dad is actually missing an arm intentionally so you need to place them in the correct order so they’ll all be holding hands. It’s just so damn cute of a puzzle man. I won’t really say anything about it but there’s an interesting thing about her by the end of the game too.
Getting all of the keys and meeting up with Dad brings a scene of confusion to me. He was angry, not caring about Ashley and Jessica. This obviously brings down a moment where Ashley basically gives up and wants to leave and gives the keys to him to finish ANOTHER. One interesting thing is about Ashley’s mother named Sayoko. You learned she’s been shot and you even later on find an article that talked about her death while also writing down that Dad was a suspect. It made me wonder who it was but I was imagining it being whoever this Bill guy was since I couldn’t imagine it being anyone else. Though we can’t think about it for too long as D went into a room you can’t get in and with a fun puzzle involving the fountain, you eventually get in the room to find where his dad died all those years ago. Man…this is such a sad scene, I almost cried a little ngl just realizing who did it and such. Though after some talk to talk, you eventually find Jessica who is still handcuffed to a pole and Jessica tells Ashley to believe in Dad. It’s all up to Ashley now and figure out what’s going on for good. Also I really love how for the scribble in this room, Ashley puts a cute face of her and Jessica together showing how she was found in this room. God it’s so damn cute aaaaaaa!!
Well you eventually get into this lab by doing some things like combining keys and then you finally get into the lab and then some guy wants help out of a locked room. I was like “Oh no! Ashley, watch out, it's a trap!!” I was scared out of my life thinking something could happen but I did it anyway. Also screw this puzzle to unlock the door, IDK if I’m stupid but I could not figure it out without the in-game help and the worst part was I was actually really close to beating it without help, ugh. Though when I helped the guy out, I realized. Omg that wasn’t Richard before, THAT WAS BILL! THE MAN FOOLED ME!! God It was probably so obvious too and I didn’t realize. Though you and Ashley’s Dad go to fix the problem and learn of Bill’s true intentions and even tries to mess with memories to frame the death of Sayoko but we know for sure by the end it’s Bill. God, like Ashley’s DAS description of him, can’t stand the man either. Oh right that’s another thing I never brought out. At specific points or the beginning of chapters, you can see small descriptions of each character and a picture of them to get caught up with the plot if you need it or just read some of the nice flavor text Ashley has. It’s neat and fun.
Still many points are shown like how D died and even his real actual name but the ending climax of Bill threatening Richard and Ashley was scary. I was scared for my damn like, I wasn’t sure if the game had some bad ending or something but I was begging not to see Ashley get shot. Thankfully for us, D stops Bill but unfortunately dies in the process and couldn’t be saved, even with Richard’s help. The data he was also sending also got sent to some mysterious person, I was wondering what that was about but I wouldn’t get the answer for now. God there’s a lot of unpack here and stuff I didn’t bring up but man tying up the pieces like why was there only one shoe in that one suitcase with things related to D, it was because only one left remained when he died. I really love how things always seem to add up when you have questions, even if it can be sad answers…
Once you’re done there, it’s time for you to leave with Jessica and Dad. D also says his goodbyes here and while it’s sad to see him go, it makes me happy to see him happy and help him uncover the truth. It was time for the Family to celebrate Ashley’s birthday with a necklace related to Sayoko that will always help Ashley keep her in thoughts. That’s the end of the game and we see Ashley with a cute stuffed bear that you could find in one of the rooms earlier so that was a nice sneak peek at that. This story tells a lot of things and while it can be repetitive at times with constant flashbacks, it still kept me engaged and I was thinking just how great it was. The writing can have some nice moments too but happy and sad. I was thinking I wouldn’t get much out of it but I did. Even the mansion’s design is well made with easy shortcuts all around. The whole game was just a joy to go through and took me around 7 hours to finish the adventure. I even got all of the logs! Not that it’s hard to do but I was happy to do so. Well it’s time to move on to the next game!
Part 5: A Journey into Lost Memories
Hmm interesting, instead of being in a building, it’s all about Ashley going on a camping trip with her Dad. This game time skips a bit past the ending of the first game. We now have a 16 year old Ashley and-hold on can I just say OMG HER OUTFIT IN THIS GAME IS SO GODDAMN CUTE!!! God It’s hard to even imagine her from the first game already when I’ve seen this look, this was made for the remake too along with the first game’s and it’s amazing just how good it looks. Well unfortunately for her, her bag gets stolen by a kid we know nothing about leaving us with a miserable Ashley. Poor girl. Also I find out that she now can play the guitar, wish I got to see her play a song ngl. Also I wonder if her knowing how to play piano helped with her interest in a band.
The game itself is a lot of the same in terms of mechanics but now you explore a camp with many locations to visit and many cool characters to meet. It’s not just about learning of a single family and one other character, this means the character section in the DAS is a lot more in depth and interesting to look at. There’s a group of teens who are in a band similar to Ashley who get into a problem with a blonde girl named Elizabeth who hates her singing voice and is having issues with Dad especially involving the new girl he’s seeing named Sofia. Oh yeah you also get to see some of the workers Ashley’s Dad works with though Ashley doesn’t seem willing to chat with them at first, I know those feelings Ashley…
Well the big push to the plot is just finding more about that kid and just why would he steal your bag. You’ll also meet a couple of other singularity characters like John Smith, a secret agent who doesn’t seem to make full sense in Ashley’s mind to the point she doesn’t even believe the name which I won’t lie is funny. There’s also Dan the forest ranger who is always looking for that kid and Ashley’s bag though I swear the plot forgets about him halfway through the game. Finally there’s the guy named Bob who owns a restaurant, trust me once you go through that, you’ll never forget about the Salmon Rice Burger, my god I sure don’t. Is that even a good irl?
The last interesting character has to be a mysterious guy named Ryan who seems to show up when Ashley is noticed in the security cameras. He’s pretty interesting with some relations to knowing Sayoko. A lot of this game in fact is learning more about Sayoko with Ashley remembering being here at Lake Juliet when Ashley was only three years old. Just why was she here? Well her dad wants to find out too and around this time, you get a device made from Sayoko called the RAS. Ashley can’t get it off but it’s used to open locks on doors by inputting what the game wants from you, they get harder over the course of the game. Also I really love how the RAS shows up on the little thinking Ashley when it’s loading up a puzzle, such a cute detail!!
You’ll eventually meet up more with that random kid and find out his name is Matthew. After helping him out with another combining items situation, you get to learn his Dad is gone with an albeit rather farfetch’d reason that Ashley doesn’t believe. Also this is one of the few cutscenes with a choice you can give and they’re sadly not many but it’s interesting they even did this. I love the one earlier on where Ashley is arguing with Elizabeth and you can tell her your age is 18, though I don’t like being a liar so I didn’t say it. But anyway, despite some troubled issues with agreements with Matthew, Ashley and him work together to uncover both of their mysteries and also get Ashley’s bag along the way. In some ways it’s a lot like Ashley being with D but I’d argue I like these two as a friendly pair more and lead to a lot of good moments.
You need to figure out what’s with the rumors of Matthew’s Dad getting blamed for polluting the waters when it probably wasn’t him. You’ll go to many places and also have many many detours with the residents of the town. I kind of wanna get more into the story but to be honest, I kind of don’t wanna spoil too much as I feel the story is way better than last time. Yes, as much as I loved the story in the first, this is even better. The conflicts here are even more interesting as we learn more and more about the people. I really like the story with the Old Lady named Charlotte and when you help her ring that bell tower that was closed for years due to a story she tells, it makes me glad to see her happy to hear it ring one more time. The story starting with chapter 7 gets very intense and has a whole new revelation to itself about the mysteries and omg I was getting so scared at times and the many tense moments lead to a really good climax!
If I can sideturn for a second, let me talk about some miscellaneous things. Man Idk how I haven’t brought it up yet but I love looking at objects for Ashley to say something about. I did every single one I could do. Give me the 60th bookshelf and I will gladly hear Ashley give a slightly different sentence about how she reacts to said bookshelf. I’m being dead serious. Though if I do have to say anything negative about the game, it has to be the gyro controls. In both games you’ll use them for like two puzzles and god they are awful, I swear it’s not my controller. I’ve had no problems using it in games like Kirby and the Forgotten Land so what gives? Thankfully it’s not used much though but I hate how it feels to use. It’s crazy to think this is the most negative thing I have to say about the games gameplay wise.
God I really just want to say that I was just so engaged when playing all of these chapters in both games and by the end I was just really curious about all of the mysteries and just the memories Ashley had. There’s many shocking moments, though I do wish the stuff involving Ryan wasn’t so obvious that even an idiot like me could figure it out. Also tip from me, MAKE SURE YOU FIND THE ORIGAMI IN ELIZABETH’S HOUSE BEFORE YOU LEAVE! I had to reload an old save a little after I realized it was in there and you can’t ever go back in there. God I feel like I’m all over the place cause I didn’t even mention how I love how you can look at every item, I love looking at them just to see how it was modeled and see it from angles you can’t normally see. I also love all the connections to the past game, there’s so many nice callbacks that caught me by surprise and it really amazes me just how I was constantly thinking of that past and going “Wow it was from that moment!” By the end though, you get to say goodbye to everyone and Ashley leaves the place satisfied helping everyone out and finding more appreciation in what Dad does, what a lovely end to a set of two games. If you beat the game, you’ll also get to be able to replay the game in Ashley’s outfits from the original DS and Wii game. Also is anyone else sad we never got to see the band contest thing??
Part 6: Presentation quarrels
Sigh, alright here’s the part where I’ll be negative outside of gameplay. I’m sorry but this game is not the best looking especially compared to Nintendo’s other first party games. It’s not as bad as something like Wayforward’s Advance Wars remake but it seems to have a lot of poor texturing and pop in at times. It can take me out of the moment and it especially feels more apparent in the second game. I will say the models look good but that also doesn’t help when the framerate isn’t consistent. It seems to struggle a tiny bit at times. It’s nothing major but it’s enough for me to notice and I don’t really get the issues. I’m not one to be a huge graphics nut but I think even for Switch it could be better and maybe Arc System Works isn’t that good with the hardware? I wouldn’t know since I don’t play a lot of their games. The music on the other hand is pretty damn good. It’s not something I’d listen to a lot outside of the game but it works for the game itself. Though major shoutouts to the credits song “The place I call home” a really nice vocal song. Also I can’t get that Lake Julilet theme out of my head, damnit. The voice acting is also alright for a dub but I felt some characters like Bill and Dan could have used a little better voice direction. I’ve definitely heard worse though. Overall it has some negatives but at least it’s not all bad.
Part 7: I’ll never forget you Ashley
I’m sorry if this review is a mess. I’m not one to review games like this with exceptions. I knew going into this I would forget things and just not sure what I should do or not. I just needed to express my feelings about the game. Just so much of the game made me so happy. Like I was so obsessed. I couldn’t stop playing it. I played for almost 17 hours total in 5 days. I cried at times and by the end I was so happy seeing those beautiful credits. It’s games like these that really keep my head up high in the dark depressing days of my life. I’m going to say it, this is my favorite 1st party Switch game. It gave me a ton of enjoyment, a lot to think about, and a character that probably won’t be out of my mind for a while. I know I said not to read this if you haven’t played it yourself but god I hope more people buy the game if interested. I’m overrating the game but it’s just sooooooooo amazing in my mind. It’s an amazing experience from beginning to end and I can’t believe I thought I wasn’t going to enjoy it when I saw those review scores. I’ll probably replay this game one day just because I wanna see Ashley again and relive those fun stories. The things I forget and the things I remember. Another Code Recollection is a great experience and all I can do is…smile. Goodbye Ashley, thank you for the wonderful times. Thank you also to the developers for making this game for me to experience. Most of all, thank you for reading this probably awful review if you somehow got this far. Going to see if maybe I can cosplay as Ashley one day, especially that 2nd game’s outfit…ANYWAY BYE! (god I ramble too much -.-)
THE END
Oh god, finally here writing about this game. There might be a lot to say, lots of moments, lots of feelings, and many things that I just have to say. I really don’t know how to start this review off well, I’m feeling so many different emotions about this game, shaking and just feeling worried I’ll express things poorly. My mind is already thinking this could go so poorly but let’s begin the review of Another Code Recollection.
Part 1: My past experiences are non-existent
Another Code Recollection is a remake of two games which were Another Code: Two Memories for the DS and Another Code: R - A Journey into Lost Memories for the Wii. The first game actually did come out here under the name Trace Memory but the sequel would only get localized in Europe. Both were developed by Cing, a company I’m not even aware of and don’t think even exist anymore though some staff from it did work on this remake. From the small bit of research I did, it seems like critics at the time were usually mixed about both games but it does seem they both gained followings among fans, especially the Wii game.
So, what are my experiences with the original releases? Well, none. Yeah, I’ve never played them ever in my life. I thought about playing Trace Memory back last year but ran into battery issues with my 3DS and still haven’t fixed it. The Wii game I haven’t even once thought of playing, mostly because I can’t even remember the last time I’ve played a Wii game. I wanted to say this because I basically went in blind not knowing if I would even enjoy it and this also fits in with the next thing.
Part 2: The reveal and my doubts
Surprisingly the game was leaked first by a Twitter user though wasn’t said outfront and once the next Nintendo Direct was streamed, the game was revealed there. I was really happy for this announcement as I was always curious about that first game, it was easily the best reveal especially compared to how boring it was to see Nintendo constantly unveil Mario games the past two directs. It was a game I was looking to buy day 1 but then, tragedies struck.
Sonic Superstars was one of the worst experiences I had with a modern game. It made me worry about buying more games for $60 even with Super Mario Bros. Wonder casting my doubts a little with how good it was. It didn’t help that I was and still am very poor (cause I’m lazy and dumb but don’t worry I’m fine). I was lucky to get a bit of money before January to get this game. Though my doubts were still there and I would in December play the demo and really enjoy it and was excited to get the game. Though my mind works in the worst ways and well, I wasn’t going to get it.
The game was about to come out and the Metacritic score was a 72. Normally I don’t care about dumb metacritic scores but this kind of upset me because I was excited for the game and was basically told in my mind “you overhyped it Arle…” and told my oomfs I wasn’t gonna get it now. After some conversations, they convinced me to go get the game and thought I’d really like it and then I said “FINE! I’ll go buy it right now” Then it should be here soon…right?
Part 3: Amazon sucks
So I ordered the game on the 18th, the day before the game came out. Expected to wait about three days but instead was treated to one of the worst waits ever. It went from having not shipped, to coming out Feb 5th, coming out in March, and then to Feb 15th. I was pissed and was about to buy it digitally though my Mom ended up yelling at me for issues I had with the order and she ended up buying it somewhere else for me and I would get the game on the 27th. The game was finally in my hands and now I can finally talk about the game.
WARNING!!! The rest of this review will contain major spoilers for both games! If you have not experienced the story yet and are interested in doing so then do not read this review any further!! I don’t even care if this review could have 0 likes if it meant saving people from being spoiled. You have been warned, enjoy the rest of the review if you continue.
Part 4: Two Memories
We start a little ahead of the beginning that gives you a good overview of the mechanics you’ll be doing in Another Code. You move around places examining the area and eventually moving into a mansion to explore just that place. You don’t start in the mansion as you go back a little into the story to learn more about Ashley and why she’s here. She’s getting ready to see her Dad named Richard who she hasn’t seen since she was very young and was raised by her Aunt. She now is told he isn’t dead. It’s a very intriguing start and kind of daunting feeling knowing that the island we’re on is called Blood Edward Island. Later your Aunt named Jessica gets lost and it’s up to Ashley to figure out what’s going on and where Dad is.
I gotta say it upfront but I love Ashley so much as a character. If there were like a top 10 Nintendo characters, I’d argue she’d be in there for me personally. I’ll go into it more as I write my thoughts but she gives a very good impression. Once you’re trying to get to the mansion you’ll find stuff like puzzles to do and they’re fun to figure out and get the solutions to. They aren’t too impossible but the game does have a hint system to help you if you get stuck. During the part of fixing graves and unlocking a door, you’ll meet your companion. He’s a ghost with a lost memory with the name D. Ashley is the only one who can see this person.
Thanks to this companion is where the really cool aspect of the game comes from. You see, you’re not just trying to learn more about Ashley, you also need to learn more about D and the people who lived in this mansion. That’s the main thing going on in the game is going into rooms, inspecting stuff, solving puzzles and learning more. I really like learning about Ashley and D. It really feels like the two really evolve as characters and their relationship as friends as the story moves along. Ashley at first doesn’t really feel fully up to it, wanting to at least help but also worries for Jessica and finding Dad. I will say I was surprised realizing these games involve stuff like death or at least very important characters being dead. Yeah sure you have stuff like D being a ghost but seeing the intro just show Ashley’s family being “dead” gave me a bit of a shock even if Richard didn’t actually die. Uncovering more about the mansion and the family (named the Edward family.) gets surprisingly dark at times for me. There was a war that happened that involved two of the characters named Henry and Thomas and one of them even loses an arm. It’s just wow, deep stuff. Seeing so much loss from the characters is intriguing to me and wanting to see how it all concludes and what even did happen to D.
Some of the puzzles you’ll do in here are also pretty cool. There’s one where you have to play a song on the piano but some of the notes are on a framed picture of a bird so you need to take a picture of the music sheet and picture to combine both and see the full song to play it. I also liked the one where you have to put three coins into slots above the fireplace but you’ll never learn the order without key thinking and putting the note over the flame as one of the instructions is in invisible ink. There’s even some fun backstory you can learn of Richard using the DAS to scan these origami birds and these are fun to read and can even clue you in more on things yet to have been shown in cutscenes. The game will even let you know what room they’re in so you’re never lost. Oh right there’s a map and omg I love how Ashley writes little notes in them about important events and even does little doodles!!
Huh, haven’t brought up the DAS yet actually. So when you start the game, you see it came with the letter Ashley got from Dad. It’s a device that only works for her and looks like a Switch. I assume it looked like a DS in the original considering the name. It can take pictures, look at those logs I mentioned before and eventually you’ll be collecting keys for this device Ashley’s Dad was working on. This is because a little into the game, you actually find him and you have to help him with a project that Ashley doesn’t really understand. At first it seemed simple, look for keys while he looks for Jessica. Sounds easy.
I liked this first person room where you have to involve candle lighting and just finding your way around in the dark. It basically controls how you move with the camera. It can be a little scary since Ashley is afraid of the dark so I was hoping no scares but thankfully none! Man, I have to say all the small grunts and stuff Ashley says for pressing A on some objects are engraved in my mind just thinking about some of this stuff. Same goes for those cutscenes which are done in this neat stylized panel look with the models. Yeah they do have a preset animations that repeat a lot but fuck I can’t help but copy some of them IRL now. Also when doing some of the investigation, I was kind of caught off guard some things I’d say out loud is something Ashley would also say, it was like “ahhh she said the same thing as me so cute!” Whoa, I got distracted, let’s speed through this.
So you help learn more about D, learn some others things about the family that’s pretty interesting. I think the one I was the most fascinated with was the girl named Frannie. She’s a friend of D’s when he was still alive and remembers more and more about her as you go on. I really like the part where you have to go into this room and set these three dolls to represent the family and the Dad is actually missing an arm intentionally so you need to place them in the correct order so they’ll all be holding hands. It’s just so damn cute of a puzzle man. I won’t really say anything about it but there’s an interesting thing about her by the end of the game too.
Getting all of the keys and meeting up with Dad brings a scene of confusion to me. He was angry, not caring about Ashley and Jessica. This obviously brings down a moment where Ashley basically gives up and wants to leave and gives the keys to him to finish ANOTHER. One interesting thing is about Ashley’s mother named Sayoko. You learned she’s been shot and you even later on find an article that talked about her death while also writing down that Dad was a suspect. It made me wonder who it was but I was imagining it being whoever this Bill guy was since I couldn’t imagine it being anyone else. Though we can’t think about it for too long as D went into a room you can’t get in and with a fun puzzle involving the fountain, you eventually get in the room to find where his dad died all those years ago. Man…this is such a sad scene, I almost cried a little ngl just realizing who did it and such. Though after some talk to talk, you eventually find Jessica who is still handcuffed to a pole and Jessica tells Ashley to believe in Dad. It’s all up to Ashley now and figure out what’s going on for good. Also I really love how for the scribble in this room, Ashley puts a cute face of her and Jessica together showing how she was found in this room. God it’s so damn cute aaaaaaa!!
Well you eventually get into this lab by doing some things like combining keys and then you finally get into the lab and then some guy wants help out of a locked room. I was like “Oh no! Ashley, watch out, it's a trap!!” I was scared out of my life thinking something could happen but I did it anyway. Also screw this puzzle to unlock the door, IDK if I’m stupid but I could not figure it out without the in-game help and the worst part was I was actually really close to beating it without help, ugh. Though when I helped the guy out, I realized. Omg that wasn’t Richard before, THAT WAS BILL! THE MAN FOOLED ME!! God It was probably so obvious too and I didn’t realize. Though you and Ashley’s Dad go to fix the problem and learn of Bill’s true intentions and even tries to mess with memories to frame the death of Sayoko but we know for sure by the end it’s Bill. God, like Ashley’s DAS description of him, can’t stand the man either. Oh right that’s another thing I never brought out. At specific points or the beginning of chapters, you can see small descriptions of each character and a picture of them to get caught up with the plot if you need it or just read some of the nice flavor text Ashley has. It’s neat and fun.
Still many points are shown like how D died and even his real actual name but the ending climax of Bill threatening Richard and Ashley was scary. I was scared for my damn like, I wasn’t sure if the game had some bad ending or something but I was begging not to see Ashley get shot. Thankfully for us, D stops Bill but unfortunately dies in the process and couldn’t be saved, even with Richard’s help. The data he was also sending also got sent to some mysterious person, I was wondering what that was about but I wouldn’t get the answer for now. God there’s a lot of unpack here and stuff I didn’t bring up but man tying up the pieces like why was there only one shoe in that one suitcase with things related to D, it was because only one left remained when he died. I really love how things always seem to add up when you have questions, even if it can be sad answers…
Once you’re done there, it’s time for you to leave with Jessica and Dad. D also says his goodbyes here and while it’s sad to see him go, it makes me happy to see him happy and help him uncover the truth. It was time for the Family to celebrate Ashley’s birthday with a necklace related to Sayoko that will always help Ashley keep her in thoughts. That’s the end of the game and we see Ashley with a cute stuffed bear that you could find in one of the rooms earlier so that was a nice sneak peek at that. This story tells a lot of things and while it can be repetitive at times with constant flashbacks, it still kept me engaged and I was thinking just how great it was. The writing can have some nice moments too but happy and sad. I was thinking I wouldn’t get much out of it but I did. Even the mansion’s design is well made with easy shortcuts all around. The whole game was just a joy to go through and took me around 7 hours to finish the adventure. I even got all of the logs! Not that it’s hard to do but I was happy to do so. Well it’s time to move on to the next game!
Part 5: A Journey into Lost Memories
Hmm interesting, instead of being in a building, it’s all about Ashley going on a camping trip with her Dad. This game time skips a bit past the ending of the first game. We now have a 16 year old Ashley and-hold on can I just say OMG HER OUTFIT IN THIS GAME IS SO GODDAMN CUTE!!! God It’s hard to even imagine her from the first game already when I’ve seen this look, this was made for the remake too along with the first game’s and it’s amazing just how good it looks. Well unfortunately for her, her bag gets stolen by a kid we know nothing about leaving us with a miserable Ashley. Poor girl. Also I find out that she now can play the guitar, wish I got to see her play a song ngl. Also I wonder if her knowing how to play piano helped with her interest in a band.
The game itself is a lot of the same in terms of mechanics but now you explore a camp with many locations to visit and many cool characters to meet. It’s not just about learning of a single family and one other character, this means the character section in the DAS is a lot more in depth and interesting to look at. There’s a group of teens who are in a band similar to Ashley who get into a problem with a blonde girl named Elizabeth who hates her singing voice and is having issues with Dad especially involving the new girl he’s seeing named Sofia. Oh yeah you also get to see some of the workers Ashley’s Dad works with though Ashley doesn’t seem willing to chat with them at first, I know those feelings Ashley…
Well the big push to the plot is just finding more about that kid and just why would he steal your bag. You’ll also meet a couple of other singularity characters like John Smith, a secret agent who doesn’t seem to make full sense in Ashley’s mind to the point she doesn’t even believe the name which I won’t lie is funny. There’s also Dan the forest ranger who is always looking for that kid and Ashley’s bag though I swear the plot forgets about him halfway through the game. Finally there’s the guy named Bob who owns a restaurant, trust me once you go through that, you’ll never forget about the Salmon Rice Burger, my god I sure don’t. Is that even a good irl?
The last interesting character has to be a mysterious guy named Ryan who seems to show up when Ashley is noticed in the security cameras. He’s pretty interesting with some relations to knowing Sayoko. A lot of this game in fact is learning more about Sayoko with Ashley remembering being here at Lake Juliet when Ashley was only three years old. Just why was she here? Well her dad wants to find out too and around this time, you get a device made from Sayoko called the RAS. Ashley can’t get it off but it’s used to open locks on doors by inputting what the game wants from you, they get harder over the course of the game. Also I really love how the RAS shows up on the little thinking Ashley when it’s loading up a puzzle, such a cute detail!!
You’ll eventually meet up more with that random kid and find out his name is Matthew. After helping him out with another combining items situation, you get to learn his Dad is gone with an albeit rather farfetch’d reason that Ashley doesn’t believe. Also this is one of the few cutscenes with a choice you can give and they’re sadly not many but it’s interesting they even did this. I love the one earlier on where Ashley is arguing with Elizabeth and you can tell her your age is 18, though I don’t like being a liar so I didn’t say it. But anyway, despite some troubled issues with agreements with Matthew, Ashley and him work together to uncover both of their mysteries and also get Ashley’s bag along the way. In some ways it’s a lot like Ashley being with D but I’d argue I like these two as a friendly pair more and lead to a lot of good moments.
You need to figure out what’s with the rumors of Matthew’s Dad getting blamed for polluting the waters when it probably wasn’t him. You’ll go to many places and also have many many detours with the residents of the town. I kind of wanna get more into the story but to be honest, I kind of don’t wanna spoil too much as I feel the story is way better than last time. Yes, as much as I loved the story in the first, this is even better. The conflicts here are even more interesting as we learn more and more about the people. I really like the story with the Old Lady named Charlotte and when you help her ring that bell tower that was closed for years due to a story she tells, it makes me glad to see her happy to hear it ring one more time. The story starting with chapter 7 gets very intense and has a whole new revelation to itself about the mysteries and omg I was getting so scared at times and the many tense moments lead to a really good climax!
If I can sideturn for a second, let me talk about some miscellaneous things. Man Idk how I haven’t brought it up yet but I love looking at objects for Ashley to say something about. I did every single one I could do. Give me the 60th bookshelf and I will gladly hear Ashley give a slightly different sentence about how she reacts to said bookshelf. I’m being dead serious. Though if I do have to say anything negative about the game, it has to be the gyro controls. In both games you’ll use them for like two puzzles and god they are awful, I swear it’s not my controller. I’ve had no problems using it in games like Kirby and the Forgotten Land so what gives? Thankfully it’s not used much though but I hate how it feels to use. It’s crazy to think this is the most negative thing I have to say about the games gameplay wise.
God I really just want to say that I was just so engaged when playing all of these chapters in both games and by the end I was just really curious about all of the mysteries and just the memories Ashley had. There’s many shocking moments, though I do wish the stuff involving Ryan wasn’t so obvious that even an idiot like me could figure it out. Also tip from me, MAKE SURE YOU FIND THE ORIGAMI IN ELIZABETH’S HOUSE BEFORE YOU LEAVE! I had to reload an old save a little after I realized it was in there and you can’t ever go back in there. God I feel like I’m all over the place cause I didn’t even mention how I love how you can look at every item, I love looking at them just to see how it was modeled and see it from angles you can’t normally see. I also love all the connections to the past game, there’s so many nice callbacks that caught me by surprise and it really amazes me just how I was constantly thinking of that past and going “Wow it was from that moment!” By the end though, you get to say goodbye to everyone and Ashley leaves the place satisfied helping everyone out and finding more appreciation in what Dad does, what a lovely end to a set of two games. If you beat the game, you’ll also get to be able to replay the game in Ashley’s outfits from the original DS and Wii game. Also is anyone else sad we never got to see the band contest thing??
Part 6: Presentation quarrels
Sigh, alright here’s the part where I’ll be negative outside of gameplay. I’m sorry but this game is not the best looking especially compared to Nintendo’s other first party games. It’s not as bad as something like Wayforward’s Advance Wars remake but it seems to have a lot of poor texturing and pop in at times. It can take me out of the moment and it especially feels more apparent in the second game. I will say the models look good but that also doesn’t help when the framerate isn’t consistent. It seems to struggle a tiny bit at times. It’s nothing major but it’s enough for me to notice and I don’t really get the issues. I’m not one to be a huge graphics nut but I think even for Switch it could be better and maybe Arc System Works isn’t that good with the hardware? I wouldn’t know since I don’t play a lot of their games. The music on the other hand is pretty damn good. It’s not something I’d listen to a lot outside of the game but it works for the game itself. Though major shoutouts to the credits song “The place I call home” a really nice vocal song. Also I can’t get that Lake Julilet theme out of my head, damnit. The voice acting is also alright for a dub but I felt some characters like Bill and Dan could have used a little better voice direction. I’ve definitely heard worse though. Overall it has some negatives but at least it’s not all bad.
Part 7: I’ll never forget you Ashley
I’m sorry if this review is a mess. I’m not one to review games like this with exceptions. I knew going into this I would forget things and just not sure what I should do or not. I just needed to express my feelings about the game. Just so much of the game made me so happy. Like I was so obsessed. I couldn’t stop playing it. I played for almost 17 hours total in 5 days. I cried at times and by the end I was so happy seeing those beautiful credits. It’s games like these that really keep my head up high in the dark depressing days of my life. I’m going to say it, this is my favorite 1st party Switch game. It gave me a ton of enjoyment, a lot to think about, and a character that probably won’t be out of my mind for a while. I know I said not to read this if you haven’t played it yourself but god I hope more people buy the game if interested. I’m overrating the game but it’s just sooooooooo amazing in my mind. It’s an amazing experience from beginning to end and I can’t believe I thought I wasn’t going to enjoy it when I saw those review scores. I’ll probably replay this game one day just because I wanna see Ashley again and relive those fun stories. The things I forget and the things I remember. Another Code Recollection is a great experience and all I can do is…smile. Goodbye Ashley, thank you for the wonderful times. Thank you also to the developers for making this game for me to experience. Most of all, thank you for reading this probably awful review if you somehow got this far. Going to see if maybe I can cosplay as Ashley one day, especially that 2nd game’s outfit…ANYWAY BYE! (god I ramble too much -.-)
THE END