PenDragon101
2 reviews liked by PenDragon101
I remember being fairly excited for the release of Master Detective Archives: Rain Code when I first heard of its development. I really enjoyed all the main entries in the Danganronpa series and thus I was interested in playing its spiritual successor. But now that I’ve completed it…I’m not quite sure what to make of it.
There were times I was on the edge of my seat to see what happened next, and mysteries that were insanely fun to put together. And Rain Code’s final two chapters were an incredibly strong finish. But still, there’s a lot I didn’t enjoy in this game, or features I felt were executed better in the Danganronpa series. Sometimes I thought it was unfair to compare the two…but given how similar Rain Code tries to be to its predecessors, I think avoiding comparison is a fruitless endeavor. I want to say I liked this game…but I don’t know for sure.
Pros:
- Overall, I think the story of Rain Code is a good one simply because it sets up a lot of good mysteries that have some pretty crazy payouts. This game employs the same type of storytelling as Danganronpa, where each “chapter” of the game imparts a larger piece of the puzzle until you have enough to solve the big mystery at the end. It’s a solid formula and good lord the climax to this story in the fourth and fifth chapters is just mind blowing. It’s pretty much impossible to sit there and not crack a smile as you hear it all laid out. I prefer to keep my reviews spoiler-free, so unfortunately I won’t be talking about specific moments but there were a TON of dope reveals and concepts that I gushed over.
- I will say that one thing Rain Code has going for it over Danganronpa in the mystery department is that its setting allows much more varied investigations. Yuma has a whole city to investigate in, and there are much less restrictions on what tools are available in each case since anything that could be reasonably acquired in a city is fair game. Chapters 2 and 4 were my favorite to solve because of how insane the mechanics the culprits used to carry out their crime were, and both of them had very emotional endings. The second chapter also had the most creative investigation mechanic in the game, full stop. Those two chapters more than matched some of Danganronpa’s best cases.
- Of course, a large part of the reason why these mysteries were so enjoyable to solve is because they’re presented alongside the Mystery Labyrinth, which has some insanely flashy and interesting designs in it. Each labyrinth looks different depending on the case it corresponds to, and in some cases the types of questions and the layout can change depending on what kind of questions need to be answered to solve the mystery. A lot of its cutscenes and quick time events are really fun to playthrough, especially when you’re rapid-firing answers to questions as you try to avoid collapsing platforms or attacks from ‘mystery phantoms’ that seek to inhibit your progress. And while I still prefer Danganronpa’s Nonstop Debate minigames, Yuma’s Solution Blade cutting through statements in the Reasoning Deathmatch is so fucking cool. The sound design is killer on that. Deduction Denouement, while essentially a re-treading of Danganronpa’s Closing Argument, is awesome because Closing Argument is awesome.
- I’d also say that the minigames in Rain Code trim a lot of the unnecessary fat from Danganronpa’s Class Trial sequences. Instead of having to try and spell out the word “knife” or play fucking Tetris or some shit to figure out the item you need to present as evidence, Rain Code often just asks you a question, and you use your dope-as-shit sword to cut through with the correct answer. My favorite minigame was definitely the crime scene recreations, where you're tasked with reconstructing the crime as it happened. Chapter 1 had a ton of those and it was sick. Each Mystery Labyrinth also has different types of minigames, which helped prevent them from getting too stale, although the labyrinths were so enjoyable I doubt it would have mattered if there weren’t.
- I also really enjoyed the addition of cutscenes, even if they are occasionally clunky (more on that in the cons section). I love Danganronpa’s sprites and CG art style, but being able to see characters move around in 3D is very neat. The cutscenes where Yuma monologues about the theme and events of the chapter that play just before starting it are a highlight for me, I love how dramatic and symbolic they are (and yes as you might expect, Chapter 2’s intro cutscene is my favorite lol). Having almost every single line be fully voice acted was also very cool, and I think many of the voice actors gave great performances, especially those of Yuma, Shinigami, Desuhiko, Fubuki, Seth, Guillaume, and Yomi.
- The artstyle is as always phenomenal. Rui Komatsuzaki is an incredibly talented character artist, and the design of Kanai Ward and its unending rain is great. Nothing much to say here; it’s just good. And while I think the Danganronpa OST is miles better than this game, Rain Code had a few standout tracks, especially the Reasoning Deathmatch track; that shit had me PUMPED.
Cons:
- I might get crucified for this one but I didn’t think many of the characters in Rain Code were that memorable. This is definitely the main reason I feel so conflicted as to what degree I enjoyed this game. Danganronpa has its fair share of underdeveloped characters, but in general character motivations and development were a natural consequence of the way its mysteries played out. In that series, you knew that any murder meant one of the characters you’ve seen develop and interact with others would die, and another character would be their killer, which got you invested. There’s no such hook in Rain Code, and since Yuma has the entire city as potential characters of interest in each mystery, you aren’t likely to get attached to anyone involved in any of the cases, thus reducing their emotional impact. It’s honestly impressive Chapters 2, 4, and 5 managed to have the impact they did.
- The core group of detective characters Yuma interacts with throughout the course of them game are interesting in personality alone, and rarely get any sort of meaningful development as the story progresses since so many of them are “tied” to the chapter they assist or oppose Yuma in and don’t get any time to shine otherwise. Sure, I enjoyed Halara being cold and efficient, Desuhiko being a goofy guy, and Fubuki being airheaded. But past that surface-level personality, I didn’t care much about them.
- While being able to explore Kanai Ward in an approximation of an open-world environment is cool on paper, I felt that it was largely pointless. Rain Code is a visual novel—I’m here to read and solve mysteries, not sit through what amounts to a really complicated loading screen as I walk to the next dialogue trigger. I was not at all interested in any of the sidequests the open world offered, and I was only marginally interested in collecting ‘memory shards’ (which unlock one-on-one conversations between Yuma and another detective). The Danganronpa series had social links in the form of free-time events, which were actually woven into the story at suitable points in the narrative. But Rain Code has you search out the shards to unlock these links—which if you’re like me and only cared about the main story—I’m not bothering to look for.
- Luckily, the mysteries in this game are pretty good so I don’t have that many complaints about them, save for Chapter 3 which honestly had the most random and nonsensical mystery in the entire game. The Chapter 4 investigation was great from a mystery standpoint, but the navigation around its crime scene was made annoying by both this game’s clunky movement (discussed below) and an element I can’t say for spoilers. And while Chapter 5’s Mystery Labyrinth was god-tier, the investigation went by very slowly as it was basically a walking simulator (again, why I don’t think a open-world was a good idea).
- Like the mysteries themselves, the Mystery Labyrinths were pretty consistently fun and creative. That being said, I really didn’t enjoy Shinigami Puzzle, partly because it's an only slightly improved version of Danganronpa’s worst minigame, and partly because it has super-omega cringe level fanservice that would prompt a very unenjoyable amount of questioning if someone saw me watching it on my TV screen. GOD Shinigami, while really fun, is also slightly uncomfortable to watch. Not really digging watching giantess Shinigami jiggle physics all over my screen lmao.
- Finally, this game’s open world might have been more tolerable if this game didn’t have super clunky movement and look controls. Absolutely no look smoothing and the walking is so stiff, it's a few removed movement vectors away from being grid-based. It’s not the worst thing in the world but just a bit better animations and walking everywhere could have at least looked pretty cool. Also the lip-syncing in cutscenes kinda sucks but whatever.
Objective rating: 3.5 stars
Subjective rating: 3.5 stars
There were times I was on the edge of my seat to see what happened next, and mysteries that were insanely fun to put together. And Rain Code’s final two chapters were an incredibly strong finish. But still, there’s a lot I didn’t enjoy in this game, or features I felt were executed better in the Danganronpa series. Sometimes I thought it was unfair to compare the two…but given how similar Rain Code tries to be to its predecessors, I think avoiding comparison is a fruitless endeavor. I want to say I liked this game…but I don’t know for sure.
Pros:
- Overall, I think the story of Rain Code is a good one simply because it sets up a lot of good mysteries that have some pretty crazy payouts. This game employs the same type of storytelling as Danganronpa, where each “chapter” of the game imparts a larger piece of the puzzle until you have enough to solve the big mystery at the end. It’s a solid formula and good lord the climax to this story in the fourth and fifth chapters is just mind blowing. It’s pretty much impossible to sit there and not crack a smile as you hear it all laid out. I prefer to keep my reviews spoiler-free, so unfortunately I won’t be talking about specific moments but there were a TON of dope reveals and concepts that I gushed over.
- I will say that one thing Rain Code has going for it over Danganronpa in the mystery department is that its setting allows much more varied investigations. Yuma has a whole city to investigate in, and there are much less restrictions on what tools are available in each case since anything that could be reasonably acquired in a city is fair game. Chapters 2 and 4 were my favorite to solve because of how insane the mechanics the culprits used to carry out their crime were, and both of them had very emotional endings. The second chapter also had the most creative investigation mechanic in the game, full stop. Those two chapters more than matched some of Danganronpa’s best cases.
- Of course, a large part of the reason why these mysteries were so enjoyable to solve is because they’re presented alongside the Mystery Labyrinth, which has some insanely flashy and interesting designs in it. Each labyrinth looks different depending on the case it corresponds to, and in some cases the types of questions and the layout can change depending on what kind of questions need to be answered to solve the mystery. A lot of its cutscenes and quick time events are really fun to playthrough, especially when you’re rapid-firing answers to questions as you try to avoid collapsing platforms or attacks from ‘mystery phantoms’ that seek to inhibit your progress. And while I still prefer Danganronpa’s Nonstop Debate minigames, Yuma’s Solution Blade cutting through statements in the Reasoning Deathmatch is so fucking cool. The sound design is killer on that. Deduction Denouement, while essentially a re-treading of Danganronpa’s Closing Argument, is awesome because Closing Argument is awesome.
- I’d also say that the minigames in Rain Code trim a lot of the unnecessary fat from Danganronpa’s Class Trial sequences. Instead of having to try and spell out the word “knife” or play fucking Tetris or some shit to figure out the item you need to present as evidence, Rain Code often just asks you a question, and you use your dope-as-shit sword to cut through with the correct answer. My favorite minigame was definitely the crime scene recreations, where you're tasked with reconstructing the crime as it happened. Chapter 1 had a ton of those and it was sick. Each Mystery Labyrinth also has different types of minigames, which helped prevent them from getting too stale, although the labyrinths were so enjoyable I doubt it would have mattered if there weren’t.
- I also really enjoyed the addition of cutscenes, even if they are occasionally clunky (more on that in the cons section). I love Danganronpa’s sprites and CG art style, but being able to see characters move around in 3D is very neat. The cutscenes where Yuma monologues about the theme and events of the chapter that play just before starting it are a highlight for me, I love how dramatic and symbolic they are (and yes as you might expect, Chapter 2’s intro cutscene is my favorite lol). Having almost every single line be fully voice acted was also very cool, and I think many of the voice actors gave great performances, especially those of Yuma, Shinigami, Desuhiko, Fubuki, Seth, Guillaume, and Yomi.
- The artstyle is as always phenomenal. Rui Komatsuzaki is an incredibly talented character artist, and the design of Kanai Ward and its unending rain is great. Nothing much to say here; it’s just good. And while I think the Danganronpa OST is miles better than this game, Rain Code had a few standout tracks, especially the Reasoning Deathmatch track; that shit had me PUMPED.
Cons:
- I might get crucified for this one but I didn’t think many of the characters in Rain Code were that memorable. This is definitely the main reason I feel so conflicted as to what degree I enjoyed this game. Danganronpa has its fair share of underdeveloped characters, but in general character motivations and development were a natural consequence of the way its mysteries played out. In that series, you knew that any murder meant one of the characters you’ve seen develop and interact with others would die, and another character would be their killer, which got you invested. There’s no such hook in Rain Code, and since Yuma has the entire city as potential characters of interest in each mystery, you aren’t likely to get attached to anyone involved in any of the cases, thus reducing their emotional impact. It’s honestly impressive Chapters 2, 4, and 5 managed to have the impact they did.
- The core group of detective characters Yuma interacts with throughout the course of them game are interesting in personality alone, and rarely get any sort of meaningful development as the story progresses since so many of them are “tied” to the chapter they assist or oppose Yuma in and don’t get any time to shine otherwise. Sure, I enjoyed Halara being cold and efficient, Desuhiko being a goofy guy, and Fubuki being airheaded. But past that surface-level personality, I didn’t care much about them.
- While being able to explore Kanai Ward in an approximation of an open-world environment is cool on paper, I felt that it was largely pointless. Rain Code is a visual novel—I’m here to read and solve mysteries, not sit through what amounts to a really complicated loading screen as I walk to the next dialogue trigger. I was not at all interested in any of the sidequests the open world offered, and I was only marginally interested in collecting ‘memory shards’ (which unlock one-on-one conversations between Yuma and another detective). The Danganronpa series had social links in the form of free-time events, which were actually woven into the story at suitable points in the narrative. But Rain Code has you search out the shards to unlock these links—which if you’re like me and only cared about the main story—I’m not bothering to look for.
- Luckily, the mysteries in this game are pretty good so I don’t have that many complaints about them, save for Chapter 3 which honestly had the most random and nonsensical mystery in the entire game. The Chapter 4 investigation was great from a mystery standpoint, but the navigation around its crime scene was made annoying by both this game’s clunky movement (discussed below) and an element I can’t say for spoilers. And while Chapter 5’s Mystery Labyrinth was god-tier, the investigation went by very slowly as it was basically a walking simulator (again, why I don’t think a open-world was a good idea).
- Like the mysteries themselves, the Mystery Labyrinths were pretty consistently fun and creative. That being said, I really didn’t enjoy Shinigami Puzzle, partly because it's an only slightly improved version of Danganronpa’s worst minigame, and partly because it has super-omega cringe level fanservice that would prompt a very unenjoyable amount of questioning if someone saw me watching it on my TV screen. GOD Shinigami, while really fun, is also slightly uncomfortable to watch. Not really digging watching giantess Shinigami jiggle physics all over my screen lmao.
- Finally, this game’s open world might have been more tolerable if this game didn’t have super clunky movement and look controls. Absolutely no look smoothing and the walking is so stiff, it's a few removed movement vectors away from being grid-based. It’s not the worst thing in the world but just a bit better animations and walking everywhere could have at least looked pretty cool. Also the lip-syncing in cutscenes kinda sucks but whatever.
Objective rating: 3.5 stars
Subjective rating: 3.5 stars
they're trying so hard to cover ethan's face