Ludography
71/100
Players8 ratings
75/100
Critics4 reviews

Where to get it

Another Code: Recollection cover

2024 · Bundle / compilation · Arc System Works · Adventure · Puzzle

Another Code: Recollection

Nintendo exclusiveBundle / compilation

The Nintendo DS game Trace Memory and its Wii sequel are coming together, fully enhanced, on the Nintendo Switch system. A young girl named Ashley receives a letter from her father, who she thought had passed away. Seeking answers, she sets off for a solitary island in search of him. Once there, Ashley encounters puzzles and obstacles that threaten to hinder her investigation. Find the traces of her past and experience the full story for the first time.

Released
19 January 2024
Platforms
Nintendo Switch
Genres
AdventurePuzzleSimulation
Developers
Arc System Works
Publishers
Nintendo
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Third person
Themes
Mystery
Country
Japan
Age ratings
CLASS_IND 12ESRB TCERO BUSK 6GRAC 12+PEGI 12ACB M
Languages
Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, English (UK), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish (Mexico), Spanish (Spain)
Directors
Tetsuro Shoji

About

Another Code: Recollection is a 2024 puzzle adventure game developed by Arc System Works and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. Released worldwide on January 19, 2024, it is a remake of two point-and-click adventure games originally developed by Cing: 2005 Nintendo DS title Another Code: Two Memories, and 2009 Wii title Another Code: R – A Journey into Lost Memories. Players control protagonist Ashley Mizuki Robins as she searches for her father in Blood Edward Island, and clues of her mother in Lake Juliet two years later. Along with updated visuals and gameplay, the remake's versions of these titles saw several narrative changes to streamline their respective stories, with the plot of the latter game also diverging heavily from the original.

›Story

This collection follows Ashley Mizuki Robins across two mysteries. In the first, a thirteen-year-old Ashley travels to the remote Blood Edward Island after receiving a letter from her father, long believed dead, only to find him missing; while searching the island's eerie mansion she befriends an amnesiac young ghost named D and begins to uncover the truth about her mother's death. Two years later, a sixteen-year-old Ashley visits Lake Juliet at her father's invitation, where flashes of her late mother's memory draw her into a new puzzle surrounding a mysterious research device and the secrets buried around the lake. Guided by a handheld gadget and the clues she gathers, Ashley pieces together long-hidden family truths in both haunting tales.

Keywords

  • emotional

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Another Code: Recollection is a 3D puzzle adventure game. Players control protagonist Ashley Mizuki Robins to explore and solve puzzles in Blood Edward Island (Two Memories) and Lake Juliet (Journey into Lost Memories) in a third-person view. In both stories, through Ashley, the players can operate a "DAS" (Dual Another System), a handheld device that resembles the Nintendo Switch, through which they can utilize a camera, view photos and character biographies, and scan QR coded origami crane messages. In addition, the "DAS" unlocks card reader locks around Lake Juliet via "RAS" (Reboot Another System), a wristband-like device Ashley receives at the beginning of the latter game.

Interactions with non-player characters still retains the visual novel style format from the original games, but with the addition of voice acting, fully 3D models and comic book-style panel and speech bubbles. The remake introduces an optional escalating hint system to assist the player if they ever get stuck or miss a puzzle.

Story

On February 24, 2005, a day before her birthday, a 13-year-old Ashley Mizuki Robins arrives on Blood Edward Island with her aunt Jessica, after she receives a letter from her father, Richard, who was believed to be dead, along with a handheld device called "DAS" (Dual Another System). After they arrive, Richard is not there to greet them, so Jessica goes to look for him, but when she does not return, Ashley ventures out to search for both of them. While exploring the island, Ashley encounters and befriends a 10-year-old ghost named D, who has lost his memories and wants to learn the truth behind his death. Together, they enter the Edward Mansion and search for clues on Jessica and Richard's whereabouts and D's memories.

In the mansion, Ashley and D learn the history of the Edward family, and his past: D's real identity is "Daniel Edward", a young boy from the Edward family and son of Thomas Edward, who both visited the island during his great-grandfather, Lawrence's illness, and befriended a girl named Frannie, the daughter of his uncle Henry. At the same time, Ashley meets her father, Richard, in the drawing room, where he asks her to retrieve three keys to "Another", which is a device with the ability to replace someone's real memories with false ones, which was created by Ashley's parents while they worked as memory researchers at MJ Labs. While retrieving the keys, Ashley eventually learns that her mother, Sayoko, was murdered on the night of her 3rd birthday. Ashley questions her father about her mother's death, but Richard angrily shouts at her for not giving him the keys, and soon after, a saddened Ashley rebukes him.

Development

Another Code: Recollection is a remake of Another Code: Two Memories, released for the Nintendo DS handheld console in 2005, and its sequel, Another Code: R – A Journey into Lost Memories for the Wii console in 2009, for the Nintendo Switch. It was first announced during September 2023's Nintendo Direct. It also marked the first time the sequel was being released in North America, as the original game was only released in Japan and European countries. In addition to enhanced visuals, puzzles and music, Recollection features fully explorable areas and voice acting in cutscenes, which were not present in the original games.

That same day, Taisuke Kanasaki, who served as a director, art director and character designer for both original games confirmed that he returned as an art director for the remakes. A demo of the game was released on Nintendo eShop on December 14, 2023, which allowed the progression from the first chapter.

Reception

Another Code: Recollection received "mixed or average reviews" on review aggregator website Metacritic. On OpenCritic, the game was recommended by 64% of critics. Chris Scullion of Video Games Chronicle rated the game positively, saying that "while it lasts, however, Another Code: Recollection is a beautiful adventure game with a touching storyline that only goes to remind us why Cing's closure all those years ago remains such a loss." GameCentral on Metro UK gave the game a mixed review, praising the visuals and artwork, but stating that they felt the script and the puzzles were weak.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Nintendo Switch19 January 2024Worldwide

Editions and related releases

Based on
Another Code: Two MemoriesAnother Code: R – A Journey into Lost Memories
Derived from
Another Code: Two MemoriesAnother Code: R – A Journey into Lost Memories

Games like this

Collections3 collections

Years

Platform libraries

Publishers

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.