Another Code: Recollection, is a remake of two games that were originally on the DS and Wii (Another Code: Two Memories and Another Code: R). These games are essentially point-and-click adventures with puzzle elements and some great visual novel-style storytelling that digs into family secrets, memory, and loss. You play as Ashley, a young girl trying to uncover memories of her past while helping others do the same. See, the name is clever because it’s a “re-collection” and also a “recollection”.
The first game, Two Memories, starts with 14-year-old Ashley heading to a deserted mansion on Blood Edward Island, where she’s supposed to meet her dad for the first time since her mum passed away when she was only three. Her parents had been working on a memory-manipulating system called Another, which apparently her dad kept working on in secret on this remote island. But just as Ashley and her aunt arrive, they get separated, leaving Ashley on her own to explore the eerie mansion. Along the way, she encounters a ghost named D, a young boy who’s been stuck on the island for decades with no memory of who he is or how he died. As Ashley solves puzzles and navigates the mansion, she gradually pieces together not only her family’s secrets but also D’s lost memories.
The second game, Another Code: R picks up two years later. Now 16, Ashley is off to visit her dad again, this time at a lake near the research lab where he works. She’s hoping for a relaxing camping trip with him, but things get complicated when she meets new characters—some teens in a band, lab employees, camp staff, and yet another young boy with missing memories, though fortunately, he’s not a ghost this time. While the game ultimately ties back to the events of the first game and her mother’s research, it spends a lot of time exploring this boy’s story and his quest to remember.
Now, if you loved the original games like I did, you might find a few changes in this remake a bit of a letdown, especially in the puzzle department. The developers of the originals, Cing, really took advantage of the DS and Wii’s unique features to create some inventive, memorable puzzles. One of the best from the DS required you to close the DS slightly so one screen could reflect on the other—a real out-of-the-box experience. Sadly, those creative moments didn’t make it into the Switch version, aside from a few gyro-tilting puzzles.
And honestly, even the puzzles they did include are a bit hand-holdy. Often, Ashley or D will point out the solution before you have a chance to think it through yourself. You’ll come across a mechanism, and instead of having to work it out, you’re nudged in the right direction before you’ve even really started. It makes things a bit too easy and, well, takes away some of the charm of figuring things out on your own.
But, it’s all very charming and makes me miss Cing.
