[EXPlay] Another Code Recollection Demo | Nintendo Switch

Welcome to EXPlay, (Explain & Play) the review series where we care not for scores but tell it how it is when it comes to every game we get our hands on, whilst also taking the time to include some lengthy gameplay, to give you the reader, the chance to shape your own impressions and views whilst watching and reading.

In this explanatory review, we’re covering the Another Code Recollection Demo by developer Nintendo:

Another Code: Recollection Demo (The Explanation)

Another Code: Recollection arrives early next year on January 19th. Ahead of the games release, Nintendo has released a demo. The demo covers the opening part of the game introducing you to several characters, gameplay mechanics, a few puzzles, and Blood Edward Island. 

 

In Another Code: Recollection you control Ashley Mizuki Robins. In the first game, of the Another Code package on Switch, Ashley is thirteen years old and searching for her father. The second game in the packaged series is a few years later when she is sixteen. The demo focuses on the first game where the main objective is to meet up with your long lost father who Ashley thought was dead.

 

You begin the with a short segment of cut scenes that helps to inform you as your father’s supposed death. Now on a boat, Ashley is heading to Blood Edward Island where her father told her to meet her. There’s a ship captain that you dialogue with on your journey and then you are introduced to Ashley’s aunt and guardian, Jessica.  When you arrive to the island Jessica quickly leaves Ashley at the docks to talk with her dad but then disappears. Now Ashley, alone and searching for Jessica and her father climbs the stairs on the cliffside where a locked gate stands in her way.

 

Another Code: Recollection is a point-and-click adventure at heart. Some of the first puzzles I encountered in the game required me to move the Switch Pro Controller around to turn a stool upside down to dislodge a key. There was also an instance where I needed to find a wooden plank and drop it over a gap to be able to cross a broken bridge. Before the end of the demo you are introduced to another character, D. D appears first as a pixie-like sprite reminiscent of Navi from The Legend of Zelda series of games. D first startles Ashley in one of the early moments of the game and prevents her from getting crushed by some falling rocks. Later as you approach the graveyard area behind the mansion on Blood Edward Island, D reveals himself to you and he finds out that Ashley can hear him talk.

 

After a bit of narrative back and forth, Ashley agrees to help D learn about his past and find out who he was before he died as they enter the mansion to explore. It is unclear yet to me how long the game will actually be and what sort of puzzles and stores will unfold as you dig deeper into uncovering the truth about your father’s disappearance along with Jessica. I am certain from what we get to play in the demo that somehow D’s death is also tied to Ashley and her family, but only time will tell as this game nears release in January.

 

The art style in Another Code: Recollection appeals to me in a similar fashion to cell-shaded games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. I am excited to see how the first game opens up as you explore the mansion and how linear the overall story and gameplay is. So far everything was walking Ashley from point A to point B, which at times was a little clunky to me in how she moves.

 

The overall pace of the game seems slow now and it isn’t clear to me if there will be combat in the game or if it’s just puzzles and dialogue options with characters that move the story forward. I am hoping when the game launches to be able to return to you all with an EXPlay of the next hour of gameplay and more of the story and puzzles. For now, I am waiting patiently with this one and moderately excited to see what D and Ashley eventually discover.

Another Code: Recollection Demo (The Gameplay)

Game Specifications:

Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Nintendo Switch (eShop)
Category: Adventure, Puzzle
No. of Players: 1 (Single System)
Release Date: NA| EU: January 19, 2024
Price: $59.99
File Size: 5.2 GB
Nintendo.com Listing