Knowing how to combine a thing in an unexpected way graphics all in all “accommodating“, with an atmosphere from more intriguing and mature themesit is certainly not an easy thing, but some particularly brilliant minds of the current market can succeed in this undertaking. This is the case of one of the latest projects branded Spike Chunsoftor Master Detective Archives: Rain Code. The project, which sees a large presence of some of the most important names in the series of Danganronpa (the main scenario writer, official composer, and character designer of the series), was launched on Nintendo Switch last year, and now, also coming to PS5 featuring some important improvements.
The version of the game that we are going to review in this article is not in fact the basic one, of which you can already find the review on our site, but the Plus version. This revised and corrected edition of the gamewhich lands on consoles that are structurally different from the Nintendo hybrid, will have succeeded in the enterprise of significantly increasing not only its technical quality but also its content quality?
A cursed investigation
Let’s quickly go back to the aspect relating to the narration (as it does not differ in any way from what we saw in the basic version of the game): we impersonate the young man Yuma Kokohead who, struck by a strong amnesia, wakes up in the lost and found closet of a station without remembering anything of his past. The only clues at his disposal are a train ticket and an invitation to a meeting of theWorld Detective Organization.
We will not go further in order to avoid spoilers, but we would like to emphasize in particular not so much the excellent management of the narrative rhythmsthe design of places and characters, the more we want to highlight how the story flows through dialogues dubbed in English (but subtitled in Italian) with significant work in the dubbing booth and, above all, with videos with excellent setting and high quality both for aesthetic and musical choices (videos and music, among other things, can be viewed separately and explored in depth in the interesting Gallery mode).
The game clearly focuses on the narrative phase, as demonstrated by the fact that much of it takes place through dialogues. In addition to the basic version, the version we analyzed includes various DLC: the latter manage to add interesting points of view and narratives that contribute to increasing the pace and the number of hours playedThat overcome abundantly the 30 hours total.
An original style of play
The narrative rhythms of Master Detective Archive: Rain Code Plus are combined with an interesting succession of different gameplay phasescombined in a rather original way. In fact, we move from a purely visual novelwhere our contribution is limited to moving from one area of the map to another and reading dialogues, passing through a structure minigames up to a JRPG-like detective story.
All this, focusing on thetechnical aspectflows in a manner excellent: the title, despite being rich in lights, colors and moving characters, manages to hold up everything very well. Both when moving in the city full of neon lights and hit by the perennial rain of Kanai Ward, and when entering the phases of the “Labyrinth of Mysteries”, the title does not present slowdowns or drastic drops in FPS. The management of the game world, far from lacking in details, is therefore well done.
A question of contexts
The game world, as we previously stated, is really rich and original: the art style of the settings and characters is iconic and gets straight to the pointthanks not only to an interesting character design, but also to the great use of colors and satisfying shadows.
One element of the artistic style that, however, works against the title concerns its not having been sufficiently adapted in the transition from Nintendo Switch to PlayStation 5 in terms of the complexity and “roundness” of the characters and elements of the setting. Simply put, polygonal modelsalthough flashy and colorful, are in many occasions excessively “square” and simple.
This is an element that emerges in in an obvious way In the transition from movie to game scene: the artistic structure of the latter, which includes a significant use of dark and thick strokes to “mark the boundaries” between one element of the game world and another, causes the most basic and rounded models to emerge in a discordant way.
PlayStation-branded completion incentives
Finally, we focus on an important aspect when talking about a title that was born (or arrives) on PlayStation: The Trophies. Unlike Nintendo Switch titles, in fact, PlayStation Trophies introduce a further incentive to thoroughly explore the game in order to reach the coveted platinum.
Master Detective Archives: Rain Code Plus trophies I’m 38 and, as a whole, they are able to incentivize players through a progressive increase in the difficulty of obtaining the trophy for each type of action, allowing the player to gradually discover all the primary and secondary game mechanics and elements.
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