Master Detective Archives RainCode

Has it really been 7 years since the last Danganronpa game? I know this isn't the thought that should be foremost in your head when looking at a new game to review, but….7 years already! The reason this thought is in my head? Well, I'm looking at a screen full of wacky characters, spiral-filled eyes and pink blood. That's right, it's the new game from Spike Chunsoft, Master Detective Archives Rain Code, an all-new tale filled with murder most foul.

Our protagonist is the…interestingly named Yuma Kokohead, a young boy who awakens in the lost property room of a train station with no memory and the voice of a woman in his head. He quickly discovers that he's an apprentice member of the World Detective Agency, a powerful organisation of quirky individuals with special powers which they use to help solve the mysteries of the world. If that weren't enough for him to deal with, it turns out that the voice in Yumas's head is that of a death God obsessed with solving mysteries in her own, soul reaping way. Can this eclectic group really get to the bottom of one of the world's greatest mysteries?

*In accordance with the publishers wishes, we will not discuss the details of the games story any further so as to avoid spoilers.

The first thing that will strike you about Rain Code is just how insanely pretty the game is. I mean seriously, the design may be super-stylised rather than realistic but wow did they make the most of it. The world the game is set in is covered in a perpetual rain which means a near-constant gloom highlighted in a neon glow on everything from umbrellas to (weirdly) the soles of Yuma's shoes, and it looks brilliantly atmospheric. The character designs are hilariously unique and are expressively animated in a very charming, over-the-top manner too.

Character designs are fun and appealing.

Unfortunately the next thing that will strike you is how poorly structured the actual game seems to be. Now I will note that a lot of this is the fault of the first mystery you have to solve which is just riddled with issues that showcase the game's worst features at their absolute worst. You'll spend what feels like hours just holding forward as characters reiterate plot points. Over and over and over and over and…. 

You'll have debates with other characters which require you to use incomprehensible adventure game logic to find the one combination the game will accept to allow you to proceed, despite the fact that multiple other combinations should clearly be valid based on the aspect of the mystery that's under discussion. 

Worst of all, the mission will spring a ‘twist’ on you that it's utterly impossible to have predicted based on the investigation you were allowed to do beforehand. This is a pretty big issue too because whilst this kind of thing would work well in anime or an episode of Jonathan Creek, the point of a detective game is that the player gets to feel smart by solving the story, and withholding information at the start means there's never any chance of this. What should be withheld is how the pieces fit together. If you're investigating a stabbing it's not exactly fair to jump out two hours later and go ‘aha, they were actually shot all along but you just didn't look at the the body from the other side when you investigated it because we didn't give you an option to do that’.

The mysteries might be a bit of a mess, but he neon-soaked graphics certainly aren't!

Now, later chapters are nowhere near as bad and the stories they tell feel much more compelling as a result (though you'll generally have solved the case long before the Rain Code will allow you to start accusing the culprits) but the first mission sets such a bad tone that it makes the rest feel that much more of a chore and it means that you'll be much more aware of all the little niggles the game throws at you once they arise because they call back to the frustration of that first, fateful investigation.

This is a game that I want to love but whilst the visuals are incredible and the characters are a lot of fun, the rest of Rain Code just doesn't hold together as well as it should. As Shinigami would say, it's truly mysteriful quite how things went so far off course from what could have been a really solid mystery tale.