From the brilliant and twisted minds behind the Danganronpa series we have Master Detective Archives Rain Code. Our story stars Yuma Kokohead a detective who has lost his memory of everything before the start of the game. He finds out his objective through a letter in his possession and ventures to Kanai Ward a city full of mysteries. Along the way he finds out his memory loss is the result of a deal he made with the death god Shinigami but she is unable to give him any details. Though in return he can turn any mystery into an alternative world called a mystery labyrinth where navigating the maze ends with solving the case. In a city full of secrets, while being a mystery even to himself, Yuma and Shinigami work together to solves cases full of twist and turns.

For those who have read my Danganronpa reviews you know I have very high expectations here. I’m used to these developers tricking me until the very end of the game and so I wanted them to do it again. Yuma works with other detectives as they find cases in need of solving. Naturally they all involve someone being killed for one reason or another and it’s Yuma’s job to solve it. Each murder mystery is complicated and unique plus the process of understanding each one is a slow but enjoyable one. I was constantly wowed at the complexity of each case and it was a lot of fun understanding them piece by piece. As you solve each case you get bits and pieces of information towards the overarching mysteries that are meant to take the entire game to understand.

Each case has an intense story attached to it and all of them were unique in situation and in how to solve them. Some were dealing with people who were selfish criminals with no redeeming qualities. Others deal with people who were wronged and were trying to find their own form of justice. While others come with surprises that really make you think about the line between truth and justice. The game really emphases what is true might not be what is just or fair. There’s a deeply compelling story behind each case that made this game hard to put down.

As for the big reveals towards the end of the game they were almost as shocking and unexpected as I hoped. I had a lot of theories as I played through the story. I did manage to piece together a couple of the big reveals, which was something I didn’t care for, but far from all of them. I was glad to be shocked once again. In fact without going into spoilers I believe one of these reveals tricked me so well because I played Danganronpa. The two series have no direct connection but you’ll see what I mean when you get to the end.

Moving onto the gameplay for the most part I really enjoyed it. Outside of mystery labyrinths everything is usually a massive point and click adventure. You wonder around Kanai Ward interacting with people and objects, finding collectibles, doing side quests and completing quest objectives. It’s a lot of fun exploring the city and the side quests were nice. While a lot of them felt like video game busy work, doing missions including talk to this person and then report back, some of them fleshed out the world of the game more and made them fun to do. At the very least the world building aspect happens often enough that I was happy with it.

The mystery labyrinths are the core of the gameplay experience. Mysteries are solved by a variety of quick time events and mini games that center around aspects of the case. For the mini games a lot of them involve answering case related questions with very limited time to progress through a challenge. One of the most common games involves a showdown with someone trying to hinder the case. To win you need to take clues from the case and use them to slash at things you can contradict from their statements to defeat them. It’s fast paced and it’s a new version of the trials you see from the Danganronpa series. They function very similarly just the methods are different. As a whole I enjoyed the gameplay but right at the very end it gets very repetitive and monotonous. The story stayed great but the gameplay aspect of it repeated the same thing so much I would have preferred that part as dialogue only.

Then finally you have the characters which sadly is the game’s weakest point for me. Yuma is a frustrating character because he tends to fall for every trap. The traps aren’t really different each time he just falls for every act of deception even when he’s flat out told it’s a trap. I get that he has memory loss which to me excuses a couple of instances but it happens way to often to forgive all of them. Then you have Shinigami who has good and bad moments. Her banter has some moments that I love while others where she takes her mocking and is too over the top with it. I ended up liking her but sometimes she was a bit much and at no point did I feel like the two of them had great chemistry. The supporting cast consistently entertained and I think helped compensate for an uncompelling lead.

I really enjoyed this game quite a bit. It had a shocking and twisted story as I have come to expect from these developers. The cases are both complex and contain a wonderful story behind each one and I enjoyed exploring the world of Kanai Ward. The gameplay was a lot of fun till the very end where it wore out its welcome and sadly the leads don’t entertain as well as they should. So while I loved this game if I were to compare this game to Danganronpa it’s no comparison. Every Danganronpa game managed to outdo this one in every aspect. That’s not a bad thing though as a game that’s not as Danganronpa is still a fun game to play.