Finished this. My perspective on this obviously is mostly supposition and projection, but I'm willing to go out on a limb and call this one of the best remakes in the medium despite unfamiliarity with the original material; it is that impressive in its individual context. Of course, individual preferences and priorities may sway that assessment: from observing people's memories and fondness for the first game in particular, much of it was tied to its utilization of hardware-specific input methods for puzzle design and interaction, something that was again carried over into the Wii sequel. All of that's gone, in lieu of standard modes of input and the occasional gyro integration... and for me that isn't an issue at all, because puzzles aren't what I'm playing these games for in any capacity; I was happy to expedite the ones that I had no interest in sussing out through the game's comprehensive hint system.
The originals will always have the edge in that area, but all the rest of it goes to
Recollection. One of the strengths of the Kyle Hyde duology is how format-consistent the two games are, like two halves of a serial with the exact same creative team and ethos--it's almost unthinkable to leave off in the middle of them should one have access to both, and the satisfaction in witnessing the consistency between them is profound. The platform, presentational and fidelity differences between
Another Code's halves in its original form did not evoke similar as strongly or cohesively, which was an aspect that kept me away from them, whether it was subconscious impression or not. With
Recollection, there is a clear and deliberate intent to unify the works as a contiguous, holistic story, extending from aesthetic expression to narrative framing to mechanical design to structural theming. Absolutely everything about this story hangs together from beginning to end, not in a looking-for-plot-holes-and-disbelief-clauses way that passes muster, but as a communicated piece of fiction that has picked its medium for conveying its narrative and executes it with confidence. So many remakes dilute or misuse the character of their source material--in here, all I could see was great respect paid toward a pair of games in preserving and emphasizing their spirit over literalized adherence to form.
The writing's something to marvel at. There's a characteristic downcast mood to the overall trajectory of the narratives that is now something I've grown accustomed to from Suzuki (and however her work is being adapted here in specific), which helps contrasting the glimpses of humour that are themselves in their own way also quiet and non-intrusive. The throughline of empathy in the narrative isn't difficult to discern, but it's more difficult to be able to capture that through practical phrasing, conversation, and now voice acting performances, but
Recollection pulls it off. Everything about these games possesses a warmth, and it does not come at a cost of cloying sentiment or a tendency to preach its values at the audience. Ashley has to carry the bulk of it, and her evolving depiction and performance by Kaitlyn Yott is rightfully the game's centerpiece, even among a cast of terrific, evocative performers. It's not solely a vehicle for a strong protagonist, because I don't think anyone flubs here, and the nuances of delivery and affect come to greatly contribute toward characterization across the entire cast.
There's a lot that's informed by the necessities of setting in how the characters come off:
Two Memories is entirely restricted to its isolated
Resident Evil send-up locale among just a few people, in very objective-driven, tense circumstances; Ashley does not have the luxury to stop to breathe and shake off the cobwebs of her immediate peril and anxiety, so impressions on her character aren't as strongly emphasized beyond the trappings she inhabits.
A Journey into Lost Memories explores everything that could've been construed as neglected in Ashley's initial portrayal, by dropping her in the middle of a resort community and structuring the game's narrative arc to criss-cross through its goings-on, without literally entrapping the protagonist in a figure-out-the-puzzles escape rooms; the recontextualization of the adventure game format between the two halves of the story greatly transforms how Ashley can and is allowed to behave within it--more comfortable in indulging in her emotions, to blow off at people, to socialize with them, to take a moment to unwind and just chat the day away. Ongoing, driving mysteries still drive the plotting, but the integration of people uninvolved or tangential to those questions craft a sensation of less artificial, perfunctory storytelling, interweaving the crucial with the incidental in a way that benefits characterization, moving-the-pieces plotting and the eventual emotional resolution. There wasn't much in
Two Memories that struck as affecting on its own beyond the game telling me that it was, but through extended travels in Ashley's shoes and her headspace and what the material is able to do with that embellished space, by the end of
Recollection I was firmly in tears.
I am always sensitive to the deaths of women being mined for emotional dividends in fiction, and while this isn't a hard rule there is generally a divide in how charitable I'm willing to be of such narrative elements. The less keen treatment is to fridge barely or long-established women for the benefit of other characters, and the relatively more interesting option is to treat such a death and loss as fundamental to the narrative from its premise to its conclusion.
Another Code is about Ashley's relationship to her absent-but-alive father and her dead-but-remembered mother, and it is not free of genre shortcuts and exploitation in framing such themes... but it is also remarkably committed to pushing through with said themes from beginning to end, never forgetting that they are what inform and shape Ashley through her literal growth across the story. Sayoko is treated as perhaps too saintly a figure to craft an image of a person in the hole she's left behind in the characters' lives, but there are enough suggestions and asides to sell an impression of something realer beyond the mandates of plotting as well. How Ashley feels about herself and the people she meets is rarely disconnected from that formative loss and retracing of a parental relationship, as ongoing texture for her growth and attitudes toward others (please regularly read the updating character relation chart, impeccably written in her voice), so whatever permutation of a "dead women make for tragedy" plot element is in effect here, it's at least delivered with purpose.
I don't think there's much more to say except to reaffirm that people should play
Another Code Recollection if they want a good story. It is good in practically every way, and revisions to the original material in every instance that I've seen compare for the better--Ashley's redesigns for both games were subtle enough for someone like me to not consciously realize at first, but in direct comparison track as clear improvements: the first game eliminating her navel-exposing shirt in lieu of
a comfortable hoodie, and the sequel delivering what might be
the most lesbian-coded visual design I've seen for any video game protagonist who wasn't the lead of an explicitly queer work. It's like that for every change that I've been able to track: "oh, I like how they did this better in the remake." That's about as definitive an endorsement as I can think of for the experience of playing the game and considering its relationship to its source material.