Chase: Cold Case Investigations - Distant Memories (Cing when you're Winning)

Out next week on Thursday, as per usual for eShop games. For anyone who enjoyed the Hotel Dusk games (that should be all of you), this is surely a shoo-in?

Whilst I have an eye on it, I disliked Hotel Dusk and haven't played its sequel. It'll take some convincing to get me on board.

Perfect first reply - apologies.

...how the heck can you dislike Hotel Dusk!?  What's wrong with you man?  (And yes, should have left the second post to basically anyone else. )

I'll pick it up when I'm done with Dragon Quest.

I'm playing it!

It's... weird.  It feels pretty much like you'd expect an indie-developed Hotel Dusk game to feel.  Except they've got rid of the hold-like-a-book thingy and the monochrome style... and the marching around the locale, which was charming in its own way.  The pacing so far feels a little rushed.  Oh, and there's a notable drop in translation quality as well.

I'm more suspicious than I'd like to be at this stage, but I'll press on.  It feels very Dusk-esque, at least, in the visuals and music and the one bit of actual gameplay (interrogations) that I've come across thus far.

That's a shame. I guess this game kind of proves that part of Hotel Dusk's charm came from its lavish (for the genre) production values and top-tier Treehouse localisation that added a lot embellishments from the game's setting.

I started Hotel Dusk last week, having ignored it for nearly ten years(!), and I'm rather enjoying it. I love how grounded the plot is right now, and how a lot of the twists aren't just thrown in there for shock value but make sense considering the rest of the story. But part of why I really enjoy it is down to almost everything you mention: Book mode, the animated hand-drawn art, the superb localisation and characterisation. All of that is watered down to some degree in Chase: Cold Investigations it seems.

A lower budget sequel without Nintendo's financial backing or expert localisation doesn't sound that appealing to me, but it's symbolic of what's happened to the market: Nintendo didn't want to fund another CiNG game after The Last Window, and this is all we can get right now.

You're not wrong, - either in your appraisal of Hotel Dusk, which is the proverbial faeces, or in your appraisal of CCCI, which honestly isn't.  It does lack a lot of the charm.

I should say that both the lead character and the general writing/translation quality redeemed themselves somewhat as the game went on, but it still wasn't anywhere near what I was hoping for.  And it's 1.5h playtime as well.  I'll probably buy a sequel, but if it's just more of the same... well,

(Grand to see you back, by the way! )

I'll probably pass for now, then, thanks! Hotel Dusk is actually my first CiNG adventure game, so I'm in a good place at the moment. Not too sure about Another Code R though, but some enjoyed it.

I'm interesting in seeing how The Last Window's NoE-done localisation compares with Hotel Dusk's. Apparently one character says "What are you on about???" at one moment, which seems a bit off-key to me. But I'm sure that's not indicative of the entire script!

Just seemed like more of the same to me, which was good. I enjoyed it. Possibly not quite as grand as the original, but there wasn't much of a quality dip, and Kyle Hyde is still Kyle Hyde.

Also: cutest Christmas scene in gaming.

I do own this... but I'm saving it for a Christmas time Dusk triple bill.