Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE

 Switch
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 104 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 85 out of 104
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 104
  3. Negative: 12 out of 104
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  1. hobbitwithoutHR
    Jul 7, 2023
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I bought the collector's edition of this game,but now I think it's wrong.Suffered from QuickTimeEvents,long and boring dungeon…and more…… Expand
  2. PinkyBloody
    Jul 3, 2023
    3
    Don't get me wrong, I bought the collector's edition of this game when I found out that the staff who created Danganronpa was working on it. When I started playing, to my surprise, I discovered that Kodaka did it again: introducing 5 intriguing characters just to kill them off in an attempt to say, "haha, I tricked you." It's interesting for those of us who follow the game, but for someoneDon't get me wrong, I bought the collector's edition of this game when I found out that the staff who created Danganronpa was working on it. When I started playing, to my surprise, I discovered that Kodaka did it again: introducing 5 intriguing characters just to kill them off in an attempt to say, "haha, I tricked you." It's interesting for those of us who follow the game, but for someone new who isn't aware of the marketing, they were just 5 random characters who died.

    I do like the characters with their radical personalities because it reminds me of Danganronpa, but after so many years, I expected the director to at least learn to give them some depth. But no, their personalities remain static from beginning to end. I hoped that Fubuki would be interesting and not fall into the classic "I forgot to even breathe" character trope, but this applies to the rest as well.

    The names... Man, I don't know who decided on these names or surnames, but they're horrendous. "Yomi Hellsmile," "Vivia Twilight"... It sounds like something you'd read in a Wattpad novel. Although this didn't ruin my experience, it just made me laugh.

    The music always delivers, that's what I liked the most.

    Regarding the design of female characters, I notice that the team keeps reusing faces. I keep seeing Enoshima's, Komaru's, or Sonia's everywhere. It's a shame, it would be nice if they tried something different.

    NOW, I'm going to give my reasons why I gave it a 3, to my regret, as I stopped at chapter 4.

    It's extremely easy, the game treats you like a fool all the time, and the killer(s) are too obvious once you start analyzing the situation.

    The labyrinth is tedious, long, and boring. I can't get over the fact that most of the time you're just walking through straight hallways, reading things you already knew, and on top of that, you're forced to answer obvious questions that were already told to you a while ago.

    I know the Switch is not a powerful console, but the graphics and character designs just look bad. It reminds me of the graphics in Danganronpa Another Episode, but in 2023.

    The story doesn't offer much, the characters and cities could have been explored more, but it suffers from the same problem I saw in Danganronpa: the chapters are too focused on a few characters, and then the plot is discarded.

    Quick time events in 2023.

    I have no idea if the game improves after chapter 4, I will never know. I really liked the second chapter, but the third was unbearable. I wanted to turn off my Switch when it forced me to deactivate bombs and solve a too-obvious mystery. It was a waste of time.

    It's better if Kodaka returns to Danganronpa or something similar because for me, Raincode doesn't work. Nonetheless, I hope it sells well. It's an interesting concept, but oh boy, this thing just goes from bad to worse. My favorite case was 0/1, and the worst was the third. I don't know, it feels really disappointing.    … Expand
  3. mike4156
    Jul 18, 2023
    0
    boring not like danganronpa and just repeating the same scenario over n over in the characters head for hours like we get it bro we understand what happened you said it twenty times!
  4. bnan_j
    Jul 17, 2023
    3
    Would have been perfect if the juvenile mini-games are not there. I know, its for the Danganronpa fans and people who follow its creator for a particular "style" but that does not translate into better gameplay. Its just weird that a lot rides on mini-games, in a world where story and presentation is king. Graphics are great in this version though, along with almost fully voiced lines.
  5. Tortor
    Jul 24, 2023
    4
    The writing for this is terrible. I'm a huge fan of danganrompa and bought this game full priced fully expecting some comparably good story. The main plot and side quests just don't hold up with its writing for such a story heavy game. Some of the writing is just laughably bad with the side quests that I wish they just didn't include the side quests if they wernt even going to try. TheThe writing for this is terrible. I'm a huge fan of danganrompa and bought this game full priced fully expecting some comparably good story. The main plot and side quests just don't hold up with its writing for such a story heavy game. Some of the writing is just laughably bad with the side quests that I wish they just didn't include the side quests if they wernt even going to try. The horrible attempts at story telling really breaks the immersion.

    For example on how bad a side quest is: you'll get a side quest from a teacher who claims to be getting stalked, everywhere she goes she sees a shadow following her, she's terrified and needs your help to find out who it is.
    You then talk to 4 students that are in the immediate area, with icons above them and takes like 45 seconds to round up the information of some mindless observations by the students. You then tell the teacher that the music teacher is stalking her. Yuma then points to a music teacher behind them, who pops out and days 'oh sorry, your said you liked me' then the teacher apologizes that it was a misunderstanding. They both then metaphorically shrug their shoulders like it was no big deal and quest ends (what happened to being terrified? Why stalking for so long? Is no one going to question anything about this?). It just feels so lazy. There are so many mindless side quests like that. The quests give nothing to the story and feel painfully tacked on in both mechanics (because it's always a 'talk to # of people') and story (because the poor writing is always similar to that example I just gave).

    Everytime I see side quests it just feels like a terrible waste of time and pulls me out of the games atmosphere with its bad writing.

    The first few chapters are just bad too. I wish that prologue bit was handled better. It felt weird trying to go all out that quickly like that for characters you just met. It's cheap. It feels like no time was spent thinking through some of these story structures for a story driven game.

    This is a walking-sim, visual novel with mini games similar to danganrompa.

    The story is the main feature and I just had a hard time latching onto the bad writing and poorly developed characters.

    In danganrompa you spend so much time with the same characters through out the game and can see them grow and get attached to them the more they flesh out. This game the murderers just feel so empty. Heck the first murder is a good example in the prologue on what it consistently feels like. By the end of that prologue you really know nothing about the murderer or care about them because you just don't spent enough time to attach to them to care or the victims.

    Each chapter sorta rinse and repeats the same issue of trying to speed along the victims and murderers characters that ends up making them feel very wooden.

    I just don't get it. Did they not playtest this story or did they rely too heavily in the zany stuff with the labrynth to distract with just how bad the writing is?

    The co-stars to each chapter really don't help either other then variety to the mechanics. It's such a waste too. For example the co-star detectives are really caged in to just play into a trope like the character that just cares about money, the character who is a creep for girls, the ditzy girl, etc. etc. Their characters just rarely stray from the trope designated for them and really makes everything going on with them so predictable.

    Danganrompa did this too with tropes but because you spent so much time with the characters you got to experience character growth and see how they interacted with the world. They felt less caged in to just their trope because of the time they was given to flesh them out. This game just doesn't do that and doesn't leave much room to do that.

    Overall, this was a huge disappointment. It taught me to research bad reviews more and not rely on the name of a developer.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

70
#70 Best Switch Game of 2023
11
#11 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2023

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 64 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 64
  2. Mixed: 22 out of 64
  3. Negative: 0 out of 64
  1. Starbit
    Mar 12, 2024
    70
    The game delivers a very competent experience when it comes to its fun, varied gameplay, going from action/adventure to visual novel, and its stunning presentation fits in nicely with a well written plot. It leaves the players wanting for more, though. The supporting characters deserve a lot more protagonism, its hub world would benefit greatly from sidequests and further exploration, and some occasional performance issues need fixing.
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  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 22, 2024
    80
    Unlike mystery games, such as Sherlock Holmes, this game is much more linear and partially guides you forward by asking questions to which you have a choice of several answers. This mix of game and novel allows the creators to tell a much more interesting and complicated detective story than usual. [Issue#329]
  3. PLAY! Zine
    Sep 15, 2023
    85
    If you are a Danganronpa fan, this is a title to shake up the genre we don’t see much of nowadays. Master Detective Archives: Rain Code is a gloomy and mature, yet wacky anime thriller mystery that promises a lot and delivers exactly as much. Presuming you don’t mind slower pacing and loads of loading screens, we can say with zero doubt - you are in for a treat.
    Read full review
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