Feb 5, 20193 min read

Game Review #126: The Raven Remastered (Nintendo Switch)

Reviewer: Jordan M.

Developer: KING Art

Publisher: THQ Nordic

Category: Adventure/Mystery

Release Date: 1.22.2019

Price (at time of review): $29.99 (digitally & physically)

Buy The Raven Remastered (digitally) from the Nintendo eShop here.

Buy The Raven Remastered (physically) from Amazon here.

Move Over, Sherlock. Anton is here.

We find ourselves in 1960s London. The city is being terrorized with crimes by a legendary, practically unstoppable thief known as The Raven. He is finally stopped when he is confronted and shot by Investigator Nicolas Legrand, ending the villainy of The Raven once and for all. Fast forward a few years. An ancient treasure has been stolen from the British Museum, and what has been found at the scene of the crime? A raven feather.

The game opens on Constable Anton Jakob Zellner, who finds that the train he is on board is harboring a valuable secret. Just what that secret is will be for you to find out. The game is fairly straightforward: someone is out to steal two ancient valuable gems and you are the one who must stop them. The Raven Remastered is a remastering of a title originally released on PlayStation 3 and Steam. The game was initially remastered for the PlayStation 4 and is now being released on Nintendo Switch. Having never played the original, I was fairly excited to dive into this game. It most definitely did not disappoint.

On the Case

The puzzles which progress the story along are a healthy mix of straightforward with a few noodle-scratchers. Some solutions may seem pretty common sense, while honestly, a few took me several minutes to figure out. The game will even recommend to you that, if you are having trouble figuring something out, you should take a break and come back in a bit. Generally, that’s good advice. If you get stuck in one area, try going back to a previous area. Sometimes you may find some things have changed.

Controls in the game are fairly basic, as you move Constable Anton with the directional pad, using A to interact with items, enter or exit other rooms, or to chat with others. Pretty much every item with which you can interact will show up on your screen for each individual room, so thankfully it doesn't leave a lot of room for guessing. Some items can also be taken and added to your inventory. My advice is to take everything you find, because you never know when it might come in handy. Your inventory can be opened by pressing the Y button. Sometimes it may be necessary for you to combine different items in your inventory together to achieve different results.

Sucker For a Soundtrack

The Raven Remastered is bright and crisp, and the animation style is unique and smooth. All the different environments to which you are taken throughout the game look gorgeous and offer much in the way of things with which to interact. One thing I absolutely loved about this game is the soundtrack. I am a sucker for orchestration, and this game doesn't disappoint. The tracks are rich and full, and sound just fantastic.

I also enjoy that the soundtrack can be listened to in the options, and that songs are unlocked as you come to them throughout the game. The voice acting also is well done, and to me, doesn't come off as annoying or overacted at all—which, in my opinion, tends to happen a lot with games in English. Half the time I wind up putting my games in Japanese if it is an option, just to spare myself annoying dialogue *has flashbacks of Final Fantasy XV* Anyway!

So....Whodunnit?

I must admit, sadly, that at the time of this review I have not made it all the way to the end. However, is this a game I am going to see all the way through? Absolutely! This is another one of those games that if I saw I may not particularly choose for myself, but man, I am so glad I played this. I didn't like Constable Zellner at first, but he grew on me as a character. He has a sly little sense of humor about him, which I really enjoy. One of my only qualms is that $29.99 for some people may be a little steep for a game that will take you about ten hours to complete. That being said, the interesting animation, the superb soundtrack, and a fairly engrossing story make this a title worth grabbing.