There is no better time than the present to be a visual novel and adventure game fan. The genre has experienced a sort of renaissance within the last decade, with plenty of new and creative titles like the AI: The Somnium Files series or Paranormasight keeping things fresh, and timeless classics like Famicom Detective Club or Type-Moon’s legendary Fate/stay night receiving their first ever English release. However, among the genre’s vast catalog, I am sorely missing Kyle Hyde’s Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and Last Window: The Secret of Cape West.
For those unfamiliar, the Kyle Hyde series of games are two investigation titles developed by the now defunct King and released in 2007 and 2010, respectively, for the Nintendo DS. The series focuses on jack of all trades and former NYPD detective Kyle Hyde, a man whose job is to snoop around buildings, bother the inhabitants of apartments, and fulfill the mysterious and hyper-specific contracts that his employer sends him. Nothing shady and mysterious, surely.
The main attraction of the series was its paperback novel aesthetic and gameplay style. To play the games you needed to hold the DS console sideways like a book. You would control Kyle and explore environments with the touchscreen. Characters would occupy a different screen each during dialogue, lending an air of tension and confrontation to the delicate verbal clashes and questionings. The Last Window sequel even included an in-game novel retelling the game’s story.
This novel approach (pun intended) wasn’t just a fun gimmick, as it made for two very charming and unique titles in the Nintendo DS catalog. And I don’t think that the gimmick would necessarily translate poorly into modern platforms. Undeniably, the games would require a lot of work to update them to modern standards, but we have a perfect example of how to revise a series like Hotel Dusk and Last Window. Also developed by Cing, the Another Code games just received a remake in the form of Another Code: Recollection for the Nintendo Switch, and I never thought the games would ever see the light of day again.
The new remake offers a jump in graphical fidelity accompanied by an unavoidable change in style, as well as the gameplay being adapted to suit the Switch. However, developer Arc System Works was able to accurately retain the tone and feel of the series thanks to the company housing many former Cing staff members, including designer, artist, and Kyle Hyde series director Taisuke Kanasaki.
The remake even includes a small nod to the detective that wasn’t present in the original, and that I won’t spoil for those looking to jump into the remakes (and you definitely should.) Seeing folks at Arc System Works still remember the detective fills me with nostalgia, and makes me want to play as Kyle Hyde once again, maybe even see his story continued.
Among dedicated fans of Cing’s catalog, Kyle Hyde also received some renewed attention back in the summer of 2023, thanks to data miners discovering some of the original actors that served as models for the rotoscoped character animations in Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and Last Window: The Secret of Cape West.
Over a decade after its last detective adventure, it is clear that Kyle Hyde persists in the minds of its original creators and the minds of fans. And with Arc System Works and Nintendo willing to give another chance to the Another Code series, there is no better time than the present for Kyle Hyde to return.
Another Code: Recollection is now available for the Nintendo Switch.
