The Raven Remastered has the makings of a great story. The main character is a lovable, older Swiss constable who always wanted be a big-time detective.
He’s fantasized over Agatha Christie-type crime novels for ages and is entranced with the workings of world-famous sleuth, Legrande.
Constable Anton Zellner is a cool dude with good manners and a strong sense of justice. He’s bad at growing hair out of his scalp like me and I think that’s just neato.
The Raven Remastered Review Switch
The game leads protagonists through a series of chapters where each is divided into a series of areas that contain all matter of people and objects to interact with. Often a trail of breadcrumbs leads Zeller (Protagonist number one/Detective Dad) back to where he started.
Once he circles back, he’ll have new info or tools to overcome the metaphysical and literally physical obstacles that block his path to justice.
The game is full of interesting accents from around Europe and the dialogue and characters that harness these voices are all at least interesting. Some are particularly charming and curious, such as the harsh German doctor that considers grievous bodily harm simply an unfortunate by-product of crime.
I don’t think there’s much to complain about when it comes to the writing on The Raven Remastered. It’s classic whodunit crime mystery and you’re expected to handcuff the butler.
The Raven Remastered Switcheroo
The music is also excellent! Well-orchestrated pieces are well timed to match the rhythm and time of diegetic sound effects such as a trains wheels periodically turning over to propel the locomotive through the swiss alps.
Music notes belie characters intention. Eerie violins accompany a frantic professor who is dubious to answer your queries. Glorious trumpets herald the success of our protagonist and he saves the day from the jaws of disaster. It goes pretty good, no doubt.
Now for the not so good stuff.
Animation in this is a bit rough. I know it’s a remaster but if I wasn’t told that I wouldn’t have gleamed its improved status. Faces on characters can be uncomfortable to look at. I’m damn sure the cop from The Yard was born in the uncanny valley.
He claims he didn’t see a natural expression until he was a grown man. Additionally, the characters will nod or shake their head or some classic “I’m a dynamic living model” shit so frequently and endlessly it can be off-putting. Sometimes the animation speeds up or slows down too.
It can be funny to see an old lady REALLY stirring the sugar into her coffee but I’m still suspicious it’s a bug and not a feature.
Butler, Obvs
Also, god damn!
If you want to make any game, but especially a text heavy game like the point and click genre, DO NOT just dump all the dialogue on screen and then have the character talk over it.
You’re gonna have people skipping all your dialogue as they read it much quicker in their brain holes. The text should appear on the screen as the person speaks and slow and hasten as the person speaks more slowly or more quickly.
I’ve been dabbling around in the point and clicks lately and this in particular makes the game so much more immersive and enjoyable. Its an unreal thing that I wish everyone in video games was doing if they want me to care about the storyline.
Overall The Raven Remastered on Switch is good. The story is worth following, the characters worth knowing and the clues worth finding. It’s only the execution that let this game down. Gotta fix up the gameplay a bit to get the big scores.
The Raven Remastered was reviewed on Switch using a digital code provided by the publisher.
PowerUp! Reviews
Game Title: The Raven Remastered
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A bit janky - 6/106/10
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Classic Detective Dad Mode - 9/109/10
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Music and Sound - 8/108/10
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Possessed Policeman looks like early stage artificial life - 5/105/10
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Why are loading screens so long for a game from 2013 - 5/105/10
