RE:CALL from Whitethorn Games and Matías Schmied is a mind-bending adventure where changing your memories changes the present. Check our RE:CALL review!
RE:CALL from Whitethorn Games and Matías Schmied is a mind-bending adventure where changing your memories changes the present. The publisher and indie dev combo previously gave us the fun and charming puzzle platforming adventure Evan’s Remains – first on PlayStation 4 and then on the Nintendo Switch – so I was definitely up for checking out what RE:CALL had to offer on Sony’s Nintendo’s console. It’s a game that, at times, gave me some Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, which is certainly a very good thing!
The controls are simple since you’ll move around with the left analog stick or the D-Pad, performing actions with the A button based on what is needed. This means interacting with another character, collecting an item, opening a door, and more. You can also use the right analog stick to move the camera as needed to get a better look at each area so that you can be ready for what comes next.
You’ll be taking on the role of one Bruno Gallagher, someone who is constantly being fat-shamed for his weight. Bruno is very much aware of a weird presence that seems to be controlling his actions – a nod to how we’re in charge of how things unfold. He’s a key witness in a murder, so you’ll have to give it your best effort to try to remember what happened at the event so that you can, well, materialize exactly how things unfolded. But before gaining control of Bruno, there’s a tutorial to take care of!
Our journey begins during an interaction between Chester MakeBelieve – a.k.a. the Toy Maker – and Javier. Javier has been caught sneaking around Chester’s factory, which is a big no-no. The choices you make along the way will have an effect on the game’s story and your interactions. Take, for example, the first choice that you can make. Chesters asks how it is that you managed to enter the factory. You tell him that you were outside of the building and reached the door. You can then decide if there was no one at the door, if there was a blue guard, or if there was a green guard. Interesting, right?
As to not spoil things too much, I’ll elaborate a bit on this introductory sequence for a little bit, so that you can know what you can expect from this one. Say you said there was a blue guard near the door. Next to some boxes will be a square with a question mark. You can then decide if this contains a gun or a rock, which you can use to get over the whole guard thing. Choose the rock, and Chester will remark that a guard found you carrying a gun. Since you said you had grabbed a rock… the gun next to the guard inside of the interrogation room will vanish!
Next up, you can decide if the rock was used to knock the guard out or to cause a distraction so that you could sneak in. What happens next will depend on the choices you make once you’re inside the building. Did you unlock the door to a room before knocking on the main office’s door? And what if you change the choices made during that first scene? Would you be able to get into the building in a different way?
There’s going to be a lot of trial and error in your future if you decide to give this one a spin. You’ll have to find the right combination to move things forward, or else you’ll be seeing the black screen that asks that you press the A button to give everything one more try. This is why the game is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. But if you give it a go, you’ll get a kick out of every time you nail the solution and are able to “remember” things just right.
RE:CALL is one you should definitely check out on Nintendo Switch. The game offers a very fun gameplay loop thanks to the many choices you need to make on the fly. Maybe instead of grabbing that rock, I mentioned earlier, I went for the gun, which opened a series of new choices that could maybe allow me to not get caught. Maybe I could find a very useful item just by changing one choice? You’ll learn from your mistakes as well, finding some new information that can make your next try a successful one. RE:CALL is out on Nintendo Switch with a $19.99 price.
Disclaimer
This RE:CALL review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Whitethorn Games.
