The Raven Remastered review

Reviewed on: PS4

Almost everyone who was a child in 1980s/90s Brazil remembers with nostalgia the books of the Série Vaga-Lume (a beloved Brazilian series of youth mystery and adventure novels): they were titles aimed at a young audience, with mystery and adventure stories. The Raven Remastered, with its charming setting, its story full of mystery and a light, relaxed adventure, could very well feature in the collection of juvenile stories if it were a book.

The point and click adventure by King Art Games was originally released in 2013 under the title The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief and split into 3 episodes. The Raven Remastered brings the 3 episodes together, plus a series of graphical improvements and a few extras.
Clearly inspired by the novels of Agatha Christie (even with a “version” of the author inside the game), the plot of The Raven Remastered is a classic “whodunnit” where the player must put the pieces together to find the culprit. The adventure begins in 1964, when one of the world’s most valuable jewels is stolen from the British museum by the thief known as “The Raven”, whom everyone believed to have been dead for years. From there the protagonist Constable Anton Zellner comes into play, a likable and stubborn Swiss policeman determined to prove his worth and capture the legendary bandit. The story unfolds in several exotic locations, from the famous Orient Express to a cruise on the Mediterranean Sea, and with even more exotic characters, who, even while falling into certain clichés of the genre, manage to be interesting enough to stand out as the plot unfolds.
As in any self-respecting detective story, the focus is on investigation, and point and click gameplay fits perfectly. The focus is on collecting items, interacting with objects, solving puzzles and above all talking to the characters to advance the story and get clues to solve the greater mystery. Many of the objects must be inspected several times to extract all the necessary information, and the same goes for the dialogue, which gives the game a more measured pace even by adventure standards. All the information about characters and objectives is noted down in the protagonist’s notebook and can be checked at any time, and also adds up to a score that determines the level of success at the end of each chapter. These points can also be used to reveal objects of interest that went unnoticed or to buy hints about what to do if the player gets stuck on an objective. The only problem is that the hints are mostly quite obvious things, helping very little the player who is stuck on some part and also lowering the score at the end. You’re better off turning to YouTube, if your honor allows.

The Raven Remastered is a visually charming game. The exotic, retro sixties look of the settings, with exceptional attention to detail (the cruise ship section is a good example of this and by far the most beautiful part of the game) is quite pleasant to see and helps compose the plot. When it comes to the characters’ look, though, you can tell the same attention was not given in this remaster. Not that they are ugly or poorly made (with one exception). The cartoonish art style is even quite friendly, but some characters look somewhat rudimentary and the animation is choppy in practically everything: movement, interaction with the environment and facial expression. The lip sync is quite poor too and screen tearing is a recurring problem, especially in cutscenes. Nothing that seriously compromises it, but it doesn’t go unnoticed either.

The audio, on the other hand, is wonderful. The actors’ voice work is very well done, especially the protagonist’s. Some other performances may be considered a bit exaggerated, but they fit the archetypes of this kind of story perfectly and deliver the dramatic weight needed to make the characters interesting. The orchestral soundtrack does an excellent job of capturing the nostalgia of 60s/70s films, with music that varies from relaxed themes for the lighter, adventurous moments to compositions worthy of Brian De Palma’s thrillers in the tense moments.
I admit the ending disappointed me a little in how the story wraps up, but even so The Raven Remastered was a fun journey full of nostalgia. Technical problems aside, anyone who likes a good story, with characters and settings as exotic as they are interesting, and a considerable length, will be satisfied. And anyone who is simply nostalgic for good old detective stories, like me, will also be happy to try to solve this mystery and catch the famous criminal.

Story: 7.5

Mechanics: 7.0

Audio and visuals: 6.5

Worth the price?: As much as I liked it, it is not worth the price of 120 reais on the PS4. The game has its qualities, mainly the story, but the technical aspects of the remaster show that the developer needed to put in a bit more effort to deliver a quality product. In case of an eventual sale, however, it is a title to keep an eye on, especially for those who enjoy point and click.

Reviewed on the PlayStation 4 version.