TGS 08: Hotel Dusk devs reveal 'Again' for the first time

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Oct 10th 2008 at 12:58AM }

Hotel Dusk and Trace Memory developer CING is teaming up with Tecmo to deliver another atmospheric adventure on the Nintendo DS, this time in the form of a supernatural murder mystery. Again: Eye of Providence follows FBI special agent Jonathan Weaver as he investigates his family's death and its connection with a series of murders that occurred 18 years earlier. Again's title is derived from Jonathan's ability to see into the past and experience crimes -- you know, again.

Producer Koichi Yamaguchi walked us through a very early build of the game, demonstrating how this helpful hindsight would help us piece together the events that occurred in a given crime scene. In what is essentially a game of spot-the-difference, you'll view the environment in a first-person perspective on both DS screens (in book orientation). The touch screen allows you to interact with the scene, while the screen to your left displays the same area, but as it was in the past. As Yamaguchi noted, it makes sense to confine history to the non-interactive screen. You can't change the past, you can only learn from it.

Gallery: Again: Eye of Providence (DS)

One of the more obvious discrepancies you may notice between then and now could be a suspicious pool of blood, left on the night of the murder. That's your cue to touch the spotless carpet in the present, thus triggering a stylized flashback and delivering your next clue. The flashback scenes give the game its unique visual identity, with characters represented by solarized, live-action video superimposed on the polygonal backgrounds. FMV actors? Talk about a blast from the past.

Though it won't be released until Spring 2009, Again and its refreshing not-about-spaceships plot already has us thoroughly intrigued. We'll keep you updated as we learn more about it.

Tags: Again, Again-Eye-of-Providence, Cing, Mystery, Tecmo, TGS-08, TGS-2008

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

&rew @ Oct 10th 2008 1:11AM

Judging by the recent grittiness trend with CiNG I can safely predict that the game after this one will make Man Hunt look like Viva Pinata.

&rew @ Oct 10th 2008 1:15AM

But to be fair, I also predict Viva Pinata will incorperate a slaughter house.

ExMachina @ Oct 10th 2008 1:22AM

Kind of sad that Cing tossed out the nifty hand-drawn look of Hotel Dusk. Ahhh well. =/

zuburi @ Oct 10th 2008 2:06AM

I liked Trace Memory a lot, and loved Hotel Dusk. This one isn't looking that great to me, though. Kinda like one of those $10 "adventure" games you see being sold packed in a jewel case and nothing else.

Alvin @ Oct 10th 2008 2:46AM

wow, that trailer was creepy

Tamer Brad @ Oct 10th 2008 5:11AM

Yuck, not feeling this art direction at all. It just looks cheap and cheesy. Should've stuck with Hotel Dusk's style, or something similar.

Mighty183 @ Oct 10th 2008 6:32AM

I don't know. I think the art style might work in action as in Hotel Dusk. Hotel Dusk looked good in screenshots. But it looked mega good in action with the flickering lines.
I will no doubt buy this game it will be good if its like Hotel Dusk. But I doubt I'll feel any attachment to the characters.

MattMN @ Oct 10th 2008 7:52AM

The whole "looking at the past" mechanic on one screen reeks of ripping off "Time Hollow," which just came out in the States on the DS.

StephenM @ Oct 10th 2008 10:01AM

This is going to be awesome. And the premise has the game sounding downright eerie.

jmf @ Oct 10th 2008 1:38PM

I loved Hotel Dusk so I'll definitely be looking out for this one.

matt @ Oct 10th 2008 1:52PM

I'm starting to really love these guys. If we're going to see the same increase in quality that we saw from Trace Memory to Hotel Dusk, I'm psyched with a capital P.

I'm stoked for the new art design, too. Leave the Hotel Dusk style to Hotel Dusk 2. Let these people breathe, for heavens sake. Let them create.

Pedobear @ Oct 10th 2008 4:23PM

I would prefer a sequel to Another Code myself but oh well.

shogo @ Nov 15th 2008 2:00AM

pedobear there already is an another code sequel being made for the wii, trace memory R: gateway of memory.

cathal @ Jan 6th 2009 8:26PM

I have to say I'm rather intrigued by the new art style. it's different from Hotel dusk for a reason because it's not a sequel, so give it a rest.

I love this direction, something really eighties about the sense of style. hope this stick to good story telling though? these games seem to be doing quite well world wide with the sales figures I have read on Vg Chartz