This game was originally covered as part of our Nindie Round Up series that sought to give coverage to a wider breadth of Switch eShop games beyond our standard reviews. In an effort to make our impressions easier to find, we're presenting the original text below in our mini-review format.

A bizarre choice for a remaster, The Raven Remastered doesn’t add a whole lot more to the original 2013 mystery adventure: The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief. However, this is the first time we’re able to play King Art Games' point-and-click on Switch, so it’s a welcome addition.

The Raven takes inspiration from classic murder mystery novels – such as the work of Agatha Christie – putting a firm focus on story, in addition to a number of murder mystery homages and Easter eggs. The narrative is spread across the viewpoints of a handful of different and well-developed characters across three key chapters. The writing is strong, with a wit that adds to the charm and allows some levity during its darker moments.

As expected, gameplay revolves around using your wits and applying what you’ve learned by talking to characters to overcome obstacles in varyingly creative scenarios. This is mainly split between exploring different dialogue options to further the story and environmental puzzle-solving, mixed in with some classic point-and-click influences; picking up key items, combining them to solve puzzles, and the like.

The 1960s setting is a really nice choice, and takes you to a variety of different locations, crucially adding much-needed variety to the puzzles. The game also revels in its status as a ‘whodunnit’ mystery and uses its compelling narrative cleverly by weaving it into the gameplay, making progression addictive, as you always need answers. Unfortunately, it’s let down by occasional graphical performance issues, which can be a bit of a nuisance or can offer some accidental hilarity. While we encountered nothing game-breaking, this is far from ideal for a remaster.

The setting and art style of The Raven Remastered are both top-notch. The '60s costumes, set design, and environment really work to develop its own style, and the cartoonish approach is a great concept, in theory. Unfortunately, the character models' facial expressions make them look as if they’ve been put through a blender. It’s a shame, because the world is well crafted, and a less ambitious design approach to the human models might’ve avoided this major drawback to the game's look. Where it does succeed, however, is in its sound design, which boasts both a compellingly beautiful orchestrated score and excellent voice acting.

Overall, as a port to the Switch, the Raven Remastered is a great introduction to the mystery adventure genre. Minor graphical quirks and nasty-looking faces aside, this is a well-developed story with well-integrated gameplay.