Kyle Hyde games on the Nintendo DS

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and Last Window: The Secret of Cape West follow Kyle Hyde, an ex-NYC detective working as a door-to-door salesman. Try as Kyle may to move on with his life, he finds ghosts from the pasts haunting him in his travels. 

While Kyle does try to sell unremarkable house products, he also works on special cases given to him by his boss, Ed Vincent, at Red Crown. For his first adventure in Hotel Dusk: Room 215, he was asked to find certain lost items. Unknowingly, he finds clues to the whereabouts of his former colleague and partner, Brian Bradley. To make his trip more complicated, the current patrons of the hotel in the middle of nowhere have their own hang-ups, which Kyle can't seem to stop himself from getting involved in. Nevertheless, he reaches his ultimate goal after a wonder climax in the story. He gains new friends along the way and finds more information about Brian and the underground organization, Nile, responsible for most of the mess.

In Last Window: The Secret of Cape West, Kyle's adventure continues, facing a threat of losing his home. His current apartment building had just been sold, and all tenants, including Kyle, only had a few months to find a new place to move into. Even if Kyle had just a short term left, he finds more mysteries that linked his father, the building, and Nile. 

The two games, aside from the amazing stories and characters, also utilize the Nintendo DS well. Admittedly, playing the either two in a long session leads to hand and wrist strain. But if you can play through the strain, the experience is worthwhile. 

In 2025, I find myself wanting a follow up to these games. Kyle Hyde is an amazingly relatable, humane character. Even in the midst of thick plots and supporting characters with personalities that burst through the screen, he follows his own small arcs. He makes logical, in-character decisions that move the story to places, some expected and others imaginative.

Last year, a remake of Another Code: Recollection was released for the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo owns both IPs (as far as I recall), so, even if Cing is defunct, I hope for a new entry in the Kyle Hyde series.