God damn, what a cool game! I went into playing this with zero expectations and came out of it with glowing praise! Well, that's not entirely true. I came out of it originally feeling positive about the game but a little unsure of what to make out of what I'd been told. What to make of the narrative and the many complicated "truths" different people had given me. Wait, what was the point of KamuiDrome again???
After spending several days mulling over it, either through careful wiki diving or sitting in a bathtub with my own thoughts for an hour, I've come away from this game feeling pretty satisfied and absolutely glowing. I think the click moment for me happened when I started listing all the different things Kamui meant or was to different people and factions in the world and how each one had a different interpretation of him from the next or contradicted others and realising that Kamui was the whole that brought everything together. Also, a part of me just learned to love things for what they were and not trying to seek an answer out of them. Man, I love the narrative in this game.
Or more specifically the way it presents it. It's one of those games where the main, boxart blurb crime of the game is over at the end of the second chapter. Kamui caught. Main perpetrator found. Case closed. So what do you do for the next 75% of your game? Well, you explore the setting of the 24 wards and what kamui means to that world without explicitly dealing with Kamui or him even being there. I really enjoy how each chapter just explores an entirely new thing wether it be the world through a child's eyes or a business man kidnapped and held random or The Internet. It just adds a lot of flavour and character to the game and its setting, like we're an unconcerned bird looking through into people's lives. I love the conflicting politics, I love the starkness of Parade and what it means for Sumio's entire character, I love KamuiDrome and its intense cyber chatroom sessions. Also just....everything in LifeCut. It's a blast. A colourful, dense, unsure ride.
Narrative wise I also really liked there being two halves to the story. You have the main half of the game being written by Suda51, which deals with the Henious Crimes Unit as seen through the eyes of the mute named protagonist. Then there's other side of the story written by Masahi Ooka which deals with another character called Tokio Morishima who is a journalist investigating the Kamui case at the request of another. These two sides compliment each other so well, at least for two major ways for me. One being that they kinda feel like Call and Answer where Suda51's side of the story is focused on showing the events through a more quickcut, lingering, ethereal kinda way that feels focused on emotions and madness whilst Ooka's side of the story deals more with the facts of what happened and helping fill in the blanks. I found it nice because it lets you experience the story first in a non-conclusive and more bizarre way before filling you in more concretely later in a character fitting way. Also secondly it's just nice to have two protagonists who are totally different from each other. The main named character is just you, personalityless and silent with a brooding edge to them...and then you have Tokio who is an actual character with a goofy, awkward but direct way of speaking and also has a pet turtle. Tokio is great, man...but yeah, overall the narrative is the main centrepiece of this game and it's fantastic in every way.
The presentation of this game is also top notch. The changing nature of the game's UI makes itreally stick out. The dialogue and picture boxes that change size and shape at will. The way the game mixes drawn art, 3D graphics, anime and FMV together. Most impressively though is the way each chapter of the game has it's own entirely unique UI and presentation, with the most ingrained ones being the black and white look of Parade and the green/black cyber dimension for KamuiDrome. They add a lot to the game and The Silver Case would be a lesser game without them.
Also the OST by Masafumi Takada is great. He would come more into himself on his later works but the tracks he did for the silver case give the right amount of late 90s atmosphere to them and it works well. I really enjoy the awkward synth on Tokio's apartment track.
Yeah...I dunno. I really like The Silver Case! It's a game that definitely sticks in your mind and it's great to see Suda having such a personality and grit to his work even as early as 1999.
After spending several days mulling over it, either through careful wiki diving or sitting in a bathtub with my own thoughts for an hour, I've come away from this game feeling pretty satisfied and absolutely glowing. I think the click moment for me happened when I started listing all the different things Kamui meant or was to different people and factions in the world and how each one had a different interpretation of him from the next or contradicted others and realising that Kamui was the whole that brought everything together. Also, a part of me just learned to love things for what they were and not trying to seek an answer out of them. Man, I love the narrative in this game.
Or more specifically the way it presents it. It's one of those games where the main, boxart blurb crime of the game is over at the end of the second chapter. Kamui caught. Main perpetrator found. Case closed. So what do you do for the next 75% of your game? Well, you explore the setting of the 24 wards and what kamui means to that world without explicitly dealing with Kamui or him even being there. I really enjoy how each chapter just explores an entirely new thing wether it be the world through a child's eyes or a business man kidnapped and held random or The Internet. It just adds a lot of flavour and character to the game and its setting, like we're an unconcerned bird looking through into people's lives. I love the conflicting politics, I love the starkness of Parade and what it means for Sumio's entire character, I love KamuiDrome and its intense cyber chatroom sessions. Also just....everything in LifeCut. It's a blast. A colourful, dense, unsure ride.
Narrative wise I also really liked there being two halves to the story. You have the main half of the game being written by Suda51, which deals with the Henious Crimes Unit as seen through the eyes of the mute named protagonist. Then there's other side of the story written by Masahi Ooka which deals with another character called Tokio Morishima who is a journalist investigating the Kamui case at the request of another. These two sides compliment each other so well, at least for two major ways for me. One being that they kinda feel like Call and Answer where Suda51's side of the story is focused on showing the events through a more quickcut, lingering, ethereal kinda way that feels focused on emotions and madness whilst Ooka's side of the story deals more with the facts of what happened and helping fill in the blanks. I found it nice because it lets you experience the story first in a non-conclusive and more bizarre way before filling you in more concretely later in a character fitting way. Also secondly it's just nice to have two protagonists who are totally different from each other. The main named character is just you, personalityless and silent with a brooding edge to them...and then you have Tokio who is an actual character with a goofy, awkward but direct way of speaking and also has a pet turtle. Tokio is great, man...but yeah, overall the narrative is the main centrepiece of this game and it's fantastic in every way.
The presentation of this game is also top notch. The changing nature of the game's UI makes itreally stick out. The dialogue and picture boxes that change size and shape at will. The way the game mixes drawn art, 3D graphics, anime and FMV together. Most impressively though is the way each chapter of the game has it's own entirely unique UI and presentation, with the most ingrained ones being the black and white look of Parade and the green/black cyber dimension for KamuiDrome. They add a lot to the game and The Silver Case would be a lesser game without them.
Also the OST by Masafumi Takada is great. He would come more into himself on his later works but the tracks he did for the silver case give the right amount of late 90s atmosphere to them and it works well. I really enjoy the awkward synth on Tokio's apartment track.
Yeah...I dunno. I really like The Silver Case! It's a game that definitely sticks in your mind and it's great to see Suda having such a personality and grit to his work even as early as 1999.