SUDA51's first game, The Silver Case is a pretty fucking out there meditation on crime, life, perfection, and blasting cigs in front of your computer all day while talking to your pet turtle. The story develops a bit like a Pynchon novel: the player flounders around and attempts to make sense of vast political and industrial conspiracies that may or may not exist. The gameplay such as it exists is rather limited and repetitive, but perhaps this is intentional on behalf of the developer. The characters live repetitive and boring lives. Tokio is a piece of shit dirtbag. The humor is kind of juvenile, tons of fucks flying around. Yet there is a well-constructed mystery at the center of it, one that demands to be explored.
Perhaps the most interesting thing I've observed in SUDA51 games is his intense awareness that his work is being read. I think this comes to a head in his most recent game, Travis Strikes Again, which is something of a love letter to the medium of games generally as well as his previous work, but this tendency is observable here as well. As Tokio and the Heinous Crimes Unit attempt to piece together the mystery of Kamui Uehara and The Silver Case, a friendly bartender explicates the idea of "the perfect reader." The reader who is perfectly positioned--who has the proper context and background knowledge--to enable them to really understand what a writer is saying. This nods to the game's bifurcated story, a player will not understand anything playing only one half. But it's an awareness by SUDA that his games are being read, thought about, analyzed.
This game isn't for everyone. I found the salty, lazy nature of Tokio and the HCU charming, but I can see why other people might just be annoyed. Women are not treated very well here. Some may take issue with how a lot of the political intrigue remains beyond the understanding of the player, mysteries are not entirely resolved. For me at least, the game is just so weird, it gets to you in unexpected ways. Plus great music. Flower, Sun, and Moon next.
Perhaps the most interesting thing I've observed in SUDA51 games is his intense awareness that his work is being read. I think this comes to a head in his most recent game, Travis Strikes Again, which is something of a love letter to the medium of games generally as well as his previous work, but this tendency is observable here as well. As Tokio and the Heinous Crimes Unit attempt to piece together the mystery of Kamui Uehara and The Silver Case, a friendly bartender explicates the idea of "the perfect reader." The reader who is perfectly positioned--who has the proper context and background knowledge--to enable them to really understand what a writer is saying. This nods to the game's bifurcated story, a player will not understand anything playing only one half. But it's an awareness by SUDA that his games are being read, thought about, analyzed.
This game isn't for everyone. I found the salty, lazy nature of Tokio and the HCU charming, but I can see why other people might just be annoyed. Women are not treated very well here. Some may take issue with how a lot of the political intrigue remains beyond the understanding of the player, mysteries are not entirely resolved. For me at least, the game is just so weird, it gets to you in unexpected ways. Plus great music. Flower, Sun, and Moon next.