The 51lver Case:
Do you like books? I personally am very mixed on them, on one hand they have some of the most compex stories and they feel much more personal compared to the other art forms, on the other hand however a page being covered with full of text and nothing else makes me tired to the point where I am focused on finishing a chapter so that I can be done with a book rather than the actual story itself. Visual novels seemed to be fixing every issue I have with reading books; having their own atmosphere, sound design, stylish visuals and gameplay segments to spice things up. As much as I like how visual novels sounded it took me a long time to try some examples from the genre and without a doubt The Silver Case and it's sequel 25th Ward are easily my favorite ones amongst them, they single handedly made me interested in them all over again.
The first thing you will be delighted with The Silver Case once you start playing is without a doubt the aesthetic and the style it has. The menu is like a DJ controller board and every case and reports have their own theme songs playing on the menu. The soundtrack and aesthetic in general is just shouting 90's and I just love it. Every case also has their own art style, not to go into much spoilers but in one case where it's all about visiting somebody's past, the whole case is black and white. In one case about the internet crimes and sketchy websites the whole background is full of green digital codes and loading screens the game is full of details like this which you'll appreciate.
The sound design and the OST is just incredible, no surprise coming from Masafumi Takada he worked on litterally every game I am either interested in or loved playing bro how did I not know you also worked on God Hand, Akira Yamaoka also worked on it too like damn it was bound to be something unforgettable. Can't go without saying the mix between 3D visuals for the environments and the hand drawn visuals for the characters is full of style and life, I just couldn't get enough of it; it's beatiful.
The Silver Case shines the most with its complex narrative, there is a mysterious atmoshpere and it takes place in a world where you really can't trust anybody but you need to if you really want to move on in life. You take control of well yourself, a character you name and you found yourself working in the Heinous Crimes Unit solving some rather interesting crimes. This game is also the start of the famous "Kill The Past" franchise, my first exposure to this franchise was killer7 and that game impacted me probably more than any game did and I just needed to play more from this franchise (please somebody localise Moonlight Syndrome). Kill The Past is an important phrase throughout the whole game, some characters will need to face their past to move on wheter they get rid of it or save it, its a major part of the story you'll need to figure out. The ending of this game will destroy you- just like Killer7 the Suda51 magic is so powerful...
Let's talk storytelling, a topic I legit can't stop talking about when it comes to videogames. The game is divided into 2 parts, cases which you play as yourself as I mentioned and investigate crimes with the other members of the Crime Unit, most of the main story happens here but there are also reports where you take control of Tokio Morishima (best character btw), and to earn a living Tokio is working for some organization as a freelance reporter searching information about some of these crimes and not only you learn extra information here if the cases came off as too complicated and trust me they will but these reports sections have their own characters and stories that ties into the main story in very cool and unexpected ways. I also generally liked the fact that the story had 2 different perspectives, for example since Tokio is always at the computer and not investigating you'll see how e-mails, online chats are structured, how the public learns the news you already know of from the cases. It's also surprising how well the game aged, it originally came out in 1999 for Japan and this is just a remake of that version. A lot of the political topics this game tackles are still as correct as they were and it also makes me wish more modern games would tackle these topics.
For a narrative focused game like The Silver Case the gameplay mostly does it's job, you can't really move freely it's kind of like killer7 where you are on rails and you'll mostly get in contact with stuff while investigating and with some occasional puzzles, there is also exploration wheter you ask bunch of people several questions or just explore a building and honestly it's not that fun to the point where you might say "I'd rather read", the on rails gameplay doesn't really match that well with the exploration but I am the guy who was fine with Silent Hill 4's escort missions so yeah... I didn't really care and it managed to be interesting at times, I am trying my best to convince you the gameplay is fine but it depends on your tolerance.
With a crazy genius fictional world, incredible storytelling and characters The Silver Case manages to be one of my favorite gaming experiences of all time, no game I've played from the current generation has came close to taking risks The Silver Case takes. Suda51 did it again huh, Flower Sun and Rain and that #Case 4.5 book is next and I can't wait to play them. All and all I can't recommend The Silver Case enough, it's an exceptionally interesting and mindbending experience you won't regret playing.
Do you like books? I personally am very mixed on them, on one hand they have some of the most compex stories and they feel much more personal compared to the other art forms, on the other hand however a page being covered with full of text and nothing else makes me tired to the point where I am focused on finishing a chapter so that I can be done with a book rather than the actual story itself. Visual novels seemed to be fixing every issue I have with reading books; having their own atmosphere, sound design, stylish visuals and gameplay segments to spice things up. As much as I like how visual novels sounded it took me a long time to try some examples from the genre and without a doubt The Silver Case and it's sequel 25th Ward are easily my favorite ones amongst them, they single handedly made me interested in them all over again.
The first thing you will be delighted with The Silver Case once you start playing is without a doubt the aesthetic and the style it has. The menu is like a DJ controller board and every case and reports have their own theme songs playing on the menu. The soundtrack and aesthetic in general is just shouting 90's and I just love it. Every case also has their own art style, not to go into much spoilers but in one case where it's all about visiting somebody's past, the whole case is black and white. In one case about the internet crimes and sketchy websites the whole background is full of green digital codes and loading screens the game is full of details like this which you'll appreciate.
The sound design and the OST is just incredible, no surprise coming from Masafumi Takada he worked on litterally every game I am either interested in or loved playing bro how did I not know you also worked on God Hand, Akira Yamaoka also worked on it too like damn it was bound to be something unforgettable. Can't go without saying the mix between 3D visuals for the environments and the hand drawn visuals for the characters is full of style and life, I just couldn't get enough of it; it's beatiful.
The Silver Case shines the most with its complex narrative, there is a mysterious atmoshpere and it takes place in a world where you really can't trust anybody but you need to if you really want to move on in life. You take control of well yourself, a character you name and you found yourself working in the Heinous Crimes Unit solving some rather interesting crimes. This game is also the start of the famous "Kill The Past" franchise, my first exposure to this franchise was killer7 and that game impacted me probably more than any game did and I just needed to play more from this franchise (please somebody localise Moonlight Syndrome). Kill The Past is an important phrase throughout the whole game, some characters will need to face their past to move on wheter they get rid of it or save it, its a major part of the story you'll need to figure out. The ending of this game will destroy you- just like Killer7 the Suda51 magic is so powerful...
Let's talk storytelling, a topic I legit can't stop talking about when it comes to videogames. The game is divided into 2 parts, cases which you play as yourself as I mentioned and investigate crimes with the other members of the Crime Unit, most of the main story happens here but there are also reports where you take control of Tokio Morishima (best character btw), and to earn a living Tokio is working for some organization as a freelance reporter searching information about some of these crimes and not only you learn extra information here if the cases came off as too complicated and trust me they will but these reports sections have their own characters and stories that ties into the main story in very cool and unexpected ways. I also generally liked the fact that the story had 2 different perspectives, for example since Tokio is always at the computer and not investigating you'll see how e-mails, online chats are structured, how the public learns the news you already know of from the cases. It's also surprising how well the game aged, it originally came out in 1999 for Japan and this is just a remake of that version. A lot of the political topics this game tackles are still as correct as they were and it also makes me wish more modern games would tackle these topics.
For a narrative focused game like The Silver Case the gameplay mostly does it's job, you can't really move freely it's kind of like killer7 where you are on rails and you'll mostly get in contact with stuff while investigating and with some occasional puzzles, there is also exploration wheter you ask bunch of people several questions or just explore a building and honestly it's not that fun to the point where you might say "I'd rather read", the on rails gameplay doesn't really match that well with the exploration but I am the guy who was fine with Silent Hill 4's escort missions so yeah... I didn't really care and it managed to be interesting at times, I am trying my best to convince you the gameplay is fine but it depends on your tolerance.
With a crazy genius fictional world, incredible storytelling and characters The Silver Case manages to be one of my favorite gaming experiences of all time, no game I've played from the current generation has came close to taking risks The Silver Case takes. Suda51 did it again huh, Flower Sun and Rain and that #Case 4.5 book is next and I can't wait to play them. All and all I can't recommend The Silver Case enough, it's an exceptionally interesting and mindbending experience you won't regret playing.