A Dusty Case.
What They Say:
1999 – the “24 Wards”. A string of mysterious serial killings plagues the city.
The detectives of the 24 Wards Heinous Crimes Unit have their eyes on one man: Kamui Uehara, legendary serial killer and assassin of a number of government officials 20 years prior in the now-famous “Silver Case”. However, nobody knows who – or what – Kamui really is.
Has he really returned? Who is this infamous serial killer?
As player, you will take control of the protagonist – a member of the Special Forces Unit known as “Republic” – from a first-person perspective. Inspired by classic adventure and visual novel-style games, The Silver Case offers a fresh and unique gameplay experience as it leads the player through an in-depth story containing various puzzles, uncovering the truth piece by piece.
The Review: (warning as there may be very light spoilers)
From Killer7 to No More Heroes and more, Suda51 has made himself known for creating strange and unique experiences that, regardless of quality, is like nothing else. The same can be said about his seminal work, The Silver Case, now brought to the West in English for the very first time on PC and PS4. Originally released in 1999 for the PlayStation in Japan, The Silver Case follows the story of a group of people attempting to catch the famous serial killer Kamui Uehara. This story is experienced through the eyes of two protagonists, a silent detective that you can name whatever you’d like and a freelance reporter that runs parallel to the cop side of the story.
Spread out across numerous episodes, The Silver Case plays out like an episodic story where you get bits and pieces and even other smaller cases throughout. This is a fine method of distributing the story, but The Silver Case struggles to keep interest for majority of the 12 or so hour game. This is due to a lot of pandering in both the text and gameplay. From the gameplay perspective, the game has many issues that bog down what is otherwise a decent story. It is hard to pin down the exact genre for The Silver Case, as it is somewhat of a hybrid between classic point-and-click adventures and visual novels.
First, let’s talk about the visual novel section. The story is presented in separate squares containing the action in the scene, one for the character portrait of the person talking, and then finally, the text. The sections are dynamic, changing shape and position frequently as you advance through the game. This is both cool and unique, but it does get annoying quickly as a large portion of the screen is wasted with effects and random words floating in the background that could’ve been better utilized. The whole setup is interesting but it can lead to some confusion when quickly reading the text. There are many times where the character speaking does not have a portrait onscreen and even when they do, it is easy to forget who is who in the earlier parts of the game. Instead, the game relies on focusing little squares around the character in the scene that is speaking, sometimes with their name alongside. This is both unintuitive and easy to miss for a large part of the game.
On the other hand, we have the completely unnecessary adventure mode. This involves walking around in first-person mode on a grid-based map. You have a few options to select things, look up or down, use an item or weapon, and save. The controls are weird and unlike anything else, making things way too complicated and clunky just to switch from moving to selecting something. There are some shortcuts that are implemented when using a gamepad, but it too is strangely setup and can be hard to remember how to do. Beyond the wonky controls, there is even less reason for the adventure portion to exist. When finally able to move around, there is very little interaction or gameplay to be found. Mostly, it is just running from one room to another and talking to someone, initiating lengthy cutscenes in visual novel format. There are a few puzzles-like door and computer codes spread throughout, but even they are useless as there are automatic ways to have the game solve them for you.
The Silver Case would have benefited greatly by simply doing away with the adventure sections entirely and focusing solely on the story. This in turn would have helped the story from having some slow pacing and a lot of filler. However, when the story does finally get going, it does have some chilling effects. The different artstyles presented in the game vary greatly, which keeps you on your toes. One minute, you might see a CG cutscene of 3D cars travelling down the road to a 2D depiction of a gruesome murder scene. The Silver Case is at its best when it embraces its gory weirdness in the more horror-like scenes. There are certainly times where it is legitimately terrifying to look at, especially some of the scarier characters. This is enhanced by brilliant use of colors and lighting to present bone-chilling art, not to mention the awesome soundtrack.
Remixed by Akira Yamaoka, The Silver Case’s music is without a doubt one of the strongest things it has going for it. From catchier tunes playing while travelling to a location to the more atmospheric, hair-raising sounds heard leading up to the discovery of a body, the background music does a fantastic job of evoking emotion from a voiceless game. In addition to the original game, there are two extra episodes that bridge the gap between The Silver Case and its sequel, as well as providing some added epilogue following the end of the game. These are both mostly minor additions, but they do contribute some to the lore and story enough to satisfy fans of the main storyline.
In Summary:
For the first time ever, we are treated to an official English translation of Suda51’s first work, The Silver Case. Bizarre, clunky, and truly 90’s in every sense, The Silver Case is a one-of-a-kind adventure/visual novel hybrid that fans of his other works will enjoy. If you are able to get past the annoying pacing and useless gameplay, there is an intriguing and chilling story of a serial murder case to be found that still holds up today.
Grade: C
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
Publisher: NIS America
MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: PS4, PC
Release Date: April 18th, 2017
This review was done with a review copy of the game provided by NIS America. We are grateful for their continued support.
