Over the years, Suda51 has made some interesting titles. From No More Heroes to Killer7, his titles ooze style. While it doesn’t always work, they often leave an impression and offer something worth seeing. Roughly 18 years later his first title, The Silver Case, is being remastered. With improved visuals, the charm associated with Suda51 and more, is it a must for fans or is it a title that will only resonate with fans?
The Silver Case takes place within a city referred to as the 24 districts. There a series of unusual murders occur, resulting in two officers being sent to the scene. Over time the murders seem to be connected to an infamous killer that supposedly died year prior. From there you need to solve cases and find who the killer is.
Beyond its fairly typical crime premise, The Silver Case is more about deciphering fact from fiction and trying to put the clues together yourself. It’s a story that is told in an unusual way, one that doesn’t always make sense, since the story is more concerned with presenting this idea than following a strict logic.
Even though the basic concept is okay, The Silver Case is a hard sell. The story starts by being a slow burn, with it taking quite a while to get to anything interesting. Expect to put in at least an hour before the story starts to move.
In addition to feeling slow, it’s hard to say The Silver Case aged well. Moving around the world is clunky, requires multiple inputs and odd choices like triggers to look up and down. This holds true for the other inputs too. Simply interacting with an object takes more than a few presses, with it being far more complicated than it should be.
From there, the images can sometimes feel flat. There isn’t a lot of movement or expression, outside of the occasional cutscene or change in perspective. At times it feels closer to a book with odd pictures floating around. Add an overly busy background and it makes things all the more confusing.
Despite sounding negative, there are some positive aspects to The Silver Case. The way the text appears, mimicking that of a typewriter, is an interesting style choice. It sells the older crime tale and adds some much needed charm. The same is true for the artstyle too.
The world feels like that of Japan in the ‘90s, largely because it was made at that time, allowing for a nice retro feel. It also helps build the charm, since The Silver Case isn’t concerned with telling a bland story as much as it wants to tell a story with as much style and charm as possible.
Verdict
The Silver Case isn’t the worst game ever, but it has limited appeal, much like Suda51’s other work. Fans of his games will likely love The Silver Case, where as those who don’t care for it will be turned off. Those who enjoy visual novels will likely be put off by the story and design choices. So, in the end, unless you’re into bizarre and stylized things like No More Heroes, you’ll not enjoy The Silver Case.
[Editor’s Note: The Silver Case was reviewed on PS4 platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]