The Silver Case is a Confusing, Intriguing Visual Novel
In preparation for a review of The 25th Ward: The Silver Case at Nintendo Chit Chat (yes, a PS4 review at a Nintendo site), I played the original The Silver Case.
It was one of the strangest games I’ve played, but I enjoyed it.
First, let’s discuss the genre. I consider The Silver Case to be a visual novel, but you’ll probably see it called an adventure game. In fact, I expected an adventure game after the start of the game, which had me exploring a location and solving code-based puzzles.
That was one of maybe three actual puzzles in the entire game.
I touched on this a little in my review of The 25th Ward, and the same applies here. The gameplay feels like it was added solely to have gameplay. Especially in the “Placebo” story, where the gameplay rarely involves more than checking your computer and talking to your turtle, I’m not sure why it isn’t just a straight visual novel.
Anyway, the main point to take away from this is that The Silver Case is light on gameplay, heavy on text.
The story isn’t typical, either. It’s split into two sections: “Transmission,” which follows investigators from the Heinous Crimes Unit as they investigate the reappearance of a legendary serial killer named Kamui Uehara, and “Placebo,” which follows a freelance reporter who gets mixed up in the Kamui Case through his research. Each is told across several chapters/episodes, and I alternated between the two to better understand what was going on.
Sometimes it’s dark and grim. Sometimes it’s oddly philosophical. Sometimes it feels like it’s veered into slice-of-life territory, which is common for visual novels but not what I expected from this one.
The Silver Case is strange, complicated, and often downright surreal.
But it’s always interesting.
Even when I was confused, even when the characters talked longer than maybe they needed to, and even when it forced me into a needlessly tedious gameplay section, I wanted to know more. Everything finally came together at the end, and I loved the crazy journey to get there.
(I also played it in time to catch the Kamui reference in the Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes trailer. What’s up with that?)
So if you enjoy visual novels and text-heavy games, and you don’t mind something a bit strange and complicated, I highly recommend The Silver Case, available on the PS4 and Steam. Be sure to also visit Nintendo Chit Chat to read my review of The 25th Ward.
And now, do I seek out a copy of Flower, Sun, and Rain on the DS, or do I wait in the hopes that it will be the next to be remastered/remade after The Silver Case and The 25th Ward?
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