Whenever people bring Killer7 to the conversation, the ambiguous story and political themes will be always on the table. The way it's presented will be confusing if you don't pay attention or, piece the puzzle that is the narrative in your head. It demands the time to be known, but it gives you little glimpses of what it is or what wants to tell. It's not incoherent nonsense spitted by the writter himself Suda51 to make you feel smarter once you understand it, it's about context and knowing what do with the tools and information you currently have. That in itself is hard, the game will be full of contradictions albeit on purpose and things that will get you the wrong idea, either your mission is to interpret those contradictions or outright not use them to form your narrative on the story. Not many people seem to have a clear idea of what it is, or what objectively wants to tell. Honestly? Me neither, it is surrealism after all and a work of art that can be interpreted in various ways.

It's the battle between west and east for world dominance, good and evil, old and new, the battle between the tiger and the dragon, Dracula vs the Belmont family? Probably, it's a cycle. "The World doesn't change, all it does it turns". It's the cycle that keeps on going, this can be seen in the "Lion" chapter where it recreates the last bit of the "Angel" chapter. 100 Years, on different places the world spins around. It doesn't matter the place but what happens in it. It's all the same, the conflict keeps on going. What matters are the actors and the people who perpetrate those actions. Than itself can be a contradiction on my end. But we can change the narrative for you liking. America can take the evil role, while Japan takes the good sided role. But it's not that easy either. Law and Chaos. It's about individualism and collectivism. Maybe all that I just said can be wrong, or truth but this is just my personal interpretations sort of throwing concept at a wall to see if it sticks or that can land in a agreement with someone else.

Compared to any rail shooter, Killer7 wants to take your time to stop and think whenever you hear a maniacal laugh or the simple puzzles that require more than anything simple memorization. Shooting, and puzzles this is the premise for gameplay. Most mechanics believe it or not are part of the story itself. Having 7 type of borderline personalities will give you the advantage to use them at will. These are the Smith Syndicate, comprised by believe it or not 7 members including it's vessel Harman Smith. While all this might seem like I'm spitting nonsense it start to once you start playing. So if this is a rail shooter, shouldn't be any space for puzzle? You got it all wrong. This is 2000's Capcom, this is Mikami's Capcom era which means there are puzzles, and by that definition multiple paths to take. Puzzles can range from fairly obvious to very tricky but nothing that could leave you hanging for a long time. It really is just a Resident Evil game, that it might be why people consider it a "Horror Survival" game. It has the bases for a horror survival game without the survival aspect of it, has horror elements sure but not enough to specifically fall into the genre.

While this game might seem like a chaotic mess for the ones that look from outside. It's actually structured like a proper era video game. Not that I thought less of it, but seeing how outageous differently visually is from anything I've seen and for the looks from the trailers themselves I swear I was expecting something much more wild. In fact, the very same structure of level selection can be streched to as far back as Mega Man boss selection. 7 people, killer7, right? That streching things too far, but my point is don't be scared about it's structure. It start to get very comfortable once you get the loop, once you know what to do, once the puzzle start to feel but mere obstacles in your way. Art-sy game tend to break the mold as far as they can, but this wasn't the era nor the time to do it. Though it will play with your expectations more often than not so expect to see weird stuff regardless.

It's the style, which helps having a great sense of substance. As much as SUDA51 loves to put his art over really...anything? It stands up for something incredibly unique and obtuse first time playing it. Can't really say I've experience something like these before, outside some arcades I usually stopped by after school as a kid. None other game that I personally know has been inspired by killer7 specifically (outside of Killer is Dead but I'm yet to play that one). What other game at the time had the balls to not put real texutures into already basic geometry? These are flat colors, makes characters and objects pop-up much more while keeping the visuals simple and not obstruct with any post-processing effect like particles or not. Only gave that came up in my mind while I'm writting this is MadWorld from Platinum Games on the Wii.

What is killer7 then? I took the ideas that stood up the most to me. I can say that this is a rail shooting game with horor elements but that is keeping it short. It's an action game with deep political themes but that is selling it short. You start to get the idea, different people have different interpretations. It's the same as in this page there, is not a real truth and we can only but interpret what a work and it's purpose to the exist it. Specially as something as surreal and unique as killer7. Whenever I tried to write something about this game I always think I'm selling it short or I'm not doing enough justice. It's complicated, but fascinating to talk about.

out of all the games ive been weirdly and significantly obsessed to the point of where i had dreams about THE FUCKING BETA OF KILLER7, i can forgive myself for being so. suda himself said out of all the games hes made this is the one hes the most proud of making and i gotta say id be damn proud too if i made this my life would be complete. incredibly ambitious, striking visuals and sound that smacks you across the face, and anxiety inducing cutscenes this is one game a true gamer must experience

this game that was developed in the land of the rising sun is so immersed in its politics it doesnt have japanese voice acting, english voice actors only and subtitles for japan i cant think of another game that does that

screw it, 5 stars

if you're looking at the 4.3 average rating and expecting the best story ever or the best gameplay ever or the best graphics ever, don't. killer7 gets so much love cuz it's the most creative video game released by a major publisher. you're looking at the grasshopper power trio of suda51, masafumi takada, and akihiko ishizaka working with SHINJI MIKAMI and left to do nearly anything they wanted. it's a must play for anyone interested in "games as art". plus, its funny. russian roulette IS the greatest cutscene in any video game.

Trailer videos and suda fans will make Killer7 seem pretty cool! Then you play it. It's first impression is a gnarly one. Everything feels stiff, lots of going back and forth to get the fire ring and gate keys, game systems and mechanics are bizarre- as are the cutscenes. Nothing wrong with a little intrigue but this game drowns in confusion.

It's hard to think "Whoa, these Killer7 guys are COOL!!!" when you are reading slow NPC dialog or the awkward in-game cutscenes. Everyone talks like an insane rambler. Sometimes interesting, but mostly boring. Hard to latch on-to what the character is saying when it's just nonsense. It's almost comical but it's not even funny.

The game is just UGLY, I'm sorry. Cell shading should help the game from aging too bad, but it does the opposite I fear. The menus and UI look way better than the stone faced character models.

The element rings. What a boring and needless addition. As you gather more rings, you never need to collect them again. So you'll run into an "Obstacle" that requires a ring you'll already have. By the second half of the game you'll have them all! At that point it's just "press the action button to press a switch" with extra steps. You can either trial and error all the rings if it isn't obvious enough or save yourself some time and use the map.
The map. The map is so good for just telling you what character skill or element ring is the solution for any puzzle. The fact there isn't any "You are here!" indicators on the map tells me that was their way of balancing it. While it turns "puzzles" into mush, the player could use the extra help so I'm still glad it's in.

The blood system is kinda wack. I get the idea, right. Make killing enemies worth a damn else the player just runs through the level as invisible Kevin. But what they came up with are "Character specific environment actions cost blood" "puzzle hints cost blood" "Healing costs blood" "leveling up character stats cost blood" "Combat specials cost blood" "waking up certain personalities requires a minimum kill count to awaken, varying per stage." The game is pretty linear though and enemies respawn frequently. Some levels you don't even need to think about how much blood you have, you're overflowing with it or you'll be looping a few same rooms to get by. It's not the worst thing ever but it just feels unnecessary... certainly wish the game explained it better.

The combat is kinda fun? There's a few enemy types that go beyond "a fun challenge" and go into "annoying as hell just turn invisible and run through them" territory, the biggest offenders are the boss fights. Parry timing is fun to pull off and I'm glad there's infinite ammo. Landing consecutive weakpoint shots feels pretty nice!

This game was rushed to save the gamecube, I get that. grasshopper had a way bigger vision for the game than this. Unfortunately, what we got is just not good.

Yeah I can definitely see why internet weirdos base their entire personality around Suda games now, this was my favorite out of the ones I played from him. The game oozes style and much like The Silver Case it's aesthetics are unmatched for a game made in 2005, it feels very interesting to play this while also playing Resident Evil 4 because both were very different ways to approach late PS2-Era shooters, but while RE4 set a trailblaze for how TPSs should play and evolve from, Killer7 forms a hidden path to a mansion in the woods, not exactly influencing as many, but being appreciated by a small crowd of adquired taste.

There really isn't that much to the gameplay other than a simple mix of puzzles and target practice, in fact I do feel like it's pretty lame that I can bypass most enemy encounters by simply using Kevin (especially when they have the master of action puzzles Shinji Mikami helping out when he was about to release peak with God Hand) and I can't pretend I understood jack shit from the story given how up his own ass Suda can be, but I frankly don't mind it. He set up a scene, put on a good show, and made his commentary very clear on a base level, and sometimes feeling a story is a lot more important than understanding it, and that's kind of what makes the heart of Suda's games.

Pre 25th Ward Suda, Pre God Hand Mikami and Pre Danganronpa Takada is a fucking baller ass trio, and just from that alone there was no way this was going to be anything other than a remarkable experience.
Killer 8/10

Por meados da década de 60, um rapaz alemão chamado Ralph Bear teve uma ideia brilhante: "e se pudéssemos interagir com a televisão?" Poucos anos depois ele já estava desenvolvendo um projeto chamado de Brown Box, que mais tarde seria publicado com o nome de Magnavox Odyssey, sendo o primeiro console da história. Exatamente na mesma época nascia Goichi Suda, o homem que 30 anos depois veio com o mesmo questionamento, mas com outra pretensão: "e se pudéssemos elevar ao máximo a ideia de interagir com a TV? De criar uma história através de um videogame?". Tudo isso é um evento canônico, porque videogames foram inventados para que Killer7 pudesse existir.

O jogo começa muito direto ao ponto. Uma cutscene, o nome de certos personagens e um alvo: vá e faça. E pode parecer algo simples, mas eu considero isso aula de game design, imagina o tanto de tempo que seria perdido com mais textos e tutoriais, em vez disso, o jogo apenas pergunta se você quer aprender os controles básicos; o resto da gameplay e mecânicas estão com você para se familiarizar, entretanto, várias explicações ainda estão disponíveis para quando ficar com dúvida em algo, basta conversar com um certo NPC. O primeiro level é um tutorial perfeito, seta perfeitamente a atmosfera desconfortável e assustadora, a bizarrice e o sentimento místico em relação a história, ao mesmo tempo que faz um ótimo trabalho em te apresentar o flow da gameplay pelo resto do jogo: andar pelos lugares, lidar com os inimigos e se adaptar às situações da melhor forma, resolver puzzles simples baseados em observação, utilização de personagens e itens. Essa é somente a estrutura, entretanto, porque cada capítulo vai ser algo muito diferente.

Em gameplay, Killer7 demorou um pouco pra clicar em mim, como é um jogo até que bem aclamado esperava algo mais complexo, até que chegou um momento em que comecei a apreciar de verdade, a partir do primeiro boss. Primeiro dando uma base: é um on-rail shooter, ficar parado e atirar enquanto o inimigo vai se aproximando de você, mas não exatamente igual aos outros do gênero, porque você pode se mover para frente e para trás (e outras direções, sendo a rota sempre definida pelo jogo). Além disso, são 7 personagens (mais para "personas") jogáveis, cada um com sua particularidade enquanto mantém a base da gameplay. Assim que você pega o jeito, fica extremamente satisfatório alternar entre elas para se adaptar ao cenário, seja porque vai ser a melhor forma de eliminar o inimigo ou para resolver algum puzzle. Então, por que amo essa gameplay mesmo sendo tão simples mecanicamente? Porque eu percebi que o Suda se aproveita muito de um aspecto que passa desapercebido por muita gente: o espaço. No caso, o espaço no qual as mecânicas do jogo conversam entre elas, o que é tão importante quanto, se não mais que as próprias. Não adianta nada ter ótimas idéias de gameplay se você não sabe construir bem onde e como elas vão interagir, um bom exemplo disso seria um jogo como Nioh, que você tem uma certa variedade de armas, skills, um sistema de postura que muda o jeito com que você maneja o que estiver segurando, mas na prática o combate é horrível porque nada em volta dele funciona. Por outro lado, Killer7 usa as limitações dele a seu favor, você não controla o personagem livremente, apenas aperta o botão de correr e escolhe a direção para se mover da maneira que o jogo permite, porém é um linear de uma forma que você não se sente limitado, é de um jeito que contribui na atmosfera encapsuladora dele, atiça sua curiosidade em saber para onde será levado, os ângulos enquanto tu anda são feitos de forma muito inteligente, isso somado com a paranóia de andar em corredores esperando ouvir risadas de um inimigo invisível (sim, a risada é a indicação de que ele está próximo). E o melhor está nas bossfights, cada uma funciona de uma forma completamente diferente que chega a parecer outro jogo, e tudo o que diferencia elas é justamente a construção desse espaço em volta, é genial, não atoa eu tive esse insight no final do primeiro ato.

Mas de tudo o que pensei em escrever enquanto jogava, de longe o meu aspecto favorito e o que mais tenho vontade de falar sobre é o quão único o game é. Ser único, diferente, exótico, é fácil, difícil é ser assim ao mesmo tempo que se mantém orgânico, é estilo com substância. Tudo aqui tem muita personalidade, desde a arte do menu, uma simples animação de morte, um loading, cada uma dessas coisas é tão bem feita e dá pra notar tanto esforço depositado que dá gosto de ver. Pode não ter os melhores gráficos de sua época, mas o que conseguiram fazer com o orçamento é incrível, e não é nem um caso em que se pensa "nossa, imagina o que poderiam fazer com mais recurso", não, não precisa melhorar nada, está perfeito assim, os modelos de personagem são muito bem desenhados e icônicos, a DIREÇÃO DE ARTE É INACREDITÁVEL, o uso das cores é coisa de gênio, absolutamente tudo exala estilo. Não tem como descrever. A sensação de jogar Killer7 é muito difícil de colocar em palavras, parece que você entra ali e está em outro mundo, é isso o que mais gosto de sentir jogando um videogame, é um mundo onde tudo é estranho ao passo que é familiar, tu encontra NPCs, escuta eles e não faz ideia de quem sejam, mas ainda assim vai se criando uma relação. Os próprios inimigos passam essa sensação de familiaridade, em maioria eles não são exatamente criaturas super bizarras, são uma linha tênue entre o assustador e o familiar, são mais próximos de um ser humano do que um zumbi por exemplo. Em resumo, é como navegar por um sonho, aquele sonho pesado que temos num final de uma tarde, os diálogos vagos e que ainda assim carregam algum sentido contribuem para essa ideia, assim como todo o surrealismo das fases, o sound design que mereceria um parágrafo inteiro dedicado a ele, a trilha sonora muito atmosférica, as escolhas de design que te fazem questionar "por quê?", por que toca uma das melhores OSTs numa sala em que leva 10 segundos pra atravessar e tu só passa por ela 4 vezes ao total? É o tipo de pergunta que não precisa de uma resposta, só está lá e você aceita, acredite nesse universo, é disso que falo quando citei que o Suda leva a ideia do que é jogar um jogo a outro nível.

Fazia tempo que não me sentia assim. Enquanto jogava Killer7, me sentia grato por ter essa oportunidade. Quando estava ocupado ou não podia jogar, só conseguia pensar nele. É uma combinação de tudo o que valorizo em jogos e na arte em geral, a criatividade, a personalidade, a capacidade de expressar ideias e sentimentos de uma maneira tão profunda, de trazer discussões e momentos que você vai levar pra vida. Apesar de toda a loucura da história, acredito que a ideia geral do que aconteceu fique bem clara, não é um confuso que é confuso porque sim à lá Christopher Nolan (brincadeira, só em alguns filmes), geralmente tem um diálogo que já explica o tema que tá sendo debatido a cada fase, o jogo te entrega vários elementos e a intenção é brincar com o que você acredita, para assim terminar de uma forma que muda toda sua perspectiva do que aconteceu antes, dá vontade de ficar jogando e rejogando só para compreender mais a cada vez. Quando chega naquela linda cena final, toca a música e os créditos rolam, eu só consegui pensar "masterpiece", tanto que prestei atenção em todos os nomes que aparecem só para sentir que tô valorizando eles. Definitivamente não é algo que eu recomendaria para todas as pessoas do mundo, mas dê uma chance algum dia, quem sabe você tenha uma experiência parecida com a minha :)

"That wonderful smile is gone for eternity"
"Don't cry, Garcian, that's not like you"
https://youtu.be/M8JzA2B5Z7I?si=hMcIPy38kH6Bp23v

It's fucking insane, but it's the *way* it wears its insanity that makes it so ravenously compelling to me. It has a voice, it has something to say, it wants you to take it seriously! - but its voice is either yelling over some of the most absurd events or setpieces you'll ever see, or yelling its point directly *at* you in a way that sometimes manages to be even more unbelievable than the former (they did NOT just call a guy TREVOR PEARLHARBOR?????). Whisk in a healthy serving of spectacle that doesn't mean anything and is just thrown in for the hell of it, and you’re sent on a wild ride where you spend as much time finding meaning in absurdity as you spend *trying* to read into meaningless absurdity.

It's that razor's-edge balance of sincerity and stupidity that defines this game, and it extends further than the plot itself - something I find incredibly interesting is its relationship with gore and death. You'll spend most of your time blasting off the limbs of nondescript humanoid monsters, absorbing streams of blood that billow out, and giving it to the lovely man in the TV to turn into experience points. Yet despite its revelry in cartoon bloodshed it’s still able to pull back and use gore more disquietingly when it wants to - and manages to do so successfully, over and over again - even when the gore itself still borders on the absurd.

Its lace of intent and earnestness is what makes its batshit absurdity really stick. You desperately want to carry on and see what the hell it’s gonna throw at you next, but in a way where it gets you genuinely invested in it. Back that with its strange-yet-satisfying gameplay and a killer aesthetic and presentation, and there’s no way it won’t leave a hell of an impression.

I didn't know what to expect going in, and the game surprised me very positively, the gameplay is very unique and satisfying, the puzzles are fun to solve and the combat has a wide variety of enemies that test the capabilities of each one of your personalities, the bosses are great too, most are easy but very creative and fun, and the story... where do I start? It starts off very confusing but it's not that hard to understand if you pay attention, it doesn't tell you everything right away but it gives you all the information you need to understand, the characters are also very charismatic and you get attached to each one of them, even the most insignificant ones, simply for the authenticity of each one, the cutscenes are also very well directed and the ost is amazing, keeping you always in the edge of your seat in each scene and dialogue that appears, and by the way, the dialogues are very well written, the setting is also very unique and well done, the scenery is abstract and deliberately not very detailed, with desaturated yet present all throughout the scenery colors, forming a very bizarre and comforting aesthetic at the same time, my only issue were some very slow animations and some boring enemies, but overall a great experience, 9.8/10, 5/5 stars.

A once in a lifetime experience.

Killer7 has always been an interesting title for me as I would always see it growing up but never played it. After years went by I finally sat down and started the game but quickly put aside for whatever reason which leads to right now. As a huge suda 51 fan it's truly a mystery to me as to why it took this long to finally play Killer7 BUT it's better late than never and I can wholeheartedly say this is the pinnacle of Suda 51 and a true meaning to the word, masterpiece.

What makes Killer7 so amazing?

Honestly every aspect from the gameplay , graphics , vibes , characters , world and story is simply masterfully crafted to the point where you really understand that there will never be another game like killer7 EVER. To explain, I have always adored Suda 51 for how crazy , chaotic and out there his games have always been. It always draws me back to every title he released and will be releasing down the line. Killer7 is a game way ahead of its time and really sets the tone for the amazing legacy Suda will continue to create but after playing Killer7 you wonder how in the world can you top this?. Suda 51 himself has stated that he believes Killer7 will never be topped for him and after playing the game myself I can agree. Killer7 is such a meticulously put together game it's astonishing to think that this is only ⅓ of the story Suda was able to put into the game.


Story

Honestly the biggest curveball for me as I was not expecting to get as invested in this story as I did. To explain, Killer7 is not easily understood, the game will in fact be confusing for you for a lot of its run time but by the end things will slowly crack open for you. I will honestly keep this segment short as I believe this story is a masterpiece that should be experienced by everyone without the least amount of knowledge you can have about it. There is a reason as to why this game's story is still analyzed, discussed and even argued to this day because it’s a story with an insane amount of layers that will most likely never be fully understood. Killer7’s story is phenomenal and you should truly play it just for this reason alone.


Gameplay

Another aspect that I really enjoyed was the gameplay and how unique it was to play through. To explain , this game is an on rails shooter where you run on set paths to each destination of the game. Furthermore, because of this style this game is not free roam but do not let that deceive you because you will get stuck at certain segments if you do not look through every nook and cranny of the levels. Taking control of 7 Killers you can swap between each of them at any given moment and this is important for a few reasons. To explain, Each character has their own set of skills which WILL be required to use at very specific moments during each level and these objectives are not doable with anyone else past that one character. This can be a hassle but if you just do a little trial and error you will get by each part after sometime. In addition , the combat has you fighting demon-like monsters where you have to press a button to visibly see them before being able to shoot them. It gets the job done and is fun for the whole runtime. I honestly never got bored with the encounters the game kept throwing at me as you maneuver through each hallway. In addition, I really like how you can pretty much one shot most enemies if you have good aim as most enemies will have glowing yellow orbs on specific parts that you can shoot that will one shot them on top of giving you blood to level and refill on health. The last part does lead me into one thing that didn’t really give me impact in which is the leveling system in killer7. To explain, when you one shot enemies you obtain blood which can be used to level each of your characters but I honestly never really felt a power difference from leveling up anyone so I am not sure what the point of it was. However, this doesn’t honestly affect the game in any shape or form. I just wish the leveling system was more meaningful. In addition to leveling you as well fill up blood vials which can be used to heal your characters or you can use multiple vials to get a charge shot that will destroy enemies. In the end the gameplay is very engaging and fun but can be a bit confusing at times but hey there are always guides online for the confusing parts if needed.


Bosses

As always the bosses are some of my favorite parts of Suda 51 games and Killer7 is no different in delivering unique and insane bosses. As stated in the story segment I will also not go into the bosses as I think it's best to experience them with 0 info but they do not disappoint!

Characters

One of the aspects I adore about Killer7 was its character pool as each character is loveable for many reasons. Everyone is Oozing with personality that you really can’t help but to want to learn more and more and more about the cast of killer7. This is a strong part of the game as this HAD to work in order for the story to be as impactful as it was. Like you heard me say I will refrain from saying anymore as I believe you should play this game knowing as least as you can.

Graphics , OST, Sounds

There really is a certain feeling you get when you play Suda games. It's such an oddly cozy feeling that is hard to explain. I loved each level's layout and would always take a look around at everything I could, which is weird when you take into account there isn’t a lot of set pieces in each level, it's usually a lot of walls and pictures of walls apart from special segments LOL. It boils down to the color scheme for me as to why I think I kept looking around so much because the colors can be very vibrant and beautiful to look at then very dark and mysterious the next moment. Pair this with an amazing OST and sound effects. It really blends for an oddly cozy , calming experience that I can promise you……. The game is far from Cozy and calming.


Let's wrap this up

Killer7 is a game I went in knowing I was going to enjoy and left being completely in love and enamored by its lore and world. There are very few games that provoke this feeling out of me and that is why I will say this is a MUST play for honestly everyone looking for a truly unique and lore driven experience. There will never be another game like Killer7 but that is okay because we in fact already have the Killer7 we will only ever need.