Really wanted to like this more! Suda51's original cult classic, as intense and philosophical as always. It gets a lot of well-deserved praise for its incredible presentation and its deep, heavily layered writing. Suda is never afraid to just leave a story really ambiguous and force the player to work it out and interpret things on their own.
But man, this just did not click with me for most of the runtime. I can tell that the writing it putting in careful, nuanced character portraits, but the dialogue/translation is lacking the unique punch of later Suda writing. As a result, a lot of characters sort of blend together. The overarching mystery is a compelling cyberpunk narrative, but when I had trouble keeping all the characters together, the purposes and intents of all the factions fell apart for me too. Nothing really stayed with me long-term.
That said, I actually enjoyed the mysteries that took place outside of the core game's story. Cases 2 and 3 in particular were just really solid stories about these tragic tales of the system failing or hurting its public. Much of the game revolves around how the bigger machinations of these wider political conflicts impact the average civilian, and that smaller scale offers an INCREDIBLY satisfying and engaging experience compared to the wider plotlines. Not to say those plotlines are bad! But it just didn't land for me personally.
But if I'm being real, the biggest obstacle I faced on multiple attempts at trying this game is how the prologue case ends. The main cop SCREAMS at the player "You need to kill them. Kill every single criminal. You can't let a single one of these animals live." Over time, I came to understand that discomfort was intentional! The Heinous Crime Unit that make up the cast is intentionally written as a murderous taskforce that the state uses to kill criminals/any enemies to their authority. They're not good people. But even so, its a really rough start to the story that I only pushed past because of the overwhelming praise the game gets.
I do think I'll continue with the second Silver Case and Flowers, Sun, and Rain, but its definitely one of those games that you really have to meet on its own terms and engage with deeply. And I just wasn't really grabbed enough for my brain to put in the effort.
But man, this just did not click with me for most of the runtime. I can tell that the writing it putting in careful, nuanced character portraits, but the dialogue/translation is lacking the unique punch of later Suda writing. As a result, a lot of characters sort of blend together. The overarching mystery is a compelling cyberpunk narrative, but when I had trouble keeping all the characters together, the purposes and intents of all the factions fell apart for me too. Nothing really stayed with me long-term.
That said, I actually enjoyed the mysteries that took place outside of the core game's story. Cases 2 and 3 in particular were just really solid stories about these tragic tales of the system failing or hurting its public. Much of the game revolves around how the bigger machinations of these wider political conflicts impact the average civilian, and that smaller scale offers an INCREDIBLY satisfying and engaging experience compared to the wider plotlines. Not to say those plotlines are bad! But it just didn't land for me personally.
But if I'm being real, the biggest obstacle I faced on multiple attempts at trying this game is how the prologue case ends. The main cop SCREAMS at the player "You need to kill them. Kill every single criminal. You can't let a single one of these animals live." Over time, I came to understand that discomfort was intentional! The Heinous Crime Unit that make up the cast is intentionally written as a murderous taskforce that the state uses to kill criminals/any enemies to their authority. They're not good people. But even so, its a really rough start to the story that I only pushed past because of the overwhelming praise the game gets.
I do think I'll continue with the second Silver Case and Flowers, Sun, and Rain, but its definitely one of those games that you really have to meet on its own terms and engage with deeply. And I just wasn't really grabbed enough for my brain to put in the effort.