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[cj_iwakura]

• Developer: Grasshopper Manufacturer / Active Gaming Media
• Publisher: Playism
• Platform: PC (Steam/GOG/Playism/Humble/etc.)
• Genre: Visual Novel/Adventure
• Price: $19.99, $17.99 at launch
• A Suda 51 Trip, Music by Masafumi Takada
  
  Requirements:
  OS: Windows XP SP2+ or newer
  Processor: SSE2 instruction set support or greater
  Memory: 4 GB RAM
  Graphics: DX9 (shader model 3.0) or greater
  DirectX: Version 9.0
  Storage: 7 GB available space

The Silver Case was originally released for the PS1 in 1999. It was Suda51's first game with his new studio, Grasshopper Manufacturer, formed after he left Human Entertainment.

The Silver Case was made with an extremely small team, so the film window system was a result of the game's financial limitations. Though major story developments are told through copious amounts of text, still artwork, animation clips, and even live action footage serve as visual aids.

Although there are references to his earlier Syndrome games from Human Entertainment, The Silver Case is largely standalone, and would mark the start of a trilogy that would later come to be known as the Kill The Past series.

The story that begins here will continue in Flower, Sun, and Rain and end with the tale of the Killer7.

Not to mention that maybe, just maybe, the success of this could lead to a localization of the sidestory sequel, Ward 25.

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?

The player takes control of the protagonist - a member of the Special Forces Unit known as “Republic” - from a first-person perspective. The primary story, Transmitter, consists of five chapters. A secondary chapter, Placebo, is told from the perspective of a journalist attempting to piece together the myriad truths of The Silver case.

HD Remake

Original Version

HD Remake Opening (Akira Yamaoka remix of The Silver Case theme)

Original Opening

The Silver Case MAD (Live Version) (Beware of Spoilers)

The Soundtrack

The Physical Release
https://limitedrungames.com/products/the-silver-case-pc

($49.99)

• 
  DRM-free game disc with installer
  Soundtrack on CD
  Artbook
  22-page manga
  Two-piece manual set
  Individually numbered box - numbers will be issued by order of purchase. The box is 7.75" x 9.5" x 1.75" - the same box dimensions as many classic PC games from the 80s and 90s.
  Digital deluxe Steam key delivered via email (this will not be necessary to play the game as the physical game disc will be completely DRM-free)

Avatars

TBA

Special Thanks
Suda51, for staying crazy.
Playism & Active Gaming Media, for the localization miracle of the decade.
The Official Site
And you, for supporting GHM's old school insanity.

The syndrome is in effect.

 

[Persona7]

Getting it from GOG tomorrow and my physical copy is pre-ordered. Can't wait.

Nice OT.

 

[purseowner]

Great OT. Looking forward to my key arriving.

 

[Mr.Monitor]

Great OT. Can't wait to jump into this this weekend. Still waiting on my key from Limited Run.

 

[Spieler Eins]

Wasn't this supposed to be 15$? Oh well...

 

[Moze]

Is this a pretty obtuse game? I mean the puzzles and stuff.

 

[Tizoc]

Gonna finish up Mad Max asap and start this X3.

If Crom is feeling generous he shall consider blessing this upon an unworthy peasant come end of the glorious Winter Seal.

 

[Sorcerer Supreme]

dying here waiting for my LRG key

 

[poppos2097]

Lookin' good. Can't wait...

dying here waiting for my LRG key

 

[Sumio Mondo]

Game keeps crashing for me when trying to save at the first adventure game part.

 

[cj_iwakura]

dying here waiting for my LRG key

Imagine how I feel.

 

[Dusk Golem]

Timing of this OT is great, literally just bought it.

I won't be playing immediately as busy this month, but so excited it released to the English speaking public and they did a remake.

Spoiler

Do the Twilight Syndrome games next.

 

[C-Jo]

Woo, physical edition pre-ordered.

I've had a PS1 copy for 10 years, I can't fucking wait to finally play it in English.

 

[Nyoro SF]

I have so many games to play, but I bought this one day one to show my support. Really hope this trend of reviving great old games on PC can continue. Hope I have time to play this within the next few weeks.

 

[Sorcerer Supreme]

Imagine how I feel.

haha i've also been waiting to play this game FOR YEARS. i still remember the stream where suda showed the game running on a DS

 

[takoyaki]

Great OT

Excited that it's finally coming out. I'm also really curious about reviews and how today's critics will react to the game.

 

[Sparrowhawk]

Not really a VN person, but I'm going to pick this up sometime to show them some support. Maybe one day we can get Killer7 on PC. I do like Suda51's weird stories.

 

[Joqu]

Great OT, thanks!

It's a shame I don't have my LRG key yet though

 

[cj_iwakura]

haha i've also been waiting to play this game FOR YEARS. i still remember the stream where suda showed the game running on a DS

I wound up playing through the whole thing in raw Japanese because I couldn't stand waiting any longer.

This is why I think the 'this puzzle was too difficult for Japan!' thing was hilarious, because I did that without understanding a damn character.

 

[poppos2097]

Spoiler

Do the Twilight Syndrome games next.

Hoping the deluxe comic would fill in the gaps for us enough but that would be great. I wonder if GHM even holds the rights to those.

 

[Soulflarz]

wait
killer7 is related to this
what?!
I-it's not a standalone game?!

 

[cj_iwakura]

Hoping the deluxe comic would fill in the gaps for us enough but that would be great. I wonder if GHM even holds the rights to those.

They don't, Spike Chunsoft does, but they've been teasing it. I doubt they'd do it without Suda's input, it'd just be nasty otherwise.

wait
killer7 is related to this
what?!
I-it's not a standalone game?!

Not even remotely. Characters from this appear in FSR and characters from that appear in Killer7.

 

[The Silver]

I'll be getting this once I finish off Rose Guns Days

 

[Dusk Golem]

Hoping the deluxe comic would fill in the gaps for us enough but that would be great. I wonder if GHM even holds the rights to those.

To my knowledge they don't, BUT The studio that does is apparently looking to porting a lot more games to Steam anyways and even dropped Twilight Syndrome in a series of images of things they could potentially support. Since both the people who own the IP and Suda51 have interest in bringing older titles to Steam around the same period of time, I hope they get into contact with each other.

My answer is only a little informed, there may be more I don't know of, but regardless, excited to finally be able to play Silver Case!

 

[Sumio Mondo]

Would be great if Suda and Spike-Chunsoft can work somthing out for Twilight Syndrome and Moonlight Syndrome, for sure. Moonlight Syndrome is supposedly considered a part of the same series as The Silver Case/FS&R/killer7 in Japan as well.

haha i've also been waiting to play this game FOR YEARS. i still remember the stream where suda showed the game running on a DS

That was in...2012? The DS release was announced in 2009...how time flies. We somehow ended up with an even better version now, lol. Turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Just goes to show how patience prevails eventually.

 

[Soulflarz]

Not even remotely. Characters from this appear in FSR and characters from that appear in Killer7.

What

my life is a lie

 

[BTA]

Was planning on getting the LRG physical copy but after seeing what's in it, I think I'll just go digital. Gotta finish some other stuff first, but I'm looking forward to this.

 

[Joqu]

I really hope we end up getting Ward 25 through this. Flower, Sun, and Rain and Killer7 ports would be great too but at least alternatives exist for those two. Ward 25 doesn't have any, so I hope they'd consider Ward a priority if this ends up being successful

And yeah, the Syndrome games. But that's up to Spike Chunsoft

 

[Mookie1515]

Can't wait to finally play this after reading about it for some many years. FSR and Killer7 are two of my favorite games of all time, so I'd love to see how it all started.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Is this a pretty obtuse game? I mean the puzzles and stuff.

Not really. A couple are tricky, but you can figure them out if you're attentive to detail or take good notes. I'd put them on par with 999's.

What's really gonna get you is the investigation parts. Remember FSR and having to talk to everyone in the hotel? Yeah. That wasn't his first time of having that bright idea.

 

[Lord Ghirahim]

T E T S U G O L O W

 

[Tyrant Rave]

Always wanted to play this so it was a no brainer. Grabbed the Digital Deluxe off Steam this morning!

 

[poppos2097]

T E T S U G O L O W

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwre4JstX_A

 

[Phenomenal Flea]

Awesome OT, cj. You've really been working hard to share news about TSC here!
Would have bought the game on Steam now, if I hadn't already ordered that LRG Edition! Can't wait!
Love FSR. LOVE killer7. killer7 is probably my favourite game ever. Can't wait to play the first installment in the ktp trilogy, at last~~~

 

[cj_iwakura]

Devlog 5, about Film Window:

http://playism-games.com/article/the-silver-case-devlog-5

Also, this is exactly 17 years after the original release. Clever, Playism.

 

[ArclightBorealis]

Very nice OT. Went and bought the game once I got back from work this morning. Played through the prologue, first chapter, and partway through the first Placebo, Yume. Would've kept going all the way to the end, but that's a lot of text to read in one sitting.

It feels so good to be finally playing the whole thing in English. Though one thing I kinda have to watch out for is when the game quickly flashes an image with an accompanying sound effect. I'm always jumpy with that sudden kind of stuff, and the fact that it's usually meant to focus on something disturbing doesn't help. But it's still really cool. Like, I played Flower, Sun, and Rain and that was pretty quirky. This is more like killer7 in tone but without the trippy aesthetics. It feels very grounded, though there's still quite a bit of character quirks that make their way into the dialogue at points. Kusabi is already my favorite of the main cast, the man is such a great 'bad cop" characterization. Seriously, the localization has been pretty great so far and has done a good job selling the tone while also feeling distinctly "Suda." Classic Suda at least, though there's still plenty of swearing going on.

Also gonna echo the sentiment that hopefully following this the Syndrome games (Moonlight especially) get a similar treatment to Silver Case. I read through that bonus comic book that came as part of the bonus material. It's nothing that substantial, most of it is just the first bits of dialogue from Lunatics with visual references that you will appreciate if you've played FSR and Moonlight Syndrome (or rather, if you're aware of what the final scene in Moonlight Syndrome is). Also it seems I need to refresh myself on everything from Flower, Sun, and Rain if I missed the detail that

Spoiler

Kusabi's daughter really is Toriko from FSR, the girl with the pink alligator.

Alright, between early morning work and digging into the plot, I'm gonna take a nap and refresh. Then finish up Yume and figure out how to pace myself through the rest of the game because I can tell this is gonna take a good long time to go through and appreciate. Seriously, don't be fooled by the length of the prologue, the main chapters and side chapters have a lot of stuff to go through.

 

[Black Republican]

can my basic laptop run this, might have to get steam for this

 

[Corpekata]

can my basic laptop run this, might have to get steam for this

There's a demo on Steam, just try that.

Most likely yes though.

 

[EVA UNIT 01]

I need that LE

 

[Ran rp]

which choos e?

 

[BumblebeeCody]

Looks good. Never played this abd enjoyed the demo

 

[The Cartographer]

Oh man the music.

I can feel it!

 

[Gacha-pin]

How Kusabi calls you (the player character) in the English version? Dekachin?

 

[Soulflarz]

I need that LE

me too
eva
*puppy eyes*

(I just bought a digital copy rip)

 

[IrishNinja]

goddamn, my wallet is not ready for that physical release yet (;_

CJ do i gotta tie up FSR first or nah?

 

[epmode]

That text sound effect is pretty grating for something that happens with every line of dialogue.

The UI is confusing too. It's really stylish but it's strange that the sections of the screen you're supposed to focus on are so small. And there's all sorts of distracting animation happening in the background.

It's my first Suda 51 game, can you tell?

 

[Baust]

Still pleasantly surprised to get the opportunity to play this game in English!

Waiting for the code from the LRG physical version to show then I'm jumping in!

 

[Soulflarz]

That text sound effect is pretty grating for something that happens with every line of dialogue.

The UI is confusing too. It's really stylish but it's strange that the sections of the screen you're supposed to focus on are so small. And there's all sorts of distracting animation happening in the background.

It's my first Suda 51 game, can you tell?

We all have stockholm syndrome by this point and just claim any flaws in a Suda game are by design and are probably commentary on the games industry as a whole.

 

[cj_iwakura]

goddamn, my wallet is not ready for that physical release yet (;_

CJ do i gotta tie up FSR first or nah?

Nope. Play this first! Be glad you can.

How Kusabi calls you (the player character) in the English version? Dekachin?

Akira by default.

 

[TGMIII]

Roughly how long is a playthrough?

All the visual novels from Suda are the only games of his I haven't played so I'm relatively interested in this although my success rate for enjoying VNs hasn't been great.