Скачать или смотреть PS2 Horror Month: Siren, Part 7: Victory!

Originally streamed Oct 20, 2020.

The fourth proper annual "Horror Month." In this one, for the first time I am able to stream PS2 games, and so this month is entirely dedicated to the PS2, arguably the best console for horror games!

Known as Forbidden Siren in Japan, Siren was directed by Keiichiro Toyama, the director of one of my all time favorite games Silent Hill 1. This game features a cast of characters dealing with zombie-like creatures called shibito, which are very strong and threatening. Often in these games you are encouraged to use stealth and avoid combat, and the main mechanic is a psychic power called "sight-jacking," seeing through the eyes of shibito in order to be able to avoid them. It's a cool but also pretty awkward way of learning the stages, though it does lend itself very well to suspense.

This game has a really cool and somewhat freaky visual style, which digitizes actors faces onto the facial models. I quite like it. Also a really excellent soundtrack and excellent sense of atmosphere. The various characters all have their own journeys which sometimes join together, and many characters won't survive. There is not necessarily a set order to which character's storylines you play, you choose which scene to do next from a giant map called a "link navigator" in which scenes gradually open as you complete them. The trouble with this game is that it's not always obvious how to open up new scenes, and sometimes requires you to complete secondary objectives within a mission. Sometimes these objectives are quite opaque and difficult to find. In addition to this, this game is quite difficult, and even just completing some of the missions will take a lot of effort, so finding secondary objectives on top of this can be a bit of a nightmare. Because of all of that craziness, this game is probably best played with a guide unless you really want to dedicate a lot of time to it; still, the game is cool enough that it may be worth it!

I respect the sheer craziness of what the game demands out of you, it is certainly a mountain to climb in order to fully complete it, and that's not a bad thing for a horror game because it certainly makes for some high intensity gaming. A high barrier for entry to be sure; even if you use a guide, it can still be difficult at times. But it's such a unique and cool and atmospheric horror game that I think it's well worth the effort.

My Rating:
Overall 7/10 - Music 8/10

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