Siren: Blood Curse

Gameplay

In Siren: Blood Curse, the Link Navigator from previous games is replaced by a series of twelve chronological episodes, each containing parallel and intersecting chapters for different player characters. Each chapter consists of either a cutscene or a mission, the latter being where gameplay mainly takes place.

The main gameplay of Blood Curse generally involves controlling a player character from a third-person perspective. The player must complete missions to progress the story, while evading the shibito, the game's main enemies. The series' signature "Sight Jack" ability operates in an automated split-screen mode, allowing the player to see through the eyes of others while continuing to play normally. Sight jacking is imperative to surviving in the game; the player can only discover clues to their next goal or target through this ability.

Blood Curse puts an emphasis on stealth gameplay. When the player enters a shibito's vicinity, a heartbeat-like drum will sound to warn the player. Shibito are usually found standing guard at certain points, preventing entry; or patrolling the area on a set path. Should the player get a shibito's attention, it will attack the player until the latter's death. It is possible to knock a shibito out for a small amount of time; however, it will eventually resurrect and attack again. If the player manages to successfully hide from an alerted Shibito, it may give up and resume its idle activity.

Characters are generally unarmed at the start of a mission, making them easy targets for any who see them. The player can only carry one weapon at any time. Weapons include shovels, pistols, rifles, and a katana. In some situations, the player must brace doors to prevent shibito from entering; in others, they must hide to sneak past a shibito following a patrol route.

In the Archives catalog, the player has access to audio recordings, videos, and documents collected by fulfilling certain conditions in an episode. The Archive includes a record of the weapons found throughout the game. The documents can uncover story details hinted upon in the episodes.

Setting and characters

Siren: Blood Curse features a cast of interconnected characters, who are caught up in the unnatural forces surrounding Hanuda Village, Japan. The main protagonist is Howard Wright, an American high school student who arrives in Hanuda due to a mysterious e-mail message. At various points in the game, he encounters members of an American TV crew: Sam Monroe, a cultural anthropologist and college professor; Melissa Gale, a TV presenter and Sam's ex-wife; Bella Monroe, Sam and Melissa's ten-year-old daughter; and Sol Jackson, the cameraman. He also encounters Miyako (美耶古), a girl who wishes to escape Hanuda; Seigo Saiga (犀賀 省悟, Saiga Seigo), a doctor of the local Saiga Hospital who can speak English; and Amana, an amnesiac Caucasian who is revealed to be the main human antagonist.

The game is mostly set in different areas of Hanuda Village, including the Karuwari and Tabori districts, the Hanuda Mine, and the Saiga Hospital. The village is home to the unique Mana religion. The dead humans who now roam the area, the shibito (屍人, lit. "corpse people"), are a result of the Mana "god" Kaiko (蚕子, lit. "silkworm child"), the primary antagonist. Because of Kaiko's influence, Hanuda is "cut off" from the outside world, preventing communication and/or escape from the village.

Story

On August 3, 2007, an American TV crew visits the area of Hanuda Village, Japan, a mountain village that vanished completely in 1976. At night, Sol and Melissa stumble upon a Mana ritual, where Yukie Kobe is murdered as a sacrifice. Suddenly, Howard Wright intervenes, allowing Miyako to escape unharmed. Howard then runs to find help; instead, he encounters a policeman who tries to kill him. Howard manages to kill the officer and escape, discovering that the man is already dead. As Howard crosses a bridge, an ominous siren shakes the mountain, and the policeman—a shibito—reappears and shoots Howard in the chest. He falls into the river below. Meanwhile, Yukie resurrects as a shibito and attacks the camera crew, separating them as the siren wails.

Howard wakes up downstream, having somehow survived the gunshot. He is briefly assisted by Amana, though they are separated when a shibito knocks Howard down and carries Amana away. Sam reawakens at the Hanuda mines, and reunites with Melissa for a short time. Meanwhile, Bella, hiding in the Saiga Hospital, tries to call for help; this draws in Sol, now a shibito, who attacks Melissa shortly afterward. Howard then encounters Miyako and Seigo Saiga, recognizing the latter from the ritual, before attempting to escape Hanuda with Miyako. Later, Sam meets Saiga; Melissa reunites with him. As they leave, Saiga decides to kill himself after Yukie—his fianceé—appears again. The Monroes encounter Bella—who, to their horror, died and has become a shibito.

While this is happening, Amana recovers her lost memories, remembering that she is to bring the god Kaiko into the world. She subdues Howard, and takes Miyako away into the Shibito Nest. Howard pursues them, but is too late: Miyako has already been sacrificed. Delving further in, Howard encounters the shibito of Sam and Bella, as well as an insane Melissa, who shoots and kills him. Inexplicably, Howard's and Bella's deaths cause a time loop. The player returns to the point where Howard, alive, first encountered Amana. This time, Howard, remembering her actions from the previous timeline, runs away from her; and Amana, now retaining her memories, does not follow.

In this timeline, Sol and Sam reunite in the Hanuda mines; while Melissa finds Bella, safe and sound, in the hospital. However, Sol dies after he and Sam are surrounded, and Melissa dies while saving Bella from a maggot shibito. Saiga, getting a strange sense of déjà vu, briefly protects Bella from more shibito before uncovering an ancient Mana text. Later, Sam, who got separated from Sol earlier, finds the text, discovering that the events they were experiencing were all predestined. Howard, meanwhile, recalls that Miyako had melded her blood with his to prevent him from becoming a shibito himself, and goes off in search for her. At the same time, Bella leaves from hiding in a house, and narrowly escapes from Melissa, now another shibito.

Upon meeting with her, Howard remembers the events of the previous timeline. Miyako explains to him that the village is currently caught in an unending time loop, and that they must release the "other power" to stop it. They succeed in breaking the seals, but Amana appears, knocking Howard unconscious and kidnapping Miyako. Afterward, Saiga arrives and carries Howard to the hospital, and has Bella (who had seen the whole thing) come along. When Howard comes to at the hospital, he meets Bella and discovers Saiga "experimenting" on a shibito. Saiga heads to the Hanuda Mine on his own, where he fights Yukie (now a mutated shibito) and retrieves an artifact called "the Uryen". At the same time, Howard and Bella arrive at the Shibito Nest to find Miyako and Sam. Howard, Bella, and Sam all enter the core of the nest, where they see Amana sacrifice Miyako in the red sea, summoning an otherworldly monster—Kaiko. As the others escape, Amana stays, horrified by Kaiko's form: something has gone wrong again.

Just then, Saiga arrives with the Uryen—the "fruit" that Amana was supposed to use to resurrect Kaiko in its true form. Kaiko impales Saiga, who dies as he unleashes the Uryen's sacred fire down upon them. Howard gets separated from Bella and meets Sam, who had sent Howard the message that brought him here. After asking Howard to keep Bella safe should he find her again, Sam traverses the Shibito Nest core. He encounters Melissa and Sol, each now a shibito. As Sol corners Bella, Melissa intervenes, saving her daughter. However, all three wind up falling through an orange void, much to Sam's horror. Howard, meanwhile, heads back to the area where Miyako was sacrificed, where he finds Miyako's spirit looking up at him in the reflection of the red sea. She requests that Howard make the village disappear, and he falls into the water.

Howard enters "Inferno" (いんふぇるの), where he encounters Saiga's spirit. After giving him the Uryen, Saiga battles Howard as a test. Howard defeats Saiga, and the doctor leaves behind a sword for Howard to use. Amana then appears, and offers herself up to resurrect Kaiko's true form: a mass of floating insect parts. With Miyako's spirit guiding him, Howard turns Saiga's sword into a vessel for the "other power", which the Uryen's flame unleashes. Now able to fight the deity, Howard works with Miyako's spirit to see through Kaiko's illusions and destroy it. After succeeding, Amana returns, saying that the ritual has succeeded before walking away. Meanwhile, Sam falls into another orange void, which deposits him into Hanuda in 1972, after the village was washed away in a flood. He comments that "[e]verything must be repeated so that Bella can exist forever", and remembers Howard, ensuring that the events of the game would repeat.

In the epilogue, Howard approaches Hanuda's shibito, while listening to his music player. The camera reveals that he is armed with guns, Saiga's sword, and the Uryen. Activating the Uryen, Howard begins to destroy the village—his "promise to Miyako."

Development and release

The director and co-writer said: "Siren Blood Curse is not a sequel or a standard remake of the other games. Suppose the events of the original SIREN were real, in that case Siren Blood Curse would be like a 'movie based on a true story', adapting and dramatizing the original. While some of the key events bear resemblance to those in the first SIREN, the characters and the background are completely different. The addition of Western characters who have stumbled into horrific events taking place in a world that is foreign to them helps enhance the feelings of isolation and terror. I think they will also present Western players with characters that are easier to relate to. This mix of Western and Japanese characters with the inevitable communication troubles that ensue adds to the frustration the various characters feel toward their situation. We were able to present the game more like a dramatic TV show in a way that hasn’t been done before. A lot of survival horror titles in recent years have been focusing mostly on just the action element, while Siren Blood Curse puts a lot of its effort into scaring the player and presenting a rich story." The game was promoted with a special area at PlayStation Home, including the Ward of Despair minigame lobby for up to five players.

The original soundtrack of Siren: Blood Curse, titled Siren: New Translation Original Soundtrack was released in Japan on August 27, 2008. The European release of Blood Curse includes an exclusive making-of documentary titled Behind the Curtain of Terror, which is accessed via the PlayStation 3's XMB Video menu.

Reception

Siren: Blood Curse received "generally favorable reviews", complimenting its excellent visuals, atmosphere-setting sounds, storyline, and gameplay, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. IGN praised the game's "increasingly suspenseful set of chapters and cutscenes, frightening jumps and gameplay sequences," and criticized some of the gameplay's aspects. While reviewing the first chapter of the game, Eurogamer stated that "Siren: Blood Curse is the best thing to appear in the genre in a very long time." GameSpot's Carolyn Petit praised the sight jacking mechanic, while noting repetition in locations and controls. In Japan, Famitsu gave the game a score of all four nines for a total of 36 out of 40. 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die included Siren: Blood Curse as one of its titles.