Siren: Blood Curse...I think you will be in for a pleasant surprise.
Siren: Blood Curse is old school survival horror with a few new school twists. A few examples are: There is a split-screen sight jacking mode that allows the player to see through the eyes of others while continuing to play normally. Also there are an insane amount of weapons available throughout the game each with its own unique finishing moves; but perhaps the most intriguing element is the disjunctive story broken into 12 chapters, each chapter containing multiple episodes.
The story begins on August 3, 2007 and focuses on an American television crew that arrives in Japan to investigate and document the legend of Hanuda, a "vanished village" where human sacrifices are said to have taken place thirty years ago. In all, there are 7 playable characters each with their own linear involvement to the story; however, their story intersects and runs parallel to other characters in the story creating a veritable web of different perspectives that you experience firsthand while unraveling the mystery.
On the surface game play follows suit with most 3rd person action survival horror games. You have a limited amount viewing area thanks to your favorite and mine, STATIC CAMERA! Creating tension and scares for more than 12 years. Your character has pretty decent maneuverability and can climb ladders, boxes, run and jump, by simply pushing forward on the left analog. You can also crouch using the circle button and melee using the square or L1 (I think) button. You also have access to maps, inventory using the select button.
There are 50 different varieties of weapons throughout the game, limited by quantity per chapter and are usually driven by context meaning you find scalpels in the hospital not in the underground mine. There you would probably run into shovels or pickaxes. Normally your character starts a new chapter with just a flash light and you need to search for weapons and items before you can take out the Shibito or progress through the game.
Throughout the game you are given a series of objectives needed to accomplish the missions. For the most part objectives are linear but you can bypass some and still complete the mission; however please note that you may miss an item detrimental to the story to place in your archive by doing so. The way you approach missions is up to you for the most part you can utilize stealth or kill anything in your way. One character in particular can only use stealth so, in all, game play is quite dynamic. There is also the whole sight jack thing which adds a great layer to the game play and can be used in some quite interesting ways; such as, keeping tabs on Shibito / seeing through their eyes. Nothing is freakier than having to see yourself being killed by a Shibito, through their eyes, which are your eyes which… well you get the point. In some cases, you can also use sight jack to find maps and solve puzzles.
Visually the game utilizes a high contrast ratio, unless you adjust your settings the darkness is pitch black and with nothing but a flashlight you can easily freak yourself out thanks to the static camera. The environments can seem quite claustrophobic even outside but are beautifully rendered and nicely detailed nonetheless. Perhaps the biggest draw to me, for this game, is the soundtrack. Eerily beautiful ambient strings coupled with the dragging sound of footsteps and painful groans of the Shibito will send chills up your spine.
Siren does an amazing job of putting the fright back into survival horror; with an innovative and compelling story and dynamic game play. I think that Blood Curse will appeal to not only the most dedicated of the genre but to folks checking it out for the very first time. I highly recommend.