The 25th Ward: The Silver Case (PS4) Review

A Forgotten Gem.

 I've been a huge fan of developer Suda51 and his studio Grasshopper Manufacture's over-the-top and wacky games for years, which is why I was thrilled when their debut game, The Silver Case, made its way to the west for the first time in 2016. Now an all-time favorite of mine, I was even more thrilled when Grasshopper announced that they'd remake the sequel, The 25th Ward: The Silver Case. Originally released exclusively for Japanese mobile devices in 2005, The 25th Ward, just like its predecessor didn't see a western release until recently in the form of a remake. Part of that is due to the mobile services that the game was distributed on ceasing operations several years back, which led the game to be almost impossible to play for a brief period until Grasshopper finally remade it with brand new visuals and extra story scenarios. Centering on multiple view-points in the newly built 25th ward, the story ups the ante with a more brutal and gritty narrative this time round. So does the remake of The 25th Ward holds up well by today's standards? For the most part, yes.

 Seven years after the conclusion of The Silver Case, we're taken to the newly built 25th ward neighborhood in the western region of Japan, where a string of mysterious suicides are on the rise. The narrative is split into three segments as they're eventually tied together as the plot thickens. "Correctness" follows new Heinous Crimes unit agents Kuroyanagi and Shiroyabu uncovering the truth behind the suicides and the looming mystery surrounding the 25th ward. "Matchmaker" has you following Regional Adjustment Bureau hitmen Tsuki and Osata as they deal with the threats of underground gangs in looming in the 25th ward. Lastly, "Placebo" has you following The Silver Case co-protagonist, Tokio Morishima, who suffers from amnesia this time around and must recover his lost memories while getting mixed in the search for the mysterious entity known as "Goddess". It's best not delve into spoiler territory, seeing the game is a story-heavy one though I enjoyed the dialogue exchanges between characters as they were vulgar and colorful, which ultimately fleshed them out in the end. However, I had some problems with the narrative, mainly its structure which was hard to follow at times.

 The constant cut-backs and characters from The Silver Case appearing without explanation can get confusing on many occasions. Granted, The Silver Case was guilty of this too but at least it was moderately used. It's a Grasshopper game after all, so I guess the plot not making much sense is expected. What you won't expect, however, is that the game takes the piss towards by having you going over its 100 endings, most of which are fourth-wall breaking ones, that you'll need to see to unlock the game's final, true ending. It's a rinse and repeat process that'll have you repeating the same chapter 100 times skipping all the long-winded conversations just to select a choice, only to do it again. What makes it all the more frustrating is that the game has a quick save feature that lets save anytime, but it knows that and disables it, thus making you go the extra mile of manually repeating the process for a true ending that won't win anyone over. Keep in mind that prior knowledge of The Silver Case is crucial to understanding certain plot elements and events the story throws at you. With that in mind, The 25th Ward isn't for everyone as it caters to a small niche of players who favor something nonsensical and surreal, to which Suda and Grasshopper are no strangers to.

Kill the past again.

 Just like its predecessor, The 25th Ward is a visual novel adventure game. The core gameplay is comprised of you mainly reading through lines of text and walking through corridors. You'll be looking at still characters portraits as the plot unfolds as well. There are occasional set-pieces which has you inputting passwords, reading mail, and locating specific rooms in big hallways. Given its mobile roots, movement is streamlined this time around as you automatically move by pressing on-screen inputs. Moreover, I was surprised by a certain point in the game in which you're being targeted by a bunch of assassins, to fight them, the gameplay switched things up by taking the form of a first-person RPG similar to Earthbound. You gain pointless experience and skills and one of the battles will need you to "get horny" in order to win. How exactly? Well, let's just leave that to your imagination. Seeing as the game is pretty minimalistic in terms of gameplay, it was my favorite aspect of the gameplay due to its unusualness and memorability.

Since there's a greater focus on story, the 

gameplay is minimal and straightforward.

 Since you'll be looking at things for the most part, we might as well go over the game's visuals. The remake updates the user interface and the on-screen texts, which gives it a much more sharper look compared to the original release and looks neat when viewed on modern hardware. One thing that I adored the most was the game's dynamic art-style. In each story segment, the art-style often changes from the standard anime designs to more unusual ones to keep your attention. It's definitely way more interesting than The Silver Case since it's an even longer game. There's no voice-acting to go with game's walls of text, which my turn off players who aren't fans of reading but personally, I didn't mind the exclusion of voice acting as it kind of lets me imagine what the characters actually sound like to me, if that makes any sense. Additionally, Masafumi Takada returns to compose the game's soundtrack and while it definitely has some great tracks, it does its job without being as memorable in comparison to The Silver Case. 

The 25th Ward packs a solid presentation,

courtesy of its impressive art designs.

 The 25th Ward: The Silver Case holds up rather well today despite its annoyances and  improves upon its predecessor in many aspects when its comes to production values and gameplay. It doesn't exactly reach the memorable heights of The Silver Case's smaller, more memorable cast of characters but it's a decent continuation of Grasshopper's "Kill the past" universe nonetheless. The 25th Ward isn't for everyone and has its share of flaws too, but if you don't mind gameplay taking a back seat and in the mood for a engaging yet over-the-top plot, then I'd easily recommend it-- just make sure you play The Silver Case to get up to speed. Hopefully with the recent remasters of Grasshopper Manufacture's early works means that we'll eventually see a long-awaited HD treatment of their other cult classic such as Killer7 and Flower, Sun, and Rain in the near future.