Suda51, the personality behind the development studio Grasshopper Manufacture, made his game writing debut with The Silver Case in 1999 in Japan. Now, Goichi Suda (Suda51) is known for franchises such as No More Heroes and the Killer7 games. The Silver Case is where it all began but didn’t make it to the west until 2017. Now, both The Silver Case and its sequel The 25^th Ward: The Silver Case have been released together in one package on Nintendo Switch, known as The Silver Case 2425.

Before we get too deep into the details of each game, I am going to just issue a warning right here. While the cases you solve are compelling and interesting, this remastered bundle is simply a port of the HD Remaster released for PlayStation consoles and PC back in 2017. As a result, these games are very much a product of the time period in which they were made originally.

The Silver Case was released in 1999, while The 25^th Ward: The Silver Case (the sequel) was released on mobile devices in 2011 and was remade entirely for the HD release of The Silver Case 2425 back in 2017. In the case of The Silver Case (no pun intended), there are some things that people should be aware of. Characters use both homophobic and misogynistic language, and the use of profanity is made very explicit. They also imply sexual assault or at the very least sexual coercion of a male character early on in the first case.

I am not going to excuse this and putting that information in this review is in no way meant to persuade or dissuade you against purchasing it based on that information alone. However, I would say that if you are someone who finds these things offensive to the point of it being a deal-breaker, don’t purchase this game. I can’t speak for Suda51’s other, more recent works, so I can’t say whether these things pertain to the personal beliefs of the man himself in the modern-day and he’s not the one being reviewed here.

If these things are not an utter deal-breaker for you, then you will soon find that The Silver Case and The 25^th Ward are both Point-and-Click Visual Novel-esque experiences. Each game has a number of cases and you alternate between story (visual novel) scenes and small exploration/investigation sections. There are more Visual Novel sequences than there are exploration segments though, so don’t come In this looking for a lot of gameplay.

The gameplay isn’t that complex, though there are puzzles and things sprinkled throughout that do require a bit of fiddling. The controls aren’t too difficult to manage either, though they are somewhat dated and a little odd at times. The subject matter is very mature though, so do not play this around kids.

Something else I noticed while playing The Silver Case specifically is that there is a lot of… well, unnecessary dialogue. Specifically, there are moments where characters (or the game itself) will go off on a tangent that seemingly has no bearing on what you are doing or investigating. Suda51 has always had a flair for the weird, but there are some cases where I find myself going “…That cutscene was a waste of my time.”

In fact, The Silver Case itself has a problem with waxing philosophical. The parts of the cases in which you are putting information together and solving the true story are interesting. However, there is so much philosophy and random fluff in between that sometimes you may miss something that is actually important.

Without spoiling The Silver Case, I can tell you that the actual narrative, the truth of what is going on, is something I never saw coming. However, the breadcrumbs that were sprinkled in and the true mystery was also just buried under exposition and ridiculous fluff. Almost like an author that needs an editor but refuses to let his work be proofread.

In the case of The 25^th Ward, due to it being originally a mobile game, the movement and controls are a little more awkward with a controller. The lack of voice acting in both games is a bit of an issue for some of the lengthier sections as well, and the font can cause eye strain after a while. Overall, if you don’t mind Visual Novels, and the outdated (sometimes offensive) characters aren’t a problem for you, then this might be your thing.

As with all of Suda51’s experiences, there is very much an emphasis on strangeness and Suda’s unique style. I personally feel like there might be a little more style than there is substance, though perhaps the substance is just buried under confusing extra details and largely unlikeable characters. The Silver Case 2425 is a weird one, but I can’t really say it’s all bad either.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of The Silver Case 2425 was provided by NIS America for this review.

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The Silver Case 2425

$39.99 USD

3

Score

3.0/10

Pros

• Interesting Case Elements
• No Crashing
• Twists and Turns

Cons

• Too Much Extra Fluff
• Offensive Content
• Lag in Some Areas
• No Voice Acting
• Visuals Can Cause Eye Strain