Scopophilia

The sales clerk looks at my copy of Siren with diffidence.

“What the hell is this?” he asks, holding the box in his hands like he’s about to drop it in a ziplock bag and seal it as evidence.

I just shrug my shoulders and dummy up. No sense in getting an outsider involved. Leaving the store, I hold the package close, hiding it from prying eyes. Philip K. Dick once said that the Roman Empire never ended. Sometimes I worry that he might have been right. Back at home I slide the disc in and a burst of static rips across the screen followed by shrieking air raid sirens. Blurred, flickering shapes rise up between the scan lines as if I was looking at an old film caught in the sprockets of a malfunctioning projector. There is a feeling of dead spirits pressing close.

I open the package and leaf through the instruction booklet. “The man on the roof is watching you,” it says. And indeed, he is looking for me and if he sees me, I’m dead. I run across a bridge and shots ring out in the dark. Crouched next to a decrepit woodshed, I hear the bullets ricochet off to the right. I think I gave him the slip. I call out to Yoriko and more shots crack the night air as she follows my path across the bridge. Did she make it? After an interminable wait I hear footsteps behind me and her face emerges from the darkness. Ahead I can see a flashlight beam weaving drunkenly in the trees. We stumble through the forest, running toward the light. Getting closer we see a man hunched over, mumbling to himself. He hears us and whips around, shining the bright light into our eyes. It’s hard to see clearly but there is something very wrong with him. His hands are black and gnarled, like a burned corpse. Blood runs from his eye sockets. Then we see the scythe in his other hand but it’s too late. Game over.

Spend just a few minutes with Siren and it will become apparent that the game is serious. And like most serious things it is hard, often painfully hard. Siren is a case study in hardcore. Everything about it appears designed to alienate the casual player. For starters, most people will be immediately turned off by the paucity of the graphics. Everything has a murky, corroded patina, as if the game had been left out to rust slowly in the rain. Characters are represented by digitized photographs of actors mapped on to polygon models. An interesting choice in art direction which unfortunately gives them the appearance of weird sock puppets. On top of this, much of the game is spent running around in the dark, limiting the ability to see anything in detail. However, I don’t want to suggest that Siren looks bad, just basic. Plain and workman-like, the visuals are designed to serve the game rather than sell the game.

“First use the light. Then the machine for the peeping person.” What the hell is this? I meet a strange woman. She is dressed like a nun but her god lives in the dark spaces between stars. She says to me; try to ignore the air raid sirens, remain very still and concentrate. The barriers between our minds become more permeable as the town of Hanuda slides deeper into the realm of the dead. Be patient. It’s like tuning in a far away station on the radio. Can you see what the shibito sees as he crawls through the wreckage of the town? Can you see through the dead man’s eyes? If you want, indulge in a little scopophilia. He doesn’t know you’re there yet. But don’t ever let him see you. If you see yourself in his eyes the only thing you can do is run.

I think I am beginning to understand. Siren is not a game that you play. It is a problem that you work on. An alchemical text to decipher or an alien artifact whose function is not clear. It may be a toy or it may be a weapon. The fact is, most people are not going to like Siren. It’s too hard. It’s too opaque. It asks too much. And what does it give in return? Nightmares, and possibly a heart condition. Those things and the glimmerings of a real experience, something that is all too rare in the world of video games. “Go to the bloody crossroad” but step quietly. Watch out for broken glass. No good. He sees you. Run.

Sony Playstation 2
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
2004

directed by Keiichiro Toyama

Expanded from a game review by Jeffrey Fleming, initially published in Cemetery Dance issue # 51, 2005. The original version can be found here.