Siren goes episodic with 'Blood Curse'

by Ludwig Kietzmann { May 6th 2008 at 8:30PM }

Serialized spookiness news now, with Sony Computer Entertainment revealing that survival-horror franchise, Siren, will be coming to the PlayStation 3 this Summer in gruesomely severed chunks. Or "episodes," if you prefer. Documenting the inevitably harrowing experiences of an American TV crew in the cursed village of Hanuda, Siren: Blood Curse hopes to be "the most terrifying game in the Siren series to date." The game marks the return of the "Sight-Jack" system, which allows you to peer through the eyes of enemies and be right on the money every time you scream, "It's behind yooouuuuu!"

Following Blood Curse's debut this Summer, Sony promises to eek out the series with 11 more episodes via the PlayStation Network. Let's just hope the gaps between the gasps are small.

Tags: Blood-Curse, DLC, Episodic, PSN, SCEE, Siren, Siren-Blood-Curse, Siren-New-Translation

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

aReEeNeN @ May 6th 2008 8:33PM

Oh yes...There will be blood...For several small payments of $5.99 per DLC pack...

Lard @ May 6th 2008 9:27PM

A pointless, pointless remake of a PS2 game - now costing more than the original game did!

Thanks Sony, for treating us like idiot sheep.

Matt B @ May 6th 2008 11:20PM

If it exposes more people to the game, why is it so pointless?
I never heard of Siren before this, and I'm intrigued,

Sir Fidlious Wong (Zeon Defense Force) @ May 7th 2008 12:30AM

You know.... if you're going to sarcasticly laud a company for treating you like an idiot, try not being one.

Siren: New Translation is the remake. Will be released as a single game.

Siren: Blood Curse is episodic.

Or how about since the survival horror genre now seems to be the "eeek, something jumped out in front of my gun on my FPS" variety, you shut the hell up anytime we are thrown a bone in this genre. Especially a genuinely original and creepy series like Siren.

skullivan @ May 7th 2008 1:58AM

@Sir Wong: Blood Curse is the Western release of New Translation. Do you really think they are going to release two different Siren games at the same time?

Sir Fidlious Wong (Zeon Defense Force) @ May 7th 2008 8:49AM

skullivan... I could be wrong but...

This is the plot of the first Siren and as such Siren: New Translation.

"Siren is set in a remote, rural Japanese mountain village named "Hanuda" ("Hanyūda" (羽生蛇村, Hanyūda-mura?) in the Japanese version), which is characterized as being very traditional and particularly xenophobic. Following a ritual ceremony, the village teeters wildly between time and space, with an infinite sea of blood-red water in place of the usual surrounding mountains. The crux of the story focuses on the efforts of Hisako Yao, the leader of a strange local religion, to resurrect or re-awaken a being known as Datatsushi through an occult ceremony."

Now, according to PS3 fanboy, this is the plot of Siren: Blood Curse.

"The story takes place "in the Japanese village of Hanuda, where a TV crew from America arrive to research the legend of the 'Vanished Village' where human sacrifice is said to have taken place thirty years ago."

Now, considering the original Siren didn't have a single American in it's plot or setting, the updated info on New Translation still lacks this key info, and New Translation ships as a complete title July 24th in Japan, it doesn't look like Blood Curse is related to New Translation but rather Blood Curse takes place 30 years later.

skullivan @ May 7th 2008 10:26AM

@Wong:

New Translation is also about an American TV crew on Hanuda. It's not a simple "remake" of Siren so much as a total reimagining. It shares the same concept of people on Hanuda dealing with Shibito but otherwise is pretty much an entirely new game.

It's like Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes. It's not a sequel but it isn't really a straight up remake either. They're trying to make the series appeal to Americans since the first one bombed over here. This game will be the new foundation for the series assuming it's more successful.

If you check out IGN's article from when New Translation was first announced, it even mentions how the game is split over 12 episodes.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/867/867667p1.html

Sir Fidlious Wong (Zeon Defense Force) @ May 7th 2008 10:39AM

Well then, I am wrong...

Why would they break it up like that? Other than, you know, trying to prove Sony doesn't suck at episodic content while quietly sweeping Rat Race under the rock they found the abandoned scripts under...

skullivan @ May 7th 2008 3:23PM

I figure they're doing it episodically for a couple reasons:

1. Siren didn't do particularly well in the US (although it was apparently a modest success in Europe) so putting out a $60 installment is going to be a brick wall for a lot of people. I think a lot more people would be willing to play through a couple episodes (especially if they make the first 2 free) and potentially get hooked.

2. The game lends itself to being distributed episodically and Sony wants to test the waters with this kind of distribution. If it ends up going over like a fart in church it's no big deal because it's not a franchise they have a huge investment in. If it goes over well then they have established a franchise that was pretty much done for anyway.

I'm the kind of person who likes to actually get a disc when I buy a game, but at the same time I'm kind of excited to see what it's like to play an actual episodic game.

Eothein @ May 6th 2008 9:29PM

They are releasing monthly things called a blood curse? Isn't that the menstruation cycle?

zuburi @ May 7th 2008 12:44AM

[+]

Side note: That picture seems like the text is getting bigger when I'm focused on reading what's written beneath it. Kinda creeped me out, I thought it was an animated JPG for a while.

Superstar90 @ May 6th 2008 10:04PM

Can the disc-version be the full game please?

zuburi @ May 7th 2008 12:45AM

er... animated GIF. Sorry, finals week.

zuburi @ May 7th 2008 12:46AM

I swear I was replying to Eothein. Lesson learned : be sure it says "replying to..." above the comment box. Sometimes it doesn't pop up.

NATO_Duke @ May 7th 2008 10:10AM

Isn't this the stuff that makes sony fanboys slam the use of Live? I would swear that we see posts constantly about how its bs that MS releases parts of games through live for money, when they should be released with the game itself.

Lesson learned - corporations all could care less. Money is money.