History VideoGame / SirenGames

** The second game's Archives show that both games take place in one where the Showa Period is still ongoing, meaning that Emperor Hirohito (who in our timeline died in 1989) was still alive as of 2005.

* TwoFaced: Spider Shibito develop an arachnoid face complete with mandibles on the top of their head, which they use as their primary "face" after transformation. Their vestigial original face is now on top of their head, with their neck twisted to face backwards.
* UltimateEvil:
** The titular siren, in the original game... maybe. Going strictly by the game, you don't actually see it and skip over it in the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil; WordOfGod says that what you skip to actually ''is'' the siren, after all.
** The siren is [[spoiler:the cry of Datatsushi in the first game, the cry of Mother in the second, and the cry of Kaiko in ''Blood Curse'']].
** Mother and Otoshigo in the second game.

* InfernalParadise

* OminousPipeOrgan: The track, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqlYnbshiOY The Gates of Paradise Are Open]]", which [[spoiler:Hisako]] is [[DiegeticSoundtrackUsage seen playing on an organ]] to celebrate [[spoiler:the resurrection of Datatsushi]], graudually builds up, first adding an EtherealChoir on top, before then also adding creepy Shibito throat singing.

* OminousPipeOrgan: The track, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqlYnbshiOY The Gates of Paradise Are Open]]", combines this with creepy Shibito throat singing.

!!The Siren series provides examples of:

* AllThereInTheManual: The ''Siren Maniacs'' books. Fortunately, fan-translations for [[http://fftranslations.atspace.co.uk/s1/index.html Siren Maniacs]] and [[http://fftranslations.atspace.co.uk/s2/index.html Siren 2 Maniacs]] are available online.

* ConspicuouslyLightPatch: Averted most of the time in Siren 1, which leads to many cases of GuideDangIt. Sometimes, the camera angle will change and attempt to help you. Keyword: ''attempt''...

** In Siren 2, Takeaki Misawa was the soldier who was part of the military rescue force that responded to the Hanuda disaster after the events of Siren [[spoiler:and was the one to rescue Harumi Yomoda]].

* SettingUpdate: The Siren [=ReBIRTH=] manga has the modern setting taking place in 2019. This necessitates an explanation for why they can't use cellphones (no signal or their phones get destroyed), but also permits things like fake Wikipedia articles to be used to provide information on the setting.

* StylisticSuck: [[http://www.shibito.com The Urban Folklore Society,]] supplemental material stylized as an in-universe website about unexplained, possibly paranormal incidents (namely, the plot of Siren and Siren 2), has a poorly-tiled background for the home page and is rife with minor spelling and grammatical errors.

* CreepyCoolCrosses: The Mana Cross, a variant which looks similar to the Eastern Orthodox depiction of the cross, shows up all over the place in Hanuda. [[spoiler:It's actually patterned on [[CrucifiedHeroShot some planks the villagers put Datatsushi]] on when he crash-landed on Earth in 684 AD. When Christianity later arrived in Japan, that made for convenient camouflage.]]

* BreakOutTheMuseumPiece: Owing to Hanuda's remote location and the strict gun laws Japan has in reality, most of the guns available in the game are ancient cast-offs from before UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.

** The first game shares much of its setup with Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth.

* InfantImmortality: Both averted and played straight: [[spoiler:Miyako and Tomoko (both 14) die -- the former ends up as a sacrifice in a ritual (although she lives on in spirit) and the latter becomes a Shibito]]). It is also possible to watch them die in-game after taking too much damage. However, ten-year-old Harumi is never shown dying when a Shibito discovers her, [[spoiler:and she is the only character from the first game to actually escape Hanuda]].

* SymbolicBaptism: The rituals of ''umi-okuri'' and ''umi-gaeri'' involve half-Shibito being compelled to immerse themselves in the sea of red water when the siren calls and to leave it, respectively. Once they've done so enough times (depending on the individual), they evolve into the next form of Shibito. Some are resist complying or are unable to, and so stay miserable half-Shibito.

* ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself: [[spoiler:Shiro nearly quotes the trope verbatim as he goes to finish off the Ondas. But by that point, he had shot his brother Kei and assumed his identity, making the quote darkly funny...]]

*** [[spoiler:Left trapped in the other world, Yoriko not only survives but reverses roles with the professor, being the one who pulls him out of his days-long embrace with his parents, who may or not mean well but are still part-Shibito at this point.]]

** Ultimately subverted with Nagoshi, who becomes a Brain Shibito. ''Siren Maniacs'' also hints that there may be a severely-repressed perverted side to him that came out after he was Shibitofied, which adds a disturbing element to his single-minded pursuit of Harumi.

** ''Blood Curse'' has [[spoiler:Howard Wright, who is armed with the Homuranagi and Uryen--part of his new arsenal to destroy Hanuda and the Shibito. The problem? [[FridgeHorror He might be doing it forever...]]]]

** The Maedas, Tamoko and her parents. Downplayed, as Tamoko ran away in a bout of teenage angst after she caught her parents reading her diary. [[spoiler:Although in the end they're harmoniously reunited. As Shibito.]]

** According to the supplemental material, it went from FromBadToWorse. What happened to [[spoiler:[[FridgeLogic all the Kajiros who didn't get sacrificed]]? They [[AndIMustScream gradually lost their human figure]]. There's a rather literal family reunion nobody wants to join somewhere under their household]].

** In the first game, [[spoiler:Kyoya Suda either incinerates the Datatsushi with the Sword Uryen, ''decapitates'' the EldritchAbomination with the Homuranagi and sets off the collapse of everything around him in the DarkWorld.]] In Blood Curse, [[spoiler:Howard does both.]]

** The Monroes in the third game.

* ShoutOut: Possibly a few.

* ArrangedMarriage / NotBloodSiblings: Jun Kajiro was adopted and raised by the Kajiro family so that [[spoiler:should the ritual to sacrifice Miyako fail]], he could marry Ayako Kajiro and continue the family line.
* AStormIsComing: Hanuda is engulfed in the middle of a storm late in the first game.

* AFateWorseThanDeath: ''Numerous.''

** Siren 2 also follows the same route; although some enemy weapons can be picked up and used, it is best not to be seen if you can help it.

* TheEndOrIsIt: [[spoiler:At the end of Siren 2, Ikuko and Mamoru seem to have been shunted to a world free of Mother's influence...but then Ikuko shields her eyes from the light, just like one of Mother's avatars would]].

* BrickJoke: In one of Tamon's earliest stages on Day One in the first game, you have the option of removing a specific Shibito from the level by knocking him into a well. One of Kei's secondary objectives way later on Day Three takes him down that same well, and if you knocked the Shibito down it, he'll still be down there to greet you.

** In ''2'', [[spoiler: The threats of Mother and Otoshigo are ended and the island is purified- but only four characters make it out. Ikuko and Mamoru make it out alive, back in the real world and Yorito is stuck in the land of the Yamibito- only he doesn't take it as well as Suda did in the first game, and the poor man loses his mind at the sight of it. Abe also manages to live in the GoldenEnding, and since the new timeline results in the girl he was accused of murdering never being born, he gets his own happy ending as well.]]

** In the first game, Miyako Kajiro's strong powers [[spoiler:indicate that she's an even better "bride" for Datatsushi that the other Miyako Kajiros Hisako's been sacrificing over the centuries.]] Risa Onda has a telepathic link to her twin sister [[spoiler:who has been transformed into a Shibito. When they end up fully connecting mentally, Risa turns into one as well.]]
** In the second, h Takeaki Misawa's ability to sense the supernatural [[spoiler:is [[SanitySlippage driving him insane]]]], [[spoiler:Akiko and Ikuko's powers come from their being Unawakened Doves due to their pregnant mothers absorbing the essence of Doves who dissolved in the sun]]. As Akiko uses her powers to channel the memories of Kanae, a deceased avatar of the BigBad, [[spoiler:Kanae's essence pulls a GrandTheftMe, stealing and transforming her body.]] Ikuko's powers caused her to be ostracized by her peers while growing up, and [[spoiler:it's heavily implied that she awakened as a Dove due to the events]].

** Honorable mention goes to the Shibito Brain, [[spoiler:the Onda Twins near the end, and Eiji Nagoshi's evolved Shibito form -- which is '''literally''' a FaceFullOfAlienWingWong; Yukie in Blood Curse]].

** [[spoiler:Harumi is the only true survivor of the catastrophe. Everyone else is either a Shibito, a Shibito permanently tac-nuked by [[AncestralWeapon one of the Uryens or the Homuranagi]], or is trapped in the same temporal dimension as the Shibito with no way back home.]]

** Both games take place in an alternate dimension where the past and present versions of the setting are [[TimeCrash mashed together]]. [[spoiler:In the second game it's subtly hinted that the main characters are from an AlternateUniverse, and that with the defeat of Mother and Otoshigo, and the collapse of the combined timeline, they're scattered across the dimensions. Then there's the third game, in which not only there's a time travel, there's a time travel loop that has the main characters stuck in a spiritual side-way 8 eternally.]]

* {{Yandere}}: [[spoiler:The conflict between Mother and Otoshigo boil down to this, essentially. Once there was a race of ancient beings who lived on Earth but were driven away by the light. Some of them escaped to another dimension, and some to the very bottom of the sea floor where the sun couldn't reach them. Both lost their forms and melded into Mother and Otoshigo, respectively. By chance, their minds managed to briefly come into contact millions of years later, and Otoshigo developed both an obsession with becoming one with Mother once more and (rather unfounded) resentment for Mother separating themselves all that time ago. For Mother's part, she regards Otoshigo and his spawn as annoying lesser beings who keep bothering them. Therefore they attack them, which doesn't help Otoshigo's mood]].

** In the second, h Takeaki Misawa's ability to sense the supernatural [[spoiler:is [[SanitySlippage driving him insane]]]], [[spoiler:Akiko and Ikuko's powers come from their being Unawakened Doves due to their pregnant mothers falling into the sea and absorbing the essence of Doves who dissolved in the sun]]. As Akiko uses her powers to channel the memories of Kanae, a deceased avatar of the BigBad, [[spoiler:Kanae's essence pulls a GrandTheftMe, stealing and stransforming her body.]] Ikuko's powers caused her to be ostracized by her peers while growing up, and [[spoiler:it's heavily implied that she awakened as a Dove due to the events]].

* MookFaceTurn: [[spoiler:The avatars Mother sends ourt

%%* MookFaceTurn:
%%** [[spoiler:The avatar Kanae's feelings for Shu eventually lead her to turn against Mother.]]
%%** This apparently happens to a lot of Mother's avatars, [[spoiler:including Ryuko.]]

* FairytaleMotifs: Creator/HansChristianAndersen's ''Literature/TheLittleMermaid'' plays a signficant role in the second game.

* BlessedWithSuck:
** In the first game, Miyako Kajiro's powers apparently qualify her [[spoiler:to be sacrificed as the Bride of Datatsushi or Kaiko, depending on the game.]] Risa Onda has a telepathic link to her twin sister [[spoiler:who has been transformed into a Shibito. When they end up fully connecting mentally, Risa turns into one as well.]] In the second, Akiko uses her powers to channel the memories of Kanae, a deceased avatar of the BigBad, [[spoiler:which ultimately results in Kanae pulling a GrandTheftMe, stealing and transforming her body.]] Takeaki Misawa's ability to sense the supernatural [[spoiler:is [[SanitySlippage driving him insane]]]], Ikuko's powers caused her to be ostracized by her peers, and [[spoiler:it's heavily implied that the BigBad itself steals her body in the end.]]

A unique game mechanic in the games is "Sightjacking", the ability to see through your enemies' eyes, and thus know their patrolling and movement patterns.

The 2006 sequel, ''Siren 2'' (''Forbidden Siren 2'' in Europe) takes place in an isolated island and features an entirely different cast, who must stop a pair of evil beings, [[SealedEvilInACan sealed away long ago]], from returning to this earth. One important change in the sequel is that conventional weapons -- including more actual, modern firearms -- are far more widespread, and one can even take them off of fallen enemies whenever they want rather than only in specific instances. Sadly, [[NoExportForYou it was never released in North America]].

** [[spoiler: The first game takes place in one, where the Shibito live in harmony with Datatsushi. Those who ingest the red water come here, and it’s unknown if you can escape from it.]]
** [[spoiler:Yorito Nagai is sent to another one at the end of the second game, one where the Yamibito are normal and humans are the dangerous monsters -- especially so considering he responds by going on a killing spree.]]
** [[spoiler:After Mother's destroyed, all the surviving protagonists are sent to a world where she never existed]].

** "Blood Curse" lets you drop a neon sign from the second floor on a Shibito early in the game.

* AmnesiacDissonance:
** Of a sort. [[spoiler:Hisako Yao]], in the first game, has been alive for so long that she occasionally forgets who she really is, and her mission to [[spoiler:revive Datatsushi]]. That's why she helps the protagonists in the early parts of the game. Twenty-seven years ago, posing as the servant of the [[spoiler:Kajiros, she felt sorry for their daughter (also named "Miyako"), the next destined Bride of Datatsushi. So, Hisako tried to rescue her... from Hisako.]]
** Ditto on [[spoiler:Amana]] in ''Blood Curse''.

* StylisticSuck: [[http://www.Shibito.com The Urban Folklore Society,]] supplemental material stylized as an in-universe website about unexplained, possibly paranormal incidents (namely, the plot of Siren and Siren 2), has a poorly-tiled background for the home page and is rife with minor spelling and grammatical errors.

* HeroesLoveDogs: The game's two blind characters have guide dogs. Miyako's only friend growing up was her dog Kereb, and she is [[spoiler:the only Kajiro who wants to stop Datatsushi's return]]. Shu in the second game is less heroic in general but is central to the game's backstory. He take it hard when Tsukasa sacrifices herself to push him out from under a collapsing shack. [[spoiler:It turns out Tsukasa is still alive, and she later joins forces with [[IdiotHero dim but brave]] Soji, and the two of them eventually makes it out of the netherworld together.]]

* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: [[spoiler:Akira]] in the first game and his expy [[spoiler:Seigo]] in ''Blood Curse'' both stick their shotguns in their mouths and shoot themselves in an attempt to escape the shibito curse. [[spoiler:It doesn't work for either of them.]]

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: ''Siren Maniacs'' speculates that Datatsushi and its mentality are so alien that we don't know if it approves or disapproves of the village's worship and [[spoiler:sacrifice of Miyako Kajiros]], like Hisako believes it does. It may not even be remotely ''aware'' of it. Likewise it may not have any control over the existence and transformation of the half- or full shibito; it may just be a thing that happens which the villagers place religious significance upon. The only thing we can say for certain about Datatsushi is that [[spoiler:it's not too hot on being eaten alive]].

** The evolved forms of Dog, Spider, and Winged Shibito in the first game, and the evolved forms of the Yamibito in the second. The spider, maggot and fly shibito in the third.

* BoozeBasedBuff: Inverted. Officer Ishida's drunkness is suggested to have made him ''way'' more susceptible to the effects of the red water, to the point that he turned into a half-shibito while the stuff was ''still forming'' in the middle of the night, shot his superior and started wandering around before any other Hanuda citizens.

** Yoriko Anno in the first game is inept and oblivious, constantly getting herself into trouble. The only reason she came to Hanuda was because she had a crush on Professor Takeuchi, and he has no patience for her. Unlike most of the other characters, Yoriko being berated and left behind, then getting herself lost and chased by shibito, is generally played for laughs. Even her reactions to [[spoiler:Akira shooting himself and then, as a shibito, shooting ''her'']] are so abrupt as to be comical. [[spoiler:As seen in the final unlockable cutscene, when she finally catches up to the professor in the heart of the nest, she's lost her glasses and manages to fall through a hole in the floor, and in the ending she interrupts the professor's long-awaited reunion with his parents -- hitting them over the head with a baseball bat (they're admittedly partly shibito-fied at this point) and dragging the professor out of his first moment of happiness in decades.]] This is all used as comic relief.

* NonLethalKO: No matter how hard you beat down a shibito or yamibito, they always get right back up a short time later. There are occasionally ways to permanently remove specific enemies from a stage, however.

* SetAMookToKillAMook: In the second game, during the few levels where the shibito aren't outright replaced by the yamibito, the two will typically attack each other before they go after the player. Additionally, Ikuko can temporarily possess any enemy through sightjacking and take out other enemies with them.

* StylisticSuck: [[http://www.shibito.com The Urban Folklore Society,]] supplemental material stylized as an in-universe website about unexplained, possibly paranormal incidents (namely, the plot of Siren and Siren 2), has a poorly-tiled background for the home page and is rife with minor spelling and grammatical errors.

* SuperSoldiers: Miyata Clinic received a massive expansion and overhaul during World War Two when the government became aware of Hanuda's shibito and thought they could make some to be used as troops. This was abandoned during the chaos near the end of the war.

* SymbolicBaptism: The rituals of ''umi-okuri'' and ''umi-gaeri'' involve half-shibito being compelled to immerse themselves in the sea of red water when the siren calls and to leave it, respectively. Once they've done so enough times (depending on the individual), they evolve into the next form of shibito. Some are resist complying or are unable to, and so stay miserable half-shibito.

*** [[spoiler:Left trapped in the other world, Yoriko not only survives but reverses roles with the professor, being the one who pulls him out of his days-long embrace with his parents, who may or not mean well but are still part-shibito at this point.]]

* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:Datatsushi from the first game. Mother and Otoshigo from the second. Not the same species, despite some misconceptions. Datatsushi is an alien who crash-landed on Earth in the 7th Century AD and became worshiped as a god by the starving people of Hanuda -- after they first tried to eat him. Mother and Otoshigo are primordial beings of darkness who were [[SealedEvilInACan sealed away in the netherworld]] aeons ago, supposedly when God introduced light into the world. Also Kaiko in ''Blood Curse''.]]

* EpicHail: "Mrs. Takato! Help! Mrs. Takato!" Loud enough that Prof. Takeuchi hears from the water tower across town.

* EvilTowerOfOminousness: The pylon in the second game.

** After the ritual fails in prologue, Reiko goes full ActionSurvivor in order to save Harumi, [[spoiler:even after becoming a Shibito]].

* {{Immortality}}: [[spoiler:Hisako Yao, the leader of the Hanuda religion. She gained eternal life after feasting on the flesh of the fallen god Datatsushi, based on the myth of Yao Bikuni (:800-year-old priestess") and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ningyo ningyo]] ("human fish", often translated as "mermaid"). Her descendants in the Kajiro clan gained AgeWithoutYouth instead, with their twisted, inhuman forms supposedly entombed underneath the ancestral mansion. Hisako also has a bad case of TheFogOfTheAges as well, having forgotten the purpose of the ritual over the years, to the point where she's helping Kiyoya to stop it during early missions.]]