History VideoGame / TheSilverCase

While a CultClassic in Japan that stands proudly among Suda's other dark, psychological early works, [[NoExportForYou it did not make it overseas]] for the longest time. After years of trying (and one failed attempt to port it to the Platform/NintendoDS), Suda finally got a chance to get it localized with a faithful multi-language PC remake released in October 2016, and a [=PS4=] port in April 2017. You can watch the promotional video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FWqNaSd-V4 here]].

''The Silver Case'' is the first game ever developed by Creator/GrasshopperManufacture, written and directed by [[Creator/Suda51 Suda Goichi (before the handle SUDA51)]] for the original UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation}} in 1999. A text-heavy adventure game, it follows the detectives of the fictional city of "Ward 24" in Japan as they hunt down Kamui Uehara, a serial killer who has murdered various political figures before, but was caught long ago by one of the detectives. Highly experimental, ''The Silver Case'' makes use of [[MediumBlending as many visual]] [[ArtShift mediums as possible]], putting 3D environments, 2D stills, live-action-videos and even animated clips together to tell its story. The game alternates chapters between two storylines: Transmitter, which focuses on the detectives of the Heinous Crimes Unit; and Placebo, which focuses on a freelance reporter.

While a CultClassic in Japan that stands proudly among Suda's other dark, psychological early works, [[NoExportForYou it did not make it overseas]] for the longest time. After years of trying (and one failed attempt to port it to the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS), Suda finally got a chance to get it localized with a faithful multi-language PC remake released in October 2016, and a [=PS4=] port in April 2017. You can watch the promotional video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FWqNaSd-V4 here]].

* CoitusEnsues: Furuya and Nakama have sex with each other, shortly after meeting each other in person.

* [[UsefulNotes/TheDeepWeb The Dark Web]]: [=KamuiDrome=] has elements of this. Bohemian web pages are being used for human trafficking and leaking idols' information.

** #5: lifecut sees most of the Heinous Crimes Unit [[spoiler:[[KillEmAll killed off, one by one by one]]. Of all of the official members as of this chapter, only Akira (you), Kusabi and Sakura remain[[note]]With Sumio Kodai arrested and jailed, he technically doesn't count as one of the HCU anymore[[/note]]. It is also the chapter where Kusabi finally kills his past, accepting that the world is not simply divided between normal people and criminals; and eliminating some of the people who control the 24 Wards.]]

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:"Lifecut", [[MeaningfulName fittingly]]. By the end of it, most of the characters that are involved die, with the HCU in particular being reduced to only a handful of members.]]
** [[spoiler:Kusabi kills Kotobuki at the latter's request.]]
** [[spoiler:Morikawa is also gunned down by Kusabi.]]
** [[spoiler:Kusabi's informant is approached by a hitman, Nakategawa, and a new HCU member, all three intent on killing him. He kills them instead.]]
** [[spoiler:Chizuru Hachisuka, who is starting to display Ayame-like behavior, is [[PrettyLittleHeadshots shot in the head]] by HCU newcomer Sakura Natsume.]]

* HidingTheHandicap: Taken UpToEleven, and ''gloriously''. [[spoiler:It turns out that Sumio Kodai is actually deaf, to the great surprise of the other characters and the player. He understands people through a combination of incredibly adept [[ReadingLips lip-reading]] and special cell phone technology that vibrates against his ear in a code of particular bursts and frequencies which lets him know what the speaker on the other end of the line is saying.]]

* EnvironmentalSymbolism: The ArtShift in each chapter tend to symbolically and thematically reflect the current mystery. Its most notable in #3 parade's DeliberatelyMonochrome styling, with focuses on [[spoiler: Kusabi's black-and-white perspective of morality. As he's forced to grapple with how his job requires him to arrest his best friend, the color returns to the world, demonstrating his grasp on the reality of his "disposal" job.]]

** #0: lunatics introduces Kusabi driving home from work to the soothing music playing on the car radio...only for him to change off of that station, expressing contempt for the "fuckin' lullaby".
** In #1: decoyman, the report about Kamui Uehara escaping IMM Hospital. He murdered his counselor with what is described as "a customized harpoon gun". When a team of four 24 Wards Republic operators try to apprehend him in "Operation Secure Kamui", Kamui kills two of the them and leaves the other two in critical condition. Playing through this event as Akira reveals that Kamui [[EyeScream gouged the murdered officers' eyes out]] ''[[RefugeInAudacity while being hunted down]]'', by the way. [[spoiler:Except this is a big [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], though, as it wasn't actually Kamui; the real one's establishing character moment is when you find him tied up in a closet. The one who tied Kamui up--Ayame Shimohira--was the perpetrator of Sonoda's murder and Republic's demise.]]

* EveryoneHasStandards: Nakategawa is likely a lolicon and [[spoiler:agent of the group that created the Kamui Maspro]]. But he goes into TranquilFury when [[spoiler:he has to order Hachisuka to hunt their former friends, even going so far as to try to kill Munakata as he is from the group that made the Ayame models and so activated Hachisuka.]]

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Lifecut sees the Heinous Crimes Unit go from morally questionable to outright hunting Akira and Kusabi.]]

** *3: TSUKI Part 2 sees [[spoiler:the culmination of a mass warning regarding a nasty computer virus--Morishima's desktop computer gets infected with said virus, which screws him to the point of [[InterfaceScrew messing with the]] [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou player's interface]] as well.]]

* FugitiveArc: In #5: Lifecut, Kusabi and Morikawa are declared "kill on sight" by Nakategawa. [[spoiler:Morikawa is shot in the head after getting into contact with Akira in the underground complex, but Kusabi ultimately survives the whole ordeal.]]

* HellIsThatNoise: During the Placebo reports, whenever Tokio and [[{{Deconstruction}} Ak]][[HeroicMime ira]] cross paths, Akira's art cut is always accompanied by a ''very'' unpleasant electric-shock noise, which seems to reflect Tokio's reaction to him.

* InterfaceScrew: In *3: "TSUKI", Tokio opens an email that infects his PC with a virus, messing with the UI. It even affects the game's UI, though without the FESTA virus's nasty "data wiping" ability. %% I forget which part this occurs in...

* AdultFear:
** Criminals are running around your town and you have no idea if they're coming in your direction, as is the case in Decoyman.
** Having your private life filmed and broadcast on the Internet, which happens to idol Sayaka Baian in [=KamuiDrome=].

** #3: Parade refers to [[spoiler:either protest [[TitleDrop parades]] or violent riots. Kusabi also mentions fairy tales near the end of Parade, which was the same subject that Sumio had broached in the beginning of this case (the story around Mikumo 77). *3: TSUKI also has The Bat telling Tokio the same fairy tale.]]

* FiveManBand: {{Subverted}}. The five main Heinous Crimes Unit detectives as listed in the opening do not actually adhere to the trope to begin with. Instead they work in rival units in the HCU: Kusabi and Kodai make up one unit that operates from a back room, Hashisuka and Morikawa make up the other that works in a much cleaner office, with Nakategawa directing both under Kotobuki's orders.