The 25th Ward: The Silver Case (シルバー事件25区; also known as The Silver Case: Ward 25) is a sequel to The Silver Case. It was originally an episodic game released over multiple years on mobile phones, but was later converted into a full game for PS4 and PC.
In its original form, the episodic game was released on i-mode and Yahoo! Keitai mobile phones. Following the 2016 HD remaster of The Silver Case, Suda expressed a desire to remake Ward 25 as well. Because the mobile phones it was released on eventually became obsolete and no longer supported, nobody had the ability to play it, making it, in Suda's words, a "phantom game". At BitSummit, on May 20th, 2017, Grasshopper announced the remake with a trailer. Due to the amount of polishing and additions the game received in the conversion, as well as how many people would be experiencing the game for the first time, Suda likened the remake to a brand new Grasshopper game.[1]
Gameplay
The 25th Ward plays fundamentally similarly to The Silver Case; it uses the Film Window system to display images, text and other information, and it mostly consists of reading, along with occasional interactive 3D environments in which the player can move on rails in four directions. However, it features many differences that subtly affect the gameplay experience.
Instead of the MISC wheel, the menu is now a die which must be rotated in three-dimensional space, with each face containing an action. Although it is usually four-sided, the die increases its number of sides in situations in which more than four choices are available. Rather than a consistent set of functions like the MISC wheel, the die's main abilities change depending on the situation. Its usual four functions are "Look", "Talk", "Move", and "Item", but other functions are available in particular scenarios, such as "PC" or "Red" when playing as Tokio.
Movement is simplified compared to the first game, as there are no marks to move to, nor can the player rotate themselves or look up or down. Instead, movement is made up entirely of selecting options corresponding to cardinal directions, which will cause the player to take that path until they reach the next choice or point of interest.
There are also several points in the game in which puzzles must be solved through entering letter or number passwords. This is also accomplished by rotating a die; either one with all the numbers 0-9 on it, or one which has the entire alphabet and a few miscellaneous characters. There are also occasionally other puzzles and forms of gameplay scattered throughout the game, such as role-playing game combat or multiple-choice chat conversations.
Story
Chapters
- Correctness
- #00 prototype
- #01 new world order
- #02 good looking guy
- #03 boys don't cry
- #04 digital man (Transmitter)
- #05 electride
- #06 white out (remake only)
- #07 black out (remake only; only unlocked after all other chapters are cleared)
- Matchmaker
- "01 underground theater
- "02 quiet cradle
- "03 about nighthawk
- "04 the lunar orbit
- "05 moon over 25
- Placebo
- *00 UTSUTSU (remake only)
- *01 NAGARE
- *02 TIGIRI
- *03 YOGORE
- *04 SIZUKU
- *05 MISOGI
- *06 YUKI (remake only)
A demonstration of the "New World Order" chapter running on a Nintendo DS. This version of the game was cancelled despite reportedly being completed.
Summary
The 25th Ward takes place five years after the events of The Silver Case. It focuses on the successor to Ward 24, the supposedly utopian metropolis of Ward 25. This new ward was constructed with the purpose of providing a perfect orderly lifestyle, but its ideal of order is threatened to be shattered by the chaos represented by the coming of Kamui Uehara. The story is divided into three different "story points", which take place in parallel with eachother.
The A-side of the story, Correctness, follows Mokutaro Shiroyabu of the 25th Ward Heinous Crimes Unit, the 25th Ward's counterpart to the original. It begins with an investigation into the mysterious deaths occurring at a high-rise apartment complex, and follows into more cases from there. Shiroyabu and his partner Shinko Kuroyanagi find themselves working with a mysterious new recruit.
The B-side of the story, Matchmaker, follows the Regional Adjustment Bureau, the shadow government agency who dedicate themselves to preserving the 25th Ward's lifestyle through carrying out deadly "adjustments" on its citizens. It focuses on two members, Shinkai Tsuki and Yotaro Osato, who attempt to complete their assignments while trying to hide their existence from the HC Unit.
The C-side of the story, Placebo, is a continuation of the Placebo story from the first game. Following the events of Flower, Sun, and Rain, Tokio Morishima wakes up on a boat stationed in the 25th Ward's harbor. Finding that he has lots most of his memories of the previous games, he attempts to regain them while periodically being roped into investigations on the internet by Slash.
Release history
- i-mode digital version – October 3, 2005 (EZWeb)
- Yahoo! Keitai digital version – January 18, 2006 (Liveware)
Other names
- Japanese – シルバー事件25区 (Shirubā Jiken 25 Ku), literally "Silver Incident 25 Ward."
Trivia
Warning: This section might contain spoilers.
- Kuroyanagi wears "Estée Lauder" perfume. This is revealed when Sumio Kodai makes a remark on how she smells.
- "Matchmaker" refers to a previous game by Suda51 under the name of 'Fire Pro Wrestling'.
- After the abrupt end of Genki's contract with Grasshopper, the game resurfaced on Liveware but without the 5th chapters of any of the three stories.
- There were supposed to be 6 chapters for Correctness, Matchmaker and Placebo each but the team working on directing the game concluded the story in 5 chapters each.
- Before the game was discontinued for mobile phones, graphically-enhanced versions of the games came out for the higher-spec phones that could handle heavier Java games.
- Kuroyanagi and Shiroyabu are both named after plants; Kuroyanagi meaning "Black Willow" and Shiroyabu referring to a particular camellia bush that is covered in white blooms during their flowering season[source].
- The first victim of *02 Quiet Cradle is killed by one of his crazed fans using a drug named "Bloody High". This might be an easter egg in reference to the drug in the first episode of "Cowboy Bebop" named "Bloody Eye" which is stored in a similar container.
External links
- Official
- Official website (Website down. Liveware's website went down after the fall of paid/service mobile phones. Liveware was chosen as the main delivery source for this game after the contract between Genki mobile and Grasshopper came to an end.)
- Silver 2425 site
- Official English site
- News
References
- https://global.rakuten.com/en/store/hana-online/item/niwaki_tsubaki_shiroyabu/
- http://neko-tsubaki.sakura.ne.jp/camellia/cam0300/cam0388-hosoba-shidare-shiroyabu.html