Siren: Blood Curse (New Translation) (2024)

Siren: Blood Curse, known in Japan as Siren: New Translation, is an Americanized remake of Siren, a stealth-based survival horror video game developed by Sony Computer Entertainment's Japan Studio for the PlayStation 3. It is a re-imagining of the original with many alterations to structure and content, along with most of the gameplay improvements introduced in Forbidden Siren 2, all oriented to appeal to the American public, with western characters and simplified mechanics, more action-oriented and without that many horror or mystery elements.

The story begins on August 3, 2007 and focuses on an American television crew that arrives in Japan to investigate and document the legend of Hanuda, a "vanished village" where "human sacrifices" are said to have taken place 30 years prior.

Gameplay[]

The Link Navigator from previous games has been removed in favor of a more linear narrative, divided into a series of 12 chronological episodes that each contain parallel and intersecting scenarios for multiple playable characters. There are no secondary mission objectives to unlock.

The sightjack system now operates in an automated split-screen mode that allows the player to see through the eyes of others while continuing to play normally. The default in-game camera is in a fixed over-the-shoulder perspective, and common interactions are each assigned to a button on the D-pad. Stages contain randomly placed objects that can be accidentally knocked over, calling the attention of nearby shibito. Characters can brace doors to prevent shibito from entering, and also move while in an attack stance. Some weapons can now be used to perform finishing moves that will instantly disable a shibito.

The Archives catalog has been expanded to include all of the audio and video document style from Forbidden Siren 2 as well as the weapons that can be found throughout the game.

Plot[]

In 1976, the remote mountain village of Hanuda, Japan, is destroyed in a cataclysmic landslide. Decades later, an American television crew visit the abandoned village to investigate unsubstantiated reports of paranormal occurences.

Along with other survivors, the humans try to survive in the nightmarish village amid the summoning of an alien god and reanimated corpses known as the Shibito.

Characters[]

Similar roles[]

All the characters perform similar roles to the original characters from the original Siren, halfway through the game time is rewinded so they can perform all those roles and in order to extend the gameplay time; for example:

• Howard = Kyoya Suda.
• Amana = Hisako Yao.
• Sam = Tamon Takeuchi, Kei Makino.
• Melissa = Reiko Takato, Naoko Mihama, Risa Onda, Yoriko Anno.
• Bella = Harumi Yomoda, Tomoko Maeda.
• Sol Jackson = Naoko Mihama, Mina Onda, Risa Onda.
• Seigo Saiga = Akira Shimura, Shiro Miyata, Kei Makino, Jun Kajiro.

Trivia[]

The game was conceived specifically thinking about the North American market; that's why the number of characters were reduced compared to the original game and why most of them are Caucasian, that's also why most of the original voices are in English, except for some moments that provide a vernacular touch.

Both Amana and Hisako Yao are a re-interpretation of the benevolent Japanese folk heroine Yaobikuni (八百比丘尼), or Happyaku Bikuni (八百比丘尼), which translates to (800 year-old Buddhist nun).

Howard Wright has a personal website, in which the address can be found in the game.

There was a promotional prequel live action video series for the game called Siren: New Translation - Episode 0.

Reception[]

Siren: Blood Curse has received generally favorable reviews, averaging 78% on Metacritic based on 42 reviews and 77% on Game Rankings based on 39 reviews. IGN has given the game a highly favorable 8.4/10.0 mark.

Censorship[]

The American release of Blood Curse contains a slightly edited introductory scene, where a ceremonial stabbing is obscured by excessive camera shakiness.

Extra content[]

The European release of Blood Curse includes an exclusive making-of documentary titled Behind the Curtain of Terror, which is accessed via the PlayStation 3's XMB Video menu.

PlayStation Home[]

SCE Japan Studio has released a Siren space for the PlayStation 3's online community-based service, PlayStation Home. This space features the Saiga Hospital level called "Ward of Despair".

In "Ward of Despair", users can play a mini-game of the same name where the user must search the hospital for various items trying not to get killed by a shibito. If a user makes it through successfully, they get a reward. There are three different scenarios for this mini-game, each with different rewards depending on the scenario the user has entered and what items are needed to be collected.

The rewards are a SIREN male and female t-shirt, a Doctor's outfit, a Nurse's outfit, Miyako's outfit, and the Alcove set. It used to be available to users of the Asian, Japanese, European, and North American versions of PlayStation Home.

It was released for Japan on December 11, 2008, Asia on February 12, 2009 and North America on May 7, 2009.^[3] A very interesting feature of the space is that at 12 am CT, a siren goes off and the area outside the hospital goes red and 3 shibitos come out from the woods for about 3 minutes. However, due to Playstation Home's closure on April 1st 2015, this and many other worlds and hubs are no longer available.