Hey PlayStation bloggers! I hope you are enjoying the authentic Japanese horror of SIREN: Blood Curse. It is the first survival horror game available on the PS3, and is available exclusively on PLAYSTATION Network.
By now, I’m guessing some of you must have beaten the game already. If you have, that’s great! If you haven’t beat it yet, you’ve come to the right place! I have something for those who might be stuck or are having trouble getting through certain parts you might find helpful in getting past those tricky “Shibito” (zombie-like undead people). And if you haven’t tried the game yet, there’s a great demo of it on PSN as well.
If you’re not careful and a Shibito spots you, they normally come after you and try desperately to kill you. But have you ever come across a Shibito that runs away from you in the game? You may have thought it was strange, or felt relieved that you didn’t have to fight it. But there is a reason some of the Shibito in the game run away from you. This type of Shibito is called a Brain Shibito, and if you take it out, the other Shibito in the area will also be knocked out too. Armed with this knowledge, you can play strategically by chasing down the Brain Shibito in any given area and taking it out in order to safely proceed.
Another tip to help you survive in the game is to use the sight jack system to your advantage. You can lock on to a specific view from a Shibito or friend with the square button and continue moving around while monitoring that view. You can also show the viewpoints of multiple Shibito at once, and assign buttons to bring up specific Shibito at will. Assign the views to the X, O, or Triangle buttons by holding the button for a few seconds until the screen flashes. There are many more useful control tips for sight jacking that can be found in the in-game manual, accessible from the main menu of the game. Knowing how to use this feature effectively can make a big difference.
Another very interesting feature of the game is the Archive system. When you’re playing, you may notice pop-up messages saying you’ve unlocked items in the archive. At any time during the game you can view the archive items pertaining the chapter you are currently in. However if you view the archive from the main menu, you can view all of the archive items you’ve collected so far. The archive holds information on all of the weapons you’ve picked up so far, as well as special documents and items you’ve earned or found.
Some of these documents or items are awarded by playing through the stages normally. However, some are a little tougher to come by, meaning you will have to either find them or complete a certain series of actions. Some may even be dependent on actions taken in multiple episodes. Examining the items in the archive will give you a better understanding of the story and the events in the game, giving you a fuller picture of the truth behind Hanuda village and the characters wrapped up in the curse.
I know the game is pretty tough at times, but hopefully these tips will make it a little easier to beat, not to mention understand the deep storyline and plot twists the game has to offer. If you have any other tips or strategies for the game, I’d love to hear them, and I’m sure your fellow blog readers would too!
@Tsubasa Inaba: Thanks! I love you! :D
No seriously though, I found where I needed to go. I like how authentic the environments are, and you used the surrounding foliage to hide things well. But it looked like it all had overgrown naturally. I applaud you guys!
Speaking of which, the environments in this game remind me a lot of what im seeing down here in Houston Texas from the hurricane. Dark, raining, scary shadow people walking around, foliage all torn up and messy. It really strikes a chord with me to see it in a game- makes it EXTRA SCARY. :)
Keep up the good work and im praying to all my various greek gods that you guys keep making scary PS3 games for us!
@21
Yes, that it’s what killed trhe game… the camara control but you get used to it after playing a lot.
@51
Yes, sony knows how to make a good scary game and I hope this is just a start… make a big siren one in the future because this ip have a very good future, I like it even better than the one from the ps2
yeah thats great and all awsome game but why didnt it get trophies? i mean i dont understand. you guys give us a trophy system and then you tell developers ah its ok you dont have to make trophies for us that bs it realy is atleast microsoft inforces achievments atleat they have a backbone for there customers i mean if this dose change soon imma be trading in my ps3 for an xbox
I. Loved. This. Game. It was really suspenseful. I found that about half of my gameplay time was spent standing/crouching somewhere safe trying to build up the nerve to go down into the bowels of the mine, sneak past a shibito nurse, leave the cupboard I’m hiding in, etc. Still it didn’t take to long to beat (about four days of mid-speed tentative gameplay) and I played almost nonstop for almost 9 episodes. An interesting way to release a sequel or other episodic title would be to space the episodes out by a week. It’d be kinda like a weekly TV show in game form. That way you could really keep the suspense going by leaving us hanging for 6 days and we could really savour the game for 12 horrifying weeks.
Best horror game in YEARS.
Please, please make Siren 2 New Translation.
Also, we love trophies *wink wink*
I’m another that will not buy it unless I can have it on a physical disc. In a couple of months we’re going to have at least Bioshock, Motorstorm2, Resistance2 under our noses. When they hit, you’ve probably lost my sale for good.
How do I get the camera to move left or right allowing a full 90 degree view?
The partial camera side view is okward and is preventing me from buying this game…sorry guys just being honest. Love this type of game I just can’t get over those controls as in the demo.
“Tsubasa Inaba replied on September 16, 2008 at 2:16 pm
That’s exactly how we recommend you to play! <– lights out
I must admit it is a bit spooky, but it’s great fun! We’re sure you will love it!”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
If I’ll do that I’ll end up looking like a zombie myself, scared the hell out because of playing this game in the middle of the night, with “no” lights on. Thinking about it already makes me shivering *mommy*
I love the game, the camera could have used some work though, but one gets used to it, it’s gotta be authentic (Japanese) right? Just kidding.
Thanks for the tips. I’ll just say that I prefer playing in 1st person, and that you guys managed to do 3rd and 1st person very well, never seen that before, I don’t think.
I want this game….but for such a big game, i want it on Blu-Ray please!
echo the comments of evid I’ve never played horror titles in the past but after our purchasing siren on what was mostly a whim, I’ve since dove head first into the genre.
Will their be expansions to siren blood curse inthe form of more episodes or possibly another title?
In any case late as it is, say thanks to the team for the excellent work.
For a great game that this is…there’s something I feel that needs to be added to make the game feel longer than it really is because if someone’s good enough, they can chew through the game pretty quickly whether they get the Archive Files or not.
For the next Siren game, there should be a harder difficulty available to be picked at the beginning. This harder difficulty includes taking away any navigation help (like in the original game), anything that specifically points out where the objectives are, combat should be MORE difficult…I understand that it is hard enough for some people out there…but since there are people used to more difficult combat mechanics (like the original game) and Blood Curse’s mechanic is WAY too easy for me (and probably a lot of other people). Things like that would definetly make the game a whole lot longer…
Oh and if you don’t mind, maybe adding a Mission 2 for every mission you do would make the game EVEN longer as well. I know it took MONTHS just to beat Siren because of the Mission 2 objectives.