Siren (video game)

Siren
North American version cover art
Developer(s)	Project Siren[a]
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment
Director(s)	Keiichiro Toyama
Producer(s)	Takafumi Fujisawa
Artist(s)	Isao Takahashi
Writer(s)	Keiichiro Toyama Naoko Sato
Composer(s)	Hitomi Shimizu
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Release	JP: November 6, 2003 PAL: March 12, 2004 NA: April 20, 2004
Genre(s)	Survival horror, stealth
Mode(s)	Single-player

Siren,^[b] known as Forbidden Siren in the PAL region, is a 2003 survival horror stealth video game developed and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It was originally released in Japan in November 6, 2003, and in other regions between March and April of the following year.

Directed and co-written by Keiichiro Toyama after he wrote and directed the original Silent Hill for Konami in 1999, the game revolves around interconnected storylines featuring a cast of characters throughout different time periods who find themselves in the mysterious town of Hanuda, inhabited by the shibito, deadly zombie-like creatures. The player must use sightjacking, a power allowing them to see the shibito's perspectives, to help deal with threats as they progress throughout levels.

The game was positively received by critics for its story, atmosphere and originality, although its gameplay drew criticism. It was followed by a sequel, Siren 2, in 2006, and by a remake acting as a re-imagining of its story, Siren: Blood Curse, in 2008. It was also adapted into two mangas, titled Siren: Akai Umi no Yobigoe and Siren: ReBIRTH respectively.

Siren is divided into stages, each taking place in one of ten areas in the village of Hanuda, and organized chronologically in a table called the "Link Navigator". In order to complete a stage, the player must accomplish a primary objective that usually involves reaching an exit point, subduing undead enemies called shibito, or finding an item. Objectives in different stages are interconnected via a butterfly effect, and a character's actions in one stage can trigger a secondary objective in another stage.

There are miscellaneous items scattered throughout each stage that give the player further insight into the plot's background. Once obtained, these items are archived in a catalog and can be viewed at any time during the game's duration. The game's player characters possess a psychic power known as "sightjacking", which enables them to see and hear what a nearby Shibito or human sees and hears, and thus pinpoint its position, as well as gain knowledge of their activities and of the position of obtainable items. The clarity of each target depends on the distance from the player character. Once a point of view is located, it can be assigned to one of certain buttons of the controller to easily switch between multiple points of view. However, the player character is unable to move during use of the ability and is thus vulnerable to attack.

The game encourages the player to avoid Shibito rather than fight them. Characters can walk silently, avoid the use of a flashlight, and crouch behind objects to elude detection. Certain mission objectives require the player character to use items and/or the environment to distract Shibito from their activity, in order for them to achieve a goal. Others require the player to escort a non-player character. Player characters can also shout at any time in order to get the attention of nearby Shibito. Within most stages, the player character can hide in certain places such as cupboards and lock doors to prevent Shibito from entering. When a Shibito hears a sound made by the player character, it will search in the direction from which they heard the sound. If a character is seen by a Shibito, the latter will pursue the character to kill them either with a melee or ranged weapon or by strangulation. The Shibito will also shout to alert other nearby Shibito. Once the character has remained out of the Shibito's sight for a period of time, the Shibito will give up and resume its usual habits. Weapons are available for the player throughout the game, ranging from melee weapons to firearms. While Shibito can be knocked out in combat, they cannot be killed and will reanimate after a short period of time. If a character is injured, they will eventually recover after a short period of time. Characters will also lose stamina during combat and while running, which will also naturally refill after a short amount of time.

The story of Siren is told through the alternating perspectives of ten survivors: students Kyoya Suda and Harumi Yomoda, professor Tamon Takeuchi, priest Kei Makino, teacher Reiko Takato, celebrity Naoko Mihama, hunter Akira Shimura, as well as visitors Shiro Miyata and Risa Onda. The game follows them as they navigate a supernatural disaster in the (fictional) rural Japanese town of Hanuda (羽生蛇村, in the Japanese version) in 2003 (Heisei year 15). These events are presented outside of chronological order as the characters try to both escape the town and find answers to what has happened in the three days immediately following the disaster.

Initially presented as a mere earthquake, the disaster rapidly becomes far more bizarre and wide-ranging. Most of the population has become infected with an unknown affliction turning them into shibito (屍人, lit. "corpse people"), displaying severely damaged cognitive function, bleeding from the eyes, and violent hostility towards those not infected. They are also seemingly immortal, able to recover and heal from even fatal injuries in a short time. All natural water sources and rainfall in the town have been replaced with a red, water-like liquid; the town, previously located in a mountainous inland region, has become an island surrounded on all sides by an endless red ocean. Furthermore, multiple sections of the town appear to have been replaced with past versions of themselves; derelict buildings once destroyed by landslides 27 years prior, suddenly reappear or replace their more modern counterparts.

It is revealed that Hanuda, a strongly isolationist community due to historical religious persecution, follows a unique syncretic faith known as the "Mana Religion" which incorporates many Christian and Shinto traditions. The senior figures of this faith, in particular the nun Hisako Yao, had attempted to call forth and appease their god Datatsushi (堕辰子) through the ritual human sacrifice of a girl named Miyako Kajiro who they considered holy for her psychic abilities. When Kyoya Suda, an outsider who had arrived to investigate online ghost stories, accidentally stumbles on the ceremony, Miyako, unwilling to be killed, uses the momentary distraction he provides to flee and causes the ritual to fail. This created the disaster, pulling the entire town into another world where space and time are severely distorted.

The eponymous 'Siren' of the title, heard regularly all across the town throughout the game's events, is the Datatsushi's call, compelling Hanuda's residents to become infected by immersing themselves in the red water, thus creating the army of shibito. Some even evolve new traits such as insectoid wings. They then go about building a nest to house the Datatsushi's corporeal form once it is summoned, as well as killing and converting any remaining humans left in Hanuda. Despite Kyoya being able to slay the Datatsushi at the end of the three days, the story concludes with only Harumi escaping Hanuda alive and returning to the real world, as she is the only human in the town not infected in some way by the red water.

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The game was developed by Project Siren, a team within Sony Computer Entertainment Japan consisting of employees that had worked on the original Silent Hill. Rather than employ traditional facial animation methods with polygonal transformation, images of real human faces were captured from eight different angles and superimposed onto the character models, an effect similar to projecting film onto the blank face of a mannequin.

The game was re-released for the PlayStation 3 on the PlayStation Store.^[1] In June 2016 the game received a digital release for the PlayStation 4 in NA and PAL regions as an emulated and upscaled version of the PlayStation 2 original with added Trophy support.^[2]

The game received "average" reviews according to the review aggegration website Metacritic.^[3] GameSpot's reviewer Bethany Massimilla concluded that although the game had a great story, and interesting characters, it was also tedious.^[10] IGN's reviewer Jeremy Dunham praised the originality of the concept, the use of Sightjacking, the graphics and the storyline, but criticized the difficulty level and the trial and error nature of the gameplay.^[13] GameSpy's Bryan Stratton followed other reviewers in praising the storyline and atmosphere, but criticizing the nature of the gameplay.^[11] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of one nine, one seven, and two eights for a total of 32 out of 40.^[7]

Forbidden Siren 2 was released in February 2006. The game tells the story of several characters who become trapped on Yamijima, an island off the coast of mainland Japan. A film based on the second game was released concurrently.

Siren: Blood Curse is the third installment in the series and was released in July 2008. The game is a "reimagining" of the first game and it tells the story of an American camera crew's disappearance in a mountainous region in Japan.

The series was celebrated in the PlayStation 5 game Astro's Playroom.^[16]

Sony published a manga series titled Siren: Akai Umi no Yobigoe (Siren: The Call of the Red Sea) which was based on the first game. The manga was drawn by Wataru Kamio and ran from July 2014 to December 2015 in Home-sha's Shinmimibukuro Atmos magazine. The manga was scheduled to move to an online format in April 2016, but due to the author's health complications, the manga was put on hiatus.^[17] The game franchise's director Keiichirō Toyama and scenario writer Naoko Satō were supervising all aspects of the manga.^[18][19] It was ultimately discontinued.^[20] In 2018, a new ongoing manga titled Siren: ReBIRTH was published to commemorate the series' fifteenth anniversary. It is written by Saki Yoshi and overseen by the development team of the games.^[21][22]

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Occult Land Collection Archived 2004-01-10 at the Wayback Machine
• Urban Folklore Society Archived 2008-07-04 at the Wayback Machine
• Fobidden Siren at MobyGames
• Siren at Hardcore Gaming 101