Accompanying this storytelling is a delightful tap-tap-tap sound as dialogue is spoken, as though the story is being typed out on a keyboard as the player reads along.
Although redesigned for a modern audience, much of The Silver Case is left behind in the past. The avant-garde storytelling and newly added chapters are the only things to properly stand the test of time.
The Silver Case is a tough one: the first game from Suda51 has an intriguing gameplay, but it hasn't aged too well. At the end of the day, it's a must-have if you're a fan of the Japanese game designer, but most of all if you love the graphic novels.
In the end, The Silver Case oozes style yet completely fails to deliver in substance. It has the bones of an interesting story with an intriguing setting that's never fully explored, but it trips over itself through disjointed narrative that is more tell than show. It may be tempting to attribute this to some deliberate attempt at abstract absurdism, but in truth it's simply a poorly written and executed script. Fans of Suda51 may very well find something to love in The Silver Case's erratic weirdness, but those with a passing interest or who are in search of an engaging visual novel would be better served looking elsewhere.
Fight your way through the hideous mechanics and there's a fantastic narrative tucked away in there, a typically Suda-esque yarn that's equal parts compelling, unpredictable and offensive. [July 2016, p.91]
The Silver Case is a mix between an awesome plot and a very "old style" control system that provides the player of a retro and very visual experience based on hours and hours of reading.
The Silver Case is a dud, through and through. With neither story nor gameplay to grab its audience, and with production values that never manage to impress, all players are left with is an impenetrable plot which takes too long to unfold. It’s possible this would have worked better as an actual novel – as a visual novel, there’s nothing here to recommend.