Club Retro 2020: October - Horror & N64

Saw [2009] for the PC

Saw is a survival horror game developed by Zombie Studios and published by Konami. About a decade ago, Konami snatched the opportunity to ride the success of the Saw movies and had acquired the IP with plans to make it their next big franchise as well as a spiritual successor of sorts to their Silent Hill series. That obviously did not happen, but Saw is still an interesting game and one I had much more fun playing than SH: Homecoming.

The game - which is powered by Unreal Engine 3 - is set entirely at night and inside an abandoned asylum. The environments ooze decay and make for a properly unsettling atmophere. The main character is former Detective Tapp - one of the characters from the first movie - who's been kidnapped by the man he was pursuing - the Jigsaw Killer - and now has no choice but to overcome the many tests and puzzles the enigmatic villain is going to throw at him if he wishes to survive - or, even better, find out the identity of the Jigsaw Killer.

If that wasn't hard enough, Tapp is also forced to confront his own 'demons' throughout the game. See, the Jigsaw Killer is no mere moustache-twirling villain - he actually wants to impart a lesson to his victims. He wants to make them better persons - in the off-chance that they actually survive his trials, that is. As it happens, some people Tapp is acquainted with were also kidnapped and he'll have to save them at the end of each chapter. People like the wife of his late partner, Detective Sing, who blames him and his obsession with the Jigsaw Killer for the death of her husband.

The Jigsaw Killer apparently wants Tapp to redeem himself for his past mistakes and hopefully give up his obsession. At the end of the game, you do have a choice between 'Freedom' and 'Truth'. Needless to say, I thought the villain, his relationship with Tapp and the interactions among the characters were all pretty compelling. The game itself, however, is not your traditional survival horror and can be best summarized as DO YOU WANT TO PLAY A MINIGAME?

Saw is all about puzzles - or rather, minigames. Often, they are timed minigames. Solve this minigame(s) or the whole room is going to go boom with you inside it kind of. It sounds terribly frustrating, but the puzzles are not insanely difficult and I didn't have to repeat the same section all that often in order to get it right. These become particularly challenging at the end of each chapter, when you'll have to solve one or several timed minigames to save other victims your captor has kidnapped.

When you're not dealing with minigames, Saw reminds me a lot of Manhunt. The gritty atmosphere, gore and focus on melee combat are all there. Not to mention how you'll definitely get some Piggsy flashbacks from Pighead - who seems to enjoy tormenting you throughout the game. While the game doesn't have a proper stealth system, you're still highly encouraged to take care undirectly of your opponents - these are random thugs kidnapped by the Jigsaw Killer and instructed to kill you if they want to make it out alive. There are environmental traps you can set and later on you can even craft some traps of your own.

Melee combat itself is not very good, but the trick is to let an enemy take a swing at you, take a few steps back so he misses, then immediately attack. Unharmed enemies are actually worse, because their punches are much faster and they can stunlock you easily. Luckily, enemies never carry firearms - worst case scenario, they'll throw molotov bottles at you. You can get your hands on a revolver a couple of times throughout the game -  you can get a few shots out of them, but then you're on your own.

All in all, Saw is definitely flawed, but I still liked it for the most part. The villain and atmosphere truly make the game. The minigames can get repetitive, but I didn't mind them as much as I thought I would. The combat is subpar but there's not all that much of it and once you get used to it, you won't find it frustrating and will be able to make quick work of any opponent. For someone who wasn't expecting much out of this game and wasn't a big fan of the movies, this was a pleasant surprise.

3/4

I can vouch for going through periods where I just don't feel like playing a game. Even a game I enjoyed when I started it! Honestly, gaming really does take some active effort, and as Ex alludes to, being tired just doesn't mix well with it. I absolutely understand how people can instead prefer watching movies or shows instead, especially after a long day.

I bought my DS Lite with me on this trip (wanted to travel really light gaming-wise), and I've been working on a GBA game for this month. It's... uh, it's horror-adjacent, anyway. And quite fun, too - it's a game I've always wanted to play through, and I started it up years ago only to fall off the wagon like I always do. Hopefully I'll actually take this puppy down.

Not those, but it does remind me that I should pick Master of Spirits back up again. It's sort of a simpler Igavania - or at least the engine and combat flow feel very similar to Aria of Sorrow.

I'll throw out one more hint before I just go ahead and spill the beans, 'cause I'm terrible at teasing games (I actually feel kind of bad about being intentionally obtuse). Let's just say the method for playing the game originally was less than ideal.