Swery65
Hidetaka Suehiro, better known by the alias Swery65, has seen increasing popularity as a game director over the last few years. While he started back on the PS2, the a few cult classic hits have really put him on the map. As a director he’s known for crafting absolutely eccentric characters and plot lines, along with a unique sense of style and storytelling entirely his own. The oddity in his stories is only matched by the man himself, who recently became a certified Buddhist monk and is currently writing a murder mystery novel told from the perspective of a cat. No, neither or those things are a joke.
Unfortunately, a couple years ago Suehiro was diagnosed with reactive hypoglycemia. This led to him announcing a hiatus from gaming in November 2015. The next year in October 2016 he announced his departure from Access Games. However, he did go on to form his own studio known as White Owls Inc. The studio was revealed to the public at the start of 2017, and now we finally have news that Swery will be announcing his new game during PAX West on Sept. 2. Keeping with his trademark style Swery’s panel called “Coffee Time With Swery65,” sounds to be just as quirky as ever.
Here’s the official description for it:
“I will have a cup of coffee at the talk, so please bring your cup of coffee as well. When you first come up to ask me a question, I’ll ask you about what kind of coffee you like. I don’t care who you are, if you don’t love coffee like I love coffee, I’ll ask you to leave. (Pending policy approval from PAX management).”
Ahead of whatever Swery plans to announce at PAX West, we’re going to take a look at his most memorable projects so far. Basically what’s required playing before we all move onto what he brings to us next.
Extermination – PS2 – 2001
Extermination was a first-party PS2 game that came out very early in the system’s life cycle, all the way back in 2001. It also happens to be the first game that Swery65 worked on as a writer, in addition to working as a designer. Of course, this means he didn’t have as direct of an involvement in this title as others here, but nonetheless he was an important part of the team. Extermination is a third-person survival horror title, similar to the likes of the Resident Evil series.
The game takes place at a top secret U.S. military research facility in Antarctica, which as you might expect has been used to conduct experiments on genetic organisms and mutations. You play as Sergeant Dennis Riley, a member of the Marine Corps Force Recon and “Team Red Light,” who gets sent in to investigate a distress call from the facility. As you can imagine, things go quite awry and a tense horror story filled with unholy mutated creatures plays out from there.
Extermination is fairly standard with what it does for the survival horror genre, but there are some pretty memorable water sequences with aquatic bosses. The narrative on display in the title is incredibly reminiscent of John Carpenter’s The Thing, and you may find yourself enjoying Extermination quite a bit if you’re a fan of the film. Keep in mind, of course, that a 2001 PS2 game hasn’t aged as well as we all might want.
Spy Fiction – PS2 – 2004
Spy Fiction is the very first game Swery65 directed, and while it may not be the best reviewed title out there you can start to see some of his signature style eke through. At its core, Spy Fiction is a stealth game like Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell. However, it tries to introduce some unique mechanics and situations to mix up the general sneaking around. You follow the story of two elite spies Billy Bishop and Sheila Crawford, as they endeavor with the Special Execution Agency to take down a group of terrorists known as Enigma.
There’s a fair mix of intense shooting and puzzle solving in the game, with mechanics like vision cones and having to run away when spotted like in Metal Gear. However, the big novelty Spy Fiction introduces comes with the 3DA Cam, a device that lets you take a picture of any character in the game and instantly imitate them as a disguise, both in look and voice.
This adds a unique flavor to the game, especially as some of the smarter puzzles make good use of the mechanic. Although Spy Fiction may be short, there’s an interesting story to be had filled with quirky characters. It doesn’t go to nearly the lengths that Swery’s later games would, but it’s an enjoyable romp that wears its inspirations on its sleeve. The game does have technical issues, and can become repetitive, but it’s still a novel experience to play, especially if you’re a fan of Swery65.
D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die – Xbox One, PC – 2014
D4 is Swery’s most recent title to release before he went on a hiatus from gaming, and boy is it one heck of an experience. This Telltale-like experience follows David Young, a private investigator whose wife was murdered. Somehow the trauma of the event has stopped him from recollecting how it happened, but has given him the unique ability to travel through time when he comes into contact with certain objects pertaining to his wife. Because of this, the D4 in the game’s title refers not only to the subtitle, but to the 4th dimension as well.
D4 contains an absolutely absurd plot with even more absurd characters like the mysterious girl that acts like a cat who lives in David’s apartment, or the muscle-bound flight attendant Duncan that looks and acts more like a wrestler. Silliness is the name of the game with D4, and the story certainly doesn’t play out in any typical or expected ways. Controls can be an issue in the game, and there’s an absurd hunger mini game that you have to contend with at times, but it has managed to build quite a cult following. It’s certainly an experience that you could only get from the mind of Swery 65.
D4 was originally intended to be an episodic series released on Xbox One, but we only received the prologue and first two episodes that made up season one. Unfortunately, as a result of health issues Swery left Access Games in October 2016, and announced that further episodes of the series would not be released.
Deadly Premonition – Xbox 360, PS3, PC – 2010
Deadly Premonition is far and away the most well-known game that Swery65 has directed, and is one of the biggest cult classic titles of all time. This divisive survival horror title has some serious inspirations from Twin Peaks, dropping you right into the middle of a town filled with strange and eccentric characters. Like, seriously strange and eccentric. You play as Detective Francis York Morgan, an FBI agent sent to the town of Greenvale to investigate a string of murders perpetrated by the “Raincoat Killer.” York himself is a strange character, seeing messages in his coffee and talking to his alter ego Zack about B-movies from the 80s while he drives around town.
Deadly Premonition’s gameplay may be run of the mill for survival horror, but it’s the crazy world and characters that really breathe life into the title. York manages to be a complete narcissist, while still remaining a fascinating and well developed character. There’s a rich town to explore in Deadly Premonition even if it’s not the most visually appealing to look at, and the gameplay is certainly serviceable in tandem with the atmosphere and story.
The uniqueness of Deadly Premonition can be perfectly summed up the sheer difference in review scores for when the game released. Scores were literally all over the board ranging from a 2/10 from IGN to a 10/10 from Destructoid. In fact, the game actually holds the Guinness World Record for most critically polarizing survival horror game. It’s truly the thing that introduced many people to Swery65, and makes them excited for his return to gaming.
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