I really want to mention how each Smith was killed ironically by Emir Kevin who is a master at stealth and disguise, was seen through his bellhop disguise by Emir and was killed. Con who's blind but had sensitive hearing was unable to notice Emir sneaking in to kill him. Masque was killed with his mask off, which being seen without your mask on is considered shameful in the lucha libre world. Kaede who reveals things hidden was killed while hiding in a wardrobe. Coyote who's the most athletic was outmaneuvered by Emir And Dan who's The Hellion and the badass of the group, hesitated in shooting Emir which is the one thing you should never do as an assassin Emir outdoes every Smith, making him a suitable replacement for the Smith Syndicate
Kaede is also the most selfless one, slitting her own wrists in order to open paths, and yet when she sees Emir, she runs and hides instead of trying to warn anyone.
Killer7. A game that only gets more complex and layered on repeated playthroughs. Suda51 really channels the best of David Lynch, Takashi Miike, and Alejandro Jodorowsky in K7, but does his own thing. I only hope we get a directors cut, as the story was going to WAY more long, spanning literal centuries and would’ve followed Harman from his birth until his final showdown with Kun Lan. And of course, Masafumi Takada’s brilliant score. One of the few games where the music elevates the game’s atmosphere. Also, the voice acting doesn’t get enough praise. One thing which has been consistent with Suda’s games is the tight and strong vocal performances by his characters. Killer7 is no exception. Everyone is doing a triple A effort of constantly giving life to these characters. I always wonder if Suda, like Kojima, has a lot of input on the actors that do the English dub.
I was thinking the same, not just voice acting, translation from japanese always looks very rough -specially at that time- and often the phrasing of one third of the script just sounds...weird...but in Suda's games characters speak fluent Tarantino wich feels like 4 steps ahead his competition. I wonder how he does it.
I love how stylish the game is, not in the sense of doing cool actions like DMC, but how it's framed. The atmosphere of places like Harman's Room, the shift to 3rd person whenever you reload, the intro before every mission where you line up a lazer with the boss, the death cutscene when your character dies, and each character's little quips in the TV and when getting a critical hit. It still holds up for a playthrough, even if it's only a single one due to it's extreme linearity and simple gameplay.
With Suda saying how Killer7 is actually a 3rd of what he wanted to write, I really hope we someday get that Director's Cut he teased us about Guess I'll wait for the Flower Sun and Rain remaster while we wait for more news
Fun fact Kevin being silent is actually not a reference. He was originally more fleshed out, being the only gay member according to supplementary material and he originally had a British accent you can dig up in the files. When downsizing I guess they figured it would make him more interesting if he literally made no noise if he was going to have the least presence so they wrote that his voice would awaken the ancient gods if he ever spoke. Patented suda weirdness but it doesn’t have a reference for once which is interesting. Shout outs to suda making a shirtless guy named Kevin interesting with a single word meanwhile volition didn’t even come close.
My favorite Smith was Kevin. His knives are so damn good when it comes to hitting weakspots. The blood you get by playing as him is insane. No other Smith can hit weakspots as reliably as Kevin.
Playing this game made me rethink the entire way I interpret media in general. This is an important, milestone game. Never forget Killer7, it doesn't deserve to be lost to time.
Thank you for covering this game. I've never had a game where I outwardly explored all the lore I possibly can. Suda51 really makes worlds feel real & surreal at the same time. (And never forget the punishing rangers, the Handsome Men!)
I remember being in a Blockbuster back in the day and I saw a young kid who was probably about 9 with his mum and he wanted to rent Killer7 and she glanced at it and allowed him to get it. I wonder what his reaction was to it.
Played this in 2006 and found it weirdly profound. So for around 7 years I did graphic design for bands under the brand name Heavens Smile; (intentional semi colon to seem cooler than i was). Proud of that time with HS; but not sure I think the game is as profound now if much at all.
I got to meet Suda and his amazing interpreter at PAX East last week and the respect and interest he had in my respect and interest brought me to tears.
Believe it or not, Suda was asked about Kevin Smith and if he was a Silent Bob reference and it turns out he never heard of Clerks until then. Kevin is, however, gay
We need to bring back cel shading in new games nowadays. Cel shading will make your game look timeless compared to games that try way to hard making look realistic. An art style and atmosphere will always be better than let's make the most realistic look characters and scenery.
I’ve been obsessed with this game for a while now, but I only just finished it for the first time a couple weeks back. I pray that a Director’s Cut somehow sees the light of day especially for how long the story was initially intended to be. There’ll never be anything quite like this game, never again
I believe Suda said in an interview that he wanted to make a "complete" edition with a different heavily extended story, but I doubt he would be given the funding to do it sadly
If you liked killer 7, please go and play the rest of suda’s “kill the past” series. Starts with the visual novels “the silver case” and then goes all over the place but if you look into this series it’ll put K7 in a whole different context
Ah the kill the past series. Moonlight syndrome, the silver case, the flower sun and rain, killer7, no more heroes. Also suda51 extra samurai champloo sidetracked and blood+ one night kiss.
Yep, I can definitely see this game as the precursor to No More Heroes. Also, whenever I hear Greg Eagles' voice in anything I just immediately think of Grim from the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.
Fun Fact; Suda 51 originally had Killer 7, No More Heroes and another game be part of an unofficial trilogy, before the commercial successes of the games. NMH got a second game, and Killer7 got an unnofficial sequel in Killer is Dead. Also, NMH and Killer7 reference each other. The ghost Travis in Killer7 is Travis Touchdown and the canon ending for NMH has a character that looks like and sounds like Garcian/Emir kill Travis on the toilet.
I beat Killer 7 & it was a breathe of fresh air. Its basically its own genre. Its like an action packed comic book mixed with 80's Manga anime the way its framed.
Something tells me that the dialogue exchange between Dan and Curtis, becomes surprisingly more relevant to the world at large than ever. Especially with what a lot of "sick, old men" are doing in this sociopolitical climate of ours.
Art house game, but, underrated, unappreciated game for it's time, seems now it's finally got a cult following, still makes me wonder how the hell this classic game even got a pc port.
Yet another one of Capcom's hidden gem with tons of potential. I believe this is the game that Shinji Mikami worked on while he was also directing RE4 (and yes, the magnum in the game was so aptly named to promote Killer7's release). I think this game is just another testament of how turbulent Capcom's history was, with the 2000s being their most inventive, as they come up with all these new games, each with their own distinct styles. Yet sadly not all of them got the attention that they deserve.
I remember picking this game out, meanwhile my twin picked out Resident Evil 4. We didn't know anything about games, and we managed to pick out 2 of the best games for the system and had so much fun (after getting over how scary the games were lol)
I love this game for what it made me do with it's content. There's so many ways you can combine aspects of this story and the cut story into spiraling theories.
At that time my brother was 13 years old, and we went to the game store to get him a game as a birthday present. He didn't know which game to pick and I suggested killer 7. He find it every challenging at the time but it became one of his favorites.
It's a rare gem which intelligently succeeds in oozing atmosphere that will forever remain etched in your memory. It's quite otherworldly, like an obscure surreal nightmare. Claustrophobic in it's execution as if it's in the mind of a madman.
I've been a passionate gamer since the og Game Boy, but I have lost interest in gaming more and more as of late. I mostly stick to indie games and Nintendo nowadays. Imho, gaming has become too creatively sterile, which is why I like games like Killer 7. Not because they are flawless, but because the feel unconventional and interesting. If Killer 7 was made today, it would probably be another generic OTS RE4 clone.
You're absolutely right, just mechanically K7 is a friggin ONRAILS action adventure with invisible enemies. No one would take the risk, controls and pov are standarized, literally every game plays the same. And that's just talking mechanics.
While I do like your video I disagree with you sentiment about the hotel. I think it is effective that we as players have to go through the hotel twice because as we established Garcian is like the main character. And he goes to the hotel twice once as emir and once as Garcian. At least for me despite not actually killing the other smiths, going to the hotel twice made me feel as if I was in the shoes of Garcian.
I love this game so much and really do want to create a texture pack for this game. Some textures are so low red that it's kinda distracting. Unfortunately most textures are in a file that I'm not sure how to extract from. But if anyone knows how, please let me know. I also made a control scheme on steam to have it so that you can have gyro aiming with a switch, ps4 and ps5 controller with a character select wheel
Thanks so much for talking about this game, it is such a unique, progressive work of art in the medium, and far too few people have played it, and most people, sadly to me, think that MGS2 is the height of postmodern art in games, unaware of just how ambitious and amazing Killer 7 is, how much vastly more serious it is than any of Suda 51's other well-known games, etc. So thank you for talking about it : D I actually think the puzzles are the way they are in order to not interrupt the flow and pace of the game. They are meant to be a little spice to the overall gameplay, but not to be something the player is ever staring at frowning for 10+ minutes, you know? I think it would be a worse game if it had more involved puzzles... unless I am misunderstanding what kind of puzzles you are suggesting.
So to piggy back off what you said about the movement, i do believe there is some DNA of tank controls present (the slower delibrate movements, increased tension via lack of control, camera angels, slow but relentless creatures, etc.). Truly it's a strange and unique amalgam of old school survival horror, RPG, action game,VN, and unique stylings that i don't think ever could of worked without such a focused vision. I'm not sure anything has tried to emulate Killer 7 becuase Killer 7 is kind of already an amalgamation of emulated influences with a super unique and polished presentation.
It's probably the most convoluted story I've ever seen too. The logic leaps and bizarre story turns just had my jaw dropping constantly, and not in a good way... >__>
the game has severeal thematic nods to his previous games at that time (or just straight up cameos), so playing games like the silver case could help somewhat
this game is the greatest game ever made. it's my favorite game of all time. it does politics RIGHT. it shows how it can be done right. theres no in your face bullshit. every character is memorable.
bought this on steam deck the other week, its not clear on which region its based on. Back in the day the Japanese version was censored (gore and a sex scene) whereas the US version on the ps2 and gamecube remained uncut
Yeah the main reason Lollipop Chainsaw is getting a remake is that Dragami Games is making it. They are former Kadokawa devs who own the LC IP. Capcom owns the Killer7 IP and they seem to have no interest in doing anything with it considering that they didn’t even port it to Steam as that was NISA, so no new remakes or ports doesn’t surprise me. Grasshopper also doesn’t own No More Heroes as that’s owned by Marvelous and Let It Die is Gung-ho. The only Grasshopper IPs they own are Silver Case, Flower Sun and Rain, 25th Ward, Shadows of the Damned, and Killer Is Dead. That’s actually why they said they have a 10 year plan to create 3 new IPs that they can own since the 2 things that put them on the map (Killer7 & NMH), and their best selling game (Lollipop), among others they can’t do anything with.
Nice review. Always interesting to hear others' thoughts on this game. No More Heroes was my introduction to Grasshopper and still one of my other favorites, but Killer7 is only second (coincidentally) to Wind Waker for me. Supplementary material can be fun, but that's just it, it's supplementary. Not meant to be taken into account with the final product. At least, that's the way in which I view it. A little odd, there are sort of exceptions within series like Drakegnard/Nier having so many different books and stage plays and tie ins with other games now it's a bit hard to keep track, but at least most of the games still stand well enough on their own. But so far as I'm concerned, the content in Hand in Killer7 might be interesting, but is not canon considering they likely knew they would not be able to get everything into the game in time and fit the story they had finished accordingly. With that in mind, I believe most of the game can be boiled down to Emir and his inner turmoil, and what exactly is actually "real" within the story itself is a bit murky by design. The stuff said in the forbidden room, especially about the young man who killed his mother, I think may at least be close to what actually happened at least, and served as a catalyst to him murdering the Smith syndicate. Having felt guilt for his actions, he took his own life up on the roof of the hotel, that much is clear, but where some say Harman took him in, I don't think it's necessarily that cut and dry; I think it's entirely just as possible that the events from then on are the content of a dying dream. I suppose that's a bit more cliched an idea, now more than when I first thought it up many years ago, but I still think it fits just as well as something akin to the narrative of Silent Hill 2 or others in the same vein. There are so many details, both little and possibly meaningless, to kind of so bold that it might just be me misinterpreting things, but stuff like both Samantha and Harman acting wildly differently within natural and artificial light, the forbidden room literally locking away past memories as well as Harman and Kun Lan being a bit more friendly than they let on, Iwazaru being a sort of wolf in sheeps clothing, even things like the Cloudman cutscenes implying(at least to me) that Garcian is the one specifically talking to these people what with undertones of racism going on - I'm not one to typically go overboard on that kind of thing like much of twitter is these days, but I feel at least that was intentional. So much of the other characters don't get any focus, as you say, and I think that is because this is really all in Garcian's mind. The politics and violence between these two countries, all the different ways in which the Heaven Smile are supposedly made but especially from organ harvesting from children, I think it all represents Emir's own upbringing and trying to come to terms with what he has done and that the truth of the matter is not so black and white as he would like to believe. Breaking my own sort of rule here, but having played Silver Case since, I don't think it's all too dissimilar from the shelter kids and Kamui Uehara as far as the theming goes. I guess regardless of whether anything "actually happened" doesn't really matter so much either way, so long as that point is made clear. Now, I'm not so sure what to make of the connection with the NMH universe, what with the Killer7 introduction added on to Travis Strikes Again. I recall reading in an interview that explains that some of these connections may be within that universe, but not necessarily the other way around, if that makes any sense. But I could be remembering wrong. Even so, that kind of makes sense to me at least. Better to let things stay vague and as free as possible, because that's what I really don't like about having to adhere to these supplementary materials as if they're some bible or guidebook to these games. Things should be allowed to remain fluid if the creator wants them to.
The hand in killer 7 cut content idea is actually a misconception. All of the dates within the book match up with themselves but not with the game at all and I think that’s purposeful, as it a) represents the secrecy of government issues where no one really knows what happens at what time (information is a theme in the game) and as a character says in game, it almost feels as if time is warped or at least shifted dramatically at some point.
I played most of the game but I havent finished it,should I watch the video to fuel my fire to play it again or should I finish the game first and then come back?
I recommend finishing it. I had a hard time finishing the game with a controller, I find the PC controls a lot more intuitive and so finished the game multiple times on PC.
I tried playing Killer7 on steam with KBaM and man it was not fun lmao, the controls were so awkward. Might give it a 2nd shot if it supports controller.
It definitely takes a bit of time and playing around to get used to I personally don't think it's meant to feel "smooth" to give players an anxious feeling when having to deal with enemies like tank controls in survival horror games, but once you get a hang of the controls its pretty enjoyable. PC controls definitely make it easier while console controls really rely on the lock-on button
Ahh the infamous Capcom 5 I was on the old GameSpot system wars forums when they got announced they were gonna kill the Xbox then right after the Capcom 5 there was the Nintendo big 4 Mario sunshine star fox zelda wind water and metroid prime star fox and Mario were huge flops that was the first time xbox fans got to fight back and roast Nintendo fans it was brutal for an entire week of course back then flop and AAA had completely different definitions and reviews were trusted especially GameSpot who was the harshest reviewers out
I would love to hear your thoughts on Bloodborne if you ever get around to it because like Killer7 it's a special game both in it's gameplay and story.
I loved the villians, they were quite creepy and unnerving. I liked the idea behind all the different Smith's/assassin's. I personally didn't like the actual gameplay or story execution though, one of those things where the ingredients were all great, but the stew tastes strange...
