Silver Retrospective

PC Gamer’s Ben Griffin has penned a retrospective article for 1999 Infogrames action-RPG Silver. The article has quite the number of positive things to say about the game, though I have difficulties believing the game was better than Baldur’s Gate II, as the author argues:

Clicking and holding the mouse button then moving it vertically causes David, the blonde suit of armour from the box cover, to perform an uppercut. Thrusting it downwards makes him turn quickly to attack enemies at the rear. Holding the mouse button then moving your hand horizontally performs a side slash.

It’s glorious. I had never interacted with an RPG like that before, and I haven’t since. David’s sword is an extension of my arm, and although it feels a bit binary today like rudimentary motion control it remains an intuitive method of replicating swordplay. Enemy positions matter. If you’re surrounded, use sideswipes. If they’re jumping at your from behind, meet them with a turnaround slash. Are they cowering with shields? Lunge.

No sooner is the tutorial over than Fuge, son of the evil emperor Silver, abducts your wife, Jennifer. Silver is ordering all women of childbearing age to his castle so he can choose a bride. Hey guy, ever heard of speed dating? Your quest involves joining the rebels, forming a team, and rescuing the female population. The story is less special than its controls, noteworthy only for the unironically clichéd way it latches onto every fantasy trope imaginable. There’s a young man seeking vengeance against a shadowy force, eight elemental orbs to collect as you romp through medieval hamlets and icy fortresses, and the emotional deaths of loved ones. Numbers rise out of damaged enemies, and those you kill drop health-replenishing turkey legs. With Final Fantasy VIII, Suikoden II, Baldur’s Gate II and Diablo II as contemporaries, Silver was somewhat lost in the shuffle.

In my opinion, it was better than all of them. Take your companions: there’s Chiaro, a wizard apprentice who joins the rebels after learning his master was killed by Silver, and the unarmed Cagen, a martial arts monk who survived the madness that spread through his monastery by not drinking the poisoned water. The once proud warrior Jug is looking to redeem himself after languishing too long in seedy pubs. All of them have their own motivation for fighting.