Summary
: New World Order is our first full-size chapter - it’s about as long as Decoyman was.
: It’s hard to see in screenshots because it’s virtually the same color as the building, but you can see a bag being thrown out the window.
: This guy’s name is Hatoba. While this game doesn’t have a manual that explains who the characters are the way that The Silver Case did, it does have an artbook… that of course I bought.
: The artbook explains that Hatoba is the chief of the 25th Ward Heinous Crimes Unit, making him this game’s equivalent of Kotobuki.
: “No, I just arrived myself.”
: “Since Sakaguchi’s funeral. That was five years ago.”
: In case you’ve forgotten, Sakaguchi was the guy Kusabi called “Afro”, an investigator from Central who worked with Kosaka. He showed up in Parade.

: “Wow, so it’s been that long? Ever since that case…”
: “I’d prefer if you didn’t speak about that.”
: “Yeah, sorry about that. But the past is the past. You can’t force yourself to forget it, you know?”
: All he needs to say now is “It can’t be helped” and then Kusabi can legally murder him.
: “Anyway… what did you want to speak with me about?”
: “Where are you at these days? I’ve heard rumors…”
: “I’m working as an official at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. I wasn’t cut out for criminal investigation. I’m really satisfied with my current position.”
: I can’t help but read this in the “Milkman” voice from Psychonauts.
: “Can I take that at face value? A detective who was once on the front lines of investigation is satisfied working as a bureaucrat… I don’t believe that.”
: “I thought the same thing… I was worried about whether I’d really be able to tear myself away from the job, but it turns out I was made for office work. Even I was surprised by that discovery.”
: So what you’re saying is that… you were born to be a bureaucrat?
: “That’s good. I was actually worried about you, after hearing that you’d left the 24 Wards. So this is a relief.”
: “Thank you for thinking of me.”
: “It’s an easy job. You should make some time to enjoy life.”
: “Yes, I will. You take care, too…”
: “There’s one thing I forgot… I’ve been hearing rumors recently. An administrative officer has been going out more lately, and has apparently been putting together a special investigation unit in secret…”
: “It sounds like some really capable people are joining up. Have you heard anything about this?”
: “No, nothing in particular…”
: “Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t have. In this line of work, there aren’t many ‘capable’ people out there, so I thought it might’ve been you. Sorry for doubting you.”
: “I’m not that good. I’m far away from all of that now.”
: “Not that far. It’s got to do with what’s happening here, right now.”
: Believe me when I say that by the end of this update, we’ll have already reached a body count exceeding the entirety of The Silver Case.
: This guy’s name is Mokutaro Shiroyabu. He’s this game’s replacement for Kusabi, even though he’s got almost nothing in common with Kusabi. I took one look at him and went “Yep, he’s a Kamui maspro”.
: “Dead men tell no tales…”
: And this is Sakaki, who is currently Shiroyabu’s partner. She doesn’t have a first name listed in the artbook, and that should tell you a lot about how long she’s going to last.
: “A resume he’d used at a job interview…”
: “We checked out his most recent address, and it was a dormitory where single people tend to hang out. Nobody knew anything about Kurumizawa.”
: “So no trace at all… where was he registered?”
: “It wasn’t recorded in his ledger, and when he moved into the 25th Ward, all the data changed.”
: You mean he… killed… his past?
: “So no trace here, either… doesn’t anyone know anything about Kurumizawa’s past?”
: “Hm…”
: “What? Cat got your tongue?”
: Clearly, Shiroyabu cannot tell the difference between a cat and a hamster.
: “Well, uh… it’s a bit nasty, but…”
: “Yeah, he ‘ate’ ate it. It looks like he’d been eating a load of female hair…”
: He had to eat the hair because otherwise he’d be bald, or possibly also piglike in appearance. Yes, I know that’s from like 2008. No, I do not apologize.
: “That’s fucked up… just hardcore creepy shit.”
: “Pretty normal perversion, really.”
: “I heard this from one of my mentors but a crime where personal information goes missing isn’t a normal crime.”
: “From whom?”
: I’m not sure if this is meant to imply that his mentor was someone from The Silver Case, but I don’t think Shiroyabu is old enough for that to be the case if this is really ten years later.
: This part is… kinda confusing, to be honest. I’m not sure if it’s meant to be the case that Uehara is in disguise as the building manager, or if the building manager is there and just has no lines, or what. We need to use the Talk option here.
: “Apparently these condos had more than a million applicants in the first day on sale. Each tower has 3000 homes, and there are… what, 30 towers…?”
: “That’s around 90,000 homes; that’s pretty impressive. Population-wise, by quick estimate, that’s like 300,000 people! But it totally doesn’t have that ‘lived in’ feeling, you know? There aren’t many people walking around, and there’s no karaoke place here…”
: By population count, the 25th Ward would be in 15th place with just these condo towers alone when compared to the 23 wards of Tokyo that actually exist.
: “I don’t get your standards. People who care about things like karaoke don’t apply to live here… most of the people living here either have a reason to want to get away from the normal government, or have decided to make huge changes in their lives.”
: “They target people from out in the sticks who don’t have some kind of group they belong to.”
: “What the hell does that mean?”
: “That means doing away with city life. What’s behind that is… pretty clear.”
: “What is it?”
: “I got no clue.”
: “What, you don’t know either!?”
: We can use Talk again here for a couple of lines.
: With that, we can now Move again. All we have to do is re-trace our steps from when we were here in Prototype and take Shiroyabu and Sakaki to the crime scene.
: I got a little confused here, because we don’t have the passcode to the door anymore. What you’re supposed to do is Move again, but we can use Talk instead for some dialog.
: “It’s not bad, though. This living space does sort of have a ‘25th Ward’ feel to it, doesn’t it?”
: “That may be fine for you… for some people, this could be a real breeding ground for crime.”
: “Oh yeah, I get what you mean. The psychology of fear can spread. They talked about that in the lectures…”
: I checked the script to see if there’s a difference between doing the optional dialogue and not, and as it turns out there isn’t.
: And this is Kuroyanagi. She’s closer to Kusabi but feels like she’s trying way too hard. I am willing to bet she is an Ayame maspro.
: “Did you sell all your cookies or whatever? You ‘detectives’ go on a nice little date? You think this is fuckin’ happy fun time? This case is already pretty fucked up. Looks like serial murders.”
: “Sorry… we were talking with the building manager.”
: “The manager? You mean this asshole?”
: This game came out in the early 2000s, and Suda fucking loves wrestling, so of course she calls Shiroyabu “Jabroni”.
: “I mean, you’ve only been a detective for what, three years already?”
: “It’s ‘Shiroyabu’.”
: “And what about you, Sakaki?!”
: “Uh, yes sir. I’m helping out with the autopsy. Right, Hiro?”
: “So having a cute, young girl around is apparently a real motivator. Right, Jabroni?”
: “Are you seriously going to keep calling me ‘Jabroni’? I really hate that nickname!”
: “Quit fucking around and start investigating like a big boy! Unless you wanna get tossed back out to the sticks…”
: “Yes, sir…”
: I’ve been playing the Resident Evil 4 Remake this weekend, and all I could think about was a mod where you play as Shiroyabu and he is completely oblivious to the entire situation.
: One of the few improvements this game makes over The Silver Case’s UI is that when you hit Talk, you are then given a menu as to who to talk to, rather than having to turn and find the person you’re looking for.
: “Her New Year’s resolution was ‘to become the kind of detective who looks good with a revolver’. And she’s got a really dirty mouth… Sorry for complaining like this.”
: “The HC Unit forbids revolvers. Since she isn’t able to carry one for her day job, she moonlights as a bouncer. If caught, she’d be fired immediately. But somehow she never gets reported.”
: “Sir? Are you OK? You had a hard time, huh? You found the body, right? You seem OK… are you used to this sort of thing? There are a lot of suicides around here, so you’re probably used to finding bodies and stuff… Don’t let it get you down.”
: “Get the fuck out of the way!”
: Once we’ve talked to everyone, we can talk to Shiroyabu again.
: “Something is bothering me… it’s like… a pristine dead body, some really vicious blood splatters… I almost feel like we’re being invited. Do you get what I mean?”
: “Hirooka, do blood splatters usually reach the ceiling?”
: My theory is that if they look around the corner, there’s probably an exploded ketchup bottle with a couple of chinchilla-sized footprints on it. Look, sometimes you’re at a crime scene and you want some fries, and then you drop the ketchup bottle and accidentally step on it.
: “But like, what would the point of that be? This feels really weird for a suicide, doesn’t it?”
: “Yeah, in the six months since opening alone, there have been more than ten suicides, which definitely sounds fishy…”
: “Huh…? You see this hole here?”
: “Hole…? Something smells… excuse me, could you cut the lights in this room for a minute? Something’s bothering me.”
: “What’s this…?”
: “This hole is… shining?”
: “It’s too dangerous to be here. Get too close to the fire, and you’re gonna get burned, too. You should get out of here. This place reeks of something hidden and dangerous.”
: “Light?! What the hell… at this time of day…?”
: At this time of year, in this part of the country, localized entirely within this condo building. I wonder if The Simpsons sucks as much in the Kill the Past universe as it does in the real one.
: “That’s awesome! It looks like Christmas lights!”
: “Sakaki! Where are you? Respond!”
: He’s asking this, and they’re in a studio apartment.
: “I’m totally fine! I’m fine, but the light is so bright… aaah!”
: “Did that just go off again? Huh? What… Sakaki, are you even listening?”
Body Count: 1
: “No… way?”
: I wish I had played this game before YIIK, because I would have gotten a ton of mileage out of this screenshot. I have, by the way, been periodically checking to see if that patch is ever coming out, and things seem to be leaning towards “No.”
: “She’s dead…! Sakaki was killed…”
: “There’s a sniper up above! Stay away from the light and get everyone out into the hallway!”
: “Even if our infinite karma was a means of killing our way of life, we wouldn’t notice; we’re just dolls, entrusting our everything to the system.”
: “Smile for me, Sakura. I’m utterly powerless; I’m just not gonna make it. Yet another ‘perfect lifestyle’ has been born, and the dreamlike life based on despair contaminates the people.”
: “This could be the readvent of the 24 Wards. Alright then, everyone - it’s about time to stop dreaming. All units - are you prepared? You have one mission…”
: I’m not sure how any of this makes sense.
: “Listen up, Jabroni! We’ve only got two combatants out there. This hottie, and your punk ass. But this is enough people to turn things around.”
: “No way…! We don’t even know who or what this guy is!”
: “Quit whining like a little bitch and just kill this guy. If you’re gonna give up and die, then we’ll know just how capable you are. If you’re gonna be a detective, then man the fuck up and do your job for once! Got it?”
: “Yes! I’ll take him out!”
: “OK then! Now lure him out. Run this way down the hallway and you should reach the elevator. Wait on the upper floor.”
: “Huh? What about you?”
: “I’m gonna provide backup, obviously. I’m not so much of an asshole that I’d leave you hanging. Right?”
: We now have to go back to the elevator from Room 75028. Fortunately, we’ve done this twice already.
: “Standing around here is dangerous. Come on, we’re moving.”
: You can see in the background that the highest floor is 80, so let’s go with that.
: The only thing we can do is talk, so let’s do that.
: “Shit… what do I do now? I don’t get that bitch at all. What the hell kind of orders are these? ‘Lure him out’… the fuck kind of ‘plan’ is that?! She’s not even backing me up, either.”
: “I can’t deal with this bullshit, seriously. Oh… were you listening? Were you eavesdropping? That’s pretty creepy, man. If you were listening, then just tell me so!”
: “I’m not actually the type of guy to talk badly about people. To be honest, just between you and me, I actually respect her. That sounds forced, doesn’t it… I really can’t stand her.”
: Shiroyabu has the situational awareness of a rock.
: Yeah, you know how all those delivery guys wear futuristic tactical armor with night-vision visors. All the rage these days.
: “Hey, what are you doing over there…?”
: “The mailman, right? What kind of work requires a night-vision scope…? Some sort of private start-up or something? It must be pretty tough, though. Having to insource secure work to go up against private corporations… crawling up into the attic to assassinate people…”
: Oh look, it’s a speargun. This means we’re now trying to solve a murder done by Kamui with a Kamui and an Ayame… as a Kamui. We’re on multiple levels of Kamui at this point.
: “Goddamn pampered, comfy bureaucrats shouldn’t be playing with grownup toys. Huh? What, are you mad?”
: What.
: “So?”
: " ‘Peacefully’? What are you doing here?"
: “So it was organized crime after all… I had read that it was a plot by general contractors, but damn.”
: “What a load of horseshit.”
Body Count: 2
: I really, really wish Suda would do an action game in the Silver Case/25th Ward setting. That just looks like it’d be really satisfying to pull off in that kind of game.
: “But, like, there’s that ‘interval’, you know? That unique feeling you get when staring death in the eye… the mental strain between you and the opponent, the conflict…”
: “You’re gonna die, you know that? We’re in the shit here. Guys who wait around for ‘intervals’ get their asses handed to them. Next time you hesitate like that, I’m gonna kill you myself. So stop being a pussy.”
: “OK…”
: “I’ll buy you some new undies later. So until then, keep your shit together.”
: “Shit…”
: “We’re surrounded… we can’t get out of this.”
: “These assholes are desperate, too. If this is their oh-so-holy workplace, then we’re the intruders.”
: “That’s some arbitrary reasoning…”
: “Disposing of these guys is our own ‘arbitrary reasoning’. It’s basically the same thing, right?”
: “Sakaki has been killed. We have a really big reason.”
: “And we killed one of theirs, too. So we’re even.”
: “Even so, we have to avenge Sakaki!”
: “Jesus Christ you guys are annoying… all you need to do is whip out your guns and dispose of these assholes. This job isn’t about ‘reasons’ and ‘reasoning’ and shit like that.”
: “But motive is important.”
: “What-the-fuck-ever.”
: “Don’t get in the way, Jabroni. And don’t do anything stupid. Got it? This is a really big catch. Act accordingly.”
: “Well I’m gonna turn into a ferocious-ass beast myself.”
: Next time, we’ll probably finish New World Order.