ABSTRACT
The zombie has long been a popular antagonists in both movies and games. The undead have been depicted in many ways, but their role is clear: the zombie is the monster. This seems especially true in the context of games: the undead are abject, brain-dead and the only way to deal with them is through killing them.
A noteworthy exception is Siren: Blood Curse (Project Siren, 2008), a reimaging of Forbidden Siren from 2003. The monsters in Siren are known as shibito, ‘corpse people’ who are reanimated by supernatural means and closely resemble zombies, yet display marked differences in the relationship between player and monster. This is reflected by the game’s mechanics: as a stealth game, Siren: Blood Curse requires players to sneak past enemies to progress in the game. To do so, players use ‘sight-jacking’, a mechanic which allows them to see through the eyes of the shibito to determine their location, effectively becoming the Other, if only for a brief period of time. In addition, the game emphasizes cultural Othering in its use of a Japanese setting and protagonists.
This paper examines the position of the monstrous and cultural Other in Siren: Blood Curse by offering a close reading of its monsters, mechanics, setting and cast to explore the relationship between player, protagonists and shibito (Self and Other). Using Foucault’s work on power and knowledge, the essay argues that a new perception of the Other is needed in order to accommodate the identities presented in Siren: Blood Curse.
