Jigsaw: Let the Games Begin — Part 5.5 of 8

I’ve had seven years to solidify my opinion on the ranking of the first seven SAW films. With the weeks until Jigsaw slowing shrinking, I take a quick break to talk about SAW and… videogames.

This series will summarize each movie’s plot / interesting points, with some commentary about why it’s silly or cool, etc.

Originally I said this would be a detour focused on SAW: The Videogame and SAW II: Flesh and Blood — the Konami published videogame entries in the SAW franchise. However, I wanted to also talk about a franchise of games (only one of which I have played) that feel much more in-line with the first two SAW films then either of these games or, for that matter, SAW III onward.

I speak of the Zero Escape franchise.

This franchise is basically the most SAW thing I’ve seen since 2005. It’s also, in some ways, a series that does the film’s scarier bits better than the film. See, while I still have to find the time to play 999 and Zero Time Dilemma, Virtue’s Last Reward feels very much like a SAW II by way of Japan kind of game. Strangers awake and have to survive deadly puzzles in order to escape the clutches of a character known as Zero. There are differences in why things happen, the use of more science-fiction based concepts, etc but the “we have to escape or we’ll die” concept is done very well. And, as I will discuss with my look at SAW II — the interactions of different characters works really well.

For what it’s worth I’d love to make a SAW game fairly similar to what Zero Escape does in its combination of Visual Novels and Myst-style puzzles.

Konami’s titles are … not great. The first one I played a little bit of and it was okay. It was sloppy, and maybe not the best game overall but it had some cool narrative hooks for fans and was definitely a better game than many of the sequels were films.

The first game has you play as a character we haven’t seen much of since the first movie. In fact we see a photo of him, that’s it. No, not Lawrence “Larry” Gordon — the man we learn is the “secret(?)” protege Jigsaw has helping him alongside Hoffman and Amanda after the events of the first film. It’s Detective Tapp.

Yeah Danny Glover is the main character in the game — wait no, it’s not him. It’s a random voice actor and a character model who looks nothing like Glover. You can really only confirm he’s Tapp by virtue of his scar.

The game explain what happened to Tapp after being shot by Zepp. TL;DR? He gets tested and has to help other victims survive (such as his deceased partner’s wife). The game’s a weird mix of puzzle-solving/QTEs to save people in traps and some kinda crappy combat. You fight “Pighead” as a boss. The game has two endings but neither are happy.

It’s mostly interesting as a way to provide closure on threads that aren’t answered in the movies and by the release of SAW VI seem irrelevant (the game was released in late 2009). Examples of this include the man who Tapp saved in SAW, and Obi from SAW II.

The second game I have played none of but I understand they changed some mechanics (combat) and ruined whatever hope there was for a decent sequel. You play as a character not in the films at all — Tapp’s son. This is an interesting concept for setting up more stories that don’t tie directly into the films but still relate to the larger Jigsaw narrative.

The only interesting implication it has for the films is that Michael may in fact be one of the masked “Pigheads” at Dr. Gordon’s side in SAW 3D’s final moments.

It’s more interesting, generally to see games that feel like SAW (at least, the original) in more generalized ways. This year’s Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (or, in Japan: Biohazard 7: Resident Evil) features a very early-era SAW style “do scary things or die” gameplay segment.

SPOILERS FOR RE7

At this point in the game Ethan, the protagonist, has been through some shit — he’s had his hand hacked off by his seemingly possessed wife, likely had his leg hacked off a few times, tried multiple times to murder a super strong alpha-male father psychopath and a foul-mouthed, homophobic, racist locust controlling wife. He knows there’s another family member — the son. The son is the tech savvy and smart, and seems to actually, prior to the events of the game (and during) have a propensity for violence, murder, and torture. In fact we learn he’s not even infected … he was cured and is willingly helping some shadowy clandestine Umbrella style company.

He also is Jigsaw sans the moral highroad approach. The “Happy Birthday” tape and sequence is one of my favorite parts of RE7 — in many ways because of reeks so much of the twisted machinations of SAW and SAW II. I don’t know if this was on the mind of the designer’s of it but … Ethan has to do some gross shit, and if he screws up gets hurt (or killed). It’s designed to be winnable but also super hard to actually do. It’s a really cool way to implement a more “modern” horror genre/trope into a franchise obstinately about zombies as bio-terror weapons.

Lionsgate has partnered with game tech giant Unity to produce a Jigsaw Mobile VR escape room experience. I’m excited for this. But I do hope one day (and uh… that when this day comes I’m involved) that we can get a SAW game that isn’t just to promote the movies in the classic licensed IP way — I want a SAW game that uses the interesting scare tactics of the films in a way that works better in a game, and in many ways — show a better understanding of the franchise’s actually interesting bits than SAW III — 3D.

The Konami published titles are interesting for this reason as well. The original game, developed by Zombie Studios, was actually going to be published by now-defunct Brash Entertainment. Brash intended to focus on licensed games that were of a high quality. SAW was one of their big hype points. Brash released 5 games before shuttering. All of them were poorly received (Jumper, anyone?). Had the first SAW game been released to the quality it was under Konami … it would’ve been the best received game in their portfolio. For context, SAW sits at a 59 on Metacritic (sorry to bring that up).

Konami picked up the game in an attempt to make it a big pillar for them like Silent Hill. SAW would be the franchise focused on the physical horror with overt violence, while Silent Hill would be whatever Konami thinks Silent Hill is these days. My opinion on Konami aside, it would’ve been wonderful to see what a SAW franchise could’ve actually been like had Team Silent or Kojima Productions (hahahahahahhahahahaha… excuse me while I cry) had some involvement, even if only advisory.

I don’t know who has the rights, if anyone, to SAW as an IP in the games scene. I started this brief detour to talk about the SAW games and ended up scattered in my discussion, but perhaps in a few weeks I will return to this — what do I think would work well for a SAW videogame?

Next up, SAW II — the beginning of the Jigsaw story “proper.”

The list so far:

1. SAW 3D: The Final Chapter
2. SAW V
3. SAW III
4. SAW IV
5. SAW VI
6. SAW II (next!)
7. ???

(Sorted from Worst to Best)