Siren: Blood Curse

Siren: Blood Curse features a cast of interconnected characters, caught up in the unnatural forces surrounding Hanuda Village, Japan. The main protagonist is Howard Wright, an American high school student who arrives in Hanuda due to a mysterious e-mail message.[8][9][10] Throughout the game, he encounters members of an American TV crew: Sam Monroe, a cultural anthropologist and college professor; Melissa Gale, a TV presenter and Sam's ex-wife; Bella Monroe, Sam and Melissa's ten-year-old daughter; and Sol Jackson, the cameraman. He also encounters Miyako (美耶古), a girl who wishes to escape Hanuda; Seigo Saiga (犀賀 省悟, Saiga Seigo), a doctor of the local Saiga Hospital;[11] and Amana, an amnesiac Caucasian who is revealed to be the main human antagonist.[12][13]

The game is mostly set in Hanuda Village (羽生蛇村, Hanyūda Mura), including the Karuwari and Tabori districts, the Hanuda Mine, and the Saiga Hospital. The village is home to the unique Mana religion. The dead humans who now roam the area, the shibito (屍人, lit. "corpse people"), are a result of the Mana "god" Kaiko (蚕子, lit. "silkworm child"), the primary antagonist.[14][15][16] Because of Kaiko's influence, Hanuda is "cut off" from the outside world, preventing communication and escape from the village.[17]

On August 2, 2007, an American TV crew visits Hanuda Village, Japan, a mountain village that vanished completely in 1976.[1][18] At night, Sol and Melissa stumble upon a Mana ritual, where Yukie Kobe is murdered as a sacrifice. Howard Wright intervenes, allowing Miyako to escape unharmed.[13][19][20] Howard runs to find help; and encounters a policeman who tries to kill him. Howard kills the officer and escapes, discovering that the man was already dead.[21] As he crosses a bridge, an ominous siren shakes the mountain, and the policeman—a shibito—reappears and shoots Howard in the chest. He falls into the river below.[22] Meanwhile, Yukie resurrects as a shibito and attacks the camera crew, separating them as the siren wails.[22]

Howard wakes downstream, having survived the gunshot. Amana assists him, but they are separated when a shibito knocks Howard down and carries Amana away. Sam reawakens at the Hanuda mines, and reunites with Melissa.[23] Meanwhile, Bella, hiding in the Saiga Hospital, calls for help; this draws in Sol, now a shibito, who attacks Bella.[24] Howard encounters Miyako and attempts to escape with her.[25] Later, Sam and Melissa meet Saiga. As they leave, Saiga decides to kill himself after Yukie—his fiancée—appears again. The Monroes encounter Bella—who died and has become a shibito. Amana recovers her lost memories, remembering that she is to bring the god Kaiko into the world.[26][27] She subdues Howard, and takes Miyako into the Shibito Nest. Howard pursues them, but is too late: Miyako has already been sacrificed. He encounters the shibito of Sam and Bella, as well as an insane Melissa, who shoots and kills him.

Howard and Bella's deaths cause a time loop. The player returns to the point when Howard first encountered Amana. This time, Howard remembers her actions from the previous timeline and runs away. Amana, now retaining her memories, does not follow.[28]

In this timeline, Sol and Sam reunite in the Hanuda mines; while Melissa finds Bella safe in the hospital. However, Sol dies after he and Sam are surrounded, and Melissa dies while saving Bella from a maggot shibito.[29] Saiga, getting a strange sense of déjà vu, protects Bella from more shibito, and uncovers an ancient Mana text.[30] Sam finds the text and discovers their experiences were all predestined.[31] Howard, meanwhile, recalls Miyako melded her blood with his to prevent him from becoming a shibito, and he goes in search of her.[31] Bella narrowly escapes from Melissa, now another shibito.[32]

Howard finds Miyako, who explains the village is caught in an unending time loop, and they must release the "other power" to stop it.[33] They break the seals, but Amana appears, knocking Howard unconscious and kidnapping Miyako.[34] Saiga and Bella carry Howard to the hospital.[35] When Howard awakens he discovers Saiga "experimenting" on a shibito.[36] Saiga goes to the Hanuda Mine, fights Yukie (now a mutated shibito) and retrieves an artifact called "the Uryen".[37] Howard, Bella, and Sam enter the shibito nest and see Amana sacrifice Miyako in the red sea, summoning an otherworldly monster—Kaiko. As the others escape, Amana stays, horrified by Kaiko's form: something has gone wrong again.[38]

Saiga arrives with the Uryen—the "fruit" that Amana was supposed to use to resurrect Kaiko in its true form. Kaiko impales Saiga, who dies as he unleashes the Uryen's sacred fire down upon them.[39] Howard gets separated from Bella and meets Sam, who had sent Howard the message that brought him here. Sam asks Howard to keep Bella safe should he find her again, then traverses the Shibito Nest core.[40] He encounters Melissa and Sol, now shibitos.[41] As Sol corners Bella, Melissa intervenes, saving her daughter. However, all three wind up falling through an orange void. Howard, meanwhile, heads back to where Miyako was sacrificed, and finds her spirit looking up from the reflection of the red sea. She requests he make the village disappear, and he falls into the water.[42]

Howard enters "Inferno" (いんふぇるの), where he encounters Saiga's spirit. After giving him the Uryen, Saiga battles him as a test.[43] Howard defeats Saiga, and the doctor leaves behind a sword.[6] Amana appears, and offers herself up to resurrect Kaiko's true form: a mass of floating insect parts. With Miyako's spirit guiding him, Howard turns Saiga's sword into a vessel for the "other power", which the Uryen's flame unleashes. Howard works with Miyako's spirit to see through Kaiko's illusions and destroy the deity. After succeeding, Amana returns and says the ritual has succeeded, then walks away. Sam falls into another orange void, which deposits him into Hanuda in 1976, after the village was washed away in a flood. He comments that "[e]verything must be repeated so that Bella can exist forever", and remembers Howard, ensuring that the events of the game would repeat.[44]

In the epilogue, Howard approaches Hanuda's shibito, while listening to his music player. The camera reveals he is armed with guns, Saiga's sword, and the Uryen. Activating the Uryen, Howard begins to destroy the village—his "promise to Miyako."[45]