killer7
- This page is for the game. For the group known as the killer7, see Smith Syndicate.
killer7 is an action-adventure game originally designed for the Nintendo GameCube, written and directed by Goichi Suda and developed by Grasshopper Manufacture. It was released in 2005 on GameCube and PlayStation 2, and later received an HD PC port in 2018. killer7 was created as part of a project to develop original GameCube games called the Capcom Five; of the five games in the project, killer7 was the only one not to be developed by Capcom.
Gameplay
killer7 has very unique action-adventure gameplay that combines first-person shooting, on-rails adventure exploration, and rudimentary puzzle solving. Designed specifically for the unique layout of the GameCube controller, most movement in killer7 can be accomplished only by holding the A button (different buttons may apply for other controllers on other platforms), which causes your player character to move forward on a set path until they reach a junction. At a junction, various options to select appear on the screen, such as paths, objects to examine, or characters to talk to. Pressing the B button will cause your character to turn around instead, letting you go back the way you came. These various paths and junctions make up the layout of the game's various areas. This method of moving from set point to set point to interact with points of interest is reminiscent of the gameplay of The Silver Case.
When the player has to engage with enemies (almost always the Heaven Smile), holding the R trigger will enter aiming mode, causing your character to pull out their weapon and enter a first-person viewpoint. The reticle at the center of the screen can be moved around with the control stick and fired with the A button, similar to other first-person shooter gameplay, except you are not able to move your position while aiming. Additionally, Heaven Smile are typically invisible by default, and must also be scanned using the L trigger before they become vulnerable.
The player has access to the various personae of the Smith Syndicate, who they can switch between at whim, as long as the persona in question has been awakened in the current stage. Each character has a different weapon and other statistics, meaning they are each best suited to different situations. They all also have their own special moves, which can for the most part be activated with the Y button; these special moves are key to solving various environmental puzzles that the player comes across. However, most special moves can't be used without the use of thin blood, which must be gathered (along with thick blood) by killing the Heaven Smiles. Different methods of killing them (such as hitting them in their glowing weak spots) will reward the player with different quantities of the types of blood. Thin blood can also be used to heal the player's health, which is represented by an eye; a more open eye indicates more health remaining.
Thick blood can be turned into serum by the Mad Doctor in Harman's Room, a recurring area that the player uses to save their game, awaken personae and view tips from Iwazaru. Serum is a form of experience points that can level up the personae's statistics, causing them to perform better and unlocking new abilities. The persona of Garcian Smith is special, and cannot be switched to in normal gameplay, only in Harman's Room. When one of the other personae is killed in combat, their severed head will be left at the scene of their death and the player will be taken back to the last Harman's Room visited. If Garcian is brought to this scene, he retrieves the head and returns to the Room, where the persona can be revived. However, if Garcian himself is killed in combat, the game is over and the player must load a saved game.
Plot
Targets
- Target00: Angel
- Target01: Sunset
- Target02: Cloudman
- Target03: Encounter
- Target04: Alter Ego
- Target05: Smile
- Target06: Lion
Summary
killer7 takes place in an alternate history where world peace was said to be achieved in 1998 through the banning of nuclear materials, airplanes and the internet. The world entered an era free of terrorism and constructed intercontinental expressways bridging the various continents of the world. However, in 2003, a United Nations treaty signing was attacked by a terrorist organization of zombie-like suicide bombers known as Heaven Smile. Called in to combat this threat was a group of incredibly powerful assassins known as the Smith Syndicate, a.k.a. the killer7, who appear to be the alternate personalities of the wheelchair-bound Harman Smith.
The game opens in the year 2010, deep into the Heaven Smile threat, and follows the killer7 as they take on various missions that are related to the war against Heaven Smile and their leader, Kun Lan, an old friend and enemy of Harman's. Heavily linked to this conflict is the relationship between the United States of America and Japan, which has been exacerbated by Japan's ruling political organization, the nationalist United Nations Party.
Relation to Kill the Past
killer7 has some characters and plot points that originate in the games known as "Kill the Past", seemingly placing it as a Kill the Past game. However, in its backstory, the internet and airplanes were banned shortly before the events of The Silver Case and Flower, Sun, and Rain, games which rely on the internet and airplanes, respectively, as major parts of their stories. Because of this, it seems that killer7 takes place in an alternate timeline; this is confirmed by Suda himself in an interview in Hand in killer7, where he says that he writes the stories with one big world in mind, but that the settings are different due to incompatible timelines. It is suggested by Jaco's Report that the timeline may have been deliberately split in-universe, referring to a point in time where "history became maligned". Glimpses of the killer7 characters in the normal Kill the Past timeline are shown in Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes.
Cast
- Dwight Schultz – voice of Harman Smith
- Greg Eagles – voice of Garcian Smith
- Michael Gough – voice of Dan Smith
- Tara Strong – voice of KAEDE Smith
- Jun Hee Lee – voice of Con Smith
- Miguel Cabellero – voice of MASK de Smith
- Benito Martinez – voice of Coyote Smith
- Heidi Anderson – voice of Samantha Sitbon
- Bart Flynn – voice of Christopher Mills
- Joe Lala – voice of Kun Lan
- Steve Blum – voice of Kenjiro Matsuoka, Benjamin Keane, and Trevor Pearlharbor
Development
Further works
Two works connected to killer7 were released shortly after the game was released: a companion book called Hand in killer7, which contained numerous plot details that go beyond what is seen in-game, as well as developer interviews and various other bits of content, and killer is dead, a serial novel published in a magazine that stars cut character Shigeki Birkin. killer is dead's final chapter was never written, but the character's story did get a continuation of sorts in Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes.
Suda has gone back and forth on whether he would want to develop a direct sequel to killer7. However, he has expressed interest in making a "complete edition" of killer7 in which various scenes that were cut at the storyboarding stage would be developed and put back into the game.