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There is no game that sticks with me to this day in an unsettling manner as much as Saya no Uta. Also known by its English name, The Song of Saya, this unforgettable visual novel still remains to this day the most horrifying game I’ve ever played. If you’re looking for a horror game that will truly keep you up at night this spooky season, this is the one to play.

Despite playing Saya no Uta for the first time well over a decade ago (at the time of writing), its riveting and shocking storyline still haunts me to this day. Without spoiling much, the story begins with a man who ends up in an accident. This messes with his vision and causes him to perceive the entire world as this fleshy, Scorn-like disgusting place.

The protagonist’s accident even makes humans appear as these terrifying, grotesque monsters. As you might expect, this leads the protagonist to madness. That is, until he stumbles upon a girl who looks surprisingly normal named Saya. From there, the story descends into utter hell, both in the nightmarish visuals and the actual writing.

To an extent, this visual novel feels like everything it does is purely for shock value. Name a terrible crime or sin and it probably happens in extremely detailed fashion over the course of this story. And the wildest part is it isn’t even that long. I think it took me about three hours in total to get through Saya no Uta from start to finish.

Even though it is so short, I couldn’t stomach more than 30 minutes at the time when I played it. This is not the type of experience to binge. That is why it took me just over a week of playing for about 30 minutes each day to finish this visual novel when I first played it. Unlike other horror games, I couldn’t exist in that world for too long.

My method of breaking up Saya no Uta over a week ended up being a mistake, too. There wasn’t a single night I went to sleep without a nightmare due to playing this just before bed. No other horror game gave me this many consistent nightmares in a row. And that is all before considering the actual quality of the experience.

While the art and story are spectacularly horrifying at times, it left a surprising mark on me by the end. The conclusion of Saya no Uta is oddly beautiful in a way with the shocking commentary it has. I could spend a whole article’s worth of time just dissecting the finale and the intriguing direction the plot goes in. In a way, this is the necessary evil of visual novels. Every visual novel fan should fight through the madness to the end if they can.

After all, this is the most horrifying and haunting game I’ve ever played. ittedly, I’m not the horror aficionado. This is far from my best and favorite genre in games. But even the genre giants and spooky games I’ve played don’t even come close to this experience. Titles like Silent Hill 2, Resident Evil 7, Slender, Amnesia, The Evil Within, Phasmaphobia, and so on didn’t terrify me how this game has. If you like visual novels and horror, and even if you are like me and don’t prefer scary games, Saya no Uta is the ultimate marriage of the two everyone should try.

Saya no Uta is available right now for PC.

The post Saya no Uta Still Remains the Most Horrifying Game of All Time appeared first on Siliconera.

Among the Good Smile Company WonFes 2024 Shanghai reveals was the first look at a prototype of a The Song of Saya (Saya no Uta) figure of Saya herself. In the unpainted model, we see her sitting down, with her wings encircling her. 

We first learned about this The Song of Saya figure back in June 2024. Good Smile Company brought it up during Smile Fest 2024. At the time, only concept art of the figure’s pose appeared. Since it is a near identical replica of the pose this also gives us an idea of the color scheme we can expect from the final design. Saya’s left hand is on her chest, over her dress’ ribbon. She’s sitting on the ground with her right hand behind her. Both of her wings can be seen surrounding her.

To compare, here’s how the WonFes 2024 Shanghai unpainted prototype figure looks compared to the Smile Fest 2024 concept art in a gallery.

As a reminder, when this launches it will be a Pop Up Parade L Size figure. So while a usual one in this line is between six and seven inches tall and tends to be around $30, this one could be over $50 and as tall as nine inches. 

There’s no release window for this The Song of Saya figure yet. Since it is an unpainted prototype at this point in time, we might not see a painted prototype until later in 2024 or even 2025. The game is available on PCs worldwide via Steam.

The post The Song of Saya Figure of Saya Looks Melancholy appeared first on Siliconera.

Good Smile Company announced it is working on another The Song of Saya figure at Smile Fest 2024, and this time it is a Pop Up Parade one. However, it will be a part of the L Size and larger than usual. 

Normally, a Pop Up Parade figure costs about $31.99 and is between six and a half and seven inches tall. The L Size variants are about $57.99, and those tend to be eight and a half to nine and a half inches tall depending on the character. The announcement didn’t include any concept art of how the item might look when it is released.

This is the second The Song of Saya figure Good Smile Company will offer. The first was a WING scale figure. That featured Saya with green wings, suspended by a pillar of blood. It showed up in November 2020 and was a more expensive one, costing about ¥18,700 (~$117). 

In addition to the game and figure, there was another update on Saya about a year ago. An AI app was created that would let people talk with the series’ heroine. That was also available in English. 

The Song of Saya Pop Up Parade figure of Saya is in development. The game is available on PCs worldwide via Steam.

The post The Song of Saya Pop Up Parade Figure Is an L Size One appeared first on Siliconera.

Procket and Nitroplus released a Song of Saya AI app that will let you converse with Saya. There is an English version of the app as well. The app is free and uses language generation and emotion analysis technology to simulate a real conversation. [Thanks, Famitsu and KaroshiMyriad!]

How much Saya likes you will depend on what you say to her, and it will change the ending of the story. The more she likes you, the happier the ending will be. It will also make her easier to understand, since we start the game unable to fully catch what she's saying. As a reminder, since Procket and Nitroplus made this app as a sort of dev test, there may be some oddities in the text. As of the time of writing, the English version is unavailable to access due to congestion. Once fewer people are using it to talk to Saya, you’ll be able to check it out yourself.

Song of Saya, or Saya no Uta, is a horror eroge that came out in Japan in 2003. It is also now available on Steam. Gen Urobuchi of Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Fate/Zero fame wrote it. It follows the story of Fuminori Sakisaka who, after a car accident of which he was the only survivor, suffers from agnosia, which makes him perceive the world as a grotesque mess of flesh and screeches. Only Saya looks like a normal human to him and he grows increasingly attached to her. One should note that Song of Saya touches on some disturbing topics and themes, to say the least, and should check out a trigger warning to make sure it’s not too much.

Song of Saya is readily available on Windows PC, and you can check out the Song of Saya AI app via the official website.

The post Song of Saya AI App Now Available and in English appeared first on Siliconera.