Silver (video game)

Silver is a 1999 video game developed and published by Infogrames for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS, and ported by Spiral House to the Dreamcast in 2000. The game is a fantasy-themed action-roleplaying game where players lead the protagonist David in a small party of three to defeat the tyrannical sorcerer Silver, who has kidnapped his wife Jennifer. The game features three-dimensional graphics and is presented in a top-down perspective, with prerendered backgrounds. The developers aimed to create an engaging combat system, in which players command attacks using the direction of the computer mouse or analog stick, and focused on real-time combat in contrast to the turn-based design of console role-playing games of the time. Prior to release, the game received pre-release anticipation that the title could become a competitor with Japanese role-playing games, including the Final Fantasy series, and fill a gap in the catalog of role-playing games available on the Dreamcast.

Upon release, Silver received mixed reviews, with critics praising the combat system, environment design and audio. However, many critics felt that the execution of gameplay elements led to frustration, including the game's party management during combat, location-based save system, and map design. The performance of the development team prompted the publisher to support them to found an independent studio, Spiral House, to create ports of Infrogrames titles for other systems. A sequel to Silver was briefly developed by Spiral House, but discontinued. Following release, Silver received a nomination for the D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition at the 3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. The game has received retrospective praise for its combat system, which has been described as innovative for its time.