The soon to be PSN distributed horror survival game SIREN: Blood Curse is going to be one of the first titles to rely heavily on digital distribution instead of retail outlets. There are some questions that we’ve wanted to have answered ever since this news dawned on us and now, as Three Speech has got some hands-on time with the game, some of these have been addressed.

Like known before, Blood Curse is an episodic experience that will span twelve different episodes, each being around 600 MB in size. The first episode will include approximately a half hour worth of game time, after which the player will be given a glimpse of what the next episode will contain. The game uses a DVD menu style approach similar to Alone in the Dark – if there is a particularly mind blowing part of the episode, the player can go back and play it again using an in-game chapter selection menu. The game will also give a recap of what happened in past episodes as things move farther along, so the player won’t have to worry about being too far out of the loop.

Blood Curse will include seven playable characters and each of their stories will be loosely connected to each other, but they all weave into the main story. In order to keep things from getting too confusing, certain clues can be found around the environment that will give more insight to what all the other characters are involved in.

Combat, while definitely necessary at times, isn’t meant to be the core experience. A character can only carry one weapon at a time and picking up new guns doesn’t seem to be very common, so conserving ammo for truly perilous situations is deeply encouraged. Melee combat is always an option, but given the results seen in a trailer, I wouldn’t recommend it.

The episodes can be completed by going through objectives that are visible on the provided map, and seeing as this is one of the only displays the player will have at their disposal, this is something not to underestimate by any means. Locating enemies can be accomplished by listening for their heartbeats; the closer the enemy, the louder the heartbeat. There’s no radar with a line of sight cone, so tracking bad guys by audio will no doubt suck players into the game more and will provide for plenty of scares.

Much like the release date for the first episode however, the pricing of the episodes remains a mystery.

[See also: SIREN: Blood Curse gallery]