Actual masterpiece shit. Much like last year's Unmetal, a microstudio throwback game has swooped in and stolen my heart right before GOTY season. This is a beautiful, gloriously-realized survival horror experience that pays homage to and even improves upon its all-time classic predecessors while still being incredibly unique all the same.
There is so much to love here, it's like a game tailor-made for me - where to even begin? The gorgeous artistic design? The enigmatic, surreal, heartbreaking storyline? The best horror game puzzles I've solved in countless years? The way it plays with perspective and genre expectations? I wish the inventory limit was bigger, because that is absolutely going to be a sticking point for many people, but the occasional tedium barely even fazed me. I finished my first playthrough, then went right back in on the hardest difficulty to see the secret ending and get the rest of the achievements. I never do that.
After years of games promising to be the "new Silent Hill" and seeing Konami pimp out the SH2 remake to Bloober Team of all people, I'd grown jaded... but no more. This is the new Silent Hill. The spirit of our favorite games will always live on in the hearts and minds of dedicated indie developers.
There is so much to love here, it's like a game tailor-made for me - where to even begin? The gorgeous artistic design? The enigmatic, surreal, heartbreaking storyline? The best horror game puzzles I've solved in countless years? The way it plays with perspective and genre expectations? I wish the inventory limit was bigger, because that is absolutely going to be a sticking point for many people, but the occasional tedium barely even fazed me. I finished my first playthrough, then went right back in on the hardest difficulty to see the secret ending and get the rest of the achievements. I never do that.
After years of games promising to be the "new Silent Hill" and seeing Konami pimp out the SH2 remake to Bloober Team of all people, I'd grown jaded... but no more. This is the new Silent Hill. The spirit of our favorite games will always live on in the hearts and minds of dedicated indie developers.
Reviewed on Nov 21, 2022
2 Comments
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The Medium and Abandoned are big ones, though in all fairness to the studios who made many of the games I was thinking of (Amnesia, Outlast, etc.) a lot of that was probably fans hyping up cool but completely different horror games they liked rather than actual marketing material and I experienced a weird Mandela Effect. Like how everyone was convinced Death Stranding was going to actually be rebranded Silent Hills but it was really something else entirely. That said, there is a veritable genre of games out there that may not pretend to be SH but ultimately just end up copying 2's plot/twist or PT's general design in the end. Of course, all the post-3 SH games also failed to be "the new Silent Hill" in my eyes due to their approaches and concepts, not that I necessarily think any of them are bad aside from Homecoming.
I actually like most of the titles I was referring to btw, it's just down to a sort of insincerity I feel from company's banking off other people's work for quick sales. I think Signalis feels sincere because it isn't claiming to be like Silent Hill. It isn't marketed that way and since it isn't a huge release by a known studio we aren't drowning in cheap comparisons to it either. When I said "this is the new Silent Hill" what I really meant was that it captures the spirit of SH's style more than any major release I've played. It's more of a compliment/expression of love toward Signalis than a diss toward any other games.
I actually like most of the titles I was referring to btw, it's just down to a sort of insincerity I feel from company's banking off other people's work for quick sales. I think Signalis feels sincere because it isn't claiming to be like Silent Hill. It isn't marketed that way and since it isn't a huge release by a known studio we aren't drowning in cheap comparisons to it either. When I said "this is the new Silent Hill" what I really meant was that it captures the spirit of SH's style more than any major release I've played. It's more of a compliment/expression of love toward Signalis than a diss toward any other games.
Random_Hajile
1 year ago