It was hard to have high expectations of a free Silent Hill game put out by Konami after their numerous gaming crimes - losing Kojima, cashing in on pachinko, Ascension, to name a few - but Silent Hill: The Short Message, a game about grief, suicide and abuse, is WAY better than it has any right to be.

I will admit that the game pinches from P.T and a little Serial Experiments Lain, with a trashy J-emo script that has all the subtlety of.. well, a corridor covered in abusive post-it notes. But I don't hate that, I vibe with it. Sure, I think it could've benefited from being in its native Japanese language rather than English, let alone even the illusion of being set in bloody Germany, as some of the bullying language feels cliche. But the handling of the heavy themes and conclusion it reaches about the victims have a strong emotional impact, and, I must add, a much healthier take than Bloober's offensive The Medium.

But now for the game's main strengths. The boys are back! Akira Yamaoka's score is understated but stirring, the sound design creepy and enhancing the presence of Masahiro Ito's menacing new monster that hobbles after you down corridors with a stop-motion jitteriness. The pursuit sections are reminiscent of Shattered Memories but much more effective, claustrophobic and panic-inducing - they can be difficult and sometimes frustrating but get by on their short length. There’s not a great deal else in terms of gameplay beyond wandering a dilapidated apartment block, but the grimy design and atmosphere are enough to enjoy just moving through the eerie space, uncovering the story in various gameplay ‘loops.’

Of course, it can veer into amateur territory - the drawings are tad too Tumblr, the acting is mostly strong but occasionally a bit off, those sections in school corridors are a bit too 2013 for my liking - but I suppose the game is not made by a bunch of Kojimas.

However, for the first effort in a couple decades from a Konami-led Japanese team, it’s a rather satisfying return to form for Silent Hill. It’s not perfect, but it didn’t need to be, especially not when it had Ascension’s act to follow.

I'm pretty conflicted on this game despite the high score. I adore this game but for particular reasons, and I'm annoyed or bored by it for others.

The gameplay is probably my favorite part of it. Combat is simplified, but while I don't love the lack of challenge, I do love the easier self-expression that is now possible in fights. But traversal is the real highlight. This is just, point blank, the most satisfying traversal system in any game I have ever played. Swinging is just as fun as it ever was, and the added mechanics of Miles Morales are still here, but the Wingsuit makes getting around even more engaging. It forces you to analyze the environment even more and feel more skilled when maintaining and gaining momentum. It's so good in fact that it's wild that you can fast travel at all the game.

But narratively this game is lowkey a mess. Stakes often get raised to insane levels only for nothing to come of it by the end of that very same mission. Conflicts balloon due to characters not making simple, obvious choices. Some of the stuff with Miles that interacts with his cultural heritage comes off as incredibly corny, not to mention his final costume, which I didn't love but didn't hate as much as others. The game early on gives the impression that many surprises are in store, but all opportunities for those surprises are squandered for the more straightforward option. The game just has the desire to do the coolest thing possible, and often it is fuckin cool, but often at the expense of the most interesting direction to take its characters. Hell, even the endpoints for each of the leads don't make much sense.

It's obvious that Insomniac wants to be another Naughty Dog to something if all of the more intimate waking missions are any indication. But the writing on display is often just not good enough to justify the budget and detail they use to bring it to life. This is still Insomniac though, so the game is just absurdly, unendingly fun. But I'm under no impression that the gameplay was worth that $200 million budget. Maybe if that writing was better, or at least more interesting, the cost of the game wouldn't feel so insane, but Insomniac was already making games this fun without having to immerse me in a grounded narrative. Hopefully, they can do both again, like they did in Miles Morales, or just focus on the gameplay that they can't help but continue to perfect.