It's kinda sad that the non-Team Silent games peaked so early, but at least they peaked somewhere. SM is actually quite the enjoyable experience that flips the whole thing about Silent Hill on its head while still holding onto the core of what makes the narratives in Silent Hill so engaging; it even chose to reimagine the very first game just to do so.
It's not without flaws, though: as cool as the psychological profiling is and how much of the game is built around it, to the point even small details in the environment that are meant to catch your eye in a certain way are factors, I find it lacks enough nuance to balance all your choices and will just lock you into one eventually. Plus, as much as I like the idea of not being able to fight back against monsters, the nightmare segments got old very quickly once you realize you can get them over with in like five minutes if you memorize the weird-ass routes they expect you to take under duress.
It's not without flaws, though: as cool as the psychological profiling is and how much of the game is built around it, to the point even small details in the environment that are meant to catch your eye in a certain way are factors, I find it lacks enough nuance to balance all your choices and will just lock you into one eventually. Plus, as much as I like the idea of not being able to fight back against monsters, the nightmare segments got old very quickly once you realize you can get them over with in like five minutes if you memorize the weird-ass routes they expect you to take under duress.