Always jaded by the MCU, but never really sure why. Took this game and the level where you explore a giant Sentinel factory for me to realize the sauce that was missing. As you explore higher and higher to the robot’s head, the ever present Sentinel feels ominous even though it wasn’t functioning, only for you to finally reach the top and the only way into the machine and destroy it is through its open mouth. Details like that, the color scheme, and character designs felt Jack Kirby AF, and just like that I remembered, “THIS is the Marvel I have been missing.”

Sorry, can’t believe I’m saying this about a modern day Konami Silent Hill, but I think this game is actually pretty smart. Both by being a short and concise experience that is somehow focused and pretty thorough with its narrative, while also being a nice celebration of the series. There’s an element of every single entry of the franchise- even PT (maybe not the western games), but somehow is also it’s own thing. It’s also an incredibly immersive experience, something you can only truly get from the PS5’s DuelSense controller. Like I literally felt like I was walking on glass throughout almost every room in the villa. Just a nice welcomed return to Silent Hill- and it’s free.

In some ways, I want to leave the review just with the first paragraph because that’s how I feel, but I do want to be a little more specific so I think I want to list specific reasons why I think this is a welcomed entry to this strange franchise with all of the references to the previous games I’ve noticed, so consider the rest of this review a spoiler.

-“real” world of the villa feels dirty and broken, much like what you’d see from the apartment building from SH2
-teenaged female protagonist like SH3
-takes place outside of Silent Hill but feels like you’re there anyway like SH3&4
-hole (or in this case drawing of black hole) like what was described in SH2 and what we see in 4
-trying to find a friend that sent you message that mc forgot they killed (this time inadvertently) like SH2
-walking around in grated “realms” makes you feel like you need to get a tetanus shot like all of the games (except PT)
-girl that we learn about in game is excessively bullied for being a “witch” like SH1
-creepy bathrooms from all of them
-loop where you die, but you wake up to redo where you messed up like the bad ending of SH1, but also apparently there’s a theory about how Heather doesn’t die because of this same kind of looping in SH3?
-looping in general of going through the same space multiple different times definitely is a hallmark of the franchise, but going through the apartment at the end very much felt like PT, specifically.
-use of phone acts like the radio from the original trilogy
-design of the Cherry Blossom monster (or I guess Twitter has voted to call it Sakura Head on the official SH account) very much feels like a Closer from SH3, and seeing how that’s supposed to signify bullies and abusers, that feels very appropriate.
-baby in the fridge feels like a detail straight out of PT, ngl
-one of the chase scenes had the spinning eyes like PT
-imagery of a chained apartment door from SH4
-uncanny use of speech, this time from angsty teenagers instead of adults who are in their own separate purgatory
-depictions of an abusive mother towards their daughter like SH1

I feel like I’ve listed a lot here, yet it doesn’t feel complete. Yes, there’s certainly complaints I have with the game; mc’s character model, tedious gameplay, some of the voice performances, and the frame rates. But at the end of the day, this game very much feels like it belongs in the same series as the first 4 (and even PT) and that’s the best compliment I could possibly give to a free 3 hour experience.

It's interesting how fixing and improving on minute quality of life details from the first game sucks a lot of that game's identity dry. The first one was an individual anomaly, all of its "problems," ended up being fun quirks that made it challenging, but also really amusing. While this one shares a lot of the same fun factors from the first entry, it's still nowhere near as memorable as that game, tho it was a decent first attempt from the new developing team (too bad they weren't able to keep it up with subsequent entries).