An absolute win in terms of design, storytelling, sound design and especially atmosphere. This game is what happens when there is passion in dedication. You see, I used to wonder why even though Marvel movies may be serviceable or some big budget games are kinda fun they're just not amazing, this game opened my eyes to that. They lack pure passion and talent. When something is made with love, you can just feel it, that's exactly what happened with this game, every minute was just oozing with love and care. After looking at the "making of" I can see why. These guys knew what they were doing, even if people have creativity these days and even nice ideas, they lack vision. They lack the ability to set their sights on a target properly and go for it with all that they have, that's what I think at least. Games need not be 80+ hours long, this 8 hour game showed me that quality is ALWAYS better than quantity.
Let's start from the base, the thing that holds everything together and the main attraction, the story and especially the characters. Each character serves a purpose, shows what's happening in the story and the main character here is the perfect example of doing a protagonist correctly, ESPECIALLY for this medium. What's the best part of this game is not just its story but how this story takes advantage of the fact that it is not a movie, a novel nor a comic, it's a video game, an interactive medium and uses that to its full potential. Typically you'd see compromises in stories or characters due to that but nope not here. Absolute class act. I do not want to spoil the story nor the characters so this is where I will stop, I do not think a review should spoil events, but honestly I went into this game knowing half the story and even then I was moved. The writing in this game is no less than Breaking Bad, The Godfather, Se7en, Perfect Blue, Requiem For A Dream, etc. I know it's cliche to say this but for this game it absolutely is true. This game stands shoulder to shoulder with those giants and does so confidently and with pride. That is respectable to say the least.
Moving on, the sounds. Absolute masterclass from the absolute mad lad Akira Yamaoka. Silent Hill 1 was good, great at parts even but overall not amazing in my humble opinion. The end game blooper track was absolute fire though. This time, Akira came back guns blazing. Spooky tracks are spookier, atmospheric tracks are dreamier and the rock songs are such bangers I played this game just because of them! This guy is an all in one band and composer and I have the utmost respect for him. Filling me with dread at one point, sadness in another and then making me bop in the same game is just nothing short of a miracle for me. 20-50% of this game is basically carried by the sounds. That's how important this game's audio is. Picture this, the windows XP background with the "Promises" song from this game, imagine how you feel. Then picture the windows XP background with the "Black Fairy" song. Music and just sounds in general are important for any experience now but for this game it is vital. The story is the soul and the music is the heart that beats and keeps everything running. Thank you Mr Akira, your work will continuously get recognised hopefully.
The visuals are outstanding, "technically" this isn't perfect but does that matter? Absolutely not, this game looks beautiful and all of that is because of their vision, confidence and their commitment to their work. The fog is still beautiful, mirrors REFLECT the whole scene without needing ray tracing or any screen space shenanigans. The textures are good, not great but that actually adds to their charm I'd say for 80% of the assets, makes the game grittier and spookier.
The gameplay is something I like a lot honestly, I think this game is a better version of resident evil though I haven't played those older ones. The claustrophobic controls and environments with the mid accuracy and stuff all add to the experience. The only gripes I have are some mediocre bosses and some long running and walking which are boring and time consuming sometimes. It is spooky for a minute or two but after that you get used to it if it's the same location. When thrust to a new location the fear of the unknown kicks in and then yeah they took advantage of that and did stuff with it. Some unnecessary "jumpscares" and enemy placement was also inconvenient, like I understand it was to scare but I'd say the jumpscares could have been cut by 50% and the impact would've been FAR greater. The (SPOILER ALERT) bathroom one will always haunt me, greatest jumpscare of all time.
So, a game with damn near perfect visual style, aural experience and a mind numbingly good story, what could go wrong? Nothing much really, just minor gripes with the gameplay and some in my opinion, poor decisions, reduced my enjoyment of purely the gameplay to 8/10. HOWEVER, the story was an absolute win, 10/10. FINALLY, the most important part is, my enjoyment of the game as a whole was 10/10, an absolute masterclass in video games and story telling. You know that thing where even if something isn't absolutely perfect it's still amazing? This is it. Nothing can be perfect and this gets so close to it that might as well call it perfect hah. Story was moving and the atmosphere, instead of making me "scared", made me dreadful of what was going to happen. That is far more difficult to pull off, let alone pull off for a whole ass game. Bravo Team Silent.
Now additional notes for the Enhanced Edition, I think using the noise filter is mandatory. Using a 480p resolution is cool and using a crt filter may be cool but isn't my cup of tea. 480p resolution is great! Game looks great imo, CRT filter was great too due to the colors but I hated the dotted look. Finally, the upscaled images can be a miss sometimes! The FMVs too, they're a bit uncanny compared to the pristine and (imo beautiful) original FMVs, but that's just me. Look at a comparison or two online and choose your poison. Lowered resolutions look good and emulate the original art style which is great and I'd have done that myself but 1080p was a good middle ground between TOO SHARP and too aliased.
Remember friends, this is not a "you should play" but a "you must play" type of game. Experience what the best of gaming has to offer.
Let's start from the base, the thing that holds everything together and the main attraction, the story and especially the characters. Each character serves a purpose, shows what's happening in the story and the main character here is the perfect example of doing a protagonist correctly, ESPECIALLY for this medium. What's the best part of this game is not just its story but how this story takes advantage of the fact that it is not a movie, a novel nor a comic, it's a video game, an interactive medium and uses that to its full potential. Typically you'd see compromises in stories or characters due to that but nope not here. Absolute class act. I do not want to spoil the story nor the characters so this is where I will stop, I do not think a review should spoil events, but honestly I went into this game knowing half the story and even then I was moved. The writing in this game is no less than Breaking Bad, The Godfather, Se7en, Perfect Blue, Requiem For A Dream, etc. I know it's cliche to say this but for this game it absolutely is true. This game stands shoulder to shoulder with those giants and does so confidently and with pride. That is respectable to say the least.
Moving on, the sounds. Absolute masterclass from the absolute mad lad Akira Yamaoka. Silent Hill 1 was good, great at parts even but overall not amazing in my humble opinion. The end game blooper track was absolute fire though. This time, Akira came back guns blazing. Spooky tracks are spookier, atmospheric tracks are dreamier and the rock songs are such bangers I played this game just because of them! This guy is an all in one band and composer and I have the utmost respect for him. Filling me with dread at one point, sadness in another and then making me bop in the same game is just nothing short of a miracle for me. 20-50% of this game is basically carried by the sounds. That's how important this game's audio is. Picture this, the windows XP background with the "Promises" song from this game, imagine how you feel. Then picture the windows XP background with the "Black Fairy" song. Music and just sounds in general are important for any experience now but for this game it is vital. The story is the soul and the music is the heart that beats and keeps everything running. Thank you Mr Akira, your work will continuously get recognised hopefully.
The visuals are outstanding, "technically" this isn't perfect but does that matter? Absolutely not, this game looks beautiful and all of that is because of their vision, confidence and their commitment to their work. The fog is still beautiful, mirrors REFLECT the whole scene without needing ray tracing or any screen space shenanigans. The textures are good, not great but that actually adds to their charm I'd say for 80% of the assets, makes the game grittier and spookier.
The gameplay is something I like a lot honestly, I think this game is a better version of resident evil though I haven't played those older ones. The claustrophobic controls and environments with the mid accuracy and stuff all add to the experience. The only gripes I have are some mediocre bosses and some long running and walking which are boring and time consuming sometimes. It is spooky for a minute or two but after that you get used to it if it's the same location. When thrust to a new location the fear of the unknown kicks in and then yeah they took advantage of that and did stuff with it. Some unnecessary "jumpscares" and enemy placement was also inconvenient, like I understand it was to scare but I'd say the jumpscares could have been cut by 50% and the impact would've been FAR greater. The (SPOILER ALERT) bathroom one will always haunt me, greatest jumpscare of all time.
So, a game with damn near perfect visual style, aural experience and a mind numbingly good story, what could go wrong? Nothing much really, just minor gripes with the gameplay and some in my opinion, poor decisions, reduced my enjoyment of purely the gameplay to 8/10. HOWEVER, the story was an absolute win, 10/10. FINALLY, the most important part is, my enjoyment of the game as a whole was 10/10, an absolute masterclass in video games and story telling. You know that thing where even if something isn't absolutely perfect it's still amazing? This is it. Nothing can be perfect and this gets so close to it that might as well call it perfect hah. Story was moving and the atmosphere, instead of making me "scared", made me dreadful of what was going to happen. That is far more difficult to pull off, let alone pull off for a whole ass game. Bravo Team Silent.
Now additional notes for the Enhanced Edition, I think using the noise filter is mandatory. Using a 480p resolution is cool and using a crt filter may be cool but isn't my cup of tea. 480p resolution is great! Game looks great imo, CRT filter was great too due to the colors but I hated the dotted look. Finally, the upscaled images can be a miss sometimes! The FMVs too, they're a bit uncanny compared to the pristine and (imo beautiful) original FMVs, but that's just me. Look at a comparison or two online and choose your poison. Lowered resolutions look good and emulate the original art style which is great and I'd have done that myself but 1080p was a good middle ground between TOO SHARP and too aliased.
Remember friends, this is not a "you should play" but a "you must play" type of game. Experience what the best of gaming has to offer.