The start of the attempted Silent Hill comeback.. This is a short visual novel experience more than anything else. While I haven't played much Silent Hill, I will credit them for combining the contempary setting with the classic Silent Hill visuals, something even I was able to pick up on.
This is a short story about depression, anxiety, loneliness and suicide. You play as a young girl named Anita, who is clearly suffering with all kinds guilt and negative emotions. She ends up stuck in a derelict apartment complex where she is forced to relive her own trauma and try to come to terms with it all, while being hunted by a strange figure made up of hateful letters... While the themes are solid and the acting is decent, there is zero subtlety with the message, it's like they were afraid of being even remotely vague. It's all VERY literal and there's very little room for debate or discussion despite the psychological nature of the setting.
I think the first person perspective was the wrong choice for this game, as the story's best moments are when you actually see Anita's reactions, without that the dialogue outside cutscenes falls flat.
In terms of the actual game, you barely do anything except interact with objects. There are chase sections that are completely shallow, until the final one which suddenly required you to find a bunch of photos without ever being told to, while being chased by an enemy that can kill you instantly. Normally you just do a lap of the room and you can lose her just fine, but here she can just come out of nowhere, and the level design is terrible here.
There's not really any puzzles and I didn't find the game scary, though it does have a great atmosphere and very trippy visuals, which were very impressive.
This was okay, but it could have been a lot better. - 5.5/10
This is a short story about depression, anxiety, loneliness and suicide. You play as a young girl named Anita, who is clearly suffering with all kinds guilt and negative emotions. She ends up stuck in a derelict apartment complex where she is forced to relive her own trauma and try to come to terms with it all, while being hunted by a strange figure made up of hateful letters... While the themes are solid and the acting is decent, there is zero subtlety with the message, it's like they were afraid of being even remotely vague. It's all VERY literal and there's very little room for debate or discussion despite the psychological nature of the setting.
I think the first person perspective was the wrong choice for this game, as the story's best moments are when you actually see Anita's reactions, without that the dialogue outside cutscenes falls flat.
In terms of the actual game, you barely do anything except interact with objects. There are chase sections that are completely shallow, until the final one which suddenly required you to find a bunch of photos without ever being told to, while being chased by an enemy that can kill you instantly. Normally you just do a lap of the room and you can lose her just fine, but here she can just come out of nowhere, and the level design is terrible here.
There's not really any puzzles and I didn't find the game scary, though it does have a great atmosphere and very trippy visuals, which were very impressive.
This was okay, but it could have been a lot better. - 5.5/10