It’s fair to say a good portion of the survival horror fandom still yearn for the halcyon days of fixed-camera classics - I don’t need to mention which ones. And there’s plenty of recent homages to just that: Song of Horror, Alisa, Murder House, Dawn of Fear, The Medium, Post Trauma, etc. Tormented Souls, with a story as generic as its title, is neither the best nor worst of them.

In its favour, the fixed camera gameplay and combat are pretty solid, appropriately challenging in moments of confinement with a monstrosity trying to tear you up. My hottest take is that Tormented Souls boasts some of the strongest puzzles we’ve seen in horror gaming for a long time: some puzzles are the standard ‘find a thing that wouldn’t normally combine with this other thing but somehow combines anyway and does something cool’ type thing and others involve hopping into alternate mirror dimensions and even a bit of time travel to alter the state of the real world. The sound design is also rather accomplished, evoking the oppressive soundscapes of the first Silent Hill game. The score is good and, while not always perfect, can be unsettling - the music that plays when the ‘stalker’ monster is near had me spinning around and immediately running back.

My only gripe, beyond the voice acting that leaves a lot to be desired, is the aesthetic coherence: while I appreciated the cluttered ‘lived-in’ design of the setting, it’s sort of ugly? Maybe this is just my personal preference as a purist for Silent Hill’s stripped back design where emptiness creates ambiguity and unease, but this place leans into the curious over-design of a steampunk fantasy world. Or is it just me? In other words, this game, which somehow gets away with placing some of the all-time classic disturbing paintings (The Nightmare, Judith Beheading Holofernes, etc) in its world, does not manage to conjure any unique visceral horror of its own.

Lots of strong elements but there’s certainly room for improvement. And if there’s any lesson Tormented Souls’ upcoming sequel should learn, it’s that homage can only get you so far.

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.