I've never dabbled in the Silent Hill series before, so seeing this be a free title caught my attention. I've heard that this series hasn't been in the best of shape for a while now, so I kept my expectations low.
There's some things to like here, and a bunch to not like that much. Let's get what I liked out of the way now. I liked piecing together what happened. Throughout the game you're given notes about events, and it's up to you (for the most part) to piece together the story. There were many times where I'd read a note and just stop playing to try to fit this new piece of information into the timeline, which was honestly pretty satisfying. I won't say the story here is Oscar worthy or anything, but I did enjoy experiencing it a bit. The live-action scenes were also interesting to see, as they aren't very common in games. I think the acting and voice acting were fine for the most part. No real issues there.
Okay that's that taken care of let's get into the rough. First, let's touch on the production values a bit. It's a free title at the end of the day, so I don't plan on comparing it to something like God of War or anything like that. However, I did begin to notice quickly how off some of Anita's facial expressions were. There are many scenes where it would make sense for her to be more reactive and show more intense expressions on her face and have more energetic body movements, but they just aren't here. Once again, I get it, it's a free short title so maybe the budget wasn't there for that, but it did bother me a little.
The other, part of this game I didn't like that much would have to be the chase sequences. The first few are fine enough. Run down a corridor, maybe run around something to get past the monster to get through a door it came out of. Not bad. As the game goes on and you encounter more of these sections, though, they begin to become much lengthier and more demanding of the player. Getting caught simply resets the chase, which is fine, but having to repeat chases again and again can be draining.
The last chase is easily the worst one. At first, I was just running away as usual, trying to find an exit. After a few deaths, I ran into a section that had a part where the "interact" prompt lit up on an object. It was only then when I realized what the game wanted me to do. I wish the game did a better job of showing you what you needed to do for that section. They try to clue you in with some lighting on interactive spots, but you never had a section in the past that required you to grab things as you ran away, so you'd never consider interacting with anything besides a door at that point. Another problem with this section is just how dark it is. You have a phone and you use the flashlight on it to light your path, but it genuinely feels like the flashlight isn't strong enough for some parts, leading to me fumbling in the dark in many cases, barely avoiding death because I couldn't see where to go.
Overall, I didn't hate this game. I just wish it were better designed and had a little more polish. For the low low price of free, you really aren't losing much besides a few hours trying this one out. I'd say give it a shot, but I won't blame you for tapping out at any point during your adventure.
There's some things to like here, and a bunch to not like that much. Let's get what I liked out of the way now. I liked piecing together what happened. Throughout the game you're given notes about events, and it's up to you (for the most part) to piece together the story. There were many times where I'd read a note and just stop playing to try to fit this new piece of information into the timeline, which was honestly pretty satisfying. I won't say the story here is Oscar worthy or anything, but I did enjoy experiencing it a bit. The live-action scenes were also interesting to see, as they aren't very common in games. I think the acting and voice acting were fine for the most part. No real issues there.
Okay that's that taken care of let's get into the rough. First, let's touch on the production values a bit. It's a free title at the end of the day, so I don't plan on comparing it to something like God of War or anything like that. However, I did begin to notice quickly how off some of Anita's facial expressions were. There are many scenes where it would make sense for her to be more reactive and show more intense expressions on her face and have more energetic body movements, but they just aren't here. Once again, I get it, it's a free short title so maybe the budget wasn't there for that, but it did bother me a little.
The other, part of this game I didn't like that much would have to be the chase sequences. The first few are fine enough. Run down a corridor, maybe run around something to get past the monster to get through a door it came out of. Not bad. As the game goes on and you encounter more of these sections, though, they begin to become much lengthier and more demanding of the player. Getting caught simply resets the chase, which is fine, but having to repeat chases again and again can be draining.
The last chase is easily the worst one. At first, I was just running away as usual, trying to find an exit. After a few deaths, I ran into a section that had a part where the "interact" prompt lit up on an object. It was only then when I realized what the game wanted me to do. I wish the game did a better job of showing you what you needed to do for that section. They try to clue you in with some lighting on interactive spots, but you never had a section in the past that required you to grab things as you ran away, so you'd never consider interacting with anything besides a door at that point. Another problem with this section is just how dark it is. You have a phone and you use the flashlight on it to light your path, but it genuinely feels like the flashlight isn't strong enough for some parts, leading to me fumbling in the dark in many cases, barely avoiding death because I couldn't see where to go.
Overall, I didn't hate this game. I just wish it were better designed and had a little more polish. For the low low price of free, you really aren't losing much besides a few hours trying this one out. I'd say give it a shot, but I won't blame you for tapping out at any point during your adventure.
2 Comments
Yeah I think I'm gonna have this be my first in the series too, not expecting much at all. Good review!
@NOWITSREYNTIME17 Thanks! I've seen a good amount of people here saying nicer things about this game, so I hope you can get more out of it than I did when I played it.
NOWITSREYNTIME17
3 months ago