This game is grossly over hated by the silent hill community. To expect a game to live up to what came before it is absurd. Despite my own gripes with this game such as the ending sequence being underwhelming and walter’s conclusion not fleshed out enough, as well as the second half of the game not being executed as well as it could have and feeling redundant to play through, I still enjoyed this game and its concepts. What silent hill 4 does that is so phenomenal is that it completely changes the idea of a safe room. The fact that part way through the game you can no longer heal in your apartment, but instead take damage from “hauntings” that occur is so fantastic. I really liked the different hauntings that took place in the apartment. Also I liked the ghost enemies and how characters that had died in the game would come back to haunt and harass the player later on—that was cool. Walter’s character and story were the most intriguing to me, we have this presumably young boy who was orphaned by his parents, and then is raised by the twisted Wish House and indoctrinated into silent hill’s twisted cult and religion, believing that apartment 302 itself is his mother and that he must perform 21 sacraments to free her by killing 21 people. The fact that each victim is killed and has their heart taken and a certain number carved into their flesh is so intriguing to me. And then its revealed that both older and younger Walter are present in the game, both being dead but younger Walter manifesting in the real world and older Walter in the twisted world he created. And then you have older Walter meeting his younger self throughout the game, that really fucked with my mind. Then there is Eileen, my other favorite character here. I thought that it was very peculiar but interesting how she became more possessed throughout the game—possessed with Walter’s thoughts and being. I also really liked Jasper as a character and his peculiar way of talking. Another thing I really liked about silent hill 4 that sets it apart from the first three games is its cutscenes. The way they played with the camera and images to make it almost look like real footage from the real world but it also had a dream like or nightmare like mechanic to it. Its hard to explain but anyone who has played this game will know what I’m referring to. This game was also genuinely unnerving to me at certain points, I think this may have been the scariest silent hill for me. This game did not disappoint with its ost or atmosphere. I love silent hill 4.

Let me just preface this by saying that this is one of the greatest games, and pieces of media that I’ve ever had the honor of experiencing. And this may very well be my favorite silent hill game (however my love for sh1 and sh2 runs so strong). Heather is such a phenomenal main character, I’d say I enjoyed her more than James. She has got to be the most realistic portrayal of a teenage girl in fiction, which is impressive given how little this is achieved. Heather being the same age as I am currently, I was able to empathize with her even more, it made the experience of playing as her more personal. Claudia was such an unnerving and eerie figure, her resemblance to my own mother both un looks and religious obsession had me spooked. I loved how sh3 returned to the cult and religious origins of sh1, continuing the story of Alessa. The story of Alessa is one of the most tragic and intriguing for me. A girl who endures extreme religious ans cult abuse and medical trauma, causing her to split herself into two (a clear representation of DID), and now she has cursed the town of Silent Hill and bestows physiological horrors on anyone who dares to explore it. To me what is so special about silent hill 3 is how it explores womanhood through the lense of horror just like bloodborne (another one of my favs). This aspect of the game made it the most terrifying game in the series for me, and something I emphasized with DEEPLY. Especially the aspect of forced/unwanted pregnancy. And then you have the aspects of stalking, and the sick twisted romantic and sexual obsession that men have with women they attempt to pursue (as shown through stanley in the hospital boy was that unnerving). But the most terrifying part for me was the final encounter between Claudia ans Heather. Them in the chapel, Heather being unaware of the God growing inside of her, every woman’s worse nightmare. To me, Heather throwing up the red deformed God which is then ingested by Claudia herself was the most blood curdling and unnerving scene for me that left me with an indescribable feeling, and still does. This final encounter between Heather and Claudia which leads into the boss fight against the God is one of my favorite final sequences and final bosses in all of gaming. I remember hearing “uneternal sleep” play for the first time around 1:30 am, and being filled with such a feeling. The way the track paints the scene and feeling of ascending into heaven with God is so phenomenal. Another one of my favorite sections of the game was the boss fight against Alessa on the nightmare carousel, WOW what a genuinely eerie and trippy fight and setting, especially with the track “prayer” playing—one of my favorite tracks off the ost that I can never listen to for long before getting genuinely scared. What I love so much about silent hill is its ability to make me seriously feel like I’m in another reality, another dimension, another state of mind. Easily hands down the greatest piece of psychological media to ever touch earth. Silent hill 3 has some of the greatest art and atmosphere in the game, not to mention the phenomenal soundtrack that is on par with the sh2 soundtrack. One of my favorite aspects of the sh3 soundtrack is that many of the tracks have a religious monologue that starts playing over it, this scared the shit out of me the first time listening to it, but it drives me crazy in the best way possible now. I cannot get enough of the crazy cult and religious stuff presented in silent hill 3. We are so blessed to have silent hill 3. I am forever grateful that I am alive at the same time when silent hill exists.

I really liked the concept of this game and the atmosphere but holy fuck are the controls DOGSHIT. Every second of playing this shit is pure misery there is zero enjoyment. The stiff controls, the choppy camera angle transitions the severe lack of health items coupled with how it only takes a few hits to get killed and having to manage 2 characters health. I wanted to love re0 but over time I gained such hatred for this game. This is the hardest game I have ever played and this is coming from someone who has played bloodborne and dark souls etc. There is no enjoyment in re0 besides giving yourself the biggest migraine ever. It took me 10 hours just to reach the halfway point in this game. The most obnoxious mechanic is the limited inventory and the fact that you have to pick up SO many items during the game jesus fucking christ. I didn’t finish this game I never fucking will, I’m still logging this as finished and writing a review idc. My breaking point was getting to the church and. it knowing that you still needed the hook shot to advance when I had gotten rid of that shit for more inventory space LONG ago, there was no way in hell I was finding that shit again or restarting this hellish game all over. I have no desire to play this game and finish it. Mad respect to those who have finished this game.

Wow what a fucking game, one that I will hold in my heart for decades to come. It took me a whole year to finally come around and properly get into gtav’s story, but god am I so glad I did. This game quickly became one of my favorites of all time. It holds one of my favorite casts ever and my favorite dynamic ever being trevor and michael. Im pleasantly surprised with the genuine substance gtav’s story holds as well. It’s such a good satire of american capitalism and critque on materialism consumerism and hyper capitalism, and the dysfunctional isolated family found under capitalism as conveyed through michael and his central conflict with his family. How both trevor and michael exploit under the framework of capitalism but they do so in different, almost polar opposite ways. The juxtaposition between trevor’s unhinged and raw realness, and michael’s superficial “plasticness”. Trevor’s literal cannibalism versus michael’s metaphorical cannibalism, and the moral question of “is michael truly morally better than trevor when he’s doing the same thing as him, just less literal and less ugly”. At the start the game show’s trevor as this animal, and michael holds himself so much higher than trevor, but he’s nothing but a hypocrite and his morals and way of life are no better than trevor’s. Its very interesting to me how only trevor seems to be able to break michael from this capitalist fantasy and dillusionment of the american dream and the nuclear family and being surrounded by so much wealth and materialism, while trevor is also exploiting those under capitalism at the same time, just in a more brutal and honest fashion. Doing crime on the streets is trevor’s dream while it’s michael’s nightmare at the same time, and creates the guilt and self loathing we see in michael. One side of him seeks the thrill, adrenaline, and chaos of crime and its unhinged realness and rebellion, while the other side craves safety and security through his family, and this typical american dream. Trevor brings out the animal in michael. Overall just a funny ass fucking game, amazing satire, and an amazing dynamic that provides for insightful analysis. I could write paragraphs upon paragraphs about michael and trevor’s dynamic but I’ll save that for another space. There’s a reason for gtav’s massive success, fame, and legacy. Its one of those games that I believe everyone should sit down and play. I’m sad to be done with my journey with this beloved game, but I know there’s hours and hours of fun to be experienced with the online mode for me.