The survival horror deep dive continues. I always heard silent hill 4 was one of the most divisive titles in the series and so I thought it would be appropriate to dive in blind and figure out first hand how bizarre The Room really gets.
For what it’s worth, I really enjoyed the title but it warrants it’s place as one of the “weirder” silent hill installments, which is an achievement in itself for a series so deeply routed in elusive and symbolical horror.
The characters here are a bit more lacking compared to the previous titles, and I thought some of the subtlety that made the stories of the first games so brilliant is kind of lost here, but it still does something quite unique with it’s premise and I feel like that deserves some praise on it’s own.
The first person segments are a bit clunky, but they still feel a bit ahead of their time with how they elevate the story. The creepy factor in silent hill 4 is really something else and the difference can be felt straight from the intro screen.
Even in it’s premise Silent Hill 4 seems to want to do something completely different than it’s predecessors, from the mysterious plot to the drastic location change.
As with the subtlety, the creative flair seems to be a bit divided as well. There’s still a lot of that classic silent hill imagery and foggy horror, but there’s a lot of disconnect with huge, open and sometimes obnoxious areas. This detracts from the claustrophobic factor that made the games stand out in their horror.
The game also loses a significant amount of steam in the half way point, and could have benefited from streamlining the story and characters. Despite how much I really liked the character of Eileen, glorified escort missions rarely work for me, unless they’re handled smartly. In Silent Hill 4, it works some times, but most of your playthrough you’ll be rambling back through floors realizing you lost her 3 rooms back, or circling around enemies trying to get the AI to follow you so you can go in a room.
Change is a welcome factor, and this doesn’t ruin the experience at all, this mechanic just runs it’s course very quickly and the fact you have to run through every area a second time can make it frustrating.
Nonetheless, Silent Hill 4 complements these divisive changes with a familiar gritty tone, a genuinely scary villain and a sense of dread and horror that follows you even into the save rooms and the titular apartment you’ll spend a good amount of time walking around.
Some justifiable flaws here and there, but still a super fun survival horror experience.
For what it’s worth, I really enjoyed the title but it warrants it’s place as one of the “weirder” silent hill installments, which is an achievement in itself for a series so deeply routed in elusive and symbolical horror.
The characters here are a bit more lacking compared to the previous titles, and I thought some of the subtlety that made the stories of the first games so brilliant is kind of lost here, but it still does something quite unique with it’s premise and I feel like that deserves some praise on it’s own.
The first person segments are a bit clunky, but they still feel a bit ahead of their time with how they elevate the story. The creepy factor in silent hill 4 is really something else and the difference can be felt straight from the intro screen.
Even in it’s premise Silent Hill 4 seems to want to do something completely different than it’s predecessors, from the mysterious plot to the drastic location change.
As with the subtlety, the creative flair seems to be a bit divided as well. There’s still a lot of that classic silent hill imagery and foggy horror, but there’s a lot of disconnect with huge, open and sometimes obnoxious areas. This detracts from the claustrophobic factor that made the games stand out in their horror.
The game also loses a significant amount of steam in the half way point, and could have benefited from streamlining the story and characters. Despite how much I really liked the character of Eileen, glorified escort missions rarely work for me, unless they’re handled smartly. In Silent Hill 4, it works some times, but most of your playthrough you’ll be rambling back through floors realizing you lost her 3 rooms back, or circling around enemies trying to get the AI to follow you so you can go in a room.
Change is a welcome factor, and this doesn’t ruin the experience at all, this mechanic just runs it’s course very quickly and the fact you have to run through every area a second time can make it frustrating.
Nonetheless, Silent Hill 4 complements these divisive changes with a familiar gritty tone, a genuinely scary villain and a sense of dread and horror that follows you even into the save rooms and the titular apartment you’ll spend a good amount of time walking around.
Some justifiable flaws here and there, but still a super fun survival horror experience.