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Silent Hill: Downpour

PlayStation 3 User Reviews

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6.8
User score
Mixed or Average
positive
229(51%)
mixed
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Showing 119 User Reviews
Sep 20, 2026
7
Dann3150
Silent Hill downpour é um excelente jogo porém tem uma grande quebra de ritmo pois adicionou diversas missões secundárias durante a campanha, o que acaba causando estranheza pois apesar de ser boas missões secundárias acabam atrapalhando a progressão da história.
Sep 13, 2026
8
ahmdmhm
اللعبة جيدة قصتها جيدة والجيمبلاي جيد نوعا ما لكن هبوط اسم السلسلة جعلها تظلم من اللاعبين
Aug 30, 2026
7
SewAwOw
Неплохая атмосферная игра. Довольно интересно было исследовать город, в игре есть сайд квесты. Боевка корявенькая, что стандарт для серии, но не раздражает. Врагов всего несколько видов, это минус. Загадов немного, были непростые. Сюжет хороший, про заключенного, который был осужден якобы за то, чего не делал, по мере прохождения закручивается, на концовку можно повлиять своим выбором в нескольких моментах. Графически смотрится достойно, хорошее освещение. Но изза консольной эксклюзивности решил играть на эмуляторе rpcs3, дабы было 60 фпс и 1440р со сглаживанием. Картинка получилась хорошей, но иногда были микрофризы, что всё же лучше чем терпеть 720р30 без сглаживания на консолях. Сама игра мне понравилась, хоть считается слабым представителем серии.
Mar 3, 2026
3
PeytonBright
Silent Hill: Downpour is a Downpour of disappointment and dissatisfaction. Graphics have let down many, as well as the story and gameplay. This is the weakest title in the Silent Hill series, the gritty atmospheric horror that even Silent Hill: Homecoming nailed, is non-existent, and enemies have little-to-no symbolism. Silent Hill: Downpour is the most frustrating entry as it is also has a new composer, who tries to nail Silent Hill music, but fails entirely.
Feb 23, 2026
10
Monkut
I felt nostalgic and decided to play it on emulator (with owned PS3 bios, of course *wink*), me and my classmate back in the day were not into Silent Hill but pretty scared at first and now it's basically my first game since 10+ years of dip this series took. I know it's not the best place to start but I decided to play this series backwards, it added an additional layer to my gameplay by discovering the history of those games. It immediately reminded me of Alan Wake and Dead Space, the whole game feels like proto modern horror game like RE or again, Alan Wake 2. And it was born at a time when every game was turning into open-world, although not big but I thought that the exploration of those small and detailed locations was engaging and had some wondeful side-quests. Main character was unique and edgy, it was nice to explore trauma of someone who's a convict while exploring moral uncertainty of revenge. Despite that monsters almost did not represent our character and look extremely bland. I read somewhere that producers purposefully picked the most boring designs and one of the artists left because of how many of his concepts were turned down. The music choices on the radios are hidden gems and what you'll hear during the credits your jaw will drop!
Jan 24, 2026
10
Otaldo
To this day I don't understand why this game is so criticized. The graphics, soundtrack, and storyline are INCREDIBLE. Seriously, what a beautiful storyline! It has 6 endings, and that's wonderful, I love everything about this game. The only bad things are the frame rate drops and the combat system. Unfortunately, it's not available for PC.
Jan 3, 2026
0
bahamianvampire
Genuinely one of the worst games ever made. On the surface, this is, at best, a profoundly creatively bankrupt American-made attempt to turn Silent Hill 2 into some sort of bizarre open-world horror game where you play as a James Sunderland lookalike that fights the most generic looking monsters imaginable for a Silent Hill game. When you actually play it, it's utterly unbearable because it's already awful level design lacks any attempt at signposting whatsoever, meaning important objects which you need to interact with just blend in with the already muted environment all the time (in stark contrast to any other Silent Hill game, where objects of interest are usually always highlighted through lighting or camera angles). I ultimately ended up using a walkthrough to play this thing, and still found it so profoundly boring. I gotta admit, I was tempted to give this game a 10/10 because you can find piles of bricks or rocks around which provide infinite supplies of either resource, which you can endlessly throw at monsters to hilarious effect which had me and my then-girlfriend laughing our asses off, but sadly, that just isn't enough to save it when just about everything is an insult to the franchise.
Nov 13, 2025
8
scatology101
Overall, it is not AS bad as I remembered it being. It is serviceable and definitely would be loved if it was released these days with Unreal Engine 5 graphics.
Oct 12, 2025
7
Dobey
Ich hab das schlimmste erwartet war aber sehr positiv überrascht. Downpour hat eine super Story, Level Design und Atmosphäre, das einzige wo das Spiel komplett versagt hat ist der Moster design, und Symbolik da ist kein. Daher geb ich das Spiel eine 7.
Mar 18, 2025
8
vasiliyiphone
I played this game in March 2025 on an Xbox 360 emulator (Xenia) and was incredibly shocked by how well it was made and ahead of its time. of the shortcomings, I can mention boring side quests in the open world that I just missed. This game doesn't lead you by the hand, you figure out what to do and how to do it, and that's the beauty of it. 8 out of 10, the finale caused mixed emotions, because it caused some kind of feeling of understatement.
Dec 13, 2024
6
Itokaymanfr
This game is not as bad as Homecoming, and if you ask me, it is actually a decent game. It runs horribly on my PC, but other than that, it was a decent silent hill experience.
Nov 15, 2024
8
Drezor
12 years late to the party, but I gotta admit that this game isn't as bad as you might have heard. Story-wise, it's pretty much a Silent Hill game even though I believe they should have included the Cuningham's story as the second main one to have better emotional connection between characters and a player. Combat, though....well, they definitely had to spend more time on it because it's just meh. Even thought I don't think you need to cancel all your plans to play this game, if you have a chance, you should
Oct 3, 2024
9
auxiliaire
This is a seriously underrated game. Just unfortunate how it was positioned, and unavoidably got compared to the original genre-defining entries and, to be sincere, other contemporary games that might have been more polished that time. But time passed and technology evolved. If you own this game, do yourself a favor and play it on an emulator for improved quality and performance. This is the actual way it meant to be played. Getting rid of the technical issues, a solid game reveals itself with mind-bending non-euclidean spaces and great atmosphere hardly found anywhere else. It's an incomparable experience that's worth a try. Video games shine best when they invite you to a world which would otherwise be impossible. Downpour does just that and more. Maybe it's too much fun? Maybe it's not meant to be fun to traverse the otherworld - which is a valid argument. But it does not render a brilliant game bad. This game might be different than what was expected, but it's still a very good game if we play it on a modern console like the Series X or emulated on PC. It grabs you, it pulls you in, it's balanced enough to be enjoyable, and it provides such a good experience that one hardly notices those few inconsistencies if not highlighted by other reviewers. So play Silent Hill: Downpour on its own right, disregarding the environment it landed in, and you will receive an unforgettable experience.
Jul 9, 2024
5
ket
Without spoilers I'll say SH: Downpour is not a great game. The story is interesting enough and the graphics for the time are decent but you'll have a hard time getting invested in the characters, the main character particularly. Some of the voice acting is also absolutely terrible and some parts of the game will just make you question why they were put in to begin with as they add nothing serving as just unsatisfying filler (enjoy balancing across logs and beams people), enemy variety is as good as non-existent, visually uninspiring and just dull and boring to look at. Worst of all movement and combat in this game is even worse than it is in Homecoming somehow regressing further trying poorly, and desperately, to cling to tropes that worked in much older entries on the PS1 and PS2 while utterly failing to realise the series needed to evolve and move forward, especially in it's gameplay. Overall Downpour notably regresses in more ways than it improves when looked at next to it's predecessor Homecoming. One to certainly avoid at the silly prices you'll pay at this point in time. If you want a good horror game you'll pay the kind of money Downpour will cost you go and get Siren Blood Curse instead.
Feb 27, 2024
6
WolfDragoX
Buena historia, musica y graficos aceptables, gameplay mediocre y solo menos peor que Homecoming (aunque eso es debatible) Decente juego objetivamente hablando pero no lo quisiera volver a jugar
Dec 7, 2023
4
Zero_89
Easily the worst conventional Silent Hill game by far. Bad and incongruous story, painfully awkward dialogue, clunky gameplay, pointlessly limited inventory system, and worst of all it had jack all to do with Silent Hill in the first place, they could have literally set this game anywhere else, and it would make zero to no difference in the context of the story we were given. This shoddy excuse of Konami's attempt at retooling silent hill without the team that made it great and memorable in the first place was nothing but mediocrity incarnate.
Oct 29, 2023
7
gotterpotter56
Игра атмосферна. Главное преимущество игры исследование. Несмотря на то что награда обычна бывает такой себе, шарить по зданиям и делать доп. квесты интересно.
Nov 15, 2022
5
AhoyNut
Again this one was playable. Not something I enjoyed much though, I think it had opportunity, but it was a hit and actually just missed horribly, I think a lot could've been changed to make it way more enjoyable.
Dec 20, 2021
6
djape
Definitely a Silent Hill game which is great. Doing my first playthrough right now after almost 10years of release. Game doesn't run very well on PS3 but for me, it sort of adds that old school SH feel. Its scary and nicely written. Characters are pretty good too.! I recommend this for SH fans or even brand new to the series. This just needed to be run a bit better.!
Nov 23, 2021
4
elolugo
Performance is unbearable, enemies are boring and the combat is trash. Giving points only on the spooky aspect of the game.
Nov 17, 2021
3
OtavioKanemaru1
私はゲームが好きで、雰囲気も天気もとても良いですが、メインとして問題がたくさんあります、低フレームレートがたくさんあるので、プレイするのが非常に退屈で、ボスを除いて敵は中程度です。しかし、全体的にゲームはひどいパフォーマンスで中程度です。ゲームには可能性があり、残念ながら無駄になりました。 ストーリー: 45.0 グラフィック: 60.0 キャラクター: 45.0 CV: 49.4 シナリオ: 80.0 難易度: 40.0 ゲームプレイ: 25.0 サイドクエスト: 58.9 パズル: 63.4 サウンドトラック: 85.5 アミューズメント: 25.0 ポジティブ: +01.5(ゲームの雰囲気) ネガティブ: -10.0(低フレームレート)、-01.0(低速読み込み)、-10.0(ラグ)、-00.5(字幕バグ)、-00.5(特定のシーンでのレンダリング不良) 合計= 31.9/100.0 エキストラ: トロフィー: 難易度(35.0)、アミューズメント(30.0)= 32.5 注: エキストラは評価としてカウントされません。 PSN: OtavioKanemaru
Oct 20, 2021
5
actinium
/ /
Sep 22, 2020
6
SaadAnime
Everyone now knows what ruined the series, Konami didnt care about the series and treated as a cash grab and used small developers company to cash on the name of the series, this game is not bad as is , it is an interesting story but it is a bad silent hill story. and the gameplay is old and quirky and needs to be improved but still it is a fun mecanhic even if it is an old one. sad to see what happened to the sereis.
Sep 13, 2020
9
Jurgens98
The best western developed Silent Hill. It has issues like freezing, mediocre combat and some bad enemy designs but the exploration of silent hill, the option to do side quests,good voice acting, good characters and a very good score despite the lack of yamaoka. Dunno how ign could give this a 4.5 out of 10
Jul 26, 2020
8
vint-old-school
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
Jun 25, 2020
7
INU4SH4
Konami finally delivered another good Silent Hill title but it came with unwanted surprises. It mixed the fluid gameplay from Homecoming and the symbolic story from the original Silent Hill games proving to be a very good experience that came along a few complaints. Although I found the combat and story execution brilliant, in technical terms, this game ****. Even for someone who doesn't like to complain about fps-related issues, this game would take massive dips in frame-rate frequently. Another issue I had was the lack of enemies and bosses. The game had a decent length but it grew a bit repetitive due to the lack of enemy diversity and boss fights. I recommend this Silent Hill game a lot thanks to its memorable story and characters, despite its issues. Definitely a step in the right direction after Homecoming but still not enough to save the series. The antagonist wasn't as iconic as Pyramid Head but it proved to be a very original, symbolic, and creepy boss nevertheless.
May 3, 2020
4
Jokerlocco
I'm a big fan of the Silent Hill saga, and it pains me not to approve of this title. But it has a large number of bugs that cannot be ignored. That said, let's start with the negative points ... • It has serious performance problems and notable bugs (at least in the PS3 version): Excessive loading times, continuous drops in FPS and stops, game elements that take time to load, etc ... • The graphics are inferior to other titles that use the same engine… I even think that the previous installment (Silent Hill Homecoming) looked better… • It has too many useless or poorly executed elements. I will mention some: o COMBAT: One of the big problems of this delivery ... It is lousy and with useless mechanics. It is not an excuse that the Silent Hill fights have always been rough, since, in previous installments, you could have the situation controlled. In this case, no, because it is poorly done: • Throwing melee weapons is somewhat unproductive. You can't aim when doing it, so you can easily miss and run out of your gun. I doubt any player will use that feature. • Aiming with firearms is also useless, because the pointseems to be out of unsync with the shot, so failing is logical. It is better to shoot without aiming, which makes aiming ineffective. • Controls are strange. Running with the R1? • Murphy's movements are slow and rough, unlike enemies. This slowness makes it feel like the character is not responding well to controls. o OTHERS : • Side missions are bland and unmotivating. They do not contribute anything. They are only worth doing if you want to achieve them ...  Read the notes and move around the protagonist's diary, it is annoying and uncomfortable. • Inventory management is extremely slow. • It is only allowed to have a single melee weapon, so you must change between the ones you find. And personally it's something I don't like. I constantly see “Collect” on the screen, and then it turns out that it was a weapon that I don't want to take. Furthermore, these weapons break ... Sometimes, you have to break parts of the environment with a certain weapon and you have to go find it. • The designs of the enemies are very generic: They look like sick and dirty people with a devilish smile. Although not Akira Yamaoka, the soundtrack work is fine. The story is neither memorable nor too good. I could summarize it for you in 10 seconds. However, it is not terrible. It is one of their strengths. Despite the game having many technical and gameplay issues (which is why I can't approve it), the experience it gives you is not terrible. The truth is that it can entertain you, and if you are a fan of Silent Hill, and survival horror, I recommend it. I think I will not play it again (unlike the originals)... Although it is one of the worst, I think it does deserve to have the title of Silent Hill.
Mar 18, 2020
0
Ycezar
i don't know how konami has the courage to publish a game like this, this is not silent hill ... the game has no aspect of the series, ambience, mechanics, sounds, nothing! it is a lack of respect for fans and the general public for conceiving us of this meaningless garbage.
Feb 21, 2020
3
SMBW
Это не сайлент хилл, просто жалкая пародия пытающаяся казаться...убогая боевая механика, баги, софтлоки когда нельзя пройти дальше, потому что необходимый предмет сломался или пропал, мыльные текстуры прогружающиеся очень медленно ( может на ссд лучше) и просто наитупейший сюжет, это даже не хоррор, а тягомотная мистическая херь, скорее suffering 3. Проходите мимо этого провального шлака.
Jun 9, 2019
6
Razzee
Silent Hill: Downpour is the best entry in terms of graphics, as well as making Silent Hill seem like a living city, given the amount of sub-stories. I liked the combat system and story too, but that's about it. Technically the game is a catastrophe - it suffers from constant slowdown, texture pop-in and I should mention that it even froze my PS3 once. Ordinary enemies are among the most generic of the whole series, though bosses are OK, especially the last one. Fans of the series should totally experience Downpour, but I suggest playing it through an emulator (RPCS3) or Xbox One. If the developers had more time to polish the game, it could have been well received, and the studio would be still in activity.
May 27, 2019
4
Grospoliner
Sadly the game has unbearably bad controls which hamper everything from movement to combat to even looking through your inventory. Combine with infinitely respawning enemies and weapon durability and you have a recipe for a total stinker. Most of the enemies in the game have stun or grapple attacks, necessitating you to waggle the left thumbstick to shake them off or recover. This provides an already terribly designed game with the ability to actually try to make you break your god damn hardware with what has become the ultimate evolution in the most unfortunate of design choices, the QTE. Oh did I also mention that you can only carry one gun? And that item spawns are permanent? Yup, you can actually find multiple guns, instead of there being only one with limited ammo. Because for some reason, your character is too stupid to be able to carry more than one fire arm, despite being able to magically stick a shotgun to his back when he picks up a rock to throw. We can only be thankful that Konami is effectively dead so that can't release any more garbage like this.
Mar 17, 2017
8
marcelus
7.5 could be the correct score. Vatra games did something different. For bad. For good. But different. This game doesn't get the recognition it deserves yet. Maybe someday. Survival horror games are not about perfect technical aspects. And of course this is not a too scaaary game. But the world is lovely. And whatever has rain. I would be interested.
Dec 12, 2016
10
maugeish
This game is absolutely fantastic and unfortunately way underrated everywhere. This game is horror and suspense, beauty and disturbing, hope and fear. Perfect
Aug 25, 2016
4
Vitoner
Graphics are meh. Soundtrack is meh. The plot makes no sense. The combat is clunky. Monsters are uninspired. There are several technical issues such as framerate drops and freezing. The save system is awful. Its way of being original is to copy (badly) Silent Hill 2. Still, it's one of the best games post Silent Hill 4.
Apr 13, 2016
8
Carlitoxic
Ok, I know that this game has serious problems with the framerate and it does that it plays uncomfortable, but... It´s the best Silent Hill from Silent Hill 1 and 2. The best ambiance, story and art direction. If you can forgive the horrible down of framerate you will play a the third great Silent Hill.
Jun 30, 2015
10
medik
Downpour holds some great ideas, good visuals and fun gameplay (except the combat). I don't generally get scared by horror games but Downpour is terrifying but still makes me want to play more!!
May 18, 2015
6
tsakiym
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
May 13, 2015
3
Aelvir
I disagree with brabb555. I am not a hardcore SH fan. the only SH game I played was 2 and I got locked out and quit the game to return to it later. And af far as Downpour goes. It has an amazing story but is hindered by shoddy gameplay. First, the sound is horrible. Murply has the same three different lines for taking a hit and gets old fast. You could have at most 8? And the soundtrack is God Awful. Lichs knows how to ruin the ambience. he deliberately tries to (and fails) to replicate Yamaoka's style rather than generating his own tone of eerie ambience. As for the physics, Murphy's animations are horrible, doubly-so when SWINGING a weapon. Look at the Axe/Rake animation, the punching animation and the knife/cleaver animations. They all make it seem as if Murphy's disjointed, basically the only thing that moves in said animation(s) is his arms, not his shoulders, not his upper body, and even his waist never budges an inch. Honestly, if having a motion capture actor that FOREIGN to you??! And also when you try to scale staircases while being **** up by the red-blackhole and he'll just stand still and not move, just that annoying scream.
Jan 26, 2015
6
rhysmyself
I played this in 3D and not new to the series. The pace of the game lends itself very well to 3D (few opportunities to blur) and there were times where this really engrossed me. Gameplay, use of the open world, side quests and ending were all very disappointing elements. Positives: I got lost in th the 3D moment and the atmosphere, this was the greatest positive of this title. Story was quite good. I liked the idea of perishable weapons as a major element of gameplay. Negatives: Combat was exceptionally clunky, I was yelling at the game regarding collision detection when trying to get around enemies a lot. Once you put your 'psx era collision detection hat' on its not really a problem. Side quests were fully optional, I would have liked To see some integration into story better.
Jun 5, 2014
6
Ramiro1992
Okay, SIlent hill is recognized worldwide to be a complete survival horror franchise, but this game is out of place, this game don't deserve to be called Silent Hill. I found this game kind of interesting at first, and i know that this release retains at least some of the "true horror", but it's only a very small portion. I found this game bad designed, you don't have a decent weapon in all the **** game! The bullets you can find are only few and are not even enough to kill the half of the enemies that appears. The original silent hill have twice or three times the ammount of ammo and weapons. Imagine this situation, shooting enemies is very cool, but you are obligated to use melee weapons over and over again, like the axe, the combat is very repetitive and lame. Sometimes there's no horror at all, the open world just ****. This game should be linear like the first silent hill. What the hell happened with the inventory design? looks like the design is too generic. This "game" dissapoints me in almost every way, and i think the Silent Hill franchise is almost dead, PLEASE SOMEONE BRING BACK THE SURVIVAL HORROR TO SILENT HILL.
Feb 12, 2014
7
Mattaclysm
One of the more under rated games out there, adding an exploration aspect as well as different side quests to go along with the main story is a welcome sight to the Silent Hill series. Would definitely like to see more survival horror games created with this aspect.
Nov 20, 2013
8
Krizuwe
Lo primero que me impactó, desagradablemente, fueron los bugs de relentizaciones escalonadas, impensables en un juego de Playstation 3, unos bugs que joden muchisimo, bueno ni que decir tiene que eso le resta muchisima credebilidad al juego, sobre los graficos...cumplen, no es nada del otro mundo, pero pueden mejorar, el sonido es lo mejor del juego, la musica y las voces y gritos durante el juego llegan a impactar bastante, lo del maletin arriba y lo lento que es al elegir lo que quieres utilizar, es algo que te llega a irritar bastante, el modo historia empieza espectacular, pero a lo largo de la historia se desinfla totalmente, el ambiente del juego te mete en la historia y hay verdaderos momentos de miedo, el juego en si cumple bastante mas de lo que llegue a pensar en un principio, superando a muchos de miedo, pero el juego al final se vuelve algo tosco y sin sentido, haciendo que la tematica se vuelva algo estupida e irrelevante, la jugabilidad es penosa, los monstruos te pegan siempre, te cubras o no, tu les das una vez cuando ellos ya te dieron tres, algo penoso para un juego de Playstation 3, dicho esto, termino mi analisis diciendo que si quieres pasar miedo, este juego no te decepcionara.
Nov 7, 2013
8
unluckydice
an underrated game for sure, although it may have it's flaws, when it comes to gameplay, it makes up for in top notch voice over, horrific atmosphere and A chilling soundtrack.
Aug 23, 2013
8
Maniacaca
This is another franchise that changed, and everybody suddenly hates it. This SH game is one of the best in a wave of mediocrity, and I wish Book Of Memories could have learned from it. The gameplay is third person, but Vatra managed to keep it clunky enough to be a horror game, but not frustratingly bad. The enemies are a little generic, but most relate to Murphy's psyche. Murphy is actually quite an interesting character, and your ending changes what really happened to him, as his backstory is kept mysterious to the player. The town of Silent Hill looks fantastic, and is exactly how SH should look. The sidequests are fun and varied, but the rewards aren't all that great (Apart from a trophy, a gun or a melee weapon's all you get) The combat is awkward, but that's what makes it tense. Murphy isn't a good shot with a gun either. The story is very good, although it did confuse me on my first playthrough. My only real complaints are the infamous framerate and glitches. Apart from that, this is one of my favourite SH games.
Aug 4, 2013
8
hellkt
Firstly I found this game very annoying, but now now I'm starting to like it after I gave it a chance. The combat system is terrible but hey its silent hill!
Jun 23, 2013
6
Jouna92
Downpour tried and failed to be a true SH game. The most frustrating thing about Silent Hill Downpour isn't the lousy combat, dull exploration, or even the technical gaffes. SH downpour's story is stupid and confusing(not in the good way. You can't make any sense in it), technical issues are every where, bugs.. The game provides few good scenes and tries to create something new(example: rain replaces fog). But in the end you don't want to visit this town.
Jun 20, 2013
9
Psychosys
Pros: Genuinely scary, with a very tense and foreboding atmosphere. Classic Silent Hill combat, puzzles, and exploration. Fans of the series will likely enjoy this game. Cons: Poor musical score, the absence of Akira Yamaoka's composition is disappointing. Side missions are generally uninteresting and not very rewarding. Storyline is very good but not great. Other: Make sure your brightness setting is set correctly in the game or you will not get the full experience.
Jun 17, 2013
8
SilentINU
Exploring Murphy's head and uncovering is story was great, some unexpected story twists helped the plot too. This is one of my favorite Silent Hill game and i don't matter the critic score, or people saying this series is dead. I believe that with this awesome game it will recover and i still wish for a Silent Hill game with the quality of the second or the third. This one really beats Silent Hill Homecoming. Only bad thing in this game was some technical problems like glitches and incredibly messed auto saving loading. But it is a 8 in my opinion would be 9 but i take 1 point due to the technical problems (0.5 points) and for the bad design of some monsters and the lack of epic boss fights that we had in previous games (0.5 points).
May 17, 2013
9
nerrstyBthirsty
IN DEPTH, LONG REVIEW: In Silent Hill Downpour, you play as convict Murphy Pendleton. Though you don't know why he's in prison, you do see that he deserves to be there. After a particularly brutal scene in a shower that serves as the game's combat tutorial, Murphy is being transferred to another prison when the bus transporting him and a half dozen or so other inmates crashes and tumbles down the side of a hill. Unfortunately for Murphy, this takes him into the dreary monster infested town of Silent Hill. It may sound like a simple start to a story, and that's because it is. The beauty of this opening is that, much like Silent Hill 1 & 2, you don't have to know the lore of Silent Hill. You don't have to know its tropes, its back story, or anything about it at all, really. All you have to know is that you're Murphy Pendleton, and strange things are afoot in the quaint titular town. This is all the exposition needed, and it lets itself be known from the beginning. The way this story is told is absolutely excellent. Instead of having cutscene after cutscene after cutscene, you piece most of it together yourself through different newspaper articles, in-game storytelling and your own wit. It's quite simply one of the best executions of storytelling I've seen in any video game ever. Period. Story isn't all that's here, though. While it may be one of the huge draws to the game for me, personally, the gameplay here is just as good as any Silent Hill deemed a classic. You wander through the beautifully rendered yet unnerving town with one simple objective; Escape from Silent Hill. Things aren't so simple, though. Most roads are closed off, or worse, simply missing; leaving nothing but an impossible chasm in the distance. As Murphy, you have to traverse your way through this meticulously detailed town to escape. That's your motivation, and with monsters, black hole entities wanting to swallow you, and characters that would seem "off" to any sane person, it's quite a good goal for Murphy and in turn, the player, to have. Thankfully since this town, while not exactly huge, is extensively detailed, you'll have a blast exploring, solving puzzles, collecting items and searching for that perfect weapon to take down the, admittedly, terribly designed monsters with. Even with poor monster design, the game is absolutely filled to the brim with frightening moments. From monsters jump scares to the eerie sounds of cries in sparsely lit apartment buildings, there are a lot of moments packed in that either made my skin crawl or jump out of my seat. This used to be a normal occurrence in the PS1 days, but the reason it's so noteworthy here is because horror games simply aren't made like this anymore. The atmosphere is downright creepy, and sometimes you really will feel unnerved. This is what survival horror is supposed to feel like, and I applaud Konami for taking this direction with the series again. Downpour feels like, if anything, a modernized version of the first 3 Silent Hill games with a much more realistic behaving protagonist. Through playing, Murphy will say things that you, the player, are probably thinking yourself. He gets frustrated when the oddball cast of characters aren't being straight with him, curious when it comes to puzzles, or absolutely frightened when a monster jumps out at him. This is extremely effective, since I felt I haven't empathized with a character in a Silent Hill game this much, ever. I felt bad for Harry in the first game. I thought James, in the end, was a bad person in the second game. Murphy Pendleton ended up being one of my favorite Silent Hill protagonists of all time due to this reason, and VATRA games deserves to be credited for all of their amazing work on this guy. The game, as a whole, looks great. The lighting effects are gorgeous, as are the main character models. Murphy himself moves realistically, and even the way his clothes move (particularly his prison outfit in the beginning of the game) looks absolutely wonderful. It's a very realistic look that payed off. However, in taking that realistic design choice, parts of the game get the short end of the stick. The framerate for instance, in particular areas can literally stutter along. Texture pop in is commonplace. The former can become quite a problem, even leading to some freezes, but the latter, not so much. Much like the bad monster design, these are terrible blemishes on an otherwise near-perfect survival horror outing. Silent Hill Downpour is a game that deserves to be played. It quickly seems to be fading into obscurity, and it seems people are willing to dismiss it based on the merit that it's a newer Silent Hill game, but even with its problems and bad reputation, Silent Hill downpour is the only new classic feeling survival horror game I've played within at least 5 or more years. With outright amazing storytelling and a dauntingly detailed world, Downpour is going to live on as an underrated cult classic.
Jan 26, 2013
8
Zaimon93
The characters of Silent Hill: Downpour are Murphy Pendleton (David Boyd Konrad), a prison inmate who has been incarcerated for several years in a correctional facility for stealing a police cruiser and crossing state borders. Officer Anne Cunningham (Kristin Price), who holds a grudge against Murphy; corrections officer George Sewell (Joel Bernard), a corrupt man who uses his position to get away with murder; Corrections officer Frank Coleridge (Leer Leery), an honest man who sees good in Murphy; and Pat Napier (John Grace), Murphy's former neighbor, a pedophile and child killer. Murphy Pendleton makes a deal with corrupt officer George Sewell to gain access to sequestered pedophile, Pat Napier, and murder him. Later, Murphy is sent to another penitentiary under the supervision of officer Anne Cunningham. The transport vehicle is forced to swerve off road to avoid a chasm in the road. Which happens to crash in to the town of Silent Hill, a town where fear and torment are inescapable. In my opinion it actually feels more like a movie, but fits the dark and gritty Silent Hill series. The controls in Downpour feels like it's dated, the combat is usually very hard and clunky, but the clunky part feels right for Murphy, I mean he is not a trained mercenary. Most of the enemies feel like creatures I have seen in other games. There is lots of sidequests to take to keep you going for a couple of hours, and puzzles which usually takes time to figure out. It certainly looks good for an 2012 game, but it does not play very well. Every save point the screen tears, it has few notable lags that will annoy you, and even textures takes their time popping in. This isn't as much of a problem on the Xbox 360 though. Silent Hill looks as it should, broken down and abandoned, and of course the gorgeus lightning effects helps to build the fantastic atmosphere. The sound in Downpour is the greatest part of the game. It sets an atmosphere that you cannot compare to any other game in the series. Voice acting is also great, for the most part, some characters just feel like dead stereotypes. Soundtrack in the game are masterfully executed by Daniel Licht. Silent hill begs to be explored in Downpour. When you have finished your first playthrough and begin your second one, you can find stuff from your first, cool (and unlocks the trophy/achievment diggin' up the past). You can turn up puzzle dificulty to make it more intriguing. Downpour should be played at least twice, as there is several endings. Vatra games could have waited and polished Downpour a little more before releasing it, but it has done what I was hoping for, it has restored the cold sweaty fear to the series, that feeling you get that someone is always following you around. Downpour isn't beautiful and it has some technical difficulties (Mostly with the PS3), but it does tell an amazing story and will put you on the edge of your seat. Even with all it's flaws, it's still a path worth treading.
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