Jakesymbol

One of the boldest, most dizzying and unsettling horror game narratives ever written. The story in the second half makes up for the first half’s sometimes awkward and frustrating combat, plus interest. This game could have removed the ‘Silent Hill’ from its title, but that would be a disservice to Silent Hill. Just like the best Silent Hill games, this is a statement on narrative video games that no other franchise can make, and it may take years for it to get the appreciation it deserves.

I honestly think this is the peak of current-gen survival horror, the culmination of what has been evolving from Resident Evil 7 to Alan Wake 2. It respectfully builds itself in those games’ image then sheds everything unnecessary, weapon upgrade systems and all, emerging with the most graceful horror gameplay of the past two console generations. Oh yeah, and it’s a remake of Silent Hill 2. It is the scariest, most moving, and most engaging AAA horror game in years all while having the fewest mechanical embellishments. There were moments in my 20ish-hour playthrough where I had complaints—wishing a puzzle or an environmental design had been approached differently—then I made it to the next set piece or cut scene and it didn’t matter. It proves that just because the franchise has been dormant doesn’t mean any other game can be Silent Hill. If you haven’t played a Silent Hill game before, this is your first one. Angela’s scenes were spectacular, by the way. I’m glad nobody planted worms in my brain before I played.

Gameplay has oddly aged worse than that of the first 3 titles. The story has an insanely interesting premise (an economy run by private military contactors) but is drowned out by fan service. MGS2 is the pinnacle of the series in shaping the game around its themes, boldly excising familiar characters where they don't serve the premise being explored. The most interesting aspects of MGS4 are drowned out by catch-up sessions with characters from MGS2-4 and extravagantly long cutscenes that seem to exist only for Kojima to prove he could make an action movie if given a chance.

A short, scary, moody walking simulator—go into it knowing what to expect. I appreciate this as a gesture of good will to fans and a way to respect that Silent Hill is first and foremost about cinematic horror. My complaint is that the writing is so literal and excessive, almost a quantity over quality problem. Everything going on has to be spelled out twice, while Silent Hill traditionally has been good because the storytelling was more subtle. I’m not talking about the themes, just the way they’re communicated. The other aspect of the writing I don’t like is that the dialogue, notes, and scrawlings on the walls are kind of mediocre. The English writers/regionalizers should have put more discipline and nuance into the word choice. Two examples: “sexy stuff.” Teens don’t say that. They’d say “n*des” or maybe “lewds.” And the insults used by the bullies and stuff are kind of mild and unspecific? “loser” “liar” etc. It kind of undercuts its own attempt to portray bullying. Bullying and abuse are harsh and evil, and it would have been much scarier if they hadn’t pulled their punches. I was verbally abused as a child and it was… so much meaner than this. This game could have been a whole other level of scary AND purposeful with better writing. Walking simulators are GREAT; think about Gone Home, Edith Finch, we’ve all gone to the rapture. I’m fine with a SH walking simulator and I know we’ll be getting full survival horror games. But this seems like it’s trailing behind the greats of the genre, another bright-eyed imitator, and it’s because of the writing.

I would like to generously ignore the monetization aspects of this and talk about the core experience: a tv show, more or less. Silent Hill is a monument to the cinematic potential of games, so why not an animated series created by proven artists? The gimmick at the center of Ascension, which has been at the forefront of all the show’s promotion, is that the story is shaped by community engagement. The problem is that the story—like any piece of media—has to be a valuable experience, and it’s not. It’s riddled with lazy horror cinematography tropes. The minigames and “streaming” bells and whistles are distracting and corny. It is so poorly acted that I would not be surprised if some of the voices were AI-generated. Some of the characters’ behavior is so nonsensical it’s uncanny, and not in a good way. That the show is bad—sometimes fundamentally bad—hurts enough, but the community gimmick adds a feeling of insult. It’s as if the players are viewed as such simple pieces of market data that the lofty concept of “community” would override all of our taste, that we’d be bouncing in our seats like toddlers at whatever they put in front of us as long as it had that Silicon Valley sugar coating of “community.” It’s giving “Metaverse.” It seems to have been conceived in the minds of people who discover basic humanities concepts at the age of 30 and think they’re the first ones to have heard of them. People like Silent Hill games because they’re good art, so why can’t we just get some good art?