Did anyone try Silent Hill: The Short Message? [Gonna be spoilers]

I had to compare it to P.T. because of the nature of the drop, and the franchise, so I came in with low expectations. It was alright. The story and theme were better than what I expected. Of course it's a bit cornball because it's the horror genre and that just comes with the territory, but the theme of self harm and self hate was dark and evocative. It was interesting that they took you through the mind of someone with a negative mindset and terrible upbringing, and their group of friends.

It lasts an hour or two, and the range of areas and story beats are more substantial than what you got in P.T., but the mysterious nature and phenomenon that surrounds P.T. is not going to show up here IMO. It seems straightforward in its presentation, and seems to reach some sort of conclusion. I'm not sure how a main game will jump off from this, or if the characters will show up in anything else. It seems like it's just setting up the idea of the curse.

The graphics were ok, but not as detailed or complex as some of the more ambitious games of this generation. The frame rate hovered around 50-60, in-game, but for some reason they chose to go for 30fps in some cutscenes even though there doesn't seem to be any technical reason for it. Overall everything worked well and I didn't experience any bugs. The motion capture and character models seem standard and clearly fall short of what Kojima is doing. I thought the mix of real footage and in-game was not a bad idea, but there's more of a disconnect because the lips are not matching on the videos while they do on the in-engine stuff.

It's making me take the new Silent Hill games a bit more seriously, because it seems like a real effort compared to the other stuff that Konami have put out lately, including the MGS3 in-game trailer which sunk my hopes for that. Konami isn't the greatest company, but they have some good franchises and I want good games to be made using those.

Hopefully this is a good sign...

So what do y'all think?

I'll add that I thought some of the details were cool, like your character getting shorter and shorter while going through the house where she grew up. There was some inspired stuff. Did anyone look in the refrigerator when the door was open? I felt like I didn't want to have any images of what you think would be there (your dead brother), but I had to, just to completely experience the game. I thought it was interesting that a game would make me feel that way. I wonder if being a parent made me more connected to the experience, but either way it worked. And the stuff the mom went through and did was twisted AF, clearly there is something wrong and the abuse handed down through generations has materialized in a sick way in that individual. It's a dark look into the minds of what some people in reality unfortunately do and it was hard to witness even in an abstracted way.

Anyway I'm not sure what all this is going to have to do with Silent Hill and what it's setting up, but as its own thing it had an impact.

3/10 on GS, but, kinda oddly, the fans really seem to like it. I just downloaded it, might play tonight. Give my opinion then.

@nod_calypse: Oh thanks, I didn't realize there was a review up. 3/10! That made me laugh! Clearly the reviewer felt like this s*** on their childhood or something. Anyway they've got a right to their opinion.

The reviewer mentioned something I thought they got wrong however: I don't agree that there is a right/wrong path during the chase, clearly sometimes you need to kite the monster around some areas so that you can quickly go the other way and get past it to reach beyond where the monster came from.

No. It looks quite awful to me.

The SH2 remake looks awful too. The new one will most likely also be awful. Wish they'd stop making anything Silent Hill instead of just detroying it further.

I'm not sure why it's so hard for them. SH fans knows what they want, why doesn't the makers of SH? Does SH sell more when it's shit? Guess it's kinda like Sonic. Crap, but continues and sells anyway.

@nod_calypse said:3/10 on GS

Maybe it wasn't short enough?

Its on my playlist for this weekend..

3-10

Sony exclusive too,chin up cows it's...

Its a good thing it's free, because is game flopped HARD. 3/10... oof.

Or not message enough. Either/or.

I was hoping for opinions from people who actually played it, maybe I should have posted in the Games Discussion forum but it feels like nobody uses it much.

I played the first five minutes or so, will play more tonight. Tbh, I liked it right off the bat. The graphics, atmosphere, and overall moroseness were on point, I thought.

Upon opening the game and seeing the warnings about suicide, I “noped” outta of it and deleted it forever.

I’ve had close friends succumb to their depression that it’s now a subject I do not want to invite into my free time.

@Basinboy: That sucks, I don't blame you. I usually prefer more positive material too. SH is darker than the usual horror games that are based on jump scares and fantastic scenarios.

Sorry to hear brother...

"To be like the rock that the waves keep crashing over. It stands unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it.". Marcus Aurelius

I'm on the third chase scene, and while the gameplay itself isn't terrible the story and subject matter are. I want to beat it just for the hell of it, but I really hope they keep this shit out of Silent Hill games pushing forward. It feels more like an alcoholic trash simulator with a double helping of manic depression and psychosis.

It is that bad. A real shame.

Alcoholism, depression of various kinds, not the least of which being manic, and psychosis, certainly, are themes rampant throughout the entire Silent Hill series. Sometimes even more on the nose than The Short Message.

@nod_calypse: We are going to have to disagree there (although I realize those things existed in entirely different ways, most notably the dread of feeling trapped). The way it's presented is WAY different. I'm not the one who gave the game a 3 out of 10, but I do agree with that assessment. There is a much different setting between this game and the other Silent Hill games. This has more of a PT vibe, which in of itself isn't a bad thing. However, the narrative, gameplay loop, way it's presented, live capture, bullying aspect, and slow movement and multiple suicides that play off of each other... no.

I still have the original 2 Silent Hill games and have had them since the day they originally released, they are two if my all time favorite horror type games... this isn't Silent Hill, it's a PT style woke mess and that reflects in the scores.

@WitIsWisdom: Have you played Silent Hill 3, 4, Homecoming, Downpour, and Origins?

I remember when this series was the king of fucked up shit in video game narratives. That was a while ago. I wasn't expecting anything actually good, but holy shit this was so bad.

The writers of this game are poopie headed silly billies.

@vl4d_l3nin: Well, it's not Team Silent material. Nothing will ever beat SH 1-4.

Still, I'm really digging little miss petalhead.

Why bother? Anything and everything coming out of Konami is guaranteed to be dogshit, and no exceptions either.

@hardwenzen: If they're gonna dig out of the hole they're in, they have to start somewhere.

@nod_calypse: Fair enough, I haven't played every Silent Hill game. With that said I think there are only a couple I still need to play, but if they were like that.... woof.

When I think of Silent Hill that isn't what comes to mind... of course when I think of Final Fantasy what we have now isn't what I picture either.

Who said they want to dig out of the hole? They don't even have the talent to do anything.