Silent Hill: The Short Message (2024 Video Game) User Reviews

A step in the right direction at least...

[johnfrom2002 · 6/10 · 1 February 2024]

Definitely the best "Silent Hill" thing that has come out since PT, which was now about 10 years ago. And still, it's nowhere near as nuanced, subtle and terrifying as that short demo.

This gets off to a pretty awful start. It has the main character narrating and commenting on every little thing in a very "breathy" tone that gets incredibly annoying. All the bullying and trauma themes are shoved down your throat with no care to actually make it matter to the story or characters, more just to be edgy. Honestly, it was nice looking but wholly uninteresting and hollow. However, the last two thirds of the game pick up considerably, taking obvious inspiration from the previous "PT", as well as a dash of "Shattered Memories" which was nice to see. I think it actually improved upon the chase formula of "Shattered Memories", and made for some effective terror. The music and monster design were of course great, because Yamaoka and Ito came back to work on both for this game. And it takes a while, but the story does end up having somewhat of a point and message, and they do add a level of care to the heavy themes further into the game.

This game is more or less screaming for subtlety. It has a decent story at the helm, and some good ideas, but needed to explore it without being so obvious about everything. Overall, it's a mixed bag, but a step in the right direction. I hope this will be a launching pad to actually revive the name of Silent Hill.

So close to being very good

[kitsuneekate · 6/10 · 5 February 2024]

This new free silent hill game that just dropped is actually pretty good. It's got some great bits and some cringe moments. I'll go over the great moments first. The music by Akira Yamaoka is once again trippy ambient beauty. I just love his music and he doesn't disappoint in this again. The game it's self looks fantastic. Loved looking at all the graffiti and illustrations. Thought the endless hole where the girls killed themselves was a great throwback to the original silent hill games. Also loved the monster design by Masahiro Ito is so original and sinister. The. Chase sequence was tense and scary. The story telling was dark and interesting. Also loved the concept of Anita being trapped in a endless cycle of purgatory. Now onto the bad bits. I got a bit confused why this was called silent hill.it was set in Germany and there was a note at the end of the game called Silent Hill Phenomenon that linked it." those affected suddenly claim to see fog even on fair-weather days-and lose consciousness shortly after" It felt a bit like a bit of a stretch. I think it would of been fine if they had set it in silent hill and then Anita memory appeared from home. Also the teenagers every time they spoke I wanted to eye roll with Emo cringe. I think the story was fine but just could of been written a little better probably with a bit more subtly. But it was pretty good and I'm super excited to see what Konami do in the future.

Glad it's Free

[zekewiggins · 6/10 · 29 March 2024]

Sony randomly announced and released this game at their state of play event. Silent Hill has been a genre defining horror IP since the 90s, this game unfortunately does not live up to that level of quality the series once had, that being said, there is value in this game, especially since it's completely free of charge. The story is very dark, revolving around heavy themes of suicide, self-harm/hatred, abuse, and bullying, to the point where the suicide hotline and a warning is posted on the screen multiple times. However is does have a somewhat satisfying ending, the fact that it is short and free really helps make this worth playing, if it were any longer or costed anything more than $5 I could not recommend it. If you have 3 hours and a PlayStation 5, this Short Message from Silent Hill may be worth your time, and get you warmed up for Silent Hill 2 Remake later this year (2024 if anyone in the future is reading).

Cringy, Edgy and Tiresome

[isaacwest-66001 · 2/10 · 3 February 2024]

The short game takes on the very serious subject of suicide. I've been suicidal before so I get it, I'm not tone deaf to the message. But the story, which is probably 95% of the game, was so bad. The story made no point to make you connect to Anita, the character you play as, and she quickly and consistently comes off as pathetic, annoying, and edgy (the bad kind). I rolled my eyes everytime she spoke, and the voice acting was bad. I don't think that's the actress' fault though, the reason it was so bad was because every word was very breathy, and that's probably a director's choice. I was so glad when it was over.