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[Bartski]

So I've been chipping away at Silent Hill: Homecoming, widely hailed as the worst Silent Hill, on Steam Deck during my time on the road, reaching end credits last night.

How bad was it? Tl:dr - bad but not as bad as I expected.



Setting up controls was a nightmare, playing with screen prompts all messed up was a test of endurance but I pushed through.

I did not hate the combat. It's the only SH game with some actual enemy hit reactions, connecting animations, visible gory damage and weapon finishers.



I remember my first nurse encounter thinking this is actually way better than I remember other SHs.
A feeling that stuck with me all the way till I got into fights where mastering the award winning jankiest of all time dodge mechanic was a requirement.

No actually that was earlier - when first encountering a monster called Smog, described in the design document as the enemy whose sole purpose is to break the players balls and make everyone just hate the game. Yes there is a trick to it you need a gun for but I looked it up way too late.

Boss designs are quite alright tho, highlight being the porcelan doll monster you have to mash the exterior of exposing flesh for damage.



Speaking of looking things up - The puzzles were just horrible with the attic sliding block puzzle taking the cake and actually making me reload earlier save, twice. How can anyone do the final 3 without google - I don't know and I don't wanna know.

The story makes no sense for the most part and falls flat trying to pull themes from SH2, and the whole game feels like the cutscenes and gameplay were done in isolation. Everyone keeps talking about missing people with no mention of fucking skinned dogs running around, "hey I'm just looking for my brother" says Alex after hacking through a bunch of crawling faceless monsters like it's another day in the office.

I did enjoy myself playing, but then again, I do have a penchant for janky-ass bad survival horror

5/10

I just started SH4 The Room, lets see how that goes.

 

[RagnarokIV]

Puzzles are crap, combat is crap, game overall is mega crap.

I got bored and lost interest back in the day so recently replayed it on normal (I originally went for hard). Used a guide for the last few puzzles.

Combat basically doesn’t work. Your best bet is to just use the knife and spam light attacks to stun lock enemies (before they stun lock you). The scissor hand monsters are shit and break the dodge and combo system.

The flapping willy monsters are funny.

At least it had actual monsters though, instead of Downpour that just had a bunch of blokes who punch you.

 

[Bloobs]

Never played it nor intend to. I liked Downpour

 

[Bartski]

The scissor hand monsters are shit and break the dodge and combo system.

you can stunlock those too by doing L2, sidestep/dodge to the right, light attack with the axe, repeat.

 

[GrayChild]

Homecoming is my number 1 game I hate that I occasionally replay, even if to just make fun of it.

- The story rips off SH2 and it does so incredibly poorly. Even going so far as to shoehorn friggin' Pyramid Head!
- The stuff taken directly from the movie feels really out of place. Someone remind Double Helix that the whole Centralia, Pennsylvania thing was never in the games.
- The prison in the end might be the single worst area in a Silent Hill game I've seen, and I've played every installment there is. It's like a dollar store Nova Prospekt with some god-awful cutscenes taken straight from Hostel.
- The puzzles suck and are overly easy.
- The combat can be described in one sentence - "stunlock or be stunlocked". This is especially true for the final boss. Also, the first weapon that you find (the knife) is pretty much the most useful one for the entire game.
- The art direction is just drab and boring. Apparently their idea for creating oppressive atmosphere is to make everything grey, with some shades of bright orange in the Otherworld.
- Also, the worst PC port in the series. I can install SH2, 3 and 4 from my original CDs and they'll run fine out of the box without any other mods (even if they don't support widescreen resolutions).
- You can get the UFO ending on your first try! How dumb is that!?!

There's more stuff, but these are my main gripes with this travesty of the game.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Played through it recently on PC and it's okay. Serviceable, is probably the best I can say about it. Creature design is solid, especially bosses, but it's somewhat ruined by the awful combat, which is worse than previous games even if DH tried to improve upon it with combos and strafing. Making worse combat than OG SH takes real fucking skill but Double Helix managed to pull it off. The story would've been good if they weren't putting in awful fan service with pyramid head among other things. Alex is a good protagonist and fits the SH universe and his search for his younger brother is engaging and heartfelt, but unfortunately Double Helix gets stuck in cliches and tropes that the series did so much better before. If feels sometimes they were too scared to execute on their vision and resorted to put in elements they knew would satisfy SH fans, but instead it pissed them off because it's so blandly put together. They were probably hampered by fucking Konami too so not an enviable task. Akira Yamaokas music is the bomb though, but expected nothing less.

 

[Mr Hyde]

For those of you who don't know there is an unofficial patch by a guy who reverse engineered the code for the Steam version and made it 4K/60 with no crashes or glitches. It also trivializes the qte sections making for smoother gameplay.

Link

Unknownproject’s Lair.

Reverse engineering stuff.

unknownproject.github.io

Setup

 

[Bartski]

For those of you who don't know there is an unofficial patch by a guy who reverse engineered the code for the Steam version and made it 4K/60 with no crashes or glitches. It also trivializes the qte sections making for smoother gameplay.

Link

Unknownproject’s Lair.

Reverse engineering stuff.

unknownproject.github.io

Setup

Modding noob here, do those things work on the steam deck?

 

[Mr Hyde]

Modding noob here, do those things work on the steam deck?

Not sure how Steam Deck works since it has a custom OS. I did it on my ROG Ally but it's Windows so... But if you can locate the folder for the game in your Deck and access the files it should work.

 

[Badlucktroll]

Its sad konami cancelled team silents silent hill 5, which was supposed to have a fear in broad daylight with the town slowly rotting away setting along with the darkest story they ever came up with, for this. (it would have been a classic, like silent hill 2) maybe with this new silent hill initiative, someone will pick up the peices and make it

 

[Nok Su Kow]

I just used the knife for combat it quicker than most things

The actual worst Silent HIll is the vita game Book of Memories

 

[Skifi28]

I actually thought it was decent back then. Then again, it was my first and only silent hill game.

 

[Bartski]

The actual worst Silent HIll is the vita game Book of Memories

Never heard of it lemmie google that

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Doom85]

The problem is, I don’t want that sort of combat in a SH title. It takes away from the sort of horror the series goes for if I feel like the MC is doing combo attacks.

Also, the whole “justification” for the combat is that unlike all the other SH protagonists, Alex is a soldier.

Well……

Spoiler

That “justification” kind of falls apart due to the twist at the end, hmm?

Also can’t believe later in the game we fight human enemies who essentially TRASH TALK Alex. Ah yes, nothing screams Silent Hill like a human guy charming at me screaming, “gonna fuck you up!”

Also hate the environments. Most are unremarkable and some are blatantly lazy. Like the hotel, yes I know it’s a hotel, but I’m sorry, going through dozens of rooms with the exact same layout screams lazy development. Silent Hill 1 for the PS1 didn’t have this issue as most of its rooms were uniquely designed, how is a PS3 game this weak in environment variety in comparison?!

Downpour is bad too, but at least it feels like it has potential. Murphy’s story is ultimately badly executed, but at least I could see how it could have worked well unlike Alex who I felt zero reasons to give a damn about. Giving the town a semi-open world layout was nice, but it’s hindered by the awful monster designs and the game not really giving you substantial rewards for exploring a lot (Evil Within 2 did all of that FAR better). So yeah, I still consider Homecoming the worst SH game, it has a small handful of good boss designs, but beyond that it’s garbage IMHO.

 

[Bartski]

Also can’t believe later in the game we fight human enemies who essentially TRASH TALK Alex. Ah yes, nothing screams Silent Hill like a human guy charming at me screaming, “gonna fuck you up!”

LMAO yeah so true. Even funnier when they get instantly stunlocked to death with the knife, also when attacking in pairs.

 

[Itchy Tickles]

Homecoming was ok, had some nice boss designs, and had some potentionally intriguing plot points until they turned into complete nonsense. The endings were pretty fucking stupid too. As someone already mentioned, being able to get the UFO ending on your first run was completely moronic. Though I'd rather get that than the bath ending. Pyramid Head being in it (even as a dream and potential ending, if I remember correctly) was always stupid, but using the big muscular movie version, as a tie-in, was extra lazy. Saying that, they even had a cameo of a character they made from the previous game, Origins, right after it. Why was Travis still trucking in Silent Hill? Homecoming makes me smile with it's confusingly bad dumbness.

I will always love the fact that Alex needs a map..... of his own house.

For me, the worst Silent Hill, by a hair, is 3. I just hate the gameplay, enemy design, bosses, etc, but I know I'm in the minority of that, but something about it just rubbed me the wrong way, even over these other bad main entries.

 

[Doom85]

For me, the worst Silent Hill, by a hair, is 3. I just hate the gameplay, enemy design, bosses, etc, but I know I'm in the minority of that, but something about it just rubbed me the wrong way, even over these other bad main entries.

Itchy just casually woke up and chose violence!

Nah, JK, you do you, but 3 is personally my favorite SH entry (calm your shit, people, 2 is VERY close behind it).

Heather is personally my favorite SH lead, great character arc and her snarky behavior makes her unique from the other leads, the supporting cast is great, solid story, the music is god tier, the visuals are insane for a PS2 game, and it’s the most effective at delivering a terrifying atmosphere for me (they went so hard in the ambience through audio that they actually cut out the sound of a baby crying in the third floor of Brookhaven Hospital, the developers apparently just thought they were going too far in scaring the shit out of the player with these nightmarish noises).

 

[Mr Hyde]

All this talk of SH3 makes me want to replay it. It was a great entry with some of the best scares in the franchise. It was also very clever in how it was connected with SH1, leaving SH2 as a standalone arc ( which makes perfect sense given the story). Can't believe how bad SH fell after that. It had such a promising future.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I finished this when it came out and played some of the PC port. The hell house stuck with me for a while. Maybe due to AHS first season actually being decent. I wonder how the whole house sequence holds up in this day and age.

 

[PanzerCute]

The game was rather terrible but I found the story, and especially the ending, well done.

 

[Itchy Tickles]

Heather is personally my favorite SH lead, great character arc and her snarky behavior makes her unique from the other leads, the supporting cast is great, solid story, the music is god tier, the visuals are insane for a PS2 game, and it’s the most effective at delivering a terrifying atmosphere for me (they went so hard in the ambience through audio that they actually cut out the sound of a baby crying in the third floor of Brookhaven Hospital, the developers apparently just thought they were going too far in scaring the shit out of the player with these nightmarish noises).

It is still weird to me why I dislike it so much. Silent Hill (1) is my favourite, and 3 being the only game that's a sequel, and a sequel to my favourite one, I don't know what the issue is (other than some design things.) It had cool moments and a great story, but I would rather play Homecoming. It hurts my brain this is the case. 3 had Alessa and that fight, Lisa callbacks, Harry, mystery, cult, a cool but fucked monster who only appears to revive you so your character can do "that thing", man in trench coat with only pants and boots.

Homecoming had dumbness seeping out everywhere and a story that made your eye twitch with its randomness. Combat was basically attack, attack, dodge, repeat. Terrible "puzzles" - going from reading cryptic messages / environmental hints from past games, to sliding puzzles, match the wire colours, and insert the only item possible to the one possible place. A lot of games after the first few also ditched psychological horror and subtly for jump scares and lazy attempts at building up tension for a nothing pay off.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

So I've been chipping away at Silent Hill: Homecoming, widely hailed as the worst Silent Hill, on Steam Deck during my time on the road, reaching end credits last night.

How bad was it? Tl:dr - bad but not as bad as I expected.



Setting up controls was a nightmare, playing with screen prompts all messed up was a test of endurance but I pushed through.

I did not hate the combat. It's the only SH game with some actual enemy hit reactions, connecting animations, visible gory damage and weapon finishers.



I remember my first nurse encounter thinking this is actually way better than I remember other SHs.
A feeling that stuck with me all the way till I got into fights where mastering the award winning jankiest of all time dodge mechanic was a requirement.

No actually that was earlier - when first encountering a monster called Smog, described in the design document as the enemy whose sole purpose is to break the players balls and make everyone just hate the game. Yes there is a trick to it you need a gun for but I looked it up way too late.

Boss designs are quite alright tho, highlight being the porcelan doll monster you have to mash the exterior of exposing flesh for damage.



Speaking of looking things up - The puzzles were just horrible with the attic sliding block puzzle taking the cake and actually making me reload earlier save, twice. How can anyone do the final 3 without google - I don't know and I don't wanna know.

The story makes no sense for the most part and falls flat trying to pull themes from SH2, and the whole game feels like the cutscenes and gameplay were done in isolation. Everyone keeps talking about missing people with no mention of fucking skinned dogs running around, "hey I'm just looking for my brother" says Alex after hacking through a bunch of crawling faceless monsters like it's another day in the office.

I did enjoy myself playing, but then again, I do have a penchant for janky-ass bad survival horror

5/10

I just started SH4 The Room, lets see how that goes.

Silent Hill 4 has the most terrifying opening and may give you nightmares... But the game itself is a festival of unintentional comedy....

I played it several times and some of the absurd situations made me laugh a lot. And it has the best antagonist of the series, Walter Sullivan.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

By the way... Homecoming is one of the few Silent hills that I never played... I didn't have the opportunity... And in the Steam version I couldn't configure the controls.

 

[Bartski]

And in the Steam version I couldn't configure the controls.

Me neither but then I started flipping though steam deck presets and one of them just worked somewhat resembling what I assume is the intended way to control the game. Not the user recommended one and had incorrect screen prompts but I adapted

 

[Hunter 99]

Never played it nor intend to. I liked Downpour

Homecoming is better than downpour imo.downpour was pure dissapointment and I played it 12 years ago.i knew that was the end of silent hill after playing that shit. Last great silent hill was shattered memories ,although homecoming was good,not great but good.

 

[Nok Su Kow]

Never heard of it lemmie google that

I'd played a demo and thought it was trash but the dev was moaning on twitter saying the people that hated it had never played it...............so I bought it and played it through thinking it perhaps gets better and no it doesn't it's the worst Silent Hill game ever

 

[drotahorror]

I remember buyin this on PS3 and there not being an invert Y option. Never really played it.

I do have the modded version downloaded/installed right now though on Steam. Not sure if it's worth it.

I also bought Downpour and never really played it. I can play 60fps on PC now, worth playing?

I've never completed SH4 and haven't played it since it came out on ps2 either.

Is SH Origins worth a shot? I'm lookin to play through some stuff on my RP5 when it gets here eventually.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

This is my most hated game of all time, horrible fucking game.

If Silent Hill before this was David Lynch or Jacob's Ladder this is a bad DTV Hellraiser sequel, just stupid.

The only pluses are the music, even the vocal tracks though referencing the game's stupid story are good, but everything else is a dog turd, I will forever be mad that Konami shuttered Team Silent and instead released this, while I read that the actual SH5 was going to be 4's team, not 2 and 3's, which was the dream, whatever 4's team was cooking up had to be way better than this.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

I remember buyin this on PS3 and there not being an invert Y option. Never really played it.

I do have the modded version downloaded/installed right now though on Steam. Not sure if it's worth it.

I also bought Downpour and never really played it. I can play 60fps on PC now, worth playing?

I've never completed SH4 and haven't played it since it came out on ps2 either.

Is SH Origins worth a shot? I'm lookin to play through some stuff on my RP5 when it gets here eventually.

Origins is a good game, I played it on PSP and I really liked it.

Downpour is decent, I liked it despite everything.

Silent Hill 4 is a good game, but there are absurd situations and it breaks the atmosphere...

The enemies that are disappointing are the 2-Headed Baby, they show it to you as a nightmare, but when you find it it is a hilarious enemy, like the burps of the nurses.

Play SH 4 and you will laugh at the dubbing and the protagonist. The cutscenes are a MEME.

 

[Shakka43]

How anyone could think homecoming is worse than Downpour or Shattered Memories is beyond my comprehension. Hell I'd say is better than Origins too.

 

[abstract alien]

Can you play The Room and Downpour on PS5?

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

The Dramátic MEME of Silent hill 4.






2:09:56

 

[TGO]

I didn't actually mind Homecoming, and I always imagine I was playing as Dean Winchester

I like that they used the films other world transition but the other stuff not so much.

 

[Bartski]

The Dramátic MEME of Silent hill 4.






2:09:56

nolt watching this but I'm on chapter 2 and it's been really rough, game hasn't aged well to say the least. Not sure if I wanna continue

 

[havoc00]

I unironically liked Homecoming and Downpour

 

[Ultros]

It has a really good OST though. I listen to Silent Hill osts a lot. Downpour has a terrible ost though. So I don't listen to it.

 

[Muffdraul]

Was this the first of the non-Team Silent games that came out after SH4? I tried whichever one that was on Xbox 360, I tried the weird SH1 sort-of-remake on Wii... I couldn't stick with either them for more than a couple hours each, I haven't touched a new Silent Hill since.

Cannot fucking wait for SH2.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

The absurde adventures of Silent hill 4.

 

[Bartski]

The absurde adventures of Silent hill 4.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

Can't believe anyone would defend this, the graphics are butt ugly, the story is stupid, the combat is stupid, there's no scares, there's literally nothing to like here.

Silent Hill 2 and 3 are some of the greatest works of art in gaming, this was a dumb cash in on the movie.

Origins is bad too solely for it's stupid story written by people that didn't understand SH1's story at all, pure fanfiction nonsense best ignored.

 

[kiphalfton]

Was a nightmare to play... mainly as it's broken on PC.

 

[Bartski]

Was a nightmare to play... mainly as it's broken on PC.

in what way? As I said setting up controls was pain but the game seems to work just fine

 

[K' Dash]

I also like SH3 more than 2.

They should have remade the original Silent Hill.

I need to play The Room.

 

[makaveli60]

I loved it, never understood the hate.

 

[kiphalfton]

in what way? As I said setting up controls was pain but the game seems to work just fine

I had to do most (if not all) the fixes in the PC Wiki, and it still didn't seem to work as intended.

Main issues I recall was with the map displaying inccorrectly, action prompts being messed up, having issues disabling film grain, and then graphical issues (when switching from Nvidia graphics card to AMD graphics card mid game and the game).