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Silent Hill: The Short Message | Review Thread

Draugoth

Gold Member
Silent-Hill-The-Short-Message.jpg



Platform: PS5
Release: 1/31/2024
Publisher: Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
Genre: Horror

Trailers:

Silent hill: The Short Message (Launch Trailer) | State of Play

Following messages from her friend Maya, Anita finds herself at a crumbling apartment block, infamous for rumors of suicides.
Drawn inside, Anita soon finds her sense of reality shattered as she encounters bizarre, otherworldly spaces, haunted by a twisted monster.
Maya's message was clear — "can't leave til you find it" — but what is it that Anita is really looking for?

An all-new, modern SILENT HILL experience, powered by the latest in game technology, now available free to play exclusively on PlayStation® 5.



MetaCritic - 47/100 (Based on 5 Reviews) - 6.8/20.0 Based on User Scores:

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Critic Reviews:

Screen Rant - 80/100
For a free game that shows the first glimpse of what Konami is truly going to do with the franchise, Silent Hill: The Short Message is absolutely worth experiencing.
GamesRadar+ - 6.0/10.0
Silent Hill: The Short Message is an interesting, if not amazing rebirth for the series that proves it can be reanimated for a modern audience. Atmospheric and full of potential it bodes well for future instalments.
MetrogamesCentral - 4.0/10.0
Another disappointing Silent Hill revival, that gets some of the visuals and tone right but is let down by a hackneyed script and frustrating chase sequences.
PushSquare - 4.0/10.0
Incredibly bland gameplay and some overly frustrating chase sequences make Silent Hill: The Short Message a chore to play much of the time. While there are some intriguing full-motion cutscenes and heavy story details, they're not worth pushing through the dull sequences in between to experience them. Silent Hill: The Short Message is completely free, though, so all it's asking for is 90 minutes of your time to see if you enjoy it more than us.
Gamespot - 3.0/10.0
The Short Message is desperate to be understood and devoid of novelty, leaving no room for interpretation, no sense of lingering mystery, and no strong impression for anyone who may be playing a Silent Hill game for the first time. Its unintended short message ends up feeling unfortunately obvious: Do not download.
 

Nankatsu

Member
Just bury Silent Hill.

It will never reach Resident Evil godtier treatment, specially with how good RE Engine is.
 
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MaKTaiL

Member
I liked the graphics and hated it at the same time. Environment is good, character animation is sh*t. Sub 30fps didn't do it any good either. As for the game itself, teenage drama from the 2000's. The last monster encounter was the only tense part of the game IMO. Definitely a rough and unpolished game. 5/10.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Just bury Silent Hill.

It will never reach Resident Evil godtier treatment, specially with how good RE Engine is.

You cant improve Silent Hill the way that classic Res Evil has been improved by refining its combat and de-cheesing (somewhat) its silly, campy storyline.
 

xrnzaaas

Member
Quality over quantity. They should've put all effort in releasing one game developed by an experienced studio and with good chances of getting 8+ scores. That's how you revive interest in an almost forgotten IP and sell millions of copies allowing to proceed forward.
 
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Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
I thought it looked underwhelming, but is it honestly THAT bad? Jesus. Kind of hard to believe it's really a 4.

I downloaded it but didn't bother to start it yet. This makes me want to check it out.
 
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I feel really fucking bad for Silent Hill fans.

But I don't feel bad for people who saw the obvious red flags, and kept saying "You guys are being too negative" and whatever. Dismissing criticism.

Me and many people kept saying that besides MAYBE Silent Hill F, everything else was going to be the same "Konami pissing and shitting on SH's grave" routine.
And Konami proved us right. And will mostly likely continue to do with 2 Remake as well.

But... People somehow forget how bad and out of touch the company that canceled P.T. is. The one game that had everything going for it to be one of/THE best and most creative horror games ever made.
 
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Shame to see the really negative reviews.

I still need to finish it but I really enjoyed the experience of playing it. The narrative/script is pretty awful, just too ham fisted. That's such an easy fix, get someone to write a good script. SH borrowed so heavily from Jacob's Ladder. If they want a teen route take some inspiration from Donnie Darko or something similar. The Netflix style shoved down your throat grief porn is just unbearable to me. I could never play a full length game with that kind of story delivery.
 
they tried to replicate P.T. but this shadow drop went like a fart in the wind. Damn. i wish they cancelled SH2 remake. The only hope is SH f....but at this rate things are not looking good.
Yeah, It's looking like they should have just left this franchise in the graveyard. Konami just wanted that easy Capcom and Square Enix money.
 

Bartski

Gold Member
I almost quit at the first FMV . FMV died in the 90s, leave it there. I'll take jankiest character modeling possible over it any day.

But I did push through beat it in one sitting. Not absolutely horrible but calling it a "return to form" just shows how deep this franchise has fallen down the shitter.

Walking sim horror with monster chase sections. Mentions "silent hill" once in a collectible note. Core theme is suicide but it's 2024 so it hits you over the head with safety warnings and helpline links roughly every 30 minutes just to make sure everyone is safe. Thanks Konami I'm doing ok. This brand, however, far from it.
 

Heimdall_Xtreme

Hermen Hulst Fanclub's #1 Member
I already finished it and I will give my honest opinion.

The game is good and it is good that it was free, although it does not include trophies....

After more than a decade of not playing a SIlent Hill, the protagonist didn't seem bad to me, but the story lacked a lot of development, there are illogical moments in the game, where you communicate with your friends and write so calmly, even though you are in an unreal place and with an enemy lurking. Another negative point I give is that Silent Hill is supposed to be a town in the United States and the identity of the series is that the characters go to that place for various reasons to face their fears. Psychological, I didn't like the fact that the fog spread to other countries or that's what I understood from the story.

The Bully plot is good and interesting but poorly executed.

The problem with Short Message is that they tried to fix or put P.T.'s ideas. But this game has a graphics downgrade and it doesn't feel scary and it doesn't feel like a Walking simulator either.

The story that the protagonist does not remember and for the convenience of the script remembers and it is a plot twist, feels predictable... But Anita's model seems pretty to me.

And the design of the stage and enemy is good, but in the final segment of the game I even felt dizzy from the chase, maybe it was me, but the game itself I would rate it from 6.5 to 7. It's not bad, but it's not the P.T. which was thought to be at the end.
 
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I never say this about any review but I just finished it about an hour ago and the GameSpot review reflected my experience word-for-word and the score accurately reflects this.

Also, how is this game getting 30fps even tanking at moments in a LINEAR game with barely any interactivity?
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Wasn't this mainly made at Hexadrive, an external contractor?
They was a support studio, but this was made internally and produced by Motoi Okamoto who used to be at Nintendo.
That's the guy that heading the whole Silent Hill series at the moment with Masahiro Ito and Akira Yamaoka.
I think GamesRadar+ - 6.0/10.0 and comments are about right and the rest are just being a little too harsh considering what trash those sites have rated higher.
It's not amazing, but it's not that bad either.
 
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I already finished it and I will give my honest opinion.

The game is good and it is good that it was free, although it does not include trophies....

After more than a decade of not playing a SIlent Hill, the protagonist didn't seem bad to me, but the story lacked a lot of development, there are illogical moments in the game, where you communicate with your friends and write so calmly, even though you are in an unreal place and with an enemy lurking. Another negative point I give is that Silent Hill is supposed to be a town in the United States and the identity of the series is that the characters go to that place for various reasons to face their fears. Psychological, I didn't like the fact that the fog spread to other countries or that's what I understood from the story.

The Bully plot is good and interesting but poorly executed.

The problem with Short Message is that they tried to fix or put P.T.'s ideas. But this game has a graphics downgrade and it doesn't feel scary and it doesn't feel like a Walking simulator either.

The story that the protagonist does not remember and for the convenience of the script remembers and it is a plot twist, feels predictable... But Anita's model seems pretty to me.

And the design of the stage and enemy is good, but in the final segment of the game I even felt dizzy from the chase, maybe it was me, but the game itself I would rate it from 6.5 to 7. It's not bad, but it's not the P.T. which was thought to be at the end.
So, the score is a burrito out of Kat?
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I kept thinking of 13 Reasons Why on Netflix while playing this. I hope they have something special planned for Silent Hill f. I don’t honestly dig the whole teenage drama and maybe that’s because I lived through a teenager’s suicide back in high school. I like the idea of referencing Silent Hill more than this dramatic style of internal dialogue.
 

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
this game is so bad im not sure whether to complete or not.

i really hate the narrative design in this game.
 

Doom85

Gold Member
I kept thinking of 13 Reasons Why on Netflix while playing this. I hope they have something special planned for Silent Hill f. I don’t honestly dig the whole teenage drama and maybe that’s because I lived through a teenager’s suicide back in high school. I like the idea of referencing Silent Hill more than this dramatic style of internal dialogue.

Silent Hill F is being written by this guy:


Now I haven’t played the visual novels he’s written, but I did see the anime adaptation of Higurashi, and while it can be over the top with its violence, there is some really good ambience at times, and a compelling mystery driving the overall story. I’ve not seen Umineko, but apparently while the anime adaptation of it is messy, the original visual novel is compelling according to most.

A “Silent Hill” title taking place in a place that isn‘t Silent Hill and won’t even resemble the sort of town design Silent Hill has is baffling, but I have faith he’ll come up with something clever.

Fire Love GIF by Space Riders
 
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TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
I thought we already agreed that the events of Silent Hill are not exclusive to Silent Hill, did people forget SH4 and 3 for that matter
 
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