Silent Hill returns, with the latest entry in over 12 years of silence and the first Japanese devloped game in over 20 years the franchise promises a fresh start.
Ah Silent Hill, freed from the infernal annals of the pachinko’s clutch, I see you now. It’s been a long and unignorable road of tribulations and corporate butchery to get to this point. Now to the horizon we can look, spying a fresh remake of Silent Hill 2 handled by Bloober team (Layers of Fear, Observer, The Medium), an interactive experience in the form of Silent Hill Ascension and after 12 years, the latest entry in the series, Silent hill F. But we’re here to talk about the short message. Aptly titled, it acts as a preview for the direction Konami is taking with the franchise. A short 2 hour experience formed of chase sections, with Akira Yamaoka’s score returning, Masahiro Ito back on board providing monster and otherworld designs again, it sure feels like Silent Hill’s back. A few of the old gang is here, under a new title, after the initial dissolution of the legendary Team Silent. Konami has assembled a team of their own with a few old faces returning. Creating an atmospheric, compelling and albeit rough around the edges, new experience. Silent Hill: The short message is a free to play game and on these grounds, I can safely recommend it to any preexisting Silent Hill fan. Now, if a fee were attached, or if you wish to try the franchise for the first time, is this a good entry point, or an experience worth paying for? Eh, I’ve a lot to say on that front.
Trigger warning here for topics of Self-harm, suicide, anxiety, infanticide and sexual, domestic and child abuse.
Set in the decrepitude of kettenstandt’s concrete apartment block tomb, featuring breathtakingly solemn and believable environments curated by Rika Miyatani. This location has become a site of a slew of female suicides, we take control of Anita whose sent there per request of her acquaintance, Maya. Whose worldview is outlined via the opening text. Which sees her claim “that those who betray themselves to fit into a group are pathetic”. Anita’s a loner, isolated by bullying and events from her past, serving as the player’s unreliable narrator, whose perspective we witness this story through. Implementing text conversations, FMV’s and interjectory dialogue from her mother, Anita’s life is one of tragedy and isolation. A path which has led her to this decrepitude, alone and without hope.
Now, Silent Hill: The short message deals with some incredibly heavy topics as stated above. Are these handled sufficiently, with tact and subtlety? Eh, yes and no. The game features numerous voice lines which undermine the sublime environmental storytelling. Such a vast quantity of character backstory and her trauma is denoted through the use of flashbacks, dream-logic set pieces and Anita’s otherworld experiences. Yet all of this suffers at the hand of its dialogue. Whilst admirable and earnest in its approach to said topics, the game is hampered by these potent issues. Anita’s mother bears an unfortunate similarity to performances seen in Tommy Wiseau’s The Room, reaching equally abysmal depths of bad acting at times. Oftentimes, sounding more akin to a shallow alcoholic aunty archetype in a B tier American sitcom, than a convincingly callous abuser. An issue which also permeates the game’s FMV cutscenes too. The use of voice over, concealing the actor’s on set dialogue is synced incorrectly, and is at times so blatant it’s unignorable. The FMV’s themselves are competently handled and convey a convincing narrative behind Anita, shedding light on her isolated past. The performances are fittingly hard to gauge due to this issue too, as they take a backseat to the audio issues plaguing each appearance. Though the costume design and actors chosen suit each role sufficiently, they feel underutilised, an issue primarily caused by the game’s length.
The themes of abuse are indeed admirable too. Particularly its handling of Covid, social media pressure and the like-chasing cycle that plagued even me in my late teens. Having posted my amateur photography on instagram, I can strongly relate to these themes. Indeed, it’s incredibly disheartening when a post drops in like-count when compared to prior posts. Putting yourself out there is hard at the best of times, yet when it becomes a game of attention-grabbing, it can break you. A feeling which the game encapsulates quite succinctly. Though, for its other themes, I cannot say the same. There are far too many topics which pertain to incredibly heavy human emotions to be handled with tact and be beholden to a deep exploration of said topics. It becomes a bombardment of trauma, which is dealt with wildly varying degrees of success. Yet when the environment is left to speak the game blossoms. Though as it stands, the game’s characters seem to talk so much, but say so little. Ruining any semblance of subtlety or messages the environment could possibly convey. A strength which the series had once perfected in previous entries Silent hill 1 through 3.
The return of Akira Yamaoka and Masahrio Ito does not pass by unseen here either. These are both juggernauts of their respective mediums and provide potent, touching and grotesque work to this game. Yamaoka’s score for the series has become cult in its own right, standing alone from the game. His melancholic ambiance which has developed its own artistic lifespan, spare of the franchise. Honestly, locate any Youtube video dealing with creepy or macabre subject matter and a keen ear shall hear Yamaoka’s songs hidden throughout their runtime. His work in this game is no different, for each song which appeared could be enjoyed separately. Yamaoka’s work has always possessed this crucial element for me. I write to the soundtracks for the first four game’s of the franchise frequently, listening to them when I need a melancholic touchstone to return to. As always, the score for this game is as beautiful as it’s ever been, and equally as unnerving too. The industrial inspiration lurks here, awaiting its opportunity to unnerve you, and those moment’s of peace throughout the game are bolstered by Yamaoka’s work. Never have I felt such peace and serenity in these contorted, lonesome locations.
Masahiro Ito’s return to the franchise empowers this project, raising a dangerously cliche topic beyond the trappings it could face, into a realm of artful depictions of anxiety, guilt and fear. Ito’s designs have always remained iconoclastic, for so few of his creations fall in line with genre cliches or enduring designs. Most people are aware of Pyramid head and his ensuing deification in the horror game genre. Few others perceive and translate the world as Ito has. His latest creation, the aptly-named “Sakura head” has swiftly entered into the annals of horror gaming. Both beautiful and horrifying, walking fine lines of the uncanny precipice and the human form. The inspiration of Francis Bacon lays its imprint once more. Sakura head is also animated in uncanny ways, moving as if in stop-motion, occupying some altered space of human motor functions. Fittingly oppressive, its chase sections are relentlessly terror-inducing. Yet the creature is nothing if it remains in the realms of reality, though the game’s otherworld is fittingly adorned in post it notes decrying Anita through various insults. The sheer abundance and frequency of these working in unison with the nightmare-logic Silent Hill so often weaponises, crafts a meticulously believable personal hell for Anita to free herself of.
Though, as is a saddening recurrence throughout this game, these sections are undermined by the events which take place in them. The game features 3 chase sequences which, while imbue a sense of terror, also imbue varying levels of frustration. No chase section saw me redoing it over five times. Nevertheless, I found myself running around feckless as a headless chicken during the final chase, desperately scouring the labyrinthian environment for ways to open a door. My frustration arose due to its shallow mechanics. The terror, akin to Five nights at Freddie’s, dissipates after the initial gotcha moment. Upon restarting the checkpoint, I began to willingly abide by the game’s logic and trudge through each one with little other than boredom flowing through my system.
When the environment can tell its tale, when the score enters, my woes are dispelled. Sadly, neither of these aforementioned ‘wishes’ came to fruition. The monotony of its explore then run cycle grew thin after the initial encounter. It pales in comparison to its predecessor and apparent inspiration, P.T. Though that’s not to discredit the promising signs that point towards a fittingly macabre future for the franchise. Yamaoka, Ito and Rika Miyatani craft a compellingly horrific world, which serves as a backdrop for a tale which lacks both subtlety and nuance in the exploration of its themes. With a longer run-time and a tale which is succinctly told, Silent Hill could efficiently return to its highs it once achieved so many years ago. Silent Hill F, promises a dissonant beauty which plagues a remote village, along with its dream-like settings and visuals. I’m intrigued for what’s to come, though this game serves as an ill-fitting preview, mired in issues which bring its powerful environments, art design and score culminating in an ultimately mediocre experience. Though, the experience is free regardless and should excite long-time Silent Hill fans as it did for me, though this falls short of the franchise’s former heights.
