Silent Hill: The Short Message is the first product in 12 years to release with the Silent Hill name on it, and picking up where the Silent Hill HD Collection and PS Vita title Book of Memories left off, it doesn't exactly put the series' best foot forward. Instead of a horror experience filled with inventive puzzles and consistently scary sequences, Konami — alongside developer HexaDrive — has put together a walking simulator that harkens back to when the genre was actually just about putting one foot in front of the other. It's free and roughly 90 minutes long, so the only thing The Short Message asks of you is your free time. The issue is you could just spend it playing a significantly better game.
Unrelated to past entries in the series, a new protagonist Anita and her cast of teenage friends deal with a few very heavy themes: suicide, abuse, depression, and bullying. It's discomforting enough that Konami felt the need to display a splash screen at the end of each chapter offering guidance and links to suicide hotlines in real life, so it's not a narrative to be taken at all lightly. The plot sees Anita battle her demons in an abandoned apartment building with a reputation for suicides; a sad fate that has befallen her friend Maya.
Unfortunately, there is little in the way of proper gameplay to support it. Your only interactions are walking (and in some cases running) and interacting with notes and books to read them. The game ushers you down linear hallways within the dilapidated building, revealing plot points through paintings, graffiti, and full-motion video. You then reach a point where it loops and you're back at the start, forced to explore those same rooms over again, except with new interactive elements and more paths to open up. You're never doing anything more than pushing on the left thumbstick and pressing X to have a read or touch of something; it's a walking simulator from before the genre developed into something more.
The full-motion video does at least set up some more interesting scenes — particularly after about an hour of gameplay. They're not worth the time you'll need to invest to actually reach them, but going in blind, we found ourselves somewhat intrigued by them more than anything else. They break up the minimal gameplay nicely and set up some story explanations.
The only other gameplay prompts to speak of are answering text messages (just pressing the X button to send pre-written replies) and chase sequences, which become increasingly frustrating the more you progress. During certain sections — and only in these areas — a monster will start hunting you down and you'll need to escape its clutches. This is pretty straightforward the first two times, but the third and final encounter should be a lesson in how not to do chase sequences for other developers.
You're tasked with finding multiple pictures within a maze in order to remove padlocks off a door blocking your progress, all the while the monster chases you. The environment is so non-descript and difficult to navigate that you end up running around like a headless chicken blindly searching for these images. You can never really get your bearings, and the door you need to unlock is at a dead end, so if you mess up, you've basically killed yourself. The best part is if you do fail, you have to restart the entire process all over again. It's awful.
You could say the same of the game's frame rate, which attempts a smooth 30 frames-per-second but never achieves it. General gameplay consistently hitches while you're exploring the apartment building, and then takes a nosedive during the aforementioned chase sequences. It struggles to keep up with the speed of our sprint, leading to slight input lag and missed opportunities to escape the monster.
It all makes for an experience that just isn't very good, but when The Short Message is only asking for 90 minutes of your time, it's a tad more difficult to truly slate it. We wouldn't recommend setting aside the time needed to see the game through to its conclusion — what it has to offer simply isn't worth it. However, it's free, so the barrier to entry is simply a bit of your free time. Maybe you'll find something to love.
Conclusion
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.
Comments 99
I don't get it. Did P.T. have any gameplay or did you just walk? What kind of interactions did it have that this one lacks?
@naruball I think the difference is it's not really trying to be PT. The Short Message is completely linear in its structure and there's no room for secrets, and it isn't scary. Like, there's no possible way this thing is hiding a secret game announcement or anything like that. There's not enough to it.
Maybe their goal was to make this so bad it would do really well from morbid curiosity? Does Tommy Wisseau have a cameo?
@LiamCroft hm, I see. Thanks.
"Silent Hill: The Short Message is the first product in 12 years to release with the Silent Hill name on it"
Forgot about Silent Hill: Ascension already or does that not count?
@Worlock_ed I've tried to forget about that thing!
We live in a crap timeline where P.T. is unplayable but this trash is.
Eh, I'm still going to give it a shot. I can't argue with free!
I didn't get a chance to play it last night, but hopefully get some time today.
Does this 90 minutes have to be done in a single sitting?
Thanks for the review! Was a bit interested, but now I'll skip this one.
How do you mess up a free game that was shadow dropped. Konami gotta Konami.
Silent Hill 2 Remake looked absolutely terrible aswell
@GamingFan4Lyf Nah, there are the usual auto-saves and checkpoints. No Trophies though!
Anybody who was excited about Konami getting back to making video games — or specifically Silent Hill games — has got to be feeling pretty deflated right about now.
With the Metal Gear collection being a low-effort re-release, the garbage that was Silent Hill Ascension, and now this — things are not looking good for fans of Konami properties.
I hope I’m wrong, and the teams they’ve hired to develop the rest of the titles can push through Konami’s lack of quality control.
@LiamCroft Eh, I don't care one bit about Trophies. Just glad it's not something I have to finish in one go (assume I even want to return after trying it).
This review kind of misses the point.
Duck quack 🦆 Konami blows
Free or other it’s still an entry in the canon. A tarnished one
I watched someone else play through this on Twitch so I didn’t have to - and after watching it I certainly won’t be bothering myself.
If this morbid, repetitive farce - and the abomination in all the wrong ways that is Ascension - are indicators of what Konami thinks the path forward for Silent Hill is, as a series fan I’m left both completely gutted and furious by these latest “experiences”. 😾
Hmmm… it’s getting good ratings on the PS Store. 🤔
Honestly didn’t find it too bad. There was some corny VO and theming around the high school stuff that felt pretty trite, but it also had some heavy hitting stuff as well. As for the last chase sequence can’t argue with that one being frustrating as hell. Overall I didn’t mind the 90 minutes I spent with it. That said I didn’t grow up with silent hill (no interest in horror games as a child) so I guess I have a bit less invested in it as a property.
@Phelaidar that sounds pretentious. It's a video game, teaser or not. Any artistic merit is separate from game design and performance, which is why people judge those things separately.
The multiple trigger warnings took me out of it. One at the beginning? Fine, that's the time we live in and it's a sensitive subject. Between chapters? **** that. If someone hurt themselves as a consequence of that second disclaimer not being included would the devs somehow feel responsible? Took me right out of it.
@RBMango PT still plays just fine?
Played about an hour, not really what I was expecting. I have to say the love action scenes had some of the worse dubbing I ever seen,but it's free. To bad they didn't include trophies lol.
I have no faith in Konami or Bobber team I can see Silent Hill 2 remake with a score of 40-50 on Metacritic as well as for Metal Gear 3.
Opens app, heads to storage, deletes from drive.
Cheers konami for getting the hopes up, and a bigger cheers to @LiamCroft for suffering this so i dont have to.
I mean, for a free 2hr experience it was alright. The part with the pictures was very frustrating tho. At least thematically it had similarities to Silent Hill but unless some lore is going to referenced in other titles there wasnt sny reading for this to be a Silent Hill game.
So it’s a story. Ok. But that surely makes the experience extremely subjective. Does it deal with the “heavy themes” well? I don’t mind “only” holding the left stick and pressing X any more than I mind “only” flipping the pages of a book, as long as it’s good…
Will probably give it a go as it’s free. Maybe on the Portal when I’m winding down in bed. Does it have trophies? (Edit: unfortunately no trophy challenges)
Everything Konami has made recently has ranged between mediocre to terrible, they can't even do ports of old games right. With SH2 remake I will go with the mindset that it will be mediocre and be pleasantly surprised if it turns out to be good.
@LiamCroft IGN seems to think it may be setting up the SH universe/world events at large, don't they? 😵 and two very different takes overall. Definitely worth people reading both Liam's and IGN impressions to get a full idea of what this game is.
I’m still going to give this one a try. I’m a huge Silent Hill fan, but I’ve been preparing myself for the Silent Hill games to be bad so I’m not let down. I’m hopeful for the best on the upcoming SH games, but prepared for the worst.
@Ravix Yeah. I know who's view I trust...but its all subjective.
PT set the bar REALLY high for Silent Hill and demos in general. It sucks that “Short Message” just wasn’t good. I really want Silent Hill to succeed but what’s been released so far hasn’t lived up to the potential of what came before. I still have high hopes for Bloober’s Silent Hill 2.
Despite haunting my dreams as a young 'un the first 3 SH games are classics. The series has a hook and knows how to do psychological horror more than most although the PS3 games, long hiatus and whatever Ascension was aiming to do are stains on the franchise. The re-reveal of SH2 remake and announcement of this caught my attention but don't excite just because of how cackhanded the franchise has been managed. Review is lower than I'd hoped but I'll still download as it's free and I feel there's some enjoyment to be had.
@Deljo If you still have a PS4 with the game sitting on your hard drive, sure. Otherwise, you're out of luck, at least without looking for a workaround that involves methods of questionable legality.
I'm wondering if this release could have a negative affect on the Silent Hill 2 remake? I can't wait for it but if trash (supposedly, I haven't tried it) like this is deemed enough quality to release, then it's turning me off SH2.
I would imagine they wanted to do something like PT to get the attention on SH2, similarly to how PT made us all desperate for something new, however this has probably done the opposite
All eyes on bloober then. Deliver us from evil/ mediocrity. I'll still give this a go though as I'm a fan of linear story experiences, moreso than most.
Offering 'guidance' and hotlines for the themes its dealing with after every chapter is laughable and kinda messes up the whole vibe, pulling you out of the experience 🙄
The Silent Hill 2 footage was lookin gooooood though! Some awesome fog and they've managed to keep the uncanny valley, surreal PS2 vibe for characters and their interactions. I'm sure it'll be thoroughly hated 😌
@Weebleman you put so much faith in Liam that you deleted it without even trying it??🤣
@Ainu20 yeah I've just never deleted it of the ps4, doesn't take up much room tbf..
@jFug
Yeah I saw that o the UK Store, currently on around 4.5/5 stars from over 5.7k users. Guess it might be worth a look, opinions do differ after all.
Probably end up agreeing with Liam though.
Liam.... Party pooper for everyone tired and excited, coming home after work😂
Remember that everybody has blasted every game released since Silent Hill 4, so why should this be any different?
Origins: Rubbish
Homecoming: Boring
Shattered Memories: Weird and derivative
Downpour: Mediocre
2&3 HD Collection: Abhorrent and a crime to gaming.
Book Of Memories: I don't need Diablo in my Silent Hill.
I dunno, this one seems like it'll fit right in!
Hard disagree. I thoroughly enjoyed this experience. Even from the trailer I expected it to be PT but turned up a notch and that's what it delivers. I think the monster design is amazing and the setting is beautifully haunting. The story is good. The characters relatable. The score is fantastic. The environment visuals are superb and detailed. And it's free. Absolutely free. So what you get for zero money was well worth the experience and I think the 4 does it a major disservice.
I finished the game and it was a nice experience for a free silent hill game. Many good ideas. This is a rushed review and I feel the game is crushed on just because you were frustated by a monster chase.
@DragoonZied agreed
Always going to be divisive. I think there is a habit to review this as a "game" whereas it's more just an interactive experience. Probably why it's also free.
Not tried it yet but I'll probably still give it a bash.
This game was boring and I deleted it before I even finished it, despite being at the final chase sequence. I can’t get those 2 hours back which is the most upsetting part of the experience……
Can't believe Konami said "Just put a silent hills coat of paint on that Baldi game."
@Deljo yes, yes i do. I have three kids and limited gaming time. His tastes in other reviews have been preeeeeeetty close to mine. Thats enough for me to use my time in other ways.
@Weebleman Haha no worries at all!
I'm still gutted I didn't have a PS4 when PT was available.
This seems like a complete waste of everyone's time.
@Weebleman 🤣 fair enough
@soracloud28 Good to hear. Sounds like it could be my kinda thing. How did you find the technical performance ?
everthing silient hill related just keeps getting worse. even the silent hill 2 footage looked rough and uninspired to put it politely. of course, konami still doesn't have a release YEAR for the game... really? all the silent hill hype wasn't warranted and it looks as though these projects will have the opposite effect of a revival — they will kill the IP permanently.
Has it got a platinum?
I'll get me coat.
@LiamCroft Haha understandable reaction
Konami. I think that says everything.
Yeah I'm not surprised this isn't good. Feels like something Konami pushed out to hush fans since the SH2 Remake doesn't have a release date yet.
@DragoonZied No, while the chases were annoying they were the least of this game's issues. Hell I didnt even struggle that badly on the final one. My main issue is the game constantly hitting you over the head with its messages and the character never shutting up. It made me feel I could be playing a better game that handles sensitive topics like suicide because this one just felt super cartoonish. The only thing I felt was good was the monster design which looked fantastic with how it moved and looked with its cherry blossom head and the final level design.
@Loamy stunning! Especially on the chase sequences when everything ramps up. The performance ramps up along with the tension. I had such a great time with this little slice of Silent Hill. It really got me excited for the future of the franchise from a performance level
@Carlore_Preventis Not pretentious at all. The review is making a critique not about what the game tries to do, but what the reviewer was expecting. It is as simple as that.
Bloober being 1 step forward 2 steps back is concerning. Maybe they can try a new genre instead of inconsistent horror titles
@BeerIsAwesome it’s just par for the course at this rate!
@LiamCroft "You could say the same of the game's frame rate, which attempts a smooth 30 frames-per-second" - I believe you meant 60FPS right?
Btw, I don't get why these recent games, there is no option to disable motion blur/film grain.. but yes it's free!
Let me start by saying that many people want this and the SH 2 remake to fail. So they take turns writing bad reviews about it everywhere.
Anita's character seems like a regular crybaby, very similar to most of the people complaining about this game and the SH 2 remake, but when we take the time to play the game and understand where this behavior is coming from, we realize that she is a very complicated and emotionally underdeveloped individual. And an outcast to top it off.
This game is not perfect, but the amount of hate it receives just for not fitting into other people's expectations of what is a Silent Hill game is ridiculous.
Too bad, the trailer made it look like the game has slight Observer vibes and I always like me some Observer vibes. Unfortunately it looks like I won't be bothering with this one anytime soon.
@Deljo I never removed it either, but sadly when I moved to PS5 I couldn't transfer it. The console doesn't support it.
I enjoyed it. I don't see myself ever replaying it, but I'm not upset I spent 2-ish hours on it. I'd probably knock it up to a 6/10, which is fine for a short, free experience.
I watched 2 YouTube reviews on it and they both liked it so I'm surprised. Still ill play it myself later and decide for myself.
I started it and am not sure sure I’ll finish. It deals with sensitive themes in a very basic way. It feels like the writers have a surface level understanding of what they’re talking about, delivered in a trite and unoriginal way. It offers nothing new to the conversation, especially when there are so many better games dealing with mental health. Maybe it would be better without the Silent Hill name and could stand alone without any extra baggage
This (absolutely unsurprisingly, it's modern Konami) does not bode well for the SH2 remake or further titles. I'm an old man gamer at 38, I played SH on PS when it came out, then 2, 3, 4 on PS2. These were and still remain the greatest psychological survival horror games ever made.
I'm completely avoiding the SH2 remake, it has no reason to exist other than to taint the legacy of one of the greatest games in history - my memories of which hold it as graphically impressive as the remake, as it was arguably the best looking game of that time. I value my memories of it and it's voice actors way too highly, and lack any faith in the modern climate, Sony's censorship policies, and the devs making it to come even close to Team Silents greatness.
Sadly I predict a flurry of subpar titles using and abusing a once great name before sinking back into obscurity.
@Ainu20 ah, never thought of that. I'm a bit of a hoarder when it comes to systems so instead of selling or trading them they just get moved to a different room. At least you got to play it 👍
You forgot the brilliant Silent Hill Ascension, which was also a really bad product. Silent Hill 2 looked rough, not setting a great precedent for the future of the series
I honestly enjoyed it. It's no P.T, but I found the story to be engaging, the environments were appropriately spooky, and the chase sections were genuinely panic-inducing. Considering it's free, it's a cool little experience.
Finished the whole game, didn't like it one bit. it's cliche, slow as hell, predictable, annoying, not interesting or fun enough to keep you entertained. There was no tension at all, nothing creepy or anything like that, it's just teenage melodrama. I really hope for SH2 Remake to be awesome!
Gotta say I quite enjoyed it. I didn't like the slow walking and poor framerate, and the monster chases could be frustrating (nailed the last one without getting caught though). There is a "controls" menu, which shows there are more than "just press X" (e.g., shoulder buttons and touchpad are used too). The story plays out well, with a sudden dawning realisation right at the end. Not a brilliant game, but a decent, free experience.
@soracloud28 i thought it was a good experience, nothing to write home about, but defo not a 4. I would have given it a good 6.
@Phelaidar we read the same review. What you want is for someone to make 50 different concessions so that they state their opinion in a way that doesn't trot upon your sensibilities, either about how games should be perceived or how they should be reviewed. If that was something we all required out of people I would constantly be praying for a black hole of some kind to immediately end life as we know it.
No one missed the point of anything, you're just the type of person who isn't satisfied unless things are stated exactly how they want to hear them. I think they call it autism.
I liked it…for what it is, that is.
Some positives: stellar audio (your footsteps change on just about every surface), graphics and atmosphere are immersive (although yeah, the models aren’t too convincing but the atmosphere is) and classic soundtrack.
4 out of 10?
It’s more like a 6. No real gameplay but this is a welcome return/teaser to “silent hill”.
PT did it better but there’s nothing wrong with this at all.
Even if I were blindfolded, just from the audio cues and soundtrack, I’d know this is silent hill. That says a lot and should afford more points/weight.
I agere pretty much with your opinion.
It’s cookie cutter, Hollywood horror with anything new to say. The themes, story etc. has been done a million times in recent years, and the pacing is off.
The biggest issue for me though, was the music! It’s CONSTANT, taking away any potential tension, and instead creates a feeling of safeness in every scene, even the supposedly scary “chase scenes”.
I tried turning off the music and it was a much better experience, that actually managed to get me in the right mood, if only briefly, because the sound design is excellent and the graphics quite good..
But watching poorly acted cutscenes with horrible voice over, looking at edgy teenage art and walking so, so slow, took me right out of those brief moments of genuine horror.
So yeah, I think the music drags this game down. It’s made by people who knows what “scary music” should sound like, which makes is predictable and cliche, and since the horror genre relies so much on audio, it’s important they realize constant “spooky” strings, “unnerving” pads and various kitchen stuff being touched with a bow string, is just not scary anymore. Scary sounds, are sounds we can’t comprehend and don’t expect; this Hollywood stuff does not work for silent hill.
@RBMango what is the point for pt if there was no silent hills? also it was just a tech demo and not an actual game. you can watch the whole thing on youtube for the same exact experience.
Just downloaded it, will play in the morning when I get home from work. Not really sure what to expect. Seen some good things written about it, seen some bad. It's free so whatever, hope I enjoy it, if not, oh well.
@MathiasBS The music being your biggest issue is honestly kind of wild, because it was done by Akira Yamaoka.
For me if this was just to see what the reaction would be like then hopefully they take some points. In this short experience I did like the protagonist , if they made it third person had some variety of enemies , add combat, have bosses where they chase you like in the demo but then you can fight it at the end, basically be like the modern resident evil games but third person 😂 then it will go in the right direction , story was good for a short experience
I loved every second of it, and the themes presented in the game are on point and very heavy. Many great horror games are walking simulators such as PT, Ambesia, Layer of Fears and Visage to name a few. This game is like a proof of concept and I would love to see tgemdo a full game with more gameplay options but with the same heavy modern themes
I quite enjoyed this one. The gameplay is next to none, sure. I thought the themes were heavy and each attempt showcased more of the story.
But yeah, The framerate definitely does not help.
I bet at some point Konami had plans to charge money for this.
@Carlore_Preventis A lot of words and judgment of me as person when you don't even know me.
I was analysing this person's writing, not his character.
And you don't even know if I have some sort of professional background on this subject... maybe, just maybe, I know a thing or two about this stuff.
@Worlock_ed that was an interactive TV show. They just tacked on limp mini games to justify making you pay microtransactions
Everything Konami touches has died a horrible horrible death. Pro Evo. Not gone. But definitely not the same game from the early 2000s Castlevania. MIA. Silent Hill. On life support. Metal Gear. Yeah alright, the collection was critically well received but the last new metal Gear game was Survive and that was rubbish and came out six years ago. There is a new Contra game coming out this year....so thats something. Just give up Konami. Pachinco is your jam. We get it. Just stop getting people's hopes up that you are going to be 1990s Konami
@Bulk_hogan64 it’s still a “product” with the “Silent Hill name on it” regardless of what product it is
@Worlock_ed yeah fair. Playstation product is probably a better description. Or game. Still Konami are a funny bunch.
It's pretty boring and not scary. I regret about wasted time on this "game".
Given the subject matter, I thought it was pretty good as an interactive experience. Certainly not a game in the traditional sense. I'll confess I didn't read the review but I can definitely see opinions varying wildly on this one as it largely depends what users get out of the experience.
Having finished it, I'm considering it a very interesting experiment. It's not a game in a traditional sense and should not be compared to regular commercial releases. That's why this review it's a bit out of point. It's more like an interactive experience that aims at raising awareness to the difficult topic of the mental problems of adolescents. It's something in between of an educational software and a social campaign. One may learn that people's uncomprehensible attitudes may come from their deeply hidden traumas. People who suffer from similar issues themselves may feel encouraged to look at their experience from the distance and find hope and relief in that. So there's a lot of sense and sensitivity to this piece of software. I'm happy they're sharing it for free because that's something that should really reach the audiences.
@Bydlak This is an excellent comment and I'm in complete agreement. It was a very relatable experience for me, for better or worse.
I lasted about 10mins with this before I deleted it, awful
This is not a Silent Hill, this is a walking simulator.
I'm at the fourth (last?) chase scene now and I'm quite enjoying the game. Yes it is a walking simulator with a very specific message, but I think it can bear the Silent Hill label on it. The game is creepy overall and the music! The music is fantastic and immediately reminds me of the wonderful soundtracks Akira Yamaoka made in the classic games.
Regarding performance - the game runs smoother if you turn VRR for unsupported games on in the PS5 video settings, I'd say it goes 25...45 fps (in contrary to 25...30 fps with the setting off).
UPD: Finished the game. I'm glad I played it, I don't understand what people are arguing and what they were expecting, as a true Silent Hill fan who has played all the games many times I think it has that Silent Hill atmosphere, and the chase scenes are OK in the sense of picturing the "Otherworld". For a free game, it's very good. If anyone believes that every SH game in terms of gameplay needs to be like, say, SH2, then they're wrong. Try to feel the atmosphere. It's about a general setting, of course it's not a copy-paste of the previous games.
Basically a tutorial to generate hype from people who never played a silent hill title hence the free part. If it was directed at fans konami would have priced it as a $15 dollar game like how they made metal gear solid 5 ground zeroes which was like a $40 demo..
Tap here to load 99 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...