Armakeen
Silent Hill 3 2003
Log Status
Completed
Playing
Backlog
Wishlist
Rating
Time Played
--
Days in Journal
2 days
Last played
May 13, 2023
First played
April 30, 2023
Platforms Played
This review contains spoilers
Unfortunately, I already knew a few things about this game upon starting it.
I watched the ending on YouTube a few weeks back, including the encounter against the final Boss, and the final cutscene where Heather reveals her real name.
By the way, this youtube video was the reason I decided to get into the series. So I guess it was a necessary evil!
It's overwhelming how the game starts without introducing Heather. During the first half of the game, we don't know what's her motive, and there isn't any exposition.
In Silent Hill 1, we know from the beginning that Harry needs to find his daugher.
In Silent Hill 2, we know immediatly that James wants to find his wife.
But in Silent Hill 3, we don't know what's Heather's motive.
It takes so long before the story really starts. From the beginning until the moment she reaches her home, it looks like Heather is just wandering around aimlessly. So I had trouble being invested.
But once her dad got murdered, Heather finally had a motive, and it made the game much more engaging!
There's that sound effect that keeps playing everytime you meet Claudia, from the first encounter with her in the Mall, up until the very end, right before the final Boss fight, and that really got under my skin. The track is called "Expecting".
Not only did Akira Yamaoka make a great job with the music, he also knows how to make effective sound effects to scare the player.
On a lighter note, I love Heather's look & voice. They did a great job with her design, and playing a young female protagonist felt quite appealing. It was a welcomed change after playing as Harry Manson and James Sunderland. Plus, her face is well animated, she looks so expressive. It added a bit of flair to the cutscenes.
There's a moment in the Sewers section that really gave me the creeps. At some point you have to walk across a bridge, and you can see a creature lurking just below your feets, completely immobile.
You then have to visit a room across the bridge to find a hair dryer. But when you backtrack over the bridge again, that creature is nowhere to be found.
For several minutes after this moment, I thought I was about to get jumpscared...
The cutscene in the car when Heather and Douglas head toward Silent Hill hit me right in the feels: "I never had a chance to tell you how happy you made me."
The music in this scene has become one of my favorites in the game, along with the one used in Heather's apartment: "Letter - From the lost days" & "Please love me... Once more" respectively.
The nightmare Hospital in Silent Hill 3 scared the shit out of me. I was absolutely terrified in the hallways where it's all red and blurry. The room with the mirror and the bathtub was also horrifying.
This is probably the scariest area in the entire franchise.
And that fucking psycho who's in love with Heather made me so uncomfortable with his letters.
The last area was equally disturbing. It was interesting to revisit some places from the 1st game, like the school, the place with the carousel horses, or the room where Alessa got tortured.
And I enjoyed reading Harry's notes along the way, while I was exploring this area. It was another great callback to Silent Hill 1.
The final stretch of the game was really intense. Heather throws out the God inside of her, and Claudia immediatly devours it, allowing it to be born. Like I said earlier, I already knew what the final Boss looked like, so it didn't have its full effect on me. But this Boss fight was still intense nonetheless.
It was also the most difficult fight in the game. I died a few times, and I ran out of ammo near the end, even though I was playing meticulously. I had to finish it off with the katana and I didn't have any healing item left, so it was really close.
I can't tell you how relieving it felt to beat this Boss and to put an end to this nightmare.
The game has an interesting subtext on unwanted pregnancy, the conflict between the acceptance of abortion, and its prohibition by the Religion, especially Christianity. It only became obvious to me during the final encounter with Claudia.
Seeing ̶H̶e̶a̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ Cheryl give a proper funeral to her father, the Man, the Myth, the Legend, Harry Manson was touching. It was a satisfying conclusion, and the credits song was a great tribute to Harry.
It lived up to the 1st game for sure!
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Played in early May 2023]
Playtime: 8 hours
I got the Normal ending. And as always, I watched all the other endings.
I watched the ending on YouTube a few weeks back, including the encounter against the final Boss, and the final cutscene where Heather reveals her real name.
By the way, this youtube video was the reason I decided to get into the series. So I guess it was a necessary evil!
It's overwhelming how the game starts without introducing Heather. During the first half of the game, we don't know what's her motive, and there isn't any exposition.
In Silent Hill 1, we know from the beginning that Harry needs to find his daugher.
In Silent Hill 2, we know immediatly that James wants to find his wife.
But in Silent Hill 3, we don't know what's Heather's motive.
It takes so long before the story really starts. From the beginning until the moment she reaches her home, it looks like Heather is just wandering around aimlessly. So I had trouble being invested.
But once her dad got murdered, Heather finally had a motive, and it made the game much more engaging!
There's that sound effect that keeps playing everytime you meet Claudia, from the first encounter with her in the Mall, up until the very end, right before the final Boss fight, and that really got under my skin. The track is called "Expecting".
Not only did Akira Yamaoka make a great job with the music, he also knows how to make effective sound effects to scare the player.
On a lighter note, I love Heather's look & voice. They did a great job with her design, and playing a young female protagonist felt quite appealing. It was a welcomed change after playing as Harry Manson and James Sunderland. Plus, her face is well animated, she looks so expressive. It added a bit of flair to the cutscenes.
There's a moment in the Sewers section that really gave me the creeps. At some point you have to walk across a bridge, and you can see a creature lurking just below your feets, completely immobile.
You then have to visit a room across the bridge to find a hair dryer. But when you backtrack over the bridge again, that creature is nowhere to be found.
For several minutes after this moment, I thought I was about to get jumpscared...
The cutscene in the car when Heather and Douglas head toward Silent Hill hit me right in the feels: "I never had a chance to tell you how happy you made me."
The music in this scene has become one of my favorites in the game, along with the one used in Heather's apartment: "Letter - From the lost days" & "Please love me... Once more" respectively.
The nightmare Hospital in Silent Hill 3 scared the shit out of me. I was absolutely terrified in the hallways where it's all red and blurry. The room with the mirror and the bathtub was also horrifying.
This is probably the scariest area in the entire franchise.
And that fucking psycho who's in love with Heather made me so uncomfortable with his letters.
The last area was equally disturbing. It was interesting to revisit some places from the 1st game, like the school, the place with the carousel horses, or the room where Alessa got tortured.
And I enjoyed reading Harry's notes along the way, while I was exploring this area. It was another great callback to Silent Hill 1.
The final stretch of the game was really intense. Heather throws out the God inside of her, and Claudia immediatly devours it, allowing it to be born. Like I said earlier, I already knew what the final Boss looked like, so it didn't have its full effect on me. But this Boss fight was still intense nonetheless.
It was also the most difficult fight in the game. I died a few times, and I ran out of ammo near the end, even though I was playing meticulously. I had to finish it off with the katana and I didn't have any healing item left, so it was really close.
I can't tell you how relieving it felt to beat this Boss and to put an end to this nightmare.
The game has an interesting subtext on unwanted pregnancy, the conflict between the acceptance of abortion, and its prohibition by the Religion, especially Christianity. It only became obvious to me during the final encounter with Claudia.
Seeing ̶H̶e̶a̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ Cheryl give a proper funeral to her father, the Man, the Myth, the Legend, Harry Manson was touching. It was a satisfying conclusion, and the credits song was a great tribute to Harry.
It lived up to the 1st game for sure!
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Played in early May 2023]
Playtime: 8 hours
I got the Normal ending. And as always, I watched all the other endings.