For backgroud, Silent Hill is my favorite franchise- the first 4 games are some of my favorite games of all time. That being said, I know how rocky silent hill is as a franchise after the team silent era. Seeing a free small game from this franchise was a nice surprise... yet I immediately went on edge.
I have no issue with this game being short. I beat it in like 2 hours... no big deal, it's free. I don't even think I have an issue with the cyclical nature of the game... more on that later. What I have an issue with is the presentation. Before I list my grievances, here is something I thoroughly enjoyed.
The design and environments is superb... one of the, if not the best designed horror game atmosphere in recent memory. The part that threw me off is it being set in Germany... and how there is very little "germany" in this world's Germany... i mean they bring in the japanese investors... yadda yadda yadda. I also loved the chase sequences. I am a big "shattered memories" defender, so these chases were not only scary but fun to do. Also, the main monster was awesome (great design).
Now: what I cannot stomach... is the misinterpretation and dare say it... fetishization of suicide and self harm. This game alongside any other show, movie, etc that depicts self harm and suicide rarely get it right. In this game suicide and harm are set pieces... there was a cutscene flashback of the main character cutting herself... and it was portraying in like a "oh yeah... she cut herself in the past"... utterly disgusting.
Anita, the main character, deals with the suicide of her friend, Maya over the duration of the game, yet the way they handle Maya's cause of suicide is extremely dodgy... like they bring up a bunch of ideas as to why she did it... but never really go into depth. I mean I guess that's the whole point... the readers are supposed to figure that out. But, correct me if I'm wrong, there was little to no info on the boy Maya sketched (let me know if I was wrong on that).
Moving on in this same topic, the game tries to show you two coins of the main character... a bully and a friend. Yet by the end I was left confused as to whether or not I should feel bad for the pain Anita is going through. Ultimately, that caused me to feel nothing whatsoever (partially also due to the fact that the game was so short I could not possibly garner emotions on the characters yet).
this game does the environments right, but the story is downright disastrous. I pray the new Silent Hill f isn't like this. There was no subtly, a straight gut-punch of pure nonsense and horrible pulling at my heart strings.
I have no issue with this game being short. I beat it in like 2 hours... no big deal, it's free. I don't even think I have an issue with the cyclical nature of the game... more on that later. What I have an issue with is the presentation. Before I list my grievances, here is something I thoroughly enjoyed.
The design and environments is superb... one of the, if not the best designed horror game atmosphere in recent memory. The part that threw me off is it being set in Germany... and how there is very little "germany" in this world's Germany... i mean they bring in the japanese investors... yadda yadda yadda. I also loved the chase sequences. I am a big "shattered memories" defender, so these chases were not only scary but fun to do. Also, the main monster was awesome (great design).
Now: what I cannot stomach... is the misinterpretation and dare say it... fetishization of suicide and self harm. This game alongside any other show, movie, etc that depicts self harm and suicide rarely get it right. In this game suicide and harm are set pieces... there was a cutscene flashback of the main character cutting herself... and it was portraying in like a "oh yeah... she cut herself in the past"... utterly disgusting.
Anita, the main character, deals with the suicide of her friend, Maya over the duration of the game, yet the way they handle Maya's cause of suicide is extremely dodgy... like they bring up a bunch of ideas as to why she did it... but never really go into depth. I mean I guess that's the whole point... the readers are supposed to figure that out. But, correct me if I'm wrong, there was little to no info on the boy Maya sketched (let me know if I was wrong on that).
Moving on in this same topic, the game tries to show you two coins of the main character... a bully and a friend. Yet by the end I was left confused as to whether or not I should feel bad for the pain Anita is going through. Ultimately, that caused me to feel nothing whatsoever (partially also due to the fact that the game was so short I could not possibly garner emotions on the characters yet).
this game does the environments right, but the story is downright disastrous. I pray the new Silent Hill f isn't like this. There was no subtly, a straight gut-punch of pure nonsense and horrible pulling at my heart strings.