A full-fledged Silent Hill game!!! I don't really understand why it's been so hated these past few days it's been out, but I absolutely loved it.

I mean, of course is not everything I wanted from a new SH game, but it's more than I was expecting for sure, and it's got all the right tropes of the saga; like the alternate reality where everything is all metal and grotesque imagery, or the chasing monster that looks like it's tailored for the MC, and specially, the psychological horror that serves as a metaphor to talk about strong themes.

I honestly thought less of this game a bit before finishing it, but when I reached the end, it was all worth it for me. Specially when I saw that (at least a part of) the team silent is back for this project!

I'm not sure if I'm into the idea of Silent Hill being kind of a physical hallucination rather than a physical town where nightmares come to life like in the old games, but I feel like this is where Konami is going from now on... And to be honest, I'm excited for the future of the saga! Still, I'm skeptical... Konami is still Konami...

What a nice introduction! Persona games are always really great at the beginning for me, and I really loved this one! Having only played P1, P3P and P5R (also vanilla); I can really feel the setting difference. Every other Persona game is set in a big city, full of high buildings and vibrant nights, while Inaba is just the opposite, and I love that! That calmness, the freshness of the air, the comfort of a small town; it's something that feels really palpable, and I love it.

The characters are on point, and feel ironically like a big upgrade from P5 (and the others), they feel more real, and natural, and their friendship really feels true and believable, not only because the story tells you that, but because you can actually feel it, unlike in P5.

I love their persona awakenings (not because they're epic, that achievement does go for P5) because of what they say about the characters, about that other part of one's self that we don't want to show to the world, being my favorite from the first three Yosuke.

Also, I love how the game introduces us to its world and story. The deaths of the killer's victims are creatively gruesome; the velvet room is really stylish, probably my favorite version of it; the music is great, although it is a Persona game, so the music HAS to be great; the bosses are challenging and fun, as well as the combat system; and the characteristic slice of life half of the game is really nice and with interesting characters, but I still gotta say that the protagonists are the ones who really stand out.

In general, this first part of the game was great, and I loved it. I'm writing this just a bit before finishing the next arc, so wait for my next review to see what I feel about Kanji's arc. Spoiler alert: Kanji's my favorite so far.