Actual masterpiece shit. Much like last year's Unmetal, a microstudio throwback game has swooped in and stolen my heart right before GOTY season. This is a beautiful, gloriously-realized survival horror experience that pays homage to and even improves upon its all-time classic predecessors while still being incredibly unique all the same.

There is so much to love here, it's like a game tailor-made for me - where to even begin? The gorgeous artistic design? The enigmatic, surreal, heartbreaking storyline? The best horror game puzzles I've solved in countless years? The way it plays with perspective and genre expectations? I wish the inventory limit was bigger, because that is absolutely going to be a sticking point for many people, but the occasional tedium barely even fazed me. I finished my first playthrough, then went right back in on the hardest difficulty to see the secret ending and get the rest of the achievements. I never do that.

After years of games promising to be the "new Silent Hill" and seeing Konami pimp out the SH2 remake to Bloober Team of all people, I'd grown jaded... but no more. This is the new Silent Hill. The spirit of our favorite games will always live on in the hearts and minds of dedicated indie developers.