There's really no other way to put it. This game (and possibly franchise) is morally and creatively bankrupt. Between the shallow depictions of mental health whether there's dramatic zooms of the protagonist self harming or even going as far to have chapters end with you jumping off a building and the following interludes flash a suicide hotline message until the level loads or the awkward anime dub tier voice acting berate you with insults or commentary on your surroundings because Konami needs to remind you this is in a fact a serious game and they're afraid of leaving things to interpretation, I fail to see how the 2 hours I spent with this tech demo can leave me anticipation of the upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake or "missing the point".

This whole experience ends up feeling like a parody of the thing it's trying to comment and I don't think that's the takeaway someone with diagnosed BPD should be feeling.

has some neat modern ideas, like the effects of constant art discourse on self-worth, but doesn't do anything more than state an issue when it's brought up. there was an opportunity here to discuss the overlap of old-school silent hill issues (eg. generational trauma) with what it seems the decision-makers are more familiar with, but the issues the game tackles are entirely isolated from one another - that's the bullying room, this is the 'i-hate-my-art' room, etc.

as for whether it's a "Silent Hill" game - sure it is. the franchise of 25 years ago doesn't exist anymore. AAA media today is designed by committee to capture the public's attention with nostalgia, UHD graphics, and streamlined gameplay loops. that's not inherently bad, but it's not really conducive to slow-burning meditative stories like the original games. you'll have to look beyond konami (hint: indies) to find anything resembling classic silent hill