Silent Hill 3 is a horrifying game. While the first and particularly the second games in the franchise are more of psychological horror, Silent Hill 3 maintains this while simultaneously being one of the most disturbing, disgusting, and uncomfortable games I have played through, despite being much shorter. I cannot really describe it other than this game is absolutely fucked. The hellish imagery, repulsive sound design that haunts you area to area, and creature design that cranks it up to 20 compared to the first two games. Silent Hill 3 is also a massive graphical improvement from 2, a very impressive leap for being on the same console, allowing the imagery to shine and bring life to the characters' faces.
Generally I think that this game takes the best parts of 1 and 2. While the story isn't exactly as moving as 2, it has some meaty lore and really ties together the first game's story nicely and in a way I was not expecting at all. The gameplay (on Normal) is finally difficult in a fair way; you are no longer given bucket-loads of ammo and health, instead actually needing to think about ammo management. You are given more melee options to supplement this, each of which (apart from the knife of course) does actually have a use. All of these options are necessary, as the monsters are the most aggressive and lethal than they have ever been. I'm not sure I would say it has the best puzzles in the series, but I needed to look up solutions the least out of the three games, while also feeling accomplished for figuring them out, which is a difficult balance to maintain.
The voice acting for Silent Hill 3 is just as... mediocre (generously) as the rest of the early series. Sure, it is part of the charm to an extent, but there is a point where it just is bad. I particularly did not like Douglas's voice acting, who's voice didn't really fit and the delivery was pretty awful throughout the game. I do think this ended up taking away from otherwise impactful moments to an extent. Regardless, Silent Hill 3 is a fantastic continuation of the series, and I think my favorite of the original three. The consistently chilling atmosphere will stick with me for a long time, particularly the cutscene before the final boss fight, something that I would've expected from an A24 horror film ending..
9/10
Generally I think that this game takes the best parts of 1 and 2. While the story isn't exactly as moving as 2, it has some meaty lore and really ties together the first game's story nicely and in a way I was not expecting at all. The gameplay (on Normal) is finally difficult in a fair way; you are no longer given bucket-loads of ammo and health, instead actually needing to think about ammo management. You are given more melee options to supplement this, each of which (apart from the knife of course) does actually have a use. All of these options are necessary, as the monsters are the most aggressive and lethal than they have ever been. I'm not sure I would say it has the best puzzles in the series, but I needed to look up solutions the least out of the three games, while also feeling accomplished for figuring them out, which is a difficult balance to maintain.
The voice acting for Silent Hill 3 is just as... mediocre (generously) as the rest of the early series. Sure, it is part of the charm to an extent, but there is a point where it just is bad. I particularly did not like Douglas's voice acting, who's voice didn't really fit and the delivery was pretty awful throughout the game. I do think this ended up taking away from otherwise impactful moments to an extent. Regardless, Silent Hill 3 is a fantastic continuation of the series, and I think my favorite of the original three. The consistently chilling atmosphere will stick with me for a long time, particularly the cutscene before the final boss fight, something that I would've expected from an A24 horror film ending..
9/10