nicklenivy
24 reviews liked by nicklenivy
what if Silent Hill was your phone????? have u ever thought that social media is bad?? teenage girls wouldn't be bullies online if they just went shopping. maybe if they watched Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within on a big tasty plasma TV, that'd work too.
They should kill me instead
Better than playing this
Better than playing this
This review contains spoilers
𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗢𝗠𝗡𝗜𝗔𝗖 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦…𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗧𝗢 𝗨𝗧𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗘 $𝟯𝟭𝟱 𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗙𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗟𝗬!
In the latter half of 2023, a year that’s been described as “one of the best years for gaming”, Sony Entertainment decided to publish “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2”. Their biggest, most wallcrawling, most AAA, and Spider-Maniest game ever.
Any praise I can give to this game is justified and deserved, while underneath my criticisms there’s still an enjoyable game to be found I can’t help but feel a little alienated when I see people on my twitter feed every day saying this is one of the best video games they’ve ever played.
When it comes to adapting superhero comics into any media, I can’t say there’s still not an influx of those, especially when it comes to Spider-Man. I'm nowhere close to being a huge Marvel guy, and I haven’t read a main Spidey book since 2018’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (that was 5 years ago) but the wallcrawler himself holds a special place in my heart, which is why seeing this game fall down the usual pitfalls when it comes to adapting the medium hurts. It’s more earnest and heartfelt than something like the MCU, but when it comes to a lot of what this game adapts I can’t help but feel you’d be better off reading the comics this game is “inspired by” if you wanna see those concepts explored better.
One thing I’ll commend this game for is that they actually do try to make Miles stand on his own and apart from Peter as a character and as Spider-Man. This is reflected not only in the side content but the narrative as well…only problem is that in a game that’s as big as this there’s still very little given to their relationship. It’s hard to believe at times these two are on good terms with each other with how little they interact before Peter receives the symbiote, 2020’s Miles Morales had a chance to fill in that hole but that game itself was a run of the mill generic “filling in the shoes” story where Peter was only there for the first 30 minutes. I’ve intentionally avoided making comparisons to Spider-Verse but after that movie I feel this game does sorely lack the relationship Peter and Miles have in that movie, yet this game’s third act is still written as if the depth of their relationship has been effectively displayed to the audience. Just makes the final scene at Peter’s house feel more hollow than it should.
Also another thing Spider-Verse did better was Miles himself. For a game that has quite a bit of Miles’ side quests being respectful to POC, especially black culture, and interacting with other students his age, it is astounding how little Miles’ personality is a product of his surroundings. My friend put it best when they said that every young person in this game acts like they live in 2014 Oklahoma. Spider-Verse showed that you could have a dorky Miles whose personality fits with his age because unlike Peter, Miles doesn’t fit in with his peers due to his upbringing and his class, he isn’t able to relate to a lot of the attitudes exhibited by them. Meanwhile every kid in Brooklyn Visions including Miles act like they’re the nerd stereotype from a movie in the 2000s, which leads to scenes like this.
Of course I don’t think Miles Morales is a character is someone who should be removed from the game, as his character arc is definitely one of the best things about but but I don’t know man, despite being a game that’s long yet well-paced I still feel like large chunks are missing, especially in regards to the eventual “I forgive you.”. It’s a well written scene…but it doesn’t strike as it should due to how underdeveloped their relationship was and how much of his arc took a backseat to everything else.
When it comes to the new characters, I think Harry Osborne is very enjoyable early on due to how well he works off of Peter and his descent into becoming a villain is certainly understandable and engaging it’s just everything after that’s just putting a sour taste in my mouth. I’m no adaptation purist by any means and the decision to make Harry into Venom is a unique one, but I’d be praising it more if there was more to it than just Harry’s bitterness. For the general audience, Venom is a character who is tied to Spider-Man despite decades of comics proving how he’s able to be independent. It’s because of that desire to cater to the general audience that Venom in this game isn’t given his own identity, instead of becoming an extension of Harry and the symbiote character he’s written as a product of Peter which really doesn’t do Harry any favors due to how the game is written.
Insomniac’s Venom is his own beast when compared to the comics, and I can appreciate that. But what bugs me about him is that the writers intentionally take elements from Donny Cates’ run on Venom released in 2018, but here they replace the central characters from that comic into Peter himself and other people from the Spider-Man mythos; this is all done without any credit to Cates as well. Despite being so radically different in that regard, the narrative still tries to utilize the same talking points from other Venom media but it’s done so haphazardly that you’re ended up with a Venom that feels like a mishmash of multiple characters, none of whom are Harry.
Unfortunately, Venom isn’t the only villain to undergo this fate. Even to the average person who enjoys superhero media and doesn’t read comics, chances are that they’ve more likely than not at least heard about Kraven the Hunter. That’s the effect a comic like Kraven’s Last Hunt has, it’s able to send shockwaves across the character of Spider-Man’s entire legacy, which only makes the way he’s used here more baffling. Translating how threatening Kraven is into a video game is a challenge in of itself but there’s also the element of his relationship with Peter. Here he doesn’t make me feel strongly, and he takes a backseat for a lot of the game, only appearing more as the game progresses. Everything about him just feels undercooked, like he was mandated by the higher-ups to be put into the game, just like Venom, as he’s easily recognizable as a formidable Spidey foe.
It’s really just stuff like this which makes me realise that a lot of this game should’ve been reserved for the next one. The glaring flaw of this game is that it tries to do way too much than it can, which leads to events like Kraven’s death and Miles’ forgiveness being lackluster as the game already had a lot to fit in, something had to take a hit. There is a lot of praise I can offer this game as well but I’m only focusing on the negatives here to highlight the importance of AAA games restraining their scope.
I keep turning over the development cost of $315 million in my head. No matter how hard I try I don’t understand what exactly here could cost that much, to the point where they had to exceed their initial massive budget of $275 million. Hell, even the Spider-Man (2018) remaster cost a whopping $40 million to make, and now the recent leaks have shown that Insomniac still hasn’t broken even on Spider-Man 2. I’m more partial to AAA games than most of my peers, and overall I enjoy this one, but even I have to agree that this industry is not feasible, not like this.
In the latter half of 2023, a year that’s been described as “one of the best years for gaming”, Sony Entertainment decided to publish “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2”. Their biggest, most wallcrawling, most AAA, and Spider-Maniest game ever.
Any praise I can give to this game is justified and deserved, while underneath my criticisms there’s still an enjoyable game to be found I can’t help but feel a little alienated when I see people on my twitter feed every day saying this is one of the best video games they’ve ever played.
When it comes to adapting superhero comics into any media, I can’t say there’s still not an influx of those, especially when it comes to Spider-Man. I'm nowhere close to being a huge Marvel guy, and I haven’t read a main Spidey book since 2018’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (that was 5 years ago) but the wallcrawler himself holds a special place in my heart, which is why seeing this game fall down the usual pitfalls when it comes to adapting the medium hurts. It’s more earnest and heartfelt than something like the MCU, but when it comes to a lot of what this game adapts I can’t help but feel you’d be better off reading the comics this game is “inspired by” if you wanna see those concepts explored better.
One thing I’ll commend this game for is that they actually do try to make Miles stand on his own and apart from Peter as a character and as Spider-Man. This is reflected not only in the side content but the narrative as well…only problem is that in a game that’s as big as this there’s still very little given to their relationship. It’s hard to believe at times these two are on good terms with each other with how little they interact before Peter receives the symbiote, 2020’s Miles Morales had a chance to fill in that hole but that game itself was a run of the mill generic “filling in the shoes” story where Peter was only there for the first 30 minutes. I’ve intentionally avoided making comparisons to Spider-Verse but after that movie I feel this game does sorely lack the relationship Peter and Miles have in that movie, yet this game’s third act is still written as if the depth of their relationship has been effectively displayed to the audience. Just makes the final scene at Peter’s house feel more hollow than it should.
Also another thing Spider-Verse did better was Miles himself. For a game that has quite a bit of Miles’ side quests being respectful to POC, especially black culture, and interacting with other students his age, it is astounding how little Miles’ personality is a product of his surroundings. My friend put it best when they said that every young person in this game acts like they live in 2014 Oklahoma. Spider-Verse showed that you could have a dorky Miles whose personality fits with his age because unlike Peter, Miles doesn’t fit in with his peers due to his upbringing and his class, he isn’t able to relate to a lot of the attitudes exhibited by them. Meanwhile every kid in Brooklyn Visions including Miles act like they’re the nerd stereotype from a movie in the 2000s, which leads to scenes like this.
Of course I don’t think Miles Morales is a character is someone who should be removed from the game, as his character arc is definitely one of the best things about but but I don’t know man, despite being a game that’s long yet well-paced I still feel like large chunks are missing, especially in regards to the eventual “I forgive you.”. It’s a well written scene…but it doesn’t strike as it should due to how underdeveloped their relationship was and how much of his arc took a backseat to everything else.
When it comes to the new characters, I think Harry Osborne is very enjoyable early on due to how well he works off of Peter and his descent into becoming a villain is certainly understandable and engaging it’s just everything after that’s just putting a sour taste in my mouth. I’m no adaptation purist by any means and the decision to make Harry into Venom is a unique one, but I’d be praising it more if there was more to it than just Harry’s bitterness. For the general audience, Venom is a character who is tied to Spider-Man despite decades of comics proving how he’s able to be independent. It’s because of that desire to cater to the general audience that Venom in this game isn’t given his own identity, instead of becoming an extension of Harry and the symbiote character he’s written as a product of Peter which really doesn’t do Harry any favors due to how the game is written.
Insomniac’s Venom is his own beast when compared to the comics, and I can appreciate that. But what bugs me about him is that the writers intentionally take elements from Donny Cates’ run on Venom released in 2018, but here they replace the central characters from that comic into Peter himself and other people from the Spider-Man mythos; this is all done without any credit to Cates as well. Despite being so radically different in that regard, the narrative still tries to utilize the same talking points from other Venom media but it’s done so haphazardly that you’re ended up with a Venom that feels like a mishmash of multiple characters, none of whom are Harry.
Unfortunately, Venom isn’t the only villain to undergo this fate. Even to the average person who enjoys superhero media and doesn’t read comics, chances are that they’ve more likely than not at least heard about Kraven the Hunter. That’s the effect a comic like Kraven’s Last Hunt has, it’s able to send shockwaves across the character of Spider-Man’s entire legacy, which only makes the way he’s used here more baffling. Translating how threatening Kraven is into a video game is a challenge in of itself but there’s also the element of his relationship with Peter. Here he doesn’t make me feel strongly, and he takes a backseat for a lot of the game, only appearing more as the game progresses. Everything about him just feels undercooked, like he was mandated by the higher-ups to be put into the game, just like Venom, as he’s easily recognizable as a formidable Spidey foe.
It’s really just stuff like this which makes me realise that a lot of this game should’ve been reserved for the next one. The glaring flaw of this game is that it tries to do way too much than it can, which leads to events like Kraven’s death and Miles’ forgiveness being lackluster as the game already had a lot to fit in, something had to take a hit. There is a lot of praise I can offer this game as well but I’m only focusing on the negatives here to highlight the importance of AAA games restraining their scope.
I keep turning over the development cost of $315 million in my head. No matter how hard I try I don’t understand what exactly here could cost that much, to the point where they had to exceed their initial massive budget of $275 million. Hell, even the Spider-Man (2018) remaster cost a whopping $40 million to make, and now the recent leaks have shown that Insomniac still hasn’t broken even on Spider-Man 2. I’m more partial to AAA games than most of my peers, and overall I enjoy this one, but even I have to agree that this industry is not feasible, not like this.
Stories Untold
2017
Very creative take on text-based adventure games. The story is a major part of this game and I'll get to it in the spoiler section lower down.
The exact words the game wants you to use to progress can be a bit fiddly at times. The first story is the most inherently interesting and unique one. Didn't care for the 2nd one as much as the text gameplay didn't really make as much sense as the first and was otherwise just deciphering weird tech instructions. Throw in a rapid flashing picture test to see if you're prone to seizures and it's onto chapter 3. The third story has no text based gameplay at all and is entirely about figuring out how to find and use the instructions it gives you. I actually really liked chapter 3, but your mileage may vary depending on how fun you find things like deciphering morse code for example. It's also got a walking simulator bit. Which was nothing that special but it's always interesting when a game where you're in one stagnant location the entire time has a moment where you leave your pre-set camera angles. The fourth chapter ties it all together with elements from all 3. I'd rate this higher if more of the game tapped into what made Chapter 1 so cool but it unfortunately kind of peaks there. Good enough of an intro to make you want to see it through though.
The game goes on sale for 2$ and It's definitely unique enough to be worth a shot at that price. It's a short 2-3 hour experience. Though the ending is pretty divisive, I find it's got more depth to it than it initially seems.
!!!STORY SPOILERS BELOW!!!
The reveal of what the game is about in the 4th chapter completely ruins the game for some people. The incredibly cliche and lame "The main character was in a coma and everything's been in their head up to this point" is super disappointing to come out of what's so far been an intriguing and unique game. I don't think it completely shatters the experience, they do a decent job at forshadowing it all and providing proper context after the reveal to follow through on it to its logical conclusion. While it does entirely spell out the story to you, I do think the story they decided to tell, was a really smart use of the text-based adventure formula.
The game is about someone who went drunk driving and got in a bad accident. The nature of text-based games and how specific it wants you to be works REALLY well to tell this story. As you do things like try to open the car door thinking you're standing at the car but really you haven't left the house yet. You put in a command to start the car only for your character to try and turn the ignition with no key in it, because you didn't first use a command to put the key in the ignition. You then try and back out of the driveway only for your sister to be like dude you didn't take off the break. I think beyond everything else this game does, the perfect decision to tell a drunk driving story using a very strict and intentionally somewhat obtuse text-based adventure formula REALLY works. This section is a pretty small portion of the game but I think it delivers on taking such an old genre and doing something cool with it using modern tech.
The story itself also does need a small bit of fan theory to not be ruined honestly. But I think that's pretty neat. Like yeah the game spells it all out for you and removes 100% of the intrigue and mystery, leaving nothing to your imagination. And taking that at face value, it's VERY cliche. But there's also still room to consider your player character is actually innocent. No matter what you say or do, you can't get out of drunk driving. Which can be frustrating as it frames you as the sole one to blame, as though your entire family wasn't constantly forcing you to do it no matter how much you said no. But the theory, is that you truly were innocent but the cops are trying to get a false confession out of you while you're in a barely coherent state of mind. Planting fake memories through suggestion. Coolest part about this theory is in the very first chapter, they force you to say exactly "It was all my fault" - It demands you admit to it with no uncertainty. And of course, this being chapter 1, you don't know exactly what it is you're admitting to at this point. (Heck with the way chapter 1 was going, you may even think you're admitting to the premeditated murder of your entire family or something) In chapter 2 the voice talking to you primes you to follow his instructions despite the experiment not truly being in your best interest.
Seeing the story through this angle makes it interesting again since despite the game's efforts, not everything is so cut and dry if you choose to look deeper into it. I don't know if it was intentional or not but otherwise what's presented to you doesn't make a whole lot of sense. You're supposed to make the huge leap in logic to try and frame the dead police officer you ran into by pouring your whiskey all over him so they think it's his fault. Got a bit stuck here as the entire chapter so far has been you slowly playing through the inevitable events until suddenly you're forced into some untelegraphed frame the dead police officer plot that doesn't really hold up well considering alchohol tests have existed since the 30's. Maybe they couldn't have tested it on the officer since he's dead (Unless a blood test would have worked? Honestly don't know much about this) But they could have absolutely still done a breath test or SOMETHING on the player who survived and confirmed without a doubt you were drunk driving. Dumping the bottle on the other guy doesn't suddenly make your own system clean. So to me the only way this truly makes sense is if while you're practically in a coma they fabricate the entire story in a way that only sounds like it makes sense on paper. I don't think the main character actually did drink. Your sister literally goes to you and asks for a ride because everyone else was drunk and she wants to be safe but yet she doesn't seem to worry much about all the clearly drunk behaviors I explained earlier. The story presents you as being completely smashed beyond belief and yet relies on your sister not picking up on that and asking for a ride anyway, while ALSO relying on an alchohol test not being able to prove your guilt.
So yeah taken at face value it actually sucks but there's enough seeds to imply a deeper story that keeps the spirit of the game alive.
The exact words the game wants you to use to progress can be a bit fiddly at times. The first story is the most inherently interesting and unique one. Didn't care for the 2nd one as much as the text gameplay didn't really make as much sense as the first and was otherwise just deciphering weird tech instructions. Throw in a rapid flashing picture test to see if you're prone to seizures and it's onto chapter 3. The third story has no text based gameplay at all and is entirely about figuring out how to find and use the instructions it gives you. I actually really liked chapter 3, but your mileage may vary depending on how fun you find things like deciphering morse code for example. It's also got a walking simulator bit. Which was nothing that special but it's always interesting when a game where you're in one stagnant location the entire time has a moment where you leave your pre-set camera angles. The fourth chapter ties it all together with elements from all 3. I'd rate this higher if more of the game tapped into what made Chapter 1 so cool but it unfortunately kind of peaks there. Good enough of an intro to make you want to see it through though.
The game goes on sale for 2$ and It's definitely unique enough to be worth a shot at that price. It's a short 2-3 hour experience. Though the ending is pretty divisive, I find it's got more depth to it than it initially seems.
!!!STORY SPOILERS BELOW!!!
The reveal of what the game is about in the 4th chapter completely ruins the game for some people. The incredibly cliche and lame "The main character was in a coma and everything's been in their head up to this point" is super disappointing to come out of what's so far been an intriguing and unique game. I don't think it completely shatters the experience, they do a decent job at forshadowing it all and providing proper context after the reveal to follow through on it to its logical conclusion. While it does entirely spell out the story to you, I do think the story they decided to tell, was a really smart use of the text-based adventure formula.
The game is about someone who went drunk driving and got in a bad accident. The nature of text-based games and how specific it wants you to be works REALLY well to tell this story. As you do things like try to open the car door thinking you're standing at the car but really you haven't left the house yet. You put in a command to start the car only for your character to try and turn the ignition with no key in it, because you didn't first use a command to put the key in the ignition. You then try and back out of the driveway only for your sister to be like dude you didn't take off the break. I think beyond everything else this game does, the perfect decision to tell a drunk driving story using a very strict and intentionally somewhat obtuse text-based adventure formula REALLY works. This section is a pretty small portion of the game but I think it delivers on taking such an old genre and doing something cool with it using modern tech.
The story itself also does need a small bit of fan theory to not be ruined honestly. But I think that's pretty neat. Like yeah the game spells it all out for you and removes 100% of the intrigue and mystery, leaving nothing to your imagination. And taking that at face value, it's VERY cliche. But there's also still room to consider your player character is actually innocent. No matter what you say or do, you can't get out of drunk driving. Which can be frustrating as it frames you as the sole one to blame, as though your entire family wasn't constantly forcing you to do it no matter how much you said no. But the theory, is that you truly were innocent but the cops are trying to get a false confession out of you while you're in a barely coherent state of mind. Planting fake memories through suggestion. Coolest part about this theory is in the very first chapter, they force you to say exactly "It was all my fault" - It demands you admit to it with no uncertainty. And of course, this being chapter 1, you don't know exactly what it is you're admitting to at this point. (Heck with the way chapter 1 was going, you may even think you're admitting to the premeditated murder of your entire family or something) In chapter 2 the voice talking to you primes you to follow his instructions despite the experiment not truly being in your best interest.
Seeing the story through this angle makes it interesting again since despite the game's efforts, not everything is so cut and dry if you choose to look deeper into it. I don't know if it was intentional or not but otherwise what's presented to you doesn't make a whole lot of sense. You're supposed to make the huge leap in logic to try and frame the dead police officer you ran into by pouring your whiskey all over him so they think it's his fault. Got a bit stuck here as the entire chapter so far has been you slowly playing through the inevitable events until suddenly you're forced into some untelegraphed frame the dead police officer plot that doesn't really hold up well considering alchohol tests have existed since the 30's. Maybe they couldn't have tested it on the officer since he's dead (Unless a blood test would have worked? Honestly don't know much about this) But they could have absolutely still done a breath test or SOMETHING on the player who survived and confirmed without a doubt you were drunk driving. Dumping the bottle on the other guy doesn't suddenly make your own system clean. So to me the only way this truly makes sense is if while you're practically in a coma they fabricate the entire story in a way that only sounds like it makes sense on paper. I don't think the main character actually did drink. Your sister literally goes to you and asks for a ride because everyone else was drunk and she wants to be safe but yet she doesn't seem to worry much about all the clearly drunk behaviors I explained earlier. The story presents you as being completely smashed beyond belief and yet relies on your sister not picking up on that and asking for a ride anyway, while ALSO relying on an alchohol test not being able to prove your guilt.
So yeah taken at face value it actually sucks but there's enough seeds to imply a deeper story that keeps the spirit of the game alive.
Atomic Heart
2023
really bad.
the graphics are the sole redeeming feature of this game. the gameplay is undercooked, and the writing is so ear-grating that i had to drop this game just a few hours in. the fancy graphics weren't enough to salvage this game.
the graphics are the sole redeeming feature of this game. the gameplay is undercooked, and the writing is so ear-grating that i had to drop this game just a few hours in. the fancy graphics weren't enough to salvage this game.
P.T.
2014
An incredibly successful horror experience - like the most effective virtual haunted house.
I never thought I'd get to play this, but thanks to the very impressive P.T Emulation I was finally able to...eight years after the fact.
I'd wager that this teaser, the cancellation of "Silent Hills" and the falling out of Kojima and Konami has to be the most famous and widely talked about video game "controversy" in recent times - and rightfully so. I've watched the gameplay of the teaser numerous times before, lamented the cancellation of the project as well as the removal of this teaser off of the PSN store and really never forgot about it. I figured the only way I would ever get to play this would be if I came into a windfall of disposable income and was able to buy someone's very expensive second hand PS4 off Ebay with P.T. installed. But, obviously, that's not the case.
So I went into playing this for the first time basically knowing all it had to offer and how it operated. I've seen the jump scares, the weird jelly bean baby, the way the game starts to fuck with you and everything. But playing it really is its own unique experience, something that is not captured well enough unless you do sit down and play it yourself. The atmosphere, the experimental nature of the looping hallway, the lack of action from your player character, the tiny bits of story given to you from the radio as well as supremely creepy visual clues all makes for a really effective short horror game. And at the end of it, I have to admit, I felt a bit emotional watching the teaser for the never-to-be "Silent Hills" as the Silent Hill theme played out. A lament for a future that will not be, and a horribly ironic and sad viewing with the knowledge of modern day Konami in mind.
HOWEVER, I have to stress that (while I know that this "demo" is allegedly detached from what the game was planned to be) this works best as being this short of a game, a game that has nothing to do with Silent Hill.
First person horror games where you walk around and have very little control over your character and are there simply to just walk to the next scripted "scare" moment is both horribly uninteresting to me and absolutely NOT what I would want out of a Silent Hill game. Additionally, Kojima is not, in my eyes, a good fit for Silent Hill. His method of storytelling is over-the-top, blatant, and frankly incredibly cheesy at times. And while the scares in P.T. are effective, I would fear that a Kojima Silent Hill game would fail to capture the specific detached, mysterious, deeply symbolic and psychologically taxing atmosphere of the Team Silent games. Now, I am sure that "Silent Hills" would have been a big step-up from the post-Team Silent Silent Hill games, but that is an extremely low bar. I still would have loved to see what this game could have become (especially after learning about the involvement of Junji Ito), but maybe it's better left to our collective imaginations. A part of me feels that our expectations for a game such as this and the years of wondering what could have been far exceeds what Kojima's interpretation of Silent Hill would have turned out to be. But, of course, we'll never know - and maybe we're better off for it.
Regardless, P.T. stands alone as an impressive and highly unique experiment that I think should be preserved, remembered, and discussed for a long time to come.
Unrelated but, and I don't know if this is just me, "Silent Hills" always seemed like a really dumb title.
I never thought I'd get to play this, but thanks to the very impressive P.T Emulation I was finally able to...eight years after the fact.
I'd wager that this teaser, the cancellation of "Silent Hills" and the falling out of Kojima and Konami has to be the most famous and widely talked about video game "controversy" in recent times - and rightfully so. I've watched the gameplay of the teaser numerous times before, lamented the cancellation of the project as well as the removal of this teaser off of the PSN store and really never forgot about it. I figured the only way I would ever get to play this would be if I came into a windfall of disposable income and was able to buy someone's very expensive second hand PS4 off Ebay with P.T. installed. But, obviously, that's not the case.
So I went into playing this for the first time basically knowing all it had to offer and how it operated. I've seen the jump scares, the weird jelly bean baby, the way the game starts to fuck with you and everything. But playing it really is its own unique experience, something that is not captured well enough unless you do sit down and play it yourself. The atmosphere, the experimental nature of the looping hallway, the lack of action from your player character, the tiny bits of story given to you from the radio as well as supremely creepy visual clues all makes for a really effective short horror game. And at the end of it, I have to admit, I felt a bit emotional watching the teaser for the never-to-be "Silent Hills" as the Silent Hill theme played out. A lament for a future that will not be, and a horribly ironic and sad viewing with the knowledge of modern day Konami in mind.
HOWEVER, I have to stress that (while I know that this "demo" is allegedly detached from what the game was planned to be) this works best as being this short of a game, a game that has nothing to do with Silent Hill.
First person horror games where you walk around and have very little control over your character and are there simply to just walk to the next scripted "scare" moment is both horribly uninteresting to me and absolutely NOT what I would want out of a Silent Hill game. Additionally, Kojima is not, in my eyes, a good fit for Silent Hill. His method of storytelling is over-the-top, blatant, and frankly incredibly cheesy at times. And while the scares in P.T. are effective, I would fear that a Kojima Silent Hill game would fail to capture the specific detached, mysterious, deeply symbolic and psychologically taxing atmosphere of the Team Silent games. Now, I am sure that "Silent Hills" would have been a big step-up from the post-Team Silent Silent Hill games, but that is an extremely low bar. I still would have loved to see what this game could have become (especially after learning about the involvement of Junji Ito), but maybe it's better left to our collective imaginations. A part of me feels that our expectations for a game such as this and the years of wondering what could have been far exceeds what Kojima's interpretation of Silent Hill would have turned out to be. But, of course, we'll never know - and maybe we're better off for it.
Regardless, P.T. stands alone as an impressive and highly unique experiment that I think should be preserved, remembered, and discussed for a long time to come.
Unrelated but, and I don't know if this is just me, "Silent Hills" always seemed like a really dumb title.
Forspoken
2023
western art, as a form, has evolved to a point where only purpose it serves is hate consuming for youtubers with furry png oc's who produce 10 minute essays on a daily basis
Death Stranding
2019
this is not a good video game
Horizon Zero Dawn
2017
this is the video game equivalent to Avatar and I don't mean that in a positive or negative way
Horizon Zero Dawn
2017
Gonna get flack for this. This game is rubbish.
This is just another open world game that is too large and for no reason at all. So much empty space with no real need. If you've played an open world game in the last 10 years, this is just all of them but polished in every way.
Crafting is boring, combat is repetitive, tall grass is the least original thing ever. I'm giving it it's rating because Aloy is a cool character in concept. Robot dinosaurs is also worth half a star as a concept on it's own.
I felt the writing was lowkey boring, travel was long. Just no.
I played maybe 1/4 to 1/2, it's hard to tell. It just got dropped and never played again.
This is just another open world game that is too large and for no reason at all. So much empty space with no real need. If you've played an open world game in the last 10 years, this is just all of them but polished in every way.
Crafting is boring, combat is repetitive, tall grass is the least original thing ever. I'm giving it it's rating because Aloy is a cool character in concept. Robot dinosaurs is also worth half a star as a concept on it's own.
I felt the writing was lowkey boring, travel was long. Just no.
I played maybe 1/4 to 1/2, it's hard to tell. It just got dropped and never played again.