Silent Hill: The Short Message is classic Silent Hill, and that’s not great

Konami isn’t going to allow you to neglect that Silent Hill: The Brief Message is, in truth, a Silent Hill sport, however one thing’s lacking. On this one, you observe a teenage lady named Anita, who wakes up in an deserted residence constructing; after getting unusual textual content messages from her good friend Maya, Anita goes out to search out her. Alongside the best way, she confronts her trauma and guilt whereas getting sucked right into a horror straight out of her tortured psyche. Does that sound acquainted? If you happen to’ve performed Silent Hill 2 or many different video games made after it, you guess it does.

The Brief Message, which by no means received formally introduced though followers knew it was in growth, all of a sudden dropped on the PlayStation Retailer after its first trailer was proven off throughout Sony’s January State of Play. Even stranger, it was free to play. Konami partnered with Hexadrive on the sport, which takes only a couple hours to play by means of and works each as a standalone expertise and as a harbinger of Silent Hills to return.

[Ed. note: This review contains spoilers for Silent Hill: The Short Message. It also features discussion of bullying, mental illness, and suicide.]

The brand new title performs like many Silent Hill video games earlier than it. Like P.T., The Brief Message makes use of a loop to inform a narrative about being caught in your worst nightmare. Anita is delivered to an deserted residence constructing with no concept how she received there and has to stroll round to search out her approach out. Till she faces each metaphorical and bodily demons, she’s trapped. She has no weapons or objects to assist her past her cellphone, which she makes use of as a flashlight and as a approach to speak to her mates Maya and Amelie.

There are a number of loops all through the sport, and so they’re nice at ramping up the stress. In a single, Anita walks round her previous residence, and each time she restarts the loop, she will get smaller. As soon as I spotted that I used to be changing into child-sized as I relived Anita’s childhood trauma and realized extra about her mom, one thing sank in my abdomen. I noticed myself getting weaker and extra helpless, which performed properly with Anita’s expertise.

Probably the most distinguished place you’ll see these loops is within the sport’s solely motion sequences, the place it’s a must to run away from a monster, clearly imagined to resemble Maya. Contemplating Pyramid Head creator Masahiro Ito labored on The Brief Message, it’s no shock that it’s such an intense creature. It appears horrific however oddly stunning, rendered in pastels that pop towards the darkish. She additionally strikes at a special framerate, making her motions look jerky and unnerving. Undecided what the identify of it’s but (Cherry Blossom Faculty Woman possibly?), however it’ll positively be one of many franchise’s most memorable monsters.

Picture: Konami

Operating from the monster is a bit paying homage to attempting to flee the Void in Silent Hill: Downpour, though fortunately loads much less annoying. You need to navigate looping mazes whereas utilizing your cellphone to pay attention for static (a standard Silent Hill mechanic) to keep away from the monster, which immediately sends you again to the start. Just like the constructing, these mazes grow to be extra dilapidated and terrifying over time, with the final one working you thru a Silent Hill-esque different world lined in steel grates and surrounded by fireplace.

One other hallmark of contemporary Silent Hill appears to be taking the idea of a city that displays the protagonist’s worst fears and trauma, and increasing these horrors all through the world. The Brief Message takes place in Germany, particularly within the fictional city of Kettenstadt. The place is described as a “border stronghold” that when had massive revitalization desires till the COVID-19 pandemic brought about traders to tug out funding. Most of the buildings are due to this fact deserted, together with the Villa residence constructing, the place the sport takes place.

It’s spectacular how fleshed-out Kettenstadt feels, and like the perfect of Silent Hill, it’s a personality in itself. That is solely a two-hour sport, so there’s solely a lot element right here, and also you don’t see something past the Villa, however there’s nonetheless sufficient to drive house how Silent Hill-esque Kettenstadt is — partially resulting from its tragic backstory and present state of neglect. Even when the world round you appears worse with every loop, you by no means really feel such as you’ve left the Villa. Anita’s mind-set may make the environments look grimier and extra wretched, however the line is at all times blurred between Kettenstadt’s precise state and its Silent Hill model. Using the pandemic additionally provides some wanted depth, particularly now that we’re in 2024 and are nonetheless seeing its results broadly. (Is that this the primary important COVID sport?)

Picture: Konami by way of gamerjive

The Villa is haunted in different methods. Anita’s psychological state has some impact, however Kettenstadt’s historical past performs an enormous function. Past normal disrepair, it has grow to be a spot the place virtually yearly, a younger lady dies by suicide from leaping off the roof. Proper off the bat, Konami makes clear by way of in-game messages that The Brief Message will sort out some heavy themes, together with bullying, self-harm, and suicide. That is one thing the sport won’t ever allow you to neglect, because it’s conveyed by means of a number of content material warnings with hyperlinks to sources and point out of the U.S. Suicide and Disaster Lifeline. Suicide is a big a part of Anita’s and the city’s story.

For essentially the most half, I believe the topic of suicide is dealt with respectfully right here. Nevertheless, when Anita makes an attempt suicide herself, it feels borderline cheesy. Each time she jumps from the roof, the sport takes a break to carry up that content material warning once more. She does this twice. The primary time is extraordinarily jarring — you don’t see suicide depicted so blatantly in video video games fairly often, and when the hotline card pops up, you may suppose for a second that that’s how the sport ends. When it occurs the second time, it feels compelled, like the sport is apologizing for placing you thru that second once more.

I perceive why the builders erred on the facet of warning when it got here to warning gamers about the subject material, however attempting to carry the participant’s hand by means of all of it doesn’t change the truth that the story continues to be leaning on shock worth. It’s regarding that the sport’s creators seemingly don’t belief the viewers to grasp a content material warning with out it being proven a number of occasions – or possibly there’s an insecurity about exhibiting this imagery to gamers. I fear that future Silent Hill video games will strategy these themes equally.

Picture: Konami by way of gamerjive

Anita is a terminally depressed teen, and contemplating all of the reveals about her character and relationships, her contemplation of suicide positively matches her total story. I recognize that Konami didn’t shrink back from this. However, the sport beats you over the pinnacle with it, each when it comes to the hotline messages and in how typically it’s introduced up.

It doesn’t assist that Anita’s character for a lot of the sport is that she is depressed and attempting to cowl it up whereas texting her good friend Amelie, her solely connection to the skin world. When she’s alone, although, and rummaging by means of the deserted residence constructing, her dialogue principally entails placing herself down. “I’ve at all times been trapped,” she says at one level. She wonders if she deserves to dwell or if individuals discover her in any respect. Anita is a young person, and youngsters might be annoying, so I didn’t thoughts that her dialogue was typically very dramatic. However whereas melancholy might be all-consuming, The Brief Message doesn’t give Anita way more definition past her psychological sickness.

A whole lot of The Brief Message feels heavy-handed in its themes, from suicide to the influence of social media to the cruelty of bullying. There are notes all around the partitions with insults scribbled on them, and so they all really feel a bit on the nostril. I do know typically bullying isn’t intelligent, however the notes and the voices shouting “Freak!” or “Slut!” received repetitive quick. It’s one other place the place the viewers isn’t trusted to grasp the story with out it being spelled out.

Picture: Konami by way of gamerjive

The Brief Message can also be extraordinarily unsubtle in relation to its Silent Hill connections. Within the first room, you’ll discover a defaced Little Hope city signal from Silent Hill: Homecoming, and, in fact, the looping rooms in The Brief Message are just like the core system in P.T. One notably groan-worthy second entails a observe speaking concerning the “Silent Hill Phenomenon,” which is mind fog so intense that victims see precise fog. And sure, it’s named after the city. In case you weren’t certain about what sort of sport this was, you’ve now been educated.

It’s not simply references — The Brief Message is simply doing a beat-for-beat Silent Hill efficiency, however at a smaller scale. It’s not only a matter of Konami publishing video games that slot in with a sequence and extra about the way it feels to observe one thing replicated, typically poorly. The Brief Message does have its moments, like Cherry Blossom Faculty Woman, and a few of the loops are nice. Plus, it’s a shocking sport to have a look at, with some distinctive imagery that makes me really feel optimistic concerning the sequence’ future. That is very a lot a Silent Hill retread, even when it’s a very good one, and Konami needs you to comprehend it. It makes you surprise if all of the upcoming titles will take an analogous path.

Silent Hill: The Brief Message is now accessible without cost on PlayStation 5.