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Silent Hill, I've tried to love you for many years now, but your badly implemented controls and nonsensical narrative have always managed to sour our relationship. And it's too bad. Silent Hill has always had elements that I would usually find amiable in a game. A dark story, aspects of survival, and heavy atmosphere, but enjoyment of those aspects runs thin when the player is forced to deal with some of truly terrible combat controls.
So I was interested in what the new Silent Hill, subtitled "Downpour" this time around, had to offer. Would it retain that same horror atmosphere yet allow me to explore and defend myself without the headaches of the past? In short, kind of.
The demo was split into two parts entitled "Explore" and "Get into the action". Since I wasn't so sure what kind of 'action'I would be 'getting into' I gladly decided to explore and try out some of those controls I've always had a problem with. I'm happy to report that even in pre-alpha the controls do seem to be improved. They are much more responsive than they were in homecoming and there is a lock-on for combat, which makes instances of swinging widely in the air and hitting nothing a rare occurrence.
The camera is also much closer to your character this time around, something we have been seeing a lot of since Dead Space, and in my opinion it works well to put the player into the shoes of the character and further envelop the player in the environments.
The beginning part of the demo played well but there were some aspects of it that do worry me. Your character tended to do scripted actions without prompting, such as jumping down to a lower ledge, which can easily disrupt any further exploring you might of been planning. Later sections of the demo also had you solving some fairly dull puzzles and doing a chase scene which was fairly rudimentary and definitely uninspired.
Whether these things are even part of the main game, or were just in there as a sort of tech demo await to be seen, but for Silent Hill: Downpour to truly break out it will have to expand its current environments and bring a sense of subtle horror into the series. Silent Hill: The Room was most successful when you were in your apartment, dealing with the little horrors you experienced and feeling that overwhelming sensation of the unknown closing in around you.
If Downpour can intermingle that type of dread with a more humanistic touch, and perhaps somewhat diminish the sensationalistic approach to horror, this might be a Silent Hill game I can truly get behind.
Comments
13 years, 5 months ago
Nice to hear they worked on the controls
13 years, 5 months ago
The controls never really bothered me, but it's still nice to see some changes made. Hopefully this new developer can bring some fresh atmosphere and horror. I'm pretty stoked.
13 years, 5 months ago
I dunno... It seems with each game, they're straying off from what made Silent Hill so great. Silent Hill wasn't about combat, or camera close-ups. It was about atmosphere. Silent Hill always had an awesome atmosphere, with the thick fog and snow. Now it's turned into rain. Silent Hill was about running around with a metal pipe that is awkward to use, making you want to run, not about targeting enemies and engaging in Resident Evil style combat. Silent Hill didn't need scripted chase scenes, because you felt like you were being chased constantly.
Maybe I'm living too far in the Silent Hill past, and I should accept the games won't be as good as they once were, but it's hard to watch such an amazing series take such a turn.
13 years, 5 months ago
I think my trouble these days is that i find it too easy to be knocked back and feel like i'm playing a game, not immersed in one.
I'm a massive fan of the SH series (I spent £150 on a soundtrack boxset for heaven's sake :( ) but I really wasn't a fan of what Homecoming brought to the table. Was it a good horror game? I believe so but it really didn't have that sparkle that SH used to have.
Hearing the camera is much closer to this character and there is a lock-on for the combat is just going to make me think the same thing it did in other games with these additions. Being too close to the character just makes me look at the character from a design standpoint, not as a character. (''Man, that texture on the back of his head is weird'' as an example) and a more drawn-back camera actually helps me feel like i'm a guy in an environment, not a player in a guy which a more close camera does. In the same vein Lock on, to me at least, has always very VERY gamey and again, pulls me out.
Still, i'm optomistic. I think Downpour will be a great horror game and i'll still buy it. I just wish Konami would let the Silent Hill series itself rest in peace and perhaps give these western studios the rights to make horror games under new IPs. Who knows, maybe if they had just been called 'Homecoming' and 'Downpour', respectively, we would genuinly feel like we had some new meat on the market, not just the same cow cut differently.
Thanks for the impressions Joeseph, keep 'em coming. As long-winded and down-trodden as my comments sound I am genuinly excited to hear more from this E3, even about Downpour haha. :)
13 years, 5 months ago
It's very nice to hear that the controls are better in this game than the previous. I was worried about that for this game for a while.
Though, as a die hard Silent Hill fan, it's rather... interesting, to say the least, to watch this game take such a new turn. To be completely honest, I don't think any of these newer Silent Hill games will ever live up to the hype of the older ones, such as 2 and 3. If you expect that coming from this game, you'll be disappointed, for they, in my eyes, are trying to do something new, rather than relying on the same old thing. Do I still expect the horror? Absolutely. The atmosphere where you're so creeped out that it sends shivers lacing down your spine? Yes. The plots that make leave to flabbergasted once it's all over? Fuck yes.
However, it seems as if these games are stepping TOO far away from what Silent Hill is, which is heart pounding, gut wrenching, pure horror, and that is what I want. Perhaps it's time for Silent Hill to be sent to rest in peace. It paved the road for horror, now it's time to let other games take that path.
13 years, 5 months ago
Shattered Memories was a step in the right direction plot-wise at least, after the disappointment I felt with Origins and Homecoming.
So long as Downpour can work the psychological twists and turns well, I'll be interested. Sluggish controls never bothered me with the earlier games after all.
Oh, and there need to be a Giant Face With Weird Eyeballs in there somewhere, just for Brad.
13 years, 5 months ago
Thanks for the impressions Joseph, as a huge Silent Hill fan and someone who loved Homecoming, I'm very, very excited for this.
13 years, 5 months ago
It's sad that I'll probably still play this even though I know it's not going to be good. ;_; Great article.
I think one of the reasons the first 4 silent hill games did well is because you were almost always ALONE. (if not partnered with some limping neighbor or subconsciously rendered prostitute.) The atmosphere fit well with being secluded from insane characters, as you, and possibly one other person, were the only people in Silent Hill with two balls and an iron pipe. Everybody else was wrong in the head.
they introduced several new characters into this game, and the fact that they all seem pretty reasonable people kinda turns me off. Silent Hill, you are the only game that makes me wish heretics and idiots existed.
13 years, 5 months ago
I've long been following the Silent Hill franchise outside me playing the series since I never have played it. But I should give it a try. People say start with the originals but for some reason I haven't bought them yet. Prolly other games.
I may pick this up or rent it. I did hear about Multiplayer rumors and I dunno how that would be implemented. Still, after seeing the trailer, it makes me wonder how Silent Hill: Downpour, a game that has heavy Psychological Horror, can have you fighting creatures that can symbolize the protagonist. I just don't see how an Ex-Con can confront symbolisms of his subconscious. Such as those squicky nurses and that giant hammer guy.
Silent Hill isn't your average Survival Horror. How will they make the story work?
13 years, 5 months ago
So many large, grammatically correct opinions. It's astonishing, really.
13 years, 5 months ago
I've never been a huge silent hill fan, but if the reviews hold up I might pick this up.
13 years, 5 months ago
I've always appreciated Silent Hill but there was always something about it that never hooked me in. I've never really been able to place it. I'm ok with tank controls (I love the original RE and Fatal Frame is my favorite survival-horror franchise) but for whatever reason I have never finished a SH game.
13 years, 5 months ago
I am so excited to see the new brand of eastern euro horror that this game will bring. I loved it in the stalker series and i feel like Ill love it even more in a game with a little more production value!
13 years, 5 months ago
It's a shame that so many aspects of this series need to be withstood rather than appreciated.