Impressed with this game so far. Starting with the intro song, it feels like a “real” Silent Hill game only set in a different cultural context.
There’s a nice, constant tension. You’re rewarded for exploring but it’s never really safe to do so. Enemies that don’t stay dead are back from SH4 to make things stressful, especially when you’re trying to solve a puzzle.
One thing I found funny is that the game teaches you to lock on to an enemy with square but of course I immediately forgot that and started using the Dark Souls method, which they are considerate enough to support as well.
I started out with English voices but quickly realized that was wrong and switched to Japanese.
yeah this game is really impressively Fine in every way. like, I think it’s the first time that Konami has actually managed something original since blowing up all their talent post-MGS5, it feels like a well considered psychological story that deserves to leverage the franchise name, I don’t think I’ll like it quite as much as RE7 or Devotion at the rate it’s going but it’s a very solid outing when they needed one and it’s gonna put them in a good position for whatever is next. it’s neither too conspicuously old nor too conspicuously new which is a hard needle to thread.
I’ll be curious to see whether this one does anything as interesting with its monsters as the SH2 remake’s mannequin AI though. The way they behaved as ambush predators was the coolest thing about that game imo.
I kind of wish this had something like the Silent Hill 4 storage box. Even after clearing out some of my inventory, I sometimes have to make a couple trips back to places I remember seeing items I didn’t have room for. But I guess it would be more difficult to have such a device make sense in this game without an apartment to return to.
“Story” difficulty is proving challenging enough, especially for some of the boss fights. I do find that I usually have too many health items because if I die as I’m figuring something out how I usually don’t need to heal much or at all on my successful attempt.
And I guess that’s really the source of my inventory issues. First aid kits don’t stack and I always use bandages instead so I kind of have too many.
I might as well just start replacing first aid kits because even if I had a storage box I imagine they would pile up in there and never get used anyway.
I feel like they’re daring you to get to such low health a first aid kit is optimal but there’s too much other heals around.
Am investing in Omamori upgrades since they’re the most expensive and seeing how I get on. Upgrading sanity seems insane (lol). I just finished the school and other than massive bosses roaming about or large groups I find stealth is often harder to execute than stunning and focus attacking most enemies. Even the damage sponges.
I really liked the axe but it deteriorated so quickly it was as if it were made of cheap plastic, and toolkits barely repaired it at all. It eventually broke but it was fun while it lasted.
The part I’m at now borrows from P.T. I quit for the night after dying almost instantly to the area boss.
Something I’ve noticed is that this game’s environments generally haven’t felt as immersive as those in other Silent Hill games, despite having nice visual and sound design. I’m not sure whether it’s because I’ve just played too many Silent Hill games or because of something this game does differently in creating atmosphere.
Maybe because there’s almost always something to fight, escape, collect, or otherwise interact with, and not as much quiet exploration/room for the world to breathe.
I find the Otherworld feels more inherently game-y because of how gridded the levels tend to be. The first time exploring the town felt very open like I was getting lost but this feeling kinda fades away as you go.
They show some restraint in some of the initial levels by having enemies barely show up for long stretches but it feels a lot more even now.
Just did the first ritual. Fucking wolf arm! Had to stop for the evening but wondering what the hell is next
I reached the end of this game last night. In the later areas there’s a lot more non-optional combat that feels like padding, but with some stat upgrades and a generous supply of weapons it’s not too bad.
Looks like there are several alternate paths/endings that explain more of the story, but it wasn’t too difficult to figure out basically what (I think) really happened in the end.
The game explicitly tells you what to do if you want to get the other endings. I might try for another one to see how different things are.
I don’t know what they showed in that old preview but there’s a scene late in the game that could be a bit much for someone seriously bothered by such imagery.
