Now that the Silent Hill revival is officially complete, what are your thoughts?
Back in 2022, Konami officially revealed that the Silent Hill franchise was making a big comeback. Not only we're we getting four new games (and whatever Ascension was), but also a new movie. With the recent release of Townfall, the revival has officially been completed. What are your thoughts on each project and how would you rank them? For me:
06.) Ascension
This is, without question, the single worst thing to ever come out of this franchise. The story was nonsensical, the acting was poor, the dialogue was terrible, the microtransactions were insulting and the fact that the only people's decisions that mattered were the ones who paid the most money was just the cherry on top of this crap sundae. Ascenison was the absolute worst way Konami could have brought this franchise back and it needs to be forgotten about as quickly as possible.
1/10
05.) Return to Silent Hill
The trailers didn't look encouraging at all, but the final film turned out to be even worse than I expected. This is a complete bastardization of Silent Hill 2's incredible narrative and a horrible adaptation, but also just a really dull, poorly made horror movie in its own right. Maybe someday we'll get a good Silent Hill film but Return to Silent Hill is anything but.
1.5/10
04.) The Short Message
I appreciate that this game is completely free to play, but that's where my praise for it ends. The story is well-intentioned with its approach to serious topics, but the execution is silly, over the top and too ham-fisted to take seriously or get engaged with. The gameplay mostly consists of walking around empty environments solving dull puzzles and then there's the chase sequences. Oh lord, the chase sequences. These are either boring with little tension, or frustrating and tedious with no in between. The final chase sequence in particular is so poorly and maddeningly designed that I never want to play The Short Message again.
3/10
03.) Townfall
This was a really solid game with an engaging story, terrific atmosphere, fun exploration and some good monster designs. The stealth unfortunately can get pretty tedious as it's extremely basic in its design and grows stale pretty fast. Some of the puzzles, while creative, are also too vague for their own good and can be annoyingly unclear as a result. Despite these shortcomings, Townfall is still a worthy addition to this franchise.
8/10
02.) Silent Hill f
The first great original entry this franchise has had in a long time. The story is really trippy and interesting, the atmosphere is excellent, the puzzles are creative, the monsters are unsettling, the boss battles are really well done, and the environments are all really memorable. There's also a lot of replay value here as New Game Plus mixes up the game in some really unique ways. The only real downside is how excessive the combat can be, as it really starts to wear out its welcome by the end, despite being well designed. Still, Silent Hill f proves that this franchise is still capable of producing strong original material.
9/10
01.) Silent Hill 2 Remake
I didn't think Bloober Team could possibly improve upon perfection, but in some ways (not all), they did. Nearly everything I loved about the OG is here but has been expanded on and remixed in some really clever ways. The monsters are all great, the combat is the best of the series imo, the puzzles are excellent, the atmosphere is superb and this is just an all-around fantastic recreation of one of gaming's greatest masterpieces. Silent Hill 2 is easily one of the greatest remakes of all time as far as I'm concerned.
10/10