Silent Hillis very dear to me. The world of a mystery ghost town turned evil from a cult worshiping an unspeakable entity, while also being so haunted that it can attract poor souls with hidden pasts and torture them into confronting said pasts.
But the series is a little hard to get your hands on, and one of its latest entries is the most infamous example. Released back in 2014,P.T.wasHideo Kojima’s Playable Teaser for his entry, Silent Hills, but once that fell through, Konami pulled the game from sale and even removed the option for players who already played the game to re-download it.
P.T. Or Not P.T? That Is The Question
Now, years afterKonamipulled a short free Silent Hill game where the player is chased by a jittering monster through a seemingly endless hallway, the January 2024 State Of Play revealed the imminent release of a short free Silent Hill game where… the player is chased by a jittering monster through a seemingly endless hallway.
This game is Silent Hill: The Short Message. I’ve now played it through in its entirety, and the most impressive thing about it is how it manages to feel inferior and derivative in every way to the decade-old P.T.
That Silent Hill 2 Remake ‘Combat Trailer’ Kinda Misses The Point
Silent Hill 2 has never been about the combat, so why dedicate a trailer to it in the remake?
Let’s start with the monster, which is about as scary as a putrid sick stain on Lisa’s gown. Wrapped around pink cherry blossoms that look silly, and at a walking speed notably slower than the player. If she sees you, you have a century or two to get away from her; I had to runtowardsher to die. Had I just leisurely jogged away, you wouldn’t have seen this death screenshot. And yes, the main character’s running speed is a jog. She may as well be tap-dancing away from the beast.
What Short Message borrows more from isLayers Of Fear, where the player goes through several purposefully confusing rooms to try and figure out the cryptic story behind the reason the character is trapped there. There’s even tons of art from a talented yet pained artist, just like Layers, which seems like a fairly unambitious game to take cues from (incidentally made by Bloober Team, who are helming the Silent Hill 2 remake).
Ultimately, this means Short Message feels derivative to both Layers Of FearandP.T, with few ideas of its own.
And itwantsyou to remember P.T., as evident from moments such as this bloody bathtub. The bathroom was an iconic location in P.T., featuring a disgusting bathtub right next to a sink pretty darn close to the one used here, although this one lacks the infamous fetus seen in P.T.’s sink. Not to worry though, as after I entered this pointless bathroom, the sound of a crying baby was heard. Except there was no baby this time, it was just a shoehorned reference to remind me of what came before, and of better times.
Short Message feels written by someone who browsed Instagram once and decided that’s what internet bullying looks like.
The tone and atmosphere are lacking. It’s the type of horror game where you always have a flashlight even though the rooms are barely dark. It’s generic, it’s overplayed, and it’s boring.
Impostor Syndrome
Short Message also reminded me no less than four times (with the same pop-up telling me to go to their site) that it deals with serious themes like suicide and bullying, which are themes horror is allowed to tackle and discuss when done right. The problem I have with Short Message’s depiction is how it all feels written by someone who browsed Instagram once and decided that’s what internet bullying looks like.
The insults the player character remembers in her head were as strong as"make better pics!“and"this is lame!”, which feel very watered down to what is said by hate mobs on the internet. If you want to go there, go there. Watering it down removes too many of the horrors of reality, which is the main reason to discuss reality in a horror game.
Then there’s how the lead feels like she’s supposed to come across as having Impostor Syndrome; seeing so many people succeed, feelingtheyearnedtheiraccolades, but doubting ifyouearned any ofyours.
This is presented by her counting her dead friend Maya’s social media followers and wishing she got as many as that. Thisisn’tImpostor Syndrome, this is just cut-and-dry jealousy. I couldn’t tell how sympathetic she was supposed to be, the game said contradictory statements seconds apart. If this is to set up some kind of twist, it’s too obvious.
As a piece of art, Short Message feels determined to remind us of something else, something the parent company already told me I’m never allowed to play. As a horror game, it feels tacky and underwhelming. While Silent Hill has returned in the form ofthe dire Silent Hill: Ascensionand now this, the series' actual creative revival still eludes us. Well, there’s still Silent Hill 2 Remake,Silent Hill f, and Silent Hill: Townfall to look forward, which in fairness all seem like far more promising projects.
12 Greatest Silent Hill Characters, Ranked
The Silent Hill series features some weird, tragic, and iconic characters throughout. This list breaks down the best characters from the games.
