TEST Silent Hill: The Short Message, modern psychological horror

During the last PlayStation State of Play, Konami released a trailer for the battles of the remake of Silent Hill 2disappointing in passing all fans of the original opus, but above all it launched directly on the PS Store Silent Hill: The Short Message, an adventure free-to-play exclusive to PS5 which has been talked about for several years now. This is the first truly playable project since P.T.the teaser of Silent Hills by Hideo Kojima canceled in 2015. So we turned our PS5 back on to discover this new free title, a short but grueling experience, which could have been much better.

Silent Hill: The Short Message is reminiscent of PT, but it is far from having its genius.

Silent Hill: The Short Message surprisingly takes place in Germany, in 2022, far from the original (and fictional) city located in the United States. A teenager, Anitawakes up in a ruined building, renowned for its numerous student suicides and abandoned following the COVID-19 crisis. Anita is looking for her friend Mayaa young artist and classmate, while exchanging text messages with Amelie, another friend, but finds herself visibly stuck in this deserted and gloomy building. Equipped with your smartphone for lighting, Anita ventures into this place, but she is clearly not alone and will above all have to face much more psychological horrors.

With its first-person camera and gameplay rather slow, Silent Hill: The Short Message obviously reminds P.T., but it is far from having his genius for staging and enigmas. Very simplistic in its unfolding, the game here is a narrative-driven title, there is only one small puzzle during the game, which takes two to three hours without much replayability. A walking simulator as there are so many, all gameplay passes through the exploration of the corridors and apartments of the building, with notes to read for context. Side gameplayit’s a real disappointment, because there were better things to do : a DualSense in the hands of the player, a smartphone in that of the heroine, but nothing intelligent to use all of this, the mechanics using the PS5 controller are totally absent here, it’s a shame. Two or three small ideas would have transformed Silent Hill: The Short Message in a real modern horror game, making fans of P.T..

There remains therefore the narration through writing, through cinematics or even via sequences in live-action in the form of flashbacks, the whole scenario revolving aroundAnita, Maya, Amelie and their relationship. There, another problem arises: the beginning of the adventure is botched, the dialogues are poorly written and are very cliché, Anita keeps talking out loud to herself, the rhythm is broken (in addition to being interrupted by the cutscenes). And yet… the rest of the game turns out to be much better in terms of writing, tackling heavy subjects such as depression, self-harm, suicide and even school bullying, themes clearly in tune with the times, with sometimes very visual sequences and a real accuracy in his words, which is especially effective at the end of the game. A short adventure therefore, but trying for certain players, reminding us that the franchise focuses on psychological horror, and not on action. In two hours, the game manages to tackle these difficult subjects, although sometimes with the impression of skimming over them. The fault is undoubtedly the short lifespan, but also a certain modesty. In the end, it’s better than going through the motions without subtlety, which is what the developers have avoided doing here. Because after all, psychological horror is created by the player himself.

Silent Hill: The Short Message still offers some rare somewhat dynamic sequences, Anita having to escape a creature (designed by Masahiro Ito) in labyrinthine corridors, which become more and more frightening as the game progresses. Phases not necessarily exceptional, they remain too classic for survival horroreven a certain tension manages to settle in thanks to these gloomy, metallic corridors, with sometimes frightening textures. The aesthetic of dirty and rusty environments is still very present, too bad you have to run, impossible to admire them in the heat of the action. There remains more original decor, with walls covered with notes and pieces of paper, the effect is impressive, although different from the spirit silent Hill.

Silent Hill: The Short Message shows that the franchise can still exist in 2024.

Generally, the technical production of Silent Hill: The Short Message is neat. The title is rather impressive, except for the faces which deserved better animation. For the rest, it’s beautiful, the environments are full of details, the textures are dirty, the staging manages to make us jump with simple but never garish effects and the sound design totally puts us in the mood, like the smartphone which crackles when the creature gets closer, like the radio in the previous opuses. Despite its different atmosphere, the title is well anchored in the franchisea newspaper note evokes a syndrome drawn from the city silent Hillrenowned for its disappearances, a syndrome which is now spreading all over the world, especially after the pandemic.

A most interesting note, undoubtedly a pillar of what the franchise will be in the future. The city of silent Hill belongs to the pastold players have mourned the license since SH 4: The Room (or even HS 3), young players do not yet know it, the free-to-play Silent Hill: The Short Message will undoubtedly be a gateway for many. silent Hill is no longer just a city, it is a foggy, obscure and rusty syndrome, affecting people prey to unhappiness who must face their demons, whether they live in the United States, Germany or the Japan. The anthology has always been part of the license, the first opuses of the saga marked an entire generation of players, now in the era of silent Hill modern. Nostalgic fans can still enjoy the original soundtrack composed by Akira Yamaokawhich offers themes always oscillating between melancholy and horror, but also a song as the end credits sung by Esther Ortega Canto, replacement for Mary Elizabeth McGlynn on the Japanese composer’s recent tours.

Silent Hill: The Short Message is not P.T.and it’s a shame, because the gameplay and the puzzles would have deserved a much better place in this game. It is not a real new third-person episode, who knows if this camera will make a return outside of remakes, but it shows that the franchise can still exist in 2024. Psychological horror, with serious and serious themes, is at the heart of this narrative experience and the atmosphere manages to be oppressive, even sometimes stressful during the escape sequences. A disturbing place, tortured characters, that’s what made the license famous. Masahiro Ito and Akira Yamaoka are still there, enough to delight fans who have been waiting for years to see them in action again, the monsters and music will not disorient the nostalgic.

Silent Hill: The Short Message is ultimately an interesting title, not always well written, which would have deserved a better gameplaybut who manages to find real accuracy in his subject, with good idea of ​​staging and lugubrious settings as desired, undoubtedly posing the basics of what the next new games in the franchise will be silent Hill. After Silent Hill: Ascension and the promotional campaign for the remake of the action-oriented second part, Silent Hill: The Short Message still has something reassuring. And then, it’s free (if you have a PlayStation 5), it’s difficult to be choosy about a big playable advertisement offered by Konami.

You can find the standard PS5 Slim from €549 on Amazon, Cdiscount Or Fnac.

Clint008 Editor – Tester