Review – Silent Hill: The Short Message

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The Silent Hill franchise has been in very rough spot in recent years. The past ten years have been pretty…. silent. Hideo Kojima’s cancelled Silent Hill project was torn away from us before we knew what to expect, using some elements of that including the casting of Norman Reedus to bring us Death Stranding. All that remains is the demo known as P.T., a horror masterpiece that changed the scene forever, apawning dozens of clones ranging from the excellent Visage to the less excellent Evil Inside.

Whilst we’ve technically had Silent Hill Ascension recently, it was nothing more than a cash grab that misunderstood the IP by turning it into an episodic mobile cinematic movie. Think of it as Man of Medan, but not good, and full of microstransactions. What was supposed to be a triumphant return instead put a lot of worry into the handling of the Silent Hill franchise after such a long hiatus. Silent Hill: The Short Message was shadow-dropped at the most recent PlayStation State of Play showcase as a short, free-to-play experience. If there’s a chance for Konami to prove that it can support the Silent Hill franchise in a way to respect its legacy this is it. Don’t let us down.

In my restless dreams, I see that town

The Short Message takes us away from the titular town of Silent Hill, moving from the United Stated into Germany. You play as Anita, a girl who has received a text from her friend Maya, asking her to meet her at the abandoned apartment complex known simply as “The Villa”. It’s a  place where graffiti artists used to express themselves, only to eventually turn into a tragic suicide spot. As Anita arrives to the Villa, the fog rolls in and Maya stops responding. Fearing the worst, Anita starts looking for her.

What follows is a plot that is actually fairly solid, dealing with incredibly heavy topics and themes, with your standard variety of twists, turns and plenty of flashbacks that do a great job of telling an engaging Silent Hill story. It does so with enough grace, but completely lacking in subtlety, very rarely letting the game speak for itself and keeping it going with heavy handed dialogue and texts between characters. One of the weirder aspects are the live action cutscnes that, whilst not on the same level as Alan Wake 2 ,did a decent enough job and kept a compelling mystery going.

In many ways, The Short Message is kind of the official successor to P.T. It is a first-person horror title with a very heavy emphasis on exploration, after all. You will travel through a singular small location that shifts everytime you make it through a “lap” of sorts, picking up clues to uncover exactly what happend at the villa, for a very brief ninety minutes to two hours of total gameplay. That all depends on how much you stop and explore your surroundings, that is.

Surely it can’t be that bad?

As for the horror aspect of this, uh, horror game, The Short Message is actually quite restrained in what it shows, not relying heavily on jump scares. The very few that were actually included in the final product occasionally landed well. Others, not so much. Some caught me off guard whilst others were hilariously bad. The game wasn’t exactly a terrifying experience from beginning to end, but it was tense and engaging enough, mostly due to its atmosphere. It is actually nicely paced, and for the low, low price of just wasting two hours of your life, it is still worth checking out.

Sprinkled throughout are a small handful of chase sections, taking you into a twist on the iconic otherworld. Not much really happens in them, just run down the path, and when the monster known as Cherry Blossom appears, just run the other way. Anita’s phone will glitch out and the DualSense controller’s haptics are put to good work here. For the most part, these chases are incredibly short, being over in around a minute, and being somewhat devoid of anything unique to make them stand out.

The game’s final chase ramps things up a bit, with a much more extensive runtime and an additional mechanic centered around your phone. It has been deemed “divisive” by some, especially due to some annoying and harsh checkpoint decisions. Upon being caught, you have to do the sequence all over again, even though it’s really easy to get lost due to repetitive hallway designs. It is, however, also quite unique in its usage of the phone. I didn’t particularly have a hard time with it, but I get the complaints. I just found that it was a good usage of the game’s mechanics and tension buildup. It is, sadly, hampered by the aforementioned brevity of The Short Message as a whole.

CB has a very basic design you wil very rarely see. But I kinda dig it.

When you first boot The Short Message up, you will be able to notice, right from the getgo, how detailed the whole game is. However, this doesn’t excuse the abysmal frame rate, filled with freqeuent drops even if nothing is really happening. Whilst the game looks solid it isn’t pushing any boundaries we haven’t seen before. You will mostly be exploring a derelict appartment complex, complete with trash thrown around everywhere, and walls filled with grafitti. Where things get interesting is when you are pulled into the otherworld, with some impressive transitions effects as the world peels apart. This is a huge call back to Silent Hill 3.

Sound design doesn’t fare much better. Whilst the voice acting is passable at best, there is just way too much of it, not letting the enviromental storytelling that is present shine through, and having the characters spell everything out for you. Also I’m not 100% sure if he was involved, but the soundtrack is reminiscent of Akira Yamaoka’s work, which is always a good thing.

Live action cinematics were a surprise.

Let me clarify that, whilst Silent Hill: The Short Message wasn’t exactly the kind of game we were all waiting for, it’s not entirely that bad. It’s a mixed bag of a horror experience, with a story which tried to deal with some heavy personal themes (not exactly new ground for the series, mind you), only to fall short in its execution. Regardless, it’s still worth giving a shot. There is stuff to like in here, and let me reiterate the fact that it’s free, and brief. It’s not particularly a risky investment.

Graphics: 7.0

An abysmal framerate ruins what is otherwise a visually great presentation.

Gameplay: 5.5

A walking simulator horror game that does very little to distinguish itself from the competition. The DualSense is put to good use like once or twice, but that’s it.

Sound: 5.5

Some rough voice acting and dialogue can’t portray the heavy themes. They can, in fact, take you out of the experience. Elsewhere, the sound design does hold up.

Fun Factor: 5.5

There is a strong narrative here, but it could have been told in a much better and more engaging way. Regardless of complaints, it is a solid free experience worth the 90 minute runtime.
Final Verdict: 6.0

Silent Hill: The Short Message is available now on PlayStation 5.

Reviewed on PlayStation 5.

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