TLDR: If I could have a middle option for a "mixed" review, I would. This game does a lot of things right, but for every single thing I loved, there was something I equally kind of hated. Have realistic expectations when you buy this.
You play as Hinako, a rebellious teenage girl who hates being told what to do or how she should adhere to society's standards. You leave home after a heated encounter with your parents so you can go talk to your friends. After meeting up with them however, you find your home town empty, slowly filling with fog, and terrifying monsters suddenly appear.
Pretty solid set up, right? So, how does this game succeed, and how does it fail?
- Silent Hill? In a brand new setting? Count me in. Does it stray from the traditional Silent Hill experience? Ehhh, a tad, but sometimes fresh ideas are needed to keep a series relevant. In this case, I think it was a good idea.
- The main setting, the town, was beautifully designed. Exploring it, and some of the available houses, was a real treat, and honestly left me wanting more. From the school, to the farms, all the way to the mountain, I loved it. However... there's "dream" sequences where you enter an entirely different world, often filled with twisted corridors, shrines, and borderline mazes. I get it. I understand why we go there, and how its a cool idea on paper. But honestly, every time I got sucked into these sequences, I was impatiently waiting to go back to the town.
- I'm not gonna sugar coat it; the combat was kind of annoying. While I was never afraid of dying due to having a constant supply of healing items, it was frustrating getting stun locked by enemies hitting me over and over, or getting locked into a swing animation only to lose half of my HP bar because I couldn't stop it once I pressed the button. The stamina system especially made it feel like a drag. Hit, hit, dodge, pause for stamina, hit. It's not difficult, but it's just not fun.
- The puzzles... ugh. Now before you think I'm just some goober shuffling single digit brain cells around, no, the puzzles were not impossible. They were simply vague, most of them require you to go on fetch quests, and they're not set up very well. Actually, if I had to put my finger on it, I'd say its a translation issue, because if the hints and clues were worded differently, most of these would've been a breeze to get through. Two examples that stand out are:
1) The scarecrow puzzle... I don't know if it's glitchy or what, but you're given letters, and each one tells you what to look out for. However, every single time you follow the clue, it ends up being wrong. Like one letter mentions a boy never looking their way, and that's the hint, so you pick the one scarecrow that fits, and boom, wrong answer? And it does this every step of the way.
2) The mural puzzle is just as bad. It gives you a poem, but it makes no sense sometimes. "the white bird flies free" but then you're supposed to put the token for it in a cage? How does that equal flying free? How would you ever guess that?
- Okay, time for the meat and potatoes of the stew... the story! Massive spoilers ahead, so if you're interested, stop reading now please.
[spoiler]I adore the main themes and topics this game tackles. Hinako is treated poorly and is heavily misunderstood by a majority of the people in her life. They want her to fit social norms, they want her to be obedient, and she's frequently judged from every direction. The game does an amazing job of making you feel paranoid of everybody, even your own friends, as your faced with conflicting information on how they view you. Your abusive father, who fell into immense debt, is trying to marry you off, which adds another factor; how women were (and ARE) expected to marry and have their identities reduced to "wife." [/spoiler]
[spoiler]Meanwhile, Hinako is just chasing her own happiness. Part of her wants to stay a carefree child, who can keep her promises to her friends and always stay with her best friend, Shu. The other half of her looks forward to a potential future with her husband. Ultimately, this kind of conflict is something a lot of women, and even men, are faced with. It's hard to leave your childhood behind. It's hard to sacrifice parts of yourself for the sake of growing up, and its even harder sacrificing them to make room for an entire other person you love. Will you regret it? Is it for the best? Don't both options terrify you in one way or another? That's the questions this game likes to ask, and its questions we've probably all had to subconsciously ask ourselves in the past.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]However, as beautifully approached as this all is... Yes, there's some problems. Some of these things are far too cryptic, or have to be over-analyzed to see through the symbolism. It's not everybody's cup of tea. In order to even see all of the content to piece everything together, you have to play the game multiple times. For reference, a single playthrough of this took me roughly 12ish hours without rushing. Do you want to sit through 4 playthroughs to see and understand everything? No? Cool, neither did I, which is why I thank the people on YouTube that did. When I reached the end, I was originally very confused, because it turns out your absolutely tweaking on pills that Shu gave you and you're going on a massacre and being chased by police. From what I've gathered, you're locked into this bad ending for your first playthrough too. Yes, I understand the symbolism in doing that, but its not satisfying for the player![/spoiler]
Did I enjoy playing it? Yes.
Did some parts disappoint me? Yes.
Will I play through it again? Only for the achievements, otherwise I wouldn't.
