After having played SH5(Homecoming) for almost 7 hrs no, and having enjoyed my time just as much as previous SHs, and knowing the bad reception this game had when it came out back then, I decided to check the user reviews to see if opinion was different. I was shocked to see the incredibly bad reception the game has here on Steam but than I read the reviews and it seems to be mostly about the games PC performance rather than about the game.
So the question is, if the game works is it good? Is it Silent Hill?
Well i'm here to report that so far the game runs near superb. I'm playing on Steamdeck and have yet to run into any of the performance complaints on here. Steamdeck is weird because alot of games don't run well on PC but for some reasons they run almost perfect on Steamdeck.
The issue I can report so far is that the game will sometimes do a mini-pause for a few miliseconds(less than half a second), it's noticeable but happens so quickly and doesn't interupt anything that it's not a convenience at all or impacts the game in any way, it rarely happens but, just seems to happens sometimes when you enter new areas.
Now about the game, is SH5 good? So far my time with the game has been great. When Homecoming first came out I skipped out on it because almost all the reviews were negative, calling it dated, a step down and not much like SH. Essentially this wasn't the SH5 we expected and were left wanting a true Silent Hill 5 installment. Well I was a fool, I've learned in todays gaming that professional reviews arent good anymore, so its todays gaming its better to rely on user reviews, but now that is starting to have its own problems, so using reviews has evolved to a point where you now have to look for user reviews who aren't emotional or unobjective in their reviews.
I was led to believe for yrs and yrs this wasn't a true sequel but now that ive finally tried it this truely is Silent Hill 5. The graphics are great for the time that it came out, and the graphics on this game was slept on, this game is clearly of the early adopters of complex lighting and shadows, something that you're not use to in SH games(not counting remake) The quality of the shadows is so good in some moments in creates tension, atmosphere and scares. I'm a big fan of horror games that use good use of shadows for visual storytelling and atmosphere.
Homecoming is the natural next step/evolution of what SH3 and 4 did. Basically if you love the first 4 games, this game feel exactly like those game but slightly better with quality of life changes. And the devs Double Helix did not get the kudos they deserve for nailing taking over the reins and understanding and nailing the gameplay and atmosphere of SH, you cant even tell the change in devs. The camera here is better than the 4, giving you full control of movement now. The combat is exactly the same, its still clunky, simple and slow but thats the charm of it, SH isnt about combat, its about survival, they did however improve the quality of combat so that there's better ways to attack and aim, there's also variety with melee attacks now beyond just charging the attack. The game now has a dodge button now but isn't OP or makes things less difficult, it covers little space if you have a weapon drawn. The voice acting and dialogue is just as campy and weird and typical SH. The Story so far is interesting, this is more of a SH2 type story than part 1, 2 or 4. The characters are also weird in this game just like in previous games. The games music is great, they brought back the music conductor from SH1 and 2. So the game feels even more like the SH you want. They even nailed how the fog should work in this game! When I first read the reviews for SH5 when it came out they complained that the game was dated and felt the same with little evolution. This was during a time were ppl were fixed with franchises having to reinvent the wheel, making a sequel that did more of the the same was seen as bad or lazy. Which was weird because we came from an era where we wanted sequels to be more of the same because we loved how the games felt. This is why you have OG Megaman with 7 sequels that played exactly the same with only quality of life updates and new content, or Donkey Country 1-3 that dont veer drastically away from the formula. But for some reason during the PS3/360 era games were expected to reinvent themselves with modern mechanics, you can blame games like RE4, FF12, GTA4, Metroid Prime for this. Tomb Raider had a similar issue TR4-6 all got bad reviews for playing and feeling the same as the first 3 games. But now look at modern and retro reviews those games all have high praise now because they cater to ppl who loved the first 3 games and wanted more of the same experience, and TR4-6 delivers on that. Thankfully we're back to an era of gaming where we now love and welcome games that don't need to reinvent themselves, embracing games that give us more of what we loved.
All in all, ive loved my time with the game so far, I usually don't leave early reviews but seeing how much ived enjoyed the game, and how long ive spent wondering if it was worth trying because I love Silent Hill franchise and wanted more of what part 1-4 gave me, I understand the need to find a review that addresses what you're looking for, is Homecoming good and does it feels like SH? And thats a big yes, this feels exactly like what you imagined a Silent Hill 5 game should feel like, it feels like part 1-4 with some small steps forward in the design.
The only minor complaint is the uses a film grain style that's a little too gray and alittle too static-y.
All in all if you're a Silent Hill fan, this is a must have game so far. I'm sorry I skipped on it. Once I finish the game I went update my review incase it changes and that game ends up sucking.
