Silent Hill: The Short Message (2024)

The Silent Hill franchise hasn’t been treated well by Konami for many years now. That’s what made it so shocking when they announced multiple Silent Hill projects on a random day in 2023 (for our impressions on that, check out episode 100 of Pixel x Pixel).

So far, things haven’t been looking good. Their “interactive TV” mobile title Silent Hill: Ascension is basically a soap opera without any intrigue and only the slightest hints of creepiness. But then Silent Hill: The Short Message was rumored and ultimately released – for free – suddenly and unceremoniously.

Silent Hill: The Short Message is the first new console release in the Silent Hill franchise in years. If you don’t count P.T. from 2014, then you’ve got to look all the way back to 2012’s Silent Hill: Downpour. Once it was announced and released during Sony’s January 2024 State of Play, series fans gave it a shot – our very own Marcus included.

The game focuses on Anita, a high school girl with a clear inferiority complex over her classmate Maya. Maya’s a talented graffiti artist whose main canvas is an abandoned apartment complex. The game begins when Maya invites Anita to visit her studio located in the complex – referred to as a villa for some reason – via text. Once Anita arrives, however, she’s met with more than a dilapidated, old building. The whole place feels off, and, as you might expect, there’s something else waiting for Anita in the building.

Often, the story pushes very heavily into melodramatic teen territory, but that makes sense given all the primary characters are teenagers. And its depiction of more sensitive subject matter (trigger warning for child abuse and suicide) can come across as quite one-note. Still, it’s refreshing to see that developer HexaDrive was willing to take on this perspective. There were certainly highlights, too, including the game’s central monster, designed by Silent Hill veteran Masahiro Ito, and some inventive environmental design.

One of the biggest downsides of Silent Hill: The Short Message is that it’s not particularly scary, or even tense. The visuals certainly showcase some creepiness, but the vibe is never scary. The closest it comes is during chase sequences, the first probably being the scariest since you’re not sure what’s going on. But once you get a feel for how this gameplay aspect works, it goes from creepy to frustrating rather quickly.

There’s also not much in the way of puzzles in the game, which is certainly far from the series’ origins. With that said, it is a great way to invite a larger gaming audience to try out the series, as some of the puzzles in the original trilogy were surprisingly tough. As long as the player interacts with “viewable” objects in the environments, they’ll be able to proceed through and complete the game (well, as long as they can complete the last, infuriating chase sequence).

A fun aspect that deserves more attention is the use of FMV in the game. Cutscenes are presented with a real actress, rather than CG. It’s a neat addition that shows developers can and should feel free to step away from the Silent Hill template if it serves their creative vision.

Unintentionally funny meme poster in Silent Hill: The Short Message

On the other hand, HexaDrive spent a lot of time writing in-game notes about the world inhabited by its characters, but very little of it actually needed to be there. As a result, the central plot is a bit diluted because players receive so much (mostly) unrelated information.

While Silent Hill: The Short Message might not be an incredible horror game, it’s still a title worth checking out. It’s a bit surprising it was released for free, because there’s more than enough “game” here to warrant at least a few bucks. It doesn’t feel a lot like Silent Hill, but maybe that’s what the series needs more of, because it doesn’t seem likely we’ll ever get back to what Team Silent crafted with the originals.