With the release of free PS5 experience Silent Hill: The Short Message, it’s clear Konami was trying to replicate the unprecedented success of PT. For those who don’t remember, Hideo Kojima’s iconic horror was released on the PS Store as a way to announce Silent Hills – a project that would never see the light of day due to the auteur’s public spat with publisher Konami.
Now that the company has several new Silent Hill projects in the pipeline, however – including Bloober Team’s upcoming remake of Silent Hill 2 – it commissioned the release of The Short Message to put the series back on fans’ radars. And despite being widely panned by critics including ourselves, it’s been a successful experiment, driving over three million downloads to date.
Back in our 4/10 review, we lamented: “Incredibly bland gameplay and some overly frustrating chase sequences make Silent Hill: The Short Message a chore to play much of the time. While there are some intriguing full-motion cutscenes and heavy story details, they're not worth pushing through the dull sequences in between to experience them.”
[source gematsu.com]
Comments 22
Being completely honest here, I never knew this even existed. My best friend who’s a gigantic silent hill nerd never once bothered to mention this game, which I suppose is very telling.
Worst thing I’ve played in ages. I decided NOT to preorder Silent Hill 2 based on this game. Put me at real concern for what Konami will produce in the future.
Any trophies for SH Short Message. May consider checking it out if it does?
Edit nope no trophies
@Beerheadgamer82
Unfortunately, no.
@thefourfoldroot1 know yh, just had a quick search
It's free and it's Silent Hill so I have a feeling those two are a big reason it has so many downloads
It was dire, I gave up before the end. Zero atmosphere, the story seemed naff and the FMV cutscenes came across as very cheap and cheesy.
A Friend screenshared this with me when it came out but I literally forgot all about it till I saw this article 🤣 Yeah It wasn't the best.
This game was so bad it's hard to put into words......
@somnambulance
Same. The trailer for SH 2 also didn't help but I don't really know why I expected anything great from a Western studio like Bloober, especially when paired with a Konami that is a shell of its former self.
I never want to play this again. The message this game was trying to pull off about suicide was so poorly done and especially for a Silent Hill game.
PT in one of the greatest gaming expierences of all time!! shame on Konami for scrapping this....
Tried it. It was bad. Absolutely nothing like a Silent Hill game. Deleted.
I loved it, felt very Silent Hill to me.
@Gamer83 I don’t know if I’ve ever played something from a franchise I liked that much and was that disappointed by it. It was a shock by how revulsed I was by it.
I didn't finish it because the final chase was awful, but I did really like the part when you were reverting to your childhood, looping through the apartment with the camera getting lower on every loop. That was cool!
Probs topped a good number too with its suicide ideation
On the bright side there are three million people who can make fun of this POS game lol
@Cloud39472 I still sometimes think about what could have been with PT.
Appart from the final chase I really liked it. Especially for a freebie.
@EchoRange as a twin peaks fan, you surprise me
@Chaostrophy good or bad surprise?
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