Silent Hill: The Short Message Critic Reviews

For a free game that shows the first glimpse of what Konami is truly going to do with the franchise, Silent Hill: The Short Message is absolutely worth experiencing.

Even if it's destined to suffer the same incomprehension as many of its predecessors do, Silent Hill: The Short Message is a fairly decent return of one of the most important franchises of the survival horror genre. While it lacks several spine-chilling elements from previous entries that used to make Silent Hill the most horrifying game series out there, it presents many sensitive themes for today's standards. Its teenage story has a daring approach and sets the bar for what we should expect from the psychological factor of the series in the near future.

A free adventure that tries to recover the narrative essence of Silent Hill, with the collaboration of two veterans of the saga: Masahiro Ito and Akira Yamaoka. It has some great moments and ideas, but also some flaws in its design and execution, and it will inevitably be compared to the unforgettable P.T.

While it can be a little ham-fisted with its messaging, Silent Hill: The Short Message is a suitably dark and disturbing experience that certainly captures the look and feel of Silent Hill. Those who dig into it will find that it offers an interesting take on how these stories can occur outside of the actual town of Silent Hill, too. In any case, for the price of free, it’s hard to complain about a short horror experience that is as good as (or better than) most of its ilk released at a cost.

Silent Hill: The Short Message isn't going to set the horror genre ablaze, but it doesn't have to. As a free offering, it's a solid showcase with a heavy atmosphere and heavier subjects, even if its narrative could have been more subtle.

We were convinced by the proposition of this Silent Hill The Short Message, which takes up the concept of the P.T. by integrating it into a modern story, a mirror of our society. Everything is not perfect, far from it and we would have liked to have more gameplay mechanics, puzzles, some more concrete moments of freak out, but as a party game, it does the job well. And let's not forget that it's free.

I was streaming the game, and it wasn’t until someone came in and told me what I needed to do to find the keys to the exit that I could eventually make my way to safety and the end of the game. And honestly? It was worth it. Silent Hill: The Short Message isn’t a game about retribution like Silent Hill 2, and maybe that’s what people wanted or were expecting. Instead, it ends with a tearful conversation between Anita and Amelie that lends itself to the final sentence of the content warning you will see time and time again.

It’s a bit weird that a game called “Silent Hill” doesn’t feature the eponymous town. On the other hand, Silent Hill has long since grown into something bigger than just a place; it’s something that germinates within a person – and HexaDrive studio captured that feeing quite well.

Silent Hill: The Short Message is an interesting, if not amazing rebirth for the series that proves it can be reanimated for a modern audience. Atmospheric and full of potential it bodes well for future instalments.

Silent Hill: The Short Message shows glimmers of the classic horror series at its best - despite the very heavy-handed metaphor, a frustrating chase sequence, and the long shadow of P.T.

Silent Hill The Short Message is a product that misses the mark and fails to best deal with extremely serious and delicate issues. Net of the problems relating to writing, narrative rhythm, and playful composition, it is still a completely free game that guarantees around 90 minutes of entertainment within an atmospheric scenario, thanks also to the contribution of two figures key who worked on past episodes of the series. As mentioned, however, the quality of this entertainment undergoes rather significant declines during the path traced by the adventure, towards an ending that many will reach with some difficulty.

Silent Hill: The Short Message diverges from traditional Silent Hill experiences, offering a brief, two-hour narrative focused on character Anita's personal struggles and insecurities. Set in the eerie Kettenstadt building, the game attempts to blend psychological depth with the franchise's hallmark uncanny atmosphere. However, it falls short in gameplay depth and environmental interaction, especially when compared to predecessors like PT. The game's simple exploration mechanics, predictable narrative twists, and lack of engaging puzzles lead to a somewhat detached experience. Despite decent graphics and an attempt to tackle complex themes, the game's execution and lack of immersive elements leave it feeling underwhelming. While it represents an experimental approach by the developers and is commendable for its ambition, Silent Hill: The Short Message ultimately fails to deliver the profound impact or memorable gameplay that fans of the series might expect.

The Short Message wanted to be a kind of PT, but the only thing it successfully copies from Kojima is the first-person camera. It's not scary, it lacks interesting puzzles and it has one of the most ridiculous chases ever.

Silent Hill: The Short Message is a boring, contrived, borderline offensive experience.

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. Silent Hill: The Short Message is completely free, though, so all it's asking for is 90 minutes of your time to see if you enjoy it more than us.

Another disappointing Silent Hill revival, that gets some of the visuals and tone right but is let down by a hackneyed script and frustrating chase sequences.

The sad thing is that Silent Hill: The Short Message has a lot of good story ideas, characters and world-building, but then proceeds to waste them on completely unoriginal, shallow gameplay. It paradoxically wanted to move ahead and tackle more mature themes and stories, yet has gameplay that feels blatantly regressive, settling for the most generic aspects of modern horror games. If this is the direction that the franchise wants to take, then it's headed straight for a cliff. Hopefully the likes of No Code will be able to salvage things with their side games later, but for now, you can easily skip over The Short Message.

Silent Hill: The Short Message falls flat in so many areas. It's not the least bit creepy, it tells its story and treats the subject in an ambiguous way, it doesn't really feel like a game in the series and then there's that damn mobile phone that presents more problems than solutions.

SILENT HILL: The Short Message speaks to the transcendental nature of P.T. for the survival horror genre as we know it today—a monument of great cultural importance within the industry, now lost thanks to Konami. Above all, it demonstrates the enormous magnitude of P.T. as a unique work, imitated a thousand times but never equaled. What we get in 2024 is a tasteless simulation, lacking any genuine, reflective, or penetrating qualities.

This may not suffer the indignity of being delisted, but it's highly unlikely anyone will remember it in a decade's time.