Today’s game is Silent Hill f again. I spent all day yesterday talking about why i’m playing this, so instead today i’lll talk about the game itself. Primarily my first point that springs to mind while playing this: I love the game, probably one of my favorite from that year, but it feels very “un-Silent Hill”. I know i’m not the most credible to give that opinion as i’ve only played Silent Hill 2 and half of the First one, but i think it’s the setting. It feels like they just drop the fog in and call it a Silent Hill game. I just want to reclarify though, this is not a knock against the game, i still majorly respect it.
The enemies do a good job though of just freaking me out, all the fleshy pulsating holes and stuff are unsettling, and these Scare Crows have me always on edge. I feel like the moment i turn around i’m gonna get jumped by one of them. Scary as fuck, remind me of the Mannequins from silent hill 2 except these ones love to play the long game.
I pushed on today and made it to the part where you go into the two wings of the building to unlock the door. I also collected some achievements. I’m using that as a benchmark to measure 100% for me, which is my goal. As i don’t want to go out of my way to collect every little document. Suffice to say i have 13 achievements left and i should knock out all but the story ones in this playthrough as long as i play my cards right.
It’s about as Silent Hill as RE4 was Resident Evil. It’s a decent game on its own merits (with crappy writing) but anyone expecting SH1-3 type gameplay would probably be disappointed.
Weak writing aside, I think it’s still ultimately a step in a better direction for the series. Silent Hill as a series always was a little weak in the “gameplay” aspect and I appreciated the increased intensity of the melee focused gameplay. Ditch or at least mitigate the durability thing (because seriously, knives and pipes don’t break that fast!) and work guns back in here or there and I think it’d be a solid foundation to work from.
The durability is definitely my one major complaint. I remember going into this on launch, and not to unfairly compare it to its predecessor, and going to myself “Man. James can smash skulls in with his pipe. Are the pipes in Silent Hill Maine just made different?”.
I do appreciate it for trying something different though, it was a unique experience I hadn’t tried before
I played through it when it came out. It was rough at launch in terms of difficulty. They rebalanced it and it’s much better now I hear. Do tell us your final thoughts when you’re finished.
I actually played it on launch too so I have a bit to compare it too, though my first run was on normal while my second was in the fog. This one was on story.
I think my main gripe is just that it’s tedious with the combat sometimes. Like that sprint near the end where you have to kill those big pregnant creatures? I found myself sighing going back to that more than anything
