My favorite part was walking down the halls of a school while looming shadow figures at each side berate the main character. It took me hours of intense research to figure out the deeper meaning of scenes like that, but I still feel like I only scratched the surface! Am looking forward to the debates and speculation surrounding this masterpiece for decades to come.
@fulltimeslackerii8229 No, the game left it up to the player's assumptions when you first meet Maria, and then the plot gives hints to what Maria represents with subtle hints as the game goes on towards the end.
@@QueenSydon After the first section I was hoping the message of the game as a whole wouldn’t just be “bullying is bad, and social media can take a toll on your mental health” … it felt like somebody said “let’s make an interactive generic PSA with a couple of jump scares”.
@@Kurgan0822 Same feeling here. I had to call a friend just to make sure he knew how pathetic this game is and about my comparison. We have the unique ability of recognizing shitty material, maybe Konami could hire us to avoid green-lighting games like this.
My thoughts exactly! Why is it that nowadays most movies, shows and games that depict the topic of "self deletion" do such a poor job i.e. are even worse copies of 13 Reasons Why?
When Masahiro Ito was asked, "Was it intentional design to have Abstract Daddy show up again in the hotel?", he replied, "No." When asked why there were so many Abstract Daddies in the hotel, he replied, "Because it's the game."
The guy is tired of every obsessed SH fan tweeting and asking him questions and inserting their own fan canon onto his work to where he has to keep setting the record straight to those folks. It's a weird game that doesn't need to be fully examined under a microscope. I'd get burned out and frustrated, too.
This just makes me want to see a silent hill game where you're trapped in a video essay analysis of a Silent Hill game I'm imaging when you see a new monster that has obvious design themes, instead of trying to attack you it starts talking about the creators exact intentions on why it looks that way.
Showed this vid to a friend and he said: "Could you imagine P.T. with the same kind of verbal diareah protagonist? Huh? Is that a feetus in the sink? How is it still crying? Isn't that the point of abortions?" This started a running joke among our group where we would describe moments from horror games in the most verbose way with a lame joke at the end. "I must've imagined that bunny plush, right?" "How am I in this castle, I can't remember a single thing about myself, like an amnesia."
I got the impression Amilia and Anita were the same person. Amilia represents everything Anita wants to be, confident, collage student free of mental illness. While Anita, damaged by childhood trauma, self-loathing, and suicidal.
Just glad she didn't have powers like Alessia. Alessia tried to contain everything horrible that happened inside Silent Hill until everything could be resolved(Heather). Now someone like Anita with that kind of power. . .
You unironically had an idea that would've made the game much, much more interesting, nuanced and subtle. Amilia could've been another "fake" created in the same manner as the doppelganger of James' wife was made. A creation meant to torment Anita by showing her something/someone who represents everything they wanted deep down by twisting their desires.
Amelie and Maya seemed like that from the start, but you later found out what her real lives are like. If Amelie was a ideal personality, then why did she have flaws?
Yup. I remember that there were a couple of young teenage girls who wanted to do "self deletion" because they took inspiration from 13RW. But SH:TSM takes the triggerwarnings to a whole new level.
Why does this game even have the suicide hotline in it? Do they think people are gonna boot up the game instead of use google to figure out what it is? Do they think their game is gonna be that final straw that makes someone want to get help so they figured they put it in? It’s so baffling stupid and heavy handed that it makes me laugh. It really makes mental health seem cringe
This has to be the least subtle decade for writing in movies and video games. And it’s a shame to see even Silent Hill is no exception to this god awful writing trend. Hopefully the developers really take the harsh criticism this game has received to heart developing the next game.
Really? Because I'm pretty sure in the last 10 years we've had Disco elysium, Cyberpunk 2077, Blade Runner 2049, GOW2018, Witcher 3, Arrival, Better Call Saul, Succession, RDR2 and many more projects with great writing. If all you're gonna look at is garbage then that's all you're going to find.
@@Dr.Yakub22 Even some of those are debatable, yet still slim pickings compared to the majority of blockbusters. Believe me I’m not looking for garbage, because I have no interest in supporting it.
You know, I just want Silent Hill to stop now. The reason no one uses these plots, characters and concepts in a new idea is because they’re bad. If they hadn’t loaded their stupid ideas on the vehicle of Silent Hill nobody would care.
I'm still curious to try the Remake of 2 and f. Townfall is the big unknown atm. I am hopeful Konami & Bloober are taking (rational) feedback about the projects.
I've noticed it appears in basically any media involving suicide or otherwise self harming. It may be an industry thing. I wonder if this appears in Asian or European versions of the game.
Makes me wonder if they're going to retcon Mary's illness to be Covid-related... Tacky asf they made this connection to covid tbh. With the whole "art envy" and "lost followers" I don't think we're the target audience anymore, too old. The whole thing felt very 1st world problems.
Even before Alessia went nuclear that place was bad news. Mary and James used Silent Hill for vacations and getaways before Alessia did what she did. Harry's wife also got sick and died sometime after finding Cheryl.
It would be interesting for a Silent Hill game where the town could use the internet as a conduit to spread its influence (similar to early Megami Tensei games or the apartment in Silent Hill 4) but these are the type of developers who are flabbergasted by the lauded simplicity of Elden Ring or PalWorld.
Always felt that while Heather stopped the cult she didn't stop Silent Hill as evident in The Room. A great conclusion to the series would be a now adult Heather realizing this. It becomes a final battle between Heather and Silent Hill. Heather either shuts down the place for good or Silent Hill absorbs Heather which means nothing can stop it from going global.
@@chadharger9323 It was never in danger of going global. Heather has an obvious connection to Silent Hill in the third game and Henry in SH4 is just an unlucky participant due to the significance of his room and Walter Sullivan once again being part of the cult that used a ritual to achieve this. They're also in surrounding areas. TSM has absolutely nothing to do with Silent Hill nor do it's characters and yet it's happening to them.
Because this is a Silent Hill game, and they have a history of scaring tf outta me, I was on edge at the start.... Then I saw "Thug Life" and "Swag" on the walls and I was cracking up and lost my fear lmao
Playing this game makes you feel as dead inside as James Sunderland. Not because the game is immersive, but because this is the first Silent Hill game in years and it's this bad.
This is unbelievable. I watched the Forbidden Siren film for the first time yesterday, and I was shocked and pissed off when the twist was that the siren and shibito were all in the protagonist’s head because it made the entirety of the film’s plot inconsequential. When it was over and I was explaining this to my friend I described it as, “imagine if silent hill released a movie that essentially said the fog and otherworld were all just within characters’ heads and invalidated the plot of the old games.” I said that as an example of how indescribably awful it would be. And now you tell me the same exact thing is in The Short Message. This is unbelievable, Hikiko.
I’m not too familiar with silent hill but isn’t silent hill a psychological state and not a real place? In silent hill 2, the little girl didn’t see anything while James did because he was trying to cope with snuffing his wife
@@fulltimeslackerii8229 No, Silent Hill is absolutely a real place, with a vague supernatural power to it. The little girl simply isn't affected by this power while James is, why that's the case is subject to debate. In 1, 3, and 4, the characters are pretty mentally sound yet experience it as well, it's only really in SH2(and later games copying 2 because it's the most popular one) that the psychological state matters.
So the rona virus being canon and part of Silent Hill historical and metaphysical lore? Now that's the botched stuffs happening eversince post-Silent Hill 4 era of games, especially since the movies and Western games' anachronistic, gorefest and general thematic misreading insanity Oh also that Bloober Team's Silent Hill-inspired game about suicide (medium) can have insulting implication towards people with suicidal thoughts
This doesn't remind me of other Silent Hill titles or Resident Evil 7 and 8. It reminds me of Layers of Fear. This is genuinely just a Layers of Fear with Silent Hill in the title.
I do find it somewhat amusing that the game goes heavy with the trigger warnings when a good while back it was shown that trigger warning don't work as intended, in fact they more often backfire and cause people who are sensitive to those subjects greater distress.
Lol. In a lot of ways, this game is a spot-on delivery of what plagues media in general today. An overabundance of content warning, which sometimes even leads to avoiding "triggering" content altogether (not here of course) with a blatant and in your face messaging that expects so little from the viewer/reader/player that it is downright insulting. And people wonder why so many are fed up with modern media writers in general, no matter the specific medium.
I agree with everything you said. The environment in this game is well done, the music is really good, but the story... OMG, the story is one of the worst I've ever seen in any video game. It feels like it was written by a 16 year old girl on Tumblr. No, it feels like an A.I. pretending to be a 16 year old girl on Tumblr. It's THAT bad. At least this game has proven me wrong about one thing: I always thought no one could make a good Silent Hill, except the Japanese. Well, we finally got Japanese developers making a bad Silent Hill game, and it's one of the worst.
@@HikikomoriMedia being a 90's kid, I have absorbed all of Rocko's modern life ( even the two banned episodes ) and I never watched the reboot movie lol.
This feels like the video game equivalent of an "edgy" meme by your elderly aunt about how kids are addicted to their phones. Also: "...only feeding you..." Cut to Eddie eating pizza. Nice editing. 👍🏻
mashiro ito deserved better. btw i recommend this one game called cry of fear, a half life mod which got to be its own game. it's free and inspired by silent hill but it's themes are more subtle.
Agreed. Even Afraid Of Monsters (which is about addiction) does SH more justice. And the Doom 2 mod Total Chaos feels like like bringing back gameplay mechanics from Silent Hill Cold Heart (a unreleased SH entry) such as scavenging for items
you just needed to take a look back to silent hill 3 with Heather to do way better than this but at least they had balls to talk about this though topic i give them that.
@@TemmiePlays as I say they didn't doing well because wasn't the right way to aboard this topic they had good intentions I guess that's why I'd say silent hill 3 does it better than this game I'm not glorifying anything at all About this sensitive issues you might be get me wrong man.
12:08 to be fair to the japanese, Silent Hill 3 is very praised for capturing the early 2000s american teen girl experience even tho it was written by who I assume are also middle aged japanese men.
I think teenage girls of this generation and their problems are somehow less relatable and more self centered than that of heather’s in 3 though like… you also understood the struggle of being just a woman and a girl in life w heather and being a teenager but Anita in SM was just… like we’ve been there heard that, it’s constantly portrayed to us in media but somehow no one seems to get proper help to grow from their issues like Anita and it gets old, and heather somehow overcame herself in 3 if I remember correctly like there was a good ending? I haven’t finished the video ^ but if I do remember Anita like killed her friend? Or killed herself? Idk like what is that? I genuinely don’t remember the endings tho so I am butchering everything probably but I just didn’t like the idea of digital envy being a plot point personally and it seemed selfish and narcissistic and I disliked the portrayal of young women in this game. They got heather spot on and the idea of being a female in society but Anita? Boo
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I felt exactly the same while playing Short Message - like developers don't trust audience to discover that game is a psychological horror by themselves and instead constantly reminding players what they should feel/understand. And that's a recurring problem with most Silent Hill games after SH4 IMO. Btw, have you heard about game called INDIKA? It will receive a Steam Demo tomorrow. It's an adventure game with emphasis on environmental puzzles, exploration and a little bit of horror about nun who can talk with Devil. I think you might like it!
6:11 - 6:28 My thoughts exactly! The increasing dumbing down and infantilization of the gamers/the audience is so tiresome. The directors and scriptwriters often do put it past the gamers and actually seem to think that gamers in this day and age are obtuse and not the brightest candles on the chandelier to whom literally everything has to be spelled out and explained because they're not able to read between the lines. 18:52 My suggestions: Free Falling - Beck, I Believe I Can Fly - R. Kelly, Fly Away - Lenny Kravitz, Way Down We Go - Kaleo...
"The Silent Hill Phenomenon" is literally the Hatred from Killer is Dead recontextualized as covid, holy shit. I'm gonna die from laughter. Swery and Suda in one game...plagiarized. Darn. No wait, didn't that one game that plagiarized Tokyo Xanadu and Persona 5 also do this, with Covid being the reason why monsters exist in the world? Eternights?
This game is SO on the nose, i can't stand it. Did they go to tiktok to get algorithm-appeoved zoomer scares? The sheer immaturity and laziness of the writing is baffling.
Finally glad to hear someone admit that these types of TW's laid out in the way that they are absolutely are spoilers. I couldn't agree more that if the creators insist on including them then it should be relegated to the store page, not shown immediately on screen in a way that's unavoidable.
These PSA warnings start to get out of hand. I remember the most obnoxious one was in the "As Dusk Falls" where it was shown just before the questionable scene and straight up spoiled and stripped it off any impact
One defense I'm tired of hearing is "you're not the target audience" which is funny because I'm a young adult female Silent Hill fan who's not entirely against walking sims, has heavy personal relation to the themes, and has a deep appreciation for art and I still thought it sucked lmfao
The younger generation of gamers deserve better. Try out some challenging themes. Take a risk. It's patronizing to spoon-feed Zoomers the plot, assuming they aren't capable of relating.
@@HikikomoriMedia We don't even like it either, at least speaking to my experiences. Older generations perceive us as just some slop consuming audience that can't think for themselves and yes there are people like that but me and most my friends tend to love challenging media, even just looking at how big film is with this gen is proof we like more depth. Silent Hill is one of my favorite series for the depth and ambition of the original games (and arguably Shattered Memories) and that's just entirely gone now, as is the relation to the themes. I find it infinitely easier to relate to say Heather, Angela, James, or even ShatMemz Cheryl than I do whatever this 13 Reasons Why garbage is.
The whole target audience excuse is utter bollocks most of the times anyway. I never smothered a deathly ill loved one and still managed to empathise with James just fine.
I hate how this game will age with time. Silent Hill games are timeless and can be perfectlyl enjoyable years later. I don't think it will be the case here. If anything, a short 15 minute flim could've work better.
honestly, i was sickened by the inclusion of the lockdowns and covid in the story bc like. IMMEDIATELY dating your game... and its ALREADY feeling outdated at that LOL.
People trying to justify it with "its free" dont seem to understand time cost (time wasted on a disappointment which couldve been toward doing something useful or enjoyable) or the implications it has on the series and the precedent it sets for games, going forward.
Imagine you're playing through the end of God of War (3, iirc??), he's about to jump off the cliff, and then [anti suicide warning] pops up. Ah, such fun. Fml
This game is very Japanese in its sensibilities. If you imagine it as an anime then suddenly it's approach of aggressively direct, positive affirmation makes sense. "WIN YOUR DAY! LET'S BE HAPPY! NEVER GIVE UP!"
Not that I want to "go there", but I get the impression that people who are sensitive to delicate morbid topics shouldn't be playing horror games in the first place?? Not trying to gatekeep, just using common sense But this whole project reeks of thinking it's going to be "high art" because it tackles such relevant issues as teenage anxiety and depression and bullying and social media, the fact that leaked documents make explicit mention of P.T. as what they seek to emulate (you know, the project killed by Konami themselves) really tells you the level of cynicism around the series' revival
To me, Silent Hill was structured as a gradual series of confusing moments and eventual understanding. Silent Hill was dense with symbolism and hidden subtext, which often couldn't be recognized until the subsequent play though. Short Message has failed in that regard.
Ach. I wanna give you a view and support and all that, but I do intend to actually play this sometime soon. I'll have my dog watch it for me, and then tell me the gist of it, without any spoilers.
Those aren't Silent Hill fans. They're Zoomers who never played a single Silent Hill game, but pretend to be fans because its trendy. Its the equivalent of the "Earthbound Fan Excited to Play The Game for the Very First Time" meme .
@@NihilisticIdealist 100% true. It’s just that’s what the majority of the scene revolving SH is totally saturated in. It’s nice to see there’s legit fans out there who grew up with the shit. I wish they would have just left it all alone at this point lol. And this game basically retcons all of SH lore and deduces it to a phenomenon created people by people who were so sad from the pandemic. Lamest thing imaginable.
I'm conflicted on those list format content warnings in video games. Because it does get people expectant about themes and how they might be presented to them. It's an experience similar to your high school English class when the teacher exposes you to this story's themes before you start reading, so that you'll be prepared to identify them as they come up and talk about them. I'm not so much concerned about spoiling the player as I am about creating that analytical lens between reader and the text. If you're told what the story is about, then there's no sense of discovery. The answers become impersonal, because you're not as emotionally invested in each reveal.
That's an excellent point. I think even a simple menu item "sensitive content disclosure" that you could click if you need further clarification about the games' content, instead of treating the player with a one size fits all approach would do wonders. 4 warnings is a tad excessive IMO
The bad dubbing and weird audio effect choices in short message are poorly done. The bad voice acting in the originals are intentional and are integral to the feel of the game.
Honestly, i just wanted konami to pick up the old team, and make one game with all the care put into it, not this multimedia project thing happening right now with varying quality of content.
Sorry to trauma dump in the comments on a game review, but I've dealt with some of the same issues (self harm, suicide, intrusive thoughts, child abuse) presented in this game. I've seen plenty of other media that discusses or depicts these topics and, for the most part, not had any problem with it. But the way they're used in this game feels weirdly... exploitative? It feels weird to have things I've gone through used as "window dressing" for a horror game like this. Like "oooh spooky bloody bathroom!! woah she's gonna cut herself that's FUCKED UP!" Even though this game was apparently written and made as a sort of suicide awareness project, it really doesn't feel like they got input of any kind from real people with mental illness. It ends up having the opposite effect like 13 reasons why where it contributes further to a stereotype rather than helping people understand. FFS, Doki Doki Literature Club handled these themes better.
yeah it felt like a checklist of stereotypes to hit. a tokenism of people dealing with mental issues with none of the nuance or time to develop the context. after school PSA
The game just feels like it was made by westerners even though the devs are Japanese. There's no Asian feel to it, you know? How the hell did that happened lmao.
Keep up the good work; proud of all of the channels that are putting these videos out here regarding this awful game, it's needed. I hope it can help effect change in what they do moving forward. Silent hill deserves more then this.
I think that all of us anticipating a good release from konami from this franchise is the real silent hill. Nothing but torture, and false hope. An endless cycle of PAIN.
The psa at the beginning told me exactly how the game would be. That and when I looked at the controller configuration and saw basically 3 options. Move, interact, and scroll. After maybe 30 minutes I moved, scrolled and interacted with the uninstall option. This was "I need attention" the video game version, or basically "twitch thot" the walking simulator.
Im glad they named it with the subtitle "The short message" otherwise i wouldn't have known the game was about a message that was short without the game telling me upfront 🤓👍
Was actually waiting for Hikiko to make a video on this… I’m very conflicted on this game, on one hand they didn’t outsource it to some western studio and on the other, Motoi Okamoto should just stick with Wii Fit because he doesn’t know anything about Silent Hill.
@@ExpertContrarian Game was made on the cheap in all likelihood. Proper lip sync is one of the more difficult part of animating a 3D model, and everyone involved aside from some of the voice actors were Japanese. As for the live action scenes, the bad lip sync is definitely more egregious I suppose. But, my point is just that there is no Japanese VO option. The Japanese version of the game just uses Japanese subtitles, which is a staple for many horror games in Japan, such as Resident Evil / Biohazard (before 2012) and Devil May Cry.
@@kuropiko no, you’re missing the point. The lip-synching is bad because she’s speaking Japanese. She cannot speak English. It does not make any sense why they would have her speak Japanese and then dub over her.
@@ExpertContrarian Well, it makes sense in that they were likely limited on staff they had that could act for the camera on location in Japan. It's odd, sure, but this isn't really that exceptional.
I am on the same page as you in many aspects. But i'm trying to be more optimistic regardless. I think Max Derrat's review of The Short Message is basically my thoughts one to one. Give it a watch!
Add in an optional bad ending, some classic SH shenannigans, like locked doors, keys, a map, open the villa a bit more for exploration, basic enemies, more puzzles... and boom... it gets a pass.
I think the most frustrating part is that this actually had potential... It looks good, is produced well, and doesn't have the "pure trash" aura to it. If only: 1. nothing leaked; 2. the script was edited and not in heavy-handed corporate way. Doesn't give me much hopes for f. But maybe TSM already covering bullying stuff will ensure that Ryukishi07 doesn't waste time on the worst aspects of his writing. He already tends to be heavy-handed, although sincere, that people often complain about him being "preachy."
Please leave a like or comment...otherwise...I'm not sure what will happen...
I'll write "I hate myself" on my forehead if I don't.
@@pest174IM DA JOKER BAYBEE 🤡
TRAUMA'D
I’m doing my part!
I vote toaster in the bathtub. A forgotten, dare I say "hidden gem" life solution.
I really appreciate the subtlety of Anita’s mom turning into a shadow creature and firing locusts from her eyes. I think it means she’s the bad guy.
My favorite part was walking down the halls of a school while looming shadow figures at each side berate the main character. It took me hours of intense research to figure out the deeper meaning of scenes like that, but I still feel like I only scratched the surface! Am looking forward to the debates and speculation surrounding this masterpiece for decades to come.
Didn’t something kinda similar happen at the end of silent hill 2 with the fake wife Mary
@fulltimeslackerii8229 No, the game left it up to the player's assumptions when you first meet Maria, and then the plot gives hints to what Maria represents with subtle hints as the game goes on towards the end.
@@QueenSydon After the first section I was hoping the message of the game as a whole wouldn’t just be “bullying is bad, and social media can take a toll on your mental health” … it felt like somebody said “let’s make an interactive generic PSA with a couple of jump scares”.
Silent Hill: 13 Reasons Why
Hey I said the same thing on another channel 😂 glad I'm not the only one who saw the resemblance.
@@Kurgan0822 Same feeling here. I had to call a friend just to make sure he knew how pathetic this game is and about my comparison. We have the unique ability of recognizing shitty material, maybe Konami could hire us to avoid green-lighting games like this.
😂 exactly
My thoughts exactly! Why is it that nowadays most movies, shows and games that depict the topic of "self deletion" do such a poor job i.e. are even worse copies of 13 Reasons Why?
Yes, 13 reasons why they want a new demographic.
When Masahiro Ito was asked, "Was it intentional design to have Abstract Daddy show up again in the hotel?", he replied, "No." When asked why there were so many Abstract Daddies in the hotel, he replied, "Because it's the game."
you can see it in his eyes, it's all so tiresome to him lmao
The guy is tired of every obsessed SH fan tweeting and asking him questions and inserting their own fan canon onto his work to where he has to keep setting the record straight to those folks. It's a weird game that doesn't need to be fully examined under a microscope. I'd get burned out and frustrated, too.
@@johnathanross6519He's very happy with the remake's handling of the Abstract Daddy. Something else gets to shine at Lakeside. 😄
So basically they made Twitter user: The video game a reality. Scary...
This just makes me want to see a silent hill game where you're trapped in a video essay analysis of a Silent Hill game
I'm imaging when you see a new monster that has obvious design themes, instead of trying to attack you it starts talking about the creators exact intentions on why it looks that way.
To the tune of summertime sadness:
I've got a silent hill, silent hill syndrome
Too much teenage drama.
One of the best Silent Hill games could also be considered "teen drama", this fails because it's bad, not because of its themes.
This was very nostalgic for me. It’s been a long time since it felt this good to purge a game from my hard drive.
Showed this vid to a friend and he said: "Could you imagine P.T. with the same kind of verbal diareah protagonist? Huh? Is that a feetus in the sink? How is it still crying? Isn't that the point of abortions?"
This started a running joke among our group where we would describe moments from horror games in the most verbose way with a lame joke at the end. "I must've imagined that bunny plush, right?" "How am I in this castle, I can't remember a single thing about myself, like an amnesia."
I got the impression Amilia and Anita were the same person. Amilia represents everything Anita wants to be, confident, collage student free of mental illness. While Anita, damaged by childhood trauma, self-loathing, and suicidal.
Just glad she didn't have powers like Alessia. Alessia tried to contain everything horrible that happened inside Silent Hill until everything could be resolved(Heather). Now someone like Anita with that kind of power. . .
You unironically had an idea that would've made the game much, much more interesting, nuanced and subtle.
Amilia could've been another "fake" created in the same manner as the doppelganger of James' wife was made. A creation meant to torment Anita by showing her something/someone who represents everything they wanted deep down by twisting their desires.
Amelie and Maya seemed like that from the start, but you later found out what her real lives are like. If Amelie was a ideal personality, then why did she have flaws?
The reason why there is a PSA is because that stupid Netflix show 21 reasons why or whatever it was called. This is to prevent any lawsuits.
Yup. I remember that there were a couple of young teenage girls who wanted to do "self deletion" because they took inspiration from 13RW. But SH:TSM takes the triggerwarnings to a whole new level.
Swery influencing modern Silent Hill and Alan Wake 2 and he still has haters. couldnt be me
King is still on top
Glad I wasn't the only one noticing the Swery influence on AW2.
Why does this game even have the suicide hotline in it? Do they think people are gonna boot up the game instead of use google to figure out what it is? Do they think their game is gonna be that final straw that makes someone want to get help so they figured they put it in? It’s so baffling stupid and heavy handed that it makes me laugh. It really makes mental health seem cringe
I think they're worried that, once you play this game for a few hours, you won't want to live anymore.
This has to be the least subtle decade for writing in movies and video games. And it’s a shame to see even Silent Hill is no exception to this god awful writing trend.
Hopefully the developers really take the harsh criticism this game has received to heart developing the next game.
😊😊
Where were you the last 20 yrs from SH lol
Really? Because I'm pretty sure in the last 10 years we've had Disco elysium, Cyberpunk 2077, Blade Runner 2049, GOW2018, Witcher 3, Arrival, Better Call Saul, Succession, RDR2 and many more projects with great writing. If all you're gonna look at is garbage then that's all you're going to find.
@@Dr.Yakub22 Even some of those are debatable, yet still slim pickings compared to the majority of blockbusters. Believe me I’m not looking for garbage, because I have no interest in supporting it.
@@RubMySweatyThighs You mean when the western titles came out? This makes the western Silent Hill games look like a masterpiece.
huh.. the new life is strange looks kinda weird?
You know, I just want Silent Hill to stop now.
The reason no one uses these plots, characters and concepts in a new idea is because they’re bad. If they hadn’t loaded their stupid ideas on the vehicle of Silent Hill nobody would care.
I'm still curious to try the Remake of 2 and f. Townfall is the big unknown atm. I am hopeful Konami & Bloober are taking (rational) feedback about the projects.
I guess they were afraid of someone commiting suicide and blaming silent hill.
That can be it. It's happened before with Doki Doki Litature Club.
But all the warnings give me the twisted desire to do it and mention the annoying warnings directly in my note xD
I've noticed it appears in basically any media involving suicide or otherwise self harming. It may be an industry thing. I wonder if this appears in Asian or European versions of the game.
Imagine a homicide PSA in a shooter game after each kill
💀💀
I looked at the main character and thought I was watching one of those life is strange games. What were they thinking???
Makes me wonder if they're going to retcon Mary's illness to be Covid-related...
Tacky asf they made this connection to covid tbh. With the whole "art envy" and "lost followers" I don't think we're the target audience anymore, too old. The whole thing felt very 1st world problems.
Even before Alessia went nuclear that place was bad news. Mary and James used Silent Hill for vacations and getaways before Alessia did what she did. Harry's wife also got sick and died sometime after finding Cheryl.
I didn't even see the thing that connected covid to silent hill in the game so I wasn't too against it in my playthrough. But seeing that is.....yikes
Well, let me tell you about the nurse that gave me the first does of the Moderna vaccine....
I wouldn't be surprised if they went that route. Covid happened because of Silent Hill and the first victim was Mary.
Bad things happen BECAUSE OF YOU!!! 😡
😳
🤭
😅
I couldn't remain immersed either
Really interesting to hear your thoughts on this. Appreciate the humour in this video. As always.
My pleasure!
You can add The Short Message to the short list of PS5 exclusives
PS5 Exclusives worth playing:
It's coming to PC though? It's only on ps 5 for now
@@watchmehope6560that would just make everything worse
I heard Konami is co-publishing this with Pfizer
Silent Hill: Safe and Effective
It would be interesting for a Silent Hill game where the town could use the internet as a conduit to spread its influence (similar to early Megami Tensei games or the apartment in Silent Hill 4) but these are the type of developers who are flabbergasted by the lauded simplicity of Elden Ring or PalWorld.
You mean Soul Hackers? I imagine something like The Silver Case instead rather than town it shapes society
Always felt that while Heather stopped the cult she didn't stop Silent Hill as evident in The Room. A great conclusion to the series would be a now adult Heather realizing this. It becomes a final battle between Heather and Silent Hill. Heather either shuts down the place for good or Silent Hill absorbs Heather which means nothing can stop it from going global.
@@chadharger9323 It was never in danger of going global. Heather has an obvious connection to Silent Hill in the third game and Henry in SH4 is just an unlucky participant due to the significance of his room and Walter Sullivan once again being part of the cult that used a ritual to achieve this. They're also in surrounding areas.
TSM has absolutely nothing to do with Silent Hill nor do it's characters and yet it's happening to them.
This is just The Missing if The Missing Fucking Sucked and this is SILENT HILL😭
Anti self harm messages are most effective in millenial alternative rock songs and Australian accents. Thank you The Last Gamer and Third Eye Blind!
The midi-clorians bit had me exhaling, brilliant.
We went from P.T which influenced a decent chunk of the modern horror industry both pro and indie to this... What a time to be alive
Because this is a Silent Hill game, and they have a history of scaring tf outta me, I was on edge at the start.... Then I saw "Thug Life" and "Swag" on the walls and I was cracking up and lost my fear lmao
I would have preferred if the ghost of TuPac showed up to stop the bullies
@@HikikomoriMedia 🤣🤣🤣
😭
Playing this game makes you feel as dead inside as James Sunderland. Not because the game is immersive, but because this is the first Silent Hill game in years and it's this bad.
This is unbelievable. I watched the Forbidden Siren film for the first time yesterday, and I was shocked and pissed off when the twist was that the siren and shibito were all in the protagonist’s head because it made the entirety of the film’s plot inconsequential. When it was over and I was explaining this to my friend I described it as, “imagine if silent hill released a movie that essentially said the fog and otherworld were all just within characters’ heads and invalidated the plot of the old games.” I said that as an example of how indescribably awful it would be. And now you tell me the same exact thing is in The Short Message. This is unbelievable, Hikiko.
I’m not too familiar with silent hill but isn’t silent hill a psychological state and not a real place? In silent hill 2, the little girl didn’t see anything while James did because he was trying to cope with snuffing his wife
@@fulltimeslackerii8229 No, Silent Hill is absolutely a real place, with a vague supernatural power to it. The little girl simply isn't affected by this power while James is, why that's the case is subject to debate. In 1, 3, and 4, the characters are pretty mentally sound yet experience it as well, it's only really in SH2(and later games copying 2 because it's the most popular one) that the psychological state matters.
So the rona virus being canon and part of Silent Hill historical and metaphysical lore?
Now that's the botched stuffs happening eversince post-Silent Hill 4 era of games, especially since the movies and Western games' anachronistic, gorefest and general thematic misreading insanity
Oh also that Bloober Team's Silent Hill-inspired game about suicide (medium) can have insulting implication towards people with suicidal thoughts
lost it at the covid references. Its 2024. everyones been over it for 2 years now
This doesn't remind me of other Silent Hill titles or Resident Evil 7 and 8. It reminds me of Layers of Fear. This is genuinely just a Layers of Fear with Silent Hill in the title.
I do find it somewhat amusing that the game goes heavy with the trigger warnings when a good while back it was shown that trigger warning don't work as intended, in fact they more often backfire and cause people who are sensitive to those subjects greater distress.
Also comes off as these companies making assumptions of victims instead of digging in, researching or asking.
Lol doesn't seem like those types could be help anyway.... Offering help caused them to do it, is such cope😂
Not to mention they consistently show it after the triggering imagery lmao. Like "yeah I hope that suicide scene didn't bother you haha"
Its just virtue signaling to twitter crowd. They dont care does it work or doesnt
Lol. In a lot of ways, this game is a spot-on delivery of what plagues media in general today. An overabundance of content warning, which sometimes even leads to avoiding "triggering" content altogether (not here of course) with a blatant and in your face messaging that expects so little from the viewer/reader/player that it is downright insulting.
And people wonder why so many are fed up with modern media writers in general, no matter the specific medium.
I've never seen any of these things in modern media and I consume plenty of it.
@@Peasham Then you are either very lucky or exactly the target audience, and if I was you I'd feel insulted over that.
@@Peasham I mean, you'd have to be pretty ignorant not to notice all the god-damn virtue-signalling and messaging in modern media.
I mean, you'd have to be pretty ignorant NOT to notice the virtue-signalling and insultingly in your face messaging in modern media.
@@dieyng "These things don't exist"
"Then you're exactly the target audience for these things"
??
I agree with everything you said. The environment in this game is well done, the music is really good, but the story... OMG, the story is one of the worst I've ever seen in any video game. It feels like it was written by a 16 year old girl on Tumblr. No, it feels like an A.I. pretending to be a 16 year old girl on Tumblr. It's THAT bad. At least this game has proven me wrong about one thing: I always thought no one could make a good Silent Hill, except the Japanese. Well, we finally got Japanese developers making a bad Silent Hill game, and it's one of the worst.
I've only watched 3 seasons of Rick and Morty. Am i going to be okay
Im sorry to say friend, but you're doomed
Watch some Rocko's Modern Life and return balance to your life
@@HikikomoriMedia being a 90's kid, I have absorbed all of Rocko's modern life ( even the two banned episodes ) and I never watched the reboot movie lol.
After 10,000 years I'm free, it's time to conquer Earth.
It seems to me that Japanese games are increasingly affected by "modern" western (US) "sensibility", I'm afraid that it only goes downhill from here
I dont care what anyone says.
Bad girl gets an empty plate is a fuckin great band name.
Our first single will be "Thug Life".
Soylent Hill
Ngl this one cracked me up
This feels like the video game equivalent of an "edgy" meme by your elderly aunt about how kids are addicted to their phones.
Also:
"...only feeding you..."
Cut to Eddie eating pizza. Nice editing. 👍🏻
mashiro ito deserved better.
btw i recommend this one game called cry of fear, a half life mod which got to be its own game. it's free and inspired by silent hill but it's themes are more subtle.
Agreed. Even Afraid Of Monsters (which is about addiction) does SH more justice. And the Doom 2 mod Total Chaos feels like like bringing back gameplay mechanics from Silent Hill Cold Heart (a unreleased SH entry) such as scavenging for items
I'm sorry but Cry of Fear is about as subtle as this lmfao
@@Peasham no, not really
@@Peasham cry of fear is much more subtle than this, the dialogue while corny is much less in your face
Super Silent Hill: Turbo COVID Edition
Jesus, did Sweet Baby Inc. get to this one, too?
Felt like silent hill as written by an American college student, or CW writer.
they really nailed their main demographic: teenage girls
I hope for civilization's sake that teenage girls aren't THAT dumb.
That's exactly how silent hill fans behave, so yes 😂
you just needed to take a look back to silent hill 3 with Heather to do way better than this but at least they had balls to talk about this though topic i give them that.
@@Dani-x01 gross. what kind of sick freak would do something like that?
@@TemmiePlays as I say they didn't doing well because wasn't the right way to aboard this topic they had good intentions I guess that's why I'd say silent hill 3 does it better than this game I'm not glorifying anything at all About this sensitive issues you might be get me wrong man.
12:08 to be fair to the japanese, Silent Hill 3 is very praised for capturing the early 2000s american teen girl experience even tho it was written by who I assume are also middle aged japanese men.
I think teenage girls of this generation and their problems are somehow less relatable and more self centered than that of heather’s in 3 though like… you also understood the struggle of being just a woman and a girl in life w heather and being a teenager but Anita in SM was just… like we’ve been there heard that, it’s constantly portrayed to us in media but somehow no one seems to get proper help to grow from their issues like Anita and it gets old, and heather somehow overcame herself in 3 if I remember correctly like there was a good ending? I haven’t finished the video ^ but if I do remember Anita like killed her friend? Or killed herself? Idk like what is that?
I genuinely don’t remember the endings tho so I am butchering everything probably but I just didn’t like the idea of digital envy being a plot point personally and it seemed selfish and narcissistic and I disliked the portrayal of young women in this game. They got heather spot on and the idea of being a female in society but Anita? Boo
Silent Hill is never coming back. The closest we've had to a good game since SH4 was 2009's Shattered Memories
Welcome to the new Silent Hill games.
For a Modern Audience.
😐
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I felt exactly the same while playing Short Message - like developers don't trust audience to discover that game is a psychological horror by themselves and instead constantly reminding players what they should feel/understand. And that's a recurring problem with most Silent Hill games after SH4 IMO.
Btw, have you heard about game called INDIKA? It will receive a Steam Demo tomorrow. It's an adventure game with emphasis on environmental puzzles, exploration and a little bit of horror about nun who can talk with Devil. I think you might like it!
6:11 - 6:28 My thoughts exactly! The increasing dumbing down and infantilization of the gamers/the audience is so tiresome. The directors and scriptwriters often do put it past the gamers and actually seem to think that gamers in this day and age are obtuse and not the brightest candles on the chandelier to whom literally everything has to be spelled out and explained because they're not able to read between the lines.
18:52 My suggestions: Free Falling - Beck, I Believe I Can Fly - R. Kelly, Fly Away - Lenny Kravitz, Way Down We Go - Kaleo...
"The Silent Hill Phenomenon" is literally the Hatred from Killer is Dead recontextualized as covid, holy shit. I'm gonna die from laughter. Swery and Suda in one game...plagiarized. Darn.
No wait, didn't that one game that plagiarized Tokyo Xanadu and Persona 5 also do this, with Covid being the reason why monsters exist in the world? Eternights?
This game is SO on the nose, i can't stand it. Did they go to tiktok to get algorithm-appeoved zoomer scares? The sheer immaturity and laziness of the writing is baffling.
The game was free but I wanted a refunded on my time wasted on this walking sim
lmao at using the Bolt Cutters clip, my immersion and enjoyment of a game have never gone south more quickly (and I already hated it before then)
Everyone at school hating her so much, I mean... at one point it's just comical. Like bro, whad she do?!
Ofc pepl would thinking it's comical until they feel one
@@ScaryMyGodYoureDevine The amount of hate she gets for no reason is very funny because it makes no sense storywise
because she had a witch grandmother, she was pregnant to a boy that maybe let go of her because she is "Asian".
Finally glad to hear someone admit that these types of TW's laid out in the way that they are absolutely are spoilers. I couldn't agree more that if the creators insist on including them then it should be relegated to the store page, not shown immediately on screen in a way that's unavoidable.
These PSA warnings start to get out of hand. I remember the most obnoxious one was in the "As Dusk Falls" where it was shown just before the questionable scene and straight up spoiled and stripped it off any impact
One defense I'm tired of hearing is "you're not the target audience" which is funny because I'm a young adult female Silent Hill fan who's not entirely against walking sims, has heavy personal relation to the themes, and has a deep appreciation for art and I still thought it sucked lmfao
The younger generation of gamers deserve better. Try out some challenging themes. Take a risk. It's patronizing to spoon-feed Zoomers the plot, assuming they aren't capable of relating.
@@HikikomoriMedia We don't even like it either, at least speaking to my experiences. Older generations perceive us as just some slop consuming audience that can't think for themselves and yes there are people like that but me and most my friends tend to love challenging media, even just looking at how big film is with this gen is proof we like more depth. Silent Hill is one of my favorite series for the depth and ambition of the original games (and arguably Shattered Memories) and that's just entirely gone now, as is the relation to the themes. I find it infinitely easier to relate to say Heather, Angela, James, or even ShatMemz Cheryl than I do whatever this 13 Reasons Why garbage is.
The whole target audience excuse is utter bollocks most of the times anyway. I never smothered a deathly ill loved one and still managed to empathise with James just fine.
@@JustFun-ho6qy It's just a poor attempt to shut down criticism.
I WAS LITERALLY TELLING PEOPLE TO PLAY JJ IF THEY WANTED A BETTER VERSION THEN I SEE THIS LMAO
Like trying to revive roadkill.
Ascension was ahead of its time...just wait 10 years, all tv shows will follow that model
I hate how this game will age with time. Silent Hill games are timeless and can be perfectlyl enjoyable years later.
I don't think it will be the case here. If anything, a short 15 minute flim could've work better.
honestly, i was sickened by the inclusion of the lockdowns and covid in the story bc like. IMMEDIATELY dating your game... and its ALREADY feeling outdated at that LOL.
my copium is that this was made for sony cooperate in california, surely SH f wont be bad...
The ending made me laugh.
Wow, this game really makes me feel like I live in a society.
It looks fine, but meh
I wish it was fine
People trying to justify it with "its free" dont seem to understand time cost (time wasted on a disappointment which couldve been toward doing something useful or enjoyable) or the implications it has on the series and the precedent it sets for games, going forward.
Imagine you're playing through the end of God of War (3, iirc??), he's about to jump off the cliff, and then [anti suicide warning] pops up. Ah, such fun. Fml
Imagine if you wasn't reaching SO hard.... Like, really just imagine 🤔
You should have kept this one chief. Lame comment.
@@terrencepoinsett4169you really thought you slayed with that one 💅
This game is very Japanese in its sensibilities. If you imagine it as an anime then suddenly it's approach of aggressively direct, positive affirmation makes sense.
"WIN YOUR DAY! LET'S BE HAPPY! NEVER GIVE UP!"
Shonenslop aren't even this hamfisted.
You clearly don't watch anime or you'd know how wrong this statement is.
@@ElectricBarrier Shut up, weeb.
Not that I want to "go there", but I get the impression that people who are sensitive to delicate morbid topics shouldn't be playing horror games in the first place?? Not trying to gatekeep, just using common sense
But this whole project reeks of thinking it's going to be "high art" because it tackles such relevant issues as teenage anxiety and depression and bullying and social media, the fact that leaked documents make explicit mention of P.T. as what they seek to emulate (you know, the project killed by Konami themselves) really tells you the level of cynicism around the series' revival
To me, Silent Hill was structured as a gradual series of confusing moments and eventual understanding. Silent Hill was dense with symbolism and hidden subtext, which often couldn't be recognized until the subsequent play though. Short Message has failed in that regard.
Ach. I wanna give you a view and support and all that, but I do intend to actually play this sometime soon. I'll have my dog watch it for me, and then tell me the gist of it, without any spoilers.
Did he say it was rough?
@@RKICfinally played it. Now I understand why my dog just kept giving me the suicide hotline number.
Dude. This is worse than I ever imagined. The SH community is praising this as a masterpiece. I feel so alone.
Dude 98% think it's dumb there's just a lot of corporate shilld on the "official channels" like the subreddit. I think they're bots.
Those aren't Silent Hill fans. They're Zoomers who never played a single Silent Hill game, but pretend to be fans because its trendy. Its the equivalent of the "Earthbound Fan Excited to Play The Game for the Very First Time" meme
.
@@NihilisticIdealist 100% true. It’s just that’s what the majority of the scene revolving SH is totally saturated in. It’s nice to see there’s legit fans out there who grew up with the shit. I wish they would have just left it all alone at this point lol. And this game basically retcons all of SH lore and deduces it to a phenomenon created people by people who were so sad from the pandemic. Lamest thing imaginable.
@@Mr.HollywoodIt was never really implied as such. They said the phenomenon originated from the town itself.
Who is saying that I swear SH die hards are some weird
22:10 SWAG
it's just another instance of millennial writing like in movies. it's awful.
I'm conflicted on those list format content warnings in video games. Because it does get people expectant about themes and how they might be presented to them. It's an experience similar to your high school English class when the teacher exposes you to this story's themes before you start reading, so that you'll be prepared to identify them as they come up and talk about them. I'm not so much concerned about spoiling the player as I am about creating that analytical lens between reader and the text. If you're told what the story is about, then there's no sense of discovery. The answers become impersonal, because you're not as emotionally invested in each reveal.
That's an excellent point. I think even a simple menu item "sensitive content disclosure" that you could click if you need further clarification about the games' content, instead of treating the player with a one size fits all approach would do wonders. 4 warnings is a tad excessive IMO
The bad dubbing and weird audio effect choices in short message are poorly done. The bad voice acting in the originals are intentional and are integral to the feel of the game.
tumblr hill
Honestly, i just wanted konami to pick up the old team, and make one game with all the care put into it, not this multimedia project thing happening right now with varying quality of content.
Sorry to trauma dump in the comments on a game review, but I've dealt with some of the same issues (self harm, suicide, intrusive thoughts, child abuse) presented in this game. I've seen plenty of other media that discusses or depicts these topics and, for the most part, not had any problem with it. But the way they're used in this game feels weirdly... exploitative? It feels weird to have things I've gone through used as "window dressing" for a horror game like this. Like "oooh spooky bloody bathroom!! woah she's gonna cut herself that's FUCKED UP!" Even though this game was apparently written and made as a sort of suicide awareness project, it really doesn't feel like they got input of any kind from real people with mental illness. It ends up having the opposite effect like 13 reasons why where it contributes further to a stereotype rather than helping people understand. FFS, Doki Doki Literature Club handled these themes better.
yeah it felt like a checklist of stereotypes to hit. a tokenism of people dealing with mental issues with none of the nuance or time to develop the context. after school PSA
This is exactly what I've been wanted to say but couldn't really or don't know how to express it, so thanks a lot for the comment!
The game just feels like it was made by westerners even though the devs are Japanese. There's no Asian feel to it, you know? How the hell did that happened lmao.
Keep up the good work; proud of all of the channels that are putting these videos out here regarding this awful game, it's needed. I hope it can help effect change in what they do moving forward. Silent hill deserves more then this.
I think that all of us anticipating a good release from konami from this franchise is the real silent hill. Nothing but torture, and false hope. An endless cycle of PAIN.
19:20 lol wtf? Silent hill phenomenon caused by covid 19??? Lol what? Literally everything these days is blamed on covid 19.
The psa at the beginning told me exactly how the game would be. That and when I looked at the controller configuration and saw basically 3 options. Move, interact, and scroll. After maybe 30 minutes I moved, scrolled and interacted with the uninstall option. This was "I need attention" the video game version, or basically "twitch thot" the walking simulator.
A big problem with games now is nobody involved with them reads any more.
Which is funny because you do an awful lot of reading on walls and diaries.
If you're having thoughts of self harm, just know that I'm better than you.
A random troll, with no life, is better than you.
So the big climax end . Is just fucking Slender: The Arrival. Konami's game division is a zombie.
I wish it was. At least it would’ve engaged my brain.
D.E.I. Hill
Im glad they named it with the subtitle "The short message" otherwise i wouldn't have known the game was about a message that was short without the game telling me upfront 🤓👍
"One brave step can save lives"
BAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA
(Not So) Silent Hill.
This game needed about .1% of it's own story.
Was actually waiting for Hikiko to make a video on this… I’m very conflicted on this game, on one hand they didn’t outsource it to some western studio and on the other, Motoi Okamoto should just stick with Wii Fit because he doesn’t know anything about Silent Hill.
The mom's voice sounds like eminem in the beginning of the song "3 am" lmaooo so lame
Just a side comment- there is no “original Japanese audio”. The Japanese version of the game, like past SH titles, is English VO only.
Why is the lip syncing so fucked up then?
I just checked, and the actor does not know how to speak English. She is literally dubbed over.
@@ExpertContrarian Game was made on the cheap in all likelihood. Proper lip sync is one of the more difficult part of animating a 3D model, and everyone involved aside from some of the voice actors were Japanese.
As for the live action scenes, the bad lip sync is definitely more egregious I suppose.
But, my point is just that there is no Japanese VO option. The Japanese version of the game just uses Japanese subtitles, which is a staple for many horror games in Japan, such as Resident Evil / Biohazard (before 2012) and Devil May Cry.
@@kuropiko no, you’re missing the point. The lip-synching is bad because she’s speaking Japanese. She cannot speak English. It does not make any sense why they would have her speak Japanese and then dub over her.
@@ExpertContrarian Well, it makes sense in that they were likely limited on staff they had that could act for the camera on location in Japan. It's odd, sure, but this isn't really that exceptional.
I am on the same page as you in many aspects. But i'm trying to be more optimistic regardless. I think Max Derrat's review of The Short Message is basically my thoughts one to one. Give it a watch!
Add in an optional bad ending, some classic SH shenannigans, like locked doors, keys, a map, open the villa a bit more for exploration, basic enemies, more puzzles... and boom... it gets a pass.
they should leave silent hill in its grave not keep digging up my friend and selling its parts....let it sleep forever
I think the most frustrating part is that this actually had potential... It looks good, is produced well, and doesn't have the "pure trash" aura to it. If only: 1. nothing leaked; 2. the script was edited and not in heavy-handed corporate way.
Doesn't give me much hopes for f. But maybe TSM already covering bullying stuff will ensure that Ryukishi07 doesn't waste time on the worst aspects of his writing. He already tends to be heavy-handed, although sincere, that people often complain about him being "preachy."