That fear is backed by the mental turmoil of the protagonists.. Among the many horror games out there, the Silent Hill series was able to have a high degree of originality, largely because it focused on the hearts of the characters.
The horror depicted in “Silent Hill'' is in no small part related to the collapse and runaway of the human spirit and memory. I think that's why the series has long attracted fans, and why new releases have been eagerly awaited. However, such a new work has not been announced for over 10 years.
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As if to fill that void, there has been increasing momentum for the series to be revived in recent years. Starting with the announcement of “SILENT HILL: Townfall” in collaboration with Annapurna Interactive, the remake development of “SILENT HILL 2” by Bloober Team of “Layers of Fear”, and “SILENT HILL f” set in Japan. Furthermore, the distribution of the interactive streaming series “SILENT HILL: Ascension'' and new developments were revealed in quick succession.
Then suddenly, a completely new work “SILENT HILL: The Short Message” (hereinafter referred to as “The Short Message”) is now available for free on PS5.
Just because this game is free doesn't mean it's a light game. I'm taking on a completely new challenge. While continuing the direction of the series that “fear exists in the human spirit”,Surprisingly, this work is a youth drama..
However, what we have here is a dark youth. There is no youth like my student days, which were light and fun. A desire for approval, comparison with others, helplessness, impatience, and the broken youth that these bring about. We all remember the feeling of youth when we want to look away.
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In this article, I had the opportunity to play “The Short Message'' and would like to share my impressions with you.Please note that this article touches on topics such as self-harm, suicide, abuse, and bullying, so please be careful when reading the article..
dark youth story
The main character of Dark Youth is Anita. There's something about her glasses that makes her feel insecure, and she can't hide how frightened she looks. Anita was called by a message on her smartphone from her friend Maya, who was visiting an abandoned mansion. It's so rotten inside that it's hard to believe there's anyone inside.
However, there was graffiti on the wall, indicating that someone was there. Maya is good at drawing beautiful pictures, and she left gorgeous pictures of cherry blossoms on the walls, different from the glaring images of graffiti. Anita follows the bright graffiti and heads into the dark apartment where Maya is supposed to be…
The main gameplay is that the player takes on the role of Maya and searches for Maya in an abandoned mansion. It can be called a walking simulator. Follow the story by imagining the world while observing the various rooms in the ruins and reading discarded magazines and newspapers.
Speaking of walking simulators, there are quite a few titles that let you explore a relatively vast field, but in this work, the level design has been carefully designed so that you can experience Anita's story until the end without getting lost.
The calm atmosphere of a dilapidated apartment building with no one around. The smell of dust from peeling walls mixes with the smell of graffiti spray paint. You will pass through a space where you can imagine such an atmosphere. Every piece of furniture is smeared with the dust of decaying walls.
A discarded brochure in a dusty cardboard box identifies this place as the City of Kettenstadt. Although it is a historic town along the border, it is currently in decline due to depopulation. In recent years, redevelopment plans have been planned to halt the decline of the town, and Anita and Maya's parents' generation seemed to be working on it.
However, over the past 10 years, many opportunities to obtain foreign investment have been missed, including the Lehman Shock around 2007 and the recent spread of the new coronavirus in 2020, and redevelopment has been suspended. The city is decaying. Anita and Maya entered their teenage years in such a dead-end town.
How will boys and girls grow up in a town with no future? When you read the message that arrives on Anita's smartphone, you can see the result. Those who remain in the city, those who try to leave by going to university…
Anita's social media shows something even more urgent. I was drawing graffiti just like Maya, but I didn't receive the recognition I wanted from the people around me, but I still wanted recognition for myself, so I started posting sexual selfies on SNS… …. They were enough to disturb Anita.
In a declining town with no way out, we can see that Anita and other young people are also being abused by their parents. Many people in this city cannot find their future and choose suicide. Anita was also being dragged towards her choice.
Eventually, the player will find several scars on Anita's wrist. As you progress through the game, a scene will appear that brings back memories of Anita's wrist cuts. The movement of cutting the wrist with a razor from a subjective perspective will make the player imagine a sharp pain.
As Anita's mind becomes confused, she gradually begins to wander into a place where she is unsure whether it is reality or a world created by Anita's own obsessions. An intangible monster lurks in the depths and attacks Anita. The monster's head was decorated with cherry blossoms.
While running away from the monster, Anita finds Maya's graffiti. When Anita sees her painting, her memories of talking with Maya come back to her as live-action images. Where is Maya now? Where is Anita's exit?
Game design in the context of walking simulators developed in indies over the past decade
As I play The Short Message, I realize that it's filled with elements that fill in the 10 years since the Silent Hill series went on hiatus.
One is the boom in walking simulators mentioned earlier. This is a genre that gained a lot of attention in 2012 due to the high praise of films such as “Dear Esther” and “Gone Home.”
In this genre, while the player explores a certain space and explores the situation in the world of the work, games that follow the spirit and memories of the main character, and games that take up social themes have been created.
The influence of the genre is large, and 2019's “Engan Devotion” developed an ADV that adopted the structure of a walking simulator, and the content that reflected Taiwanese society in the 1980s (including the content of the work and political issues with China) ) has become a big topic.
And the “Silent Hill'' series is a title that focuses on approaching the hearts of the characters. So, in the sense of filling a gap of more than 10 years, it makes sense that The Short Message researched and incorporated elements from the walking simulators of the past 10 years.
Also, the use of live-action footage is very sharp. Normally, when you use live-action footage, it's easy to see that part floating. However, in this work, by using it only in the parts where Maya appears, it creates the impression that “Anita is looking for a slightly distant friend.''
This allows the live-action footage to look more like a story, rather than an unreasonable expression. It's rare to find a domestic title that incorporates live-action footage in a relatively smart way, and I feel that this is a case that should be kept in mind as a successful example.
The second reason is that the themes depicted in genres with story elements, such as ADV and RPG, have begun to deal with darker aspects that are more familiar to us. Movies like “Life is Strange'' and “Disco Elysium'' were set in real life (albeit a bit of fantasy), and the characters faced troubles that we might all experience. “The Short Message'' also stays true to the trend of depicting a story that is close to the real us by dealing with issues that modern teenagers get involved in.
Of course, this does not mean that just because it deals with a realistic theme, anything is fine. The careful structure of the entire story is also appealing. The scenario revolves around Anita's own struggles, and is designed to keep players from getting bored. Above all, his theme is “fear and youth”The author also gives me high marks for unearthing a seemingly contradictory vein of minerals.
Overall, the level of perfection is high, and I can even think that “I wouldn't have any problem even if I sold this for around 1,000 yen.'' I think the fact that this is being released for free shows how serious the upcoming Silent Hill project is.
The signal gun for the rebirth of the “Silent Hill” series
“The Short Message” was a refreshing surprise. Of course, if you look at walking simulators from the past 10 years, there is nothing new that can only be found in this work. However, it is highly praised for connecting the “Silent Hill'' series, which has been absent for over 10 years, to the context of modern video game expression.
This is because it is actually quite difficult to connect a series with a long history in Japan to the context of new game expressions that are progressing around the world, and it seems like everyone is having a hard time. In that sense, “The Short Message'' is certainly a way to fill in the blanks in the “Silent Hill'' series. I think this has a lot to do with the “criticism'' of Motoi Okamoto, the producer of this work.
Before joining KONAMI, Mr. Okamoto is known for his past work at Nintendo on “Pikmin,'' “My First Wii,'' and “Wii Fit.'' He was a creator who later went independent and founded Entersphere, developing his own projects.
On the other hand, he actively writes about games on the Internet in various media. There are quite a number of statements, but if we narrow it down to those officially published in the media, we can see how highly critical they are. For example, it is noteworthy that he contributed his thoughts on the Japanese game industry in English to Game Developer (formerly Gamasutra), a well-known site that focuses on the English-speaking game industry and game design.
In particular, Mr. Okamoto's high degree of criticality can be seen in his consideration of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which was published in domestic gaming media. While tracing the history of the same series, we are also focusing on immersive sims (referred to as immersive simulation in the link) such as “Ultima Underworld'' and “Deus EX'' in terms of 3D game design and its degree of freedom, including open worlds that were developed in English-speaking countries. It was about considering game design by comparing it with genre.
When I reread that review, it mentions the issue of “How can Japan catch up with the advancements in game design made overseas, such as open worlds?'' In order to resolve this issue, we will not limit our discussion to only Japanese games, but will consider how Japanese games connect the current context by comparing them with game designs that have been pursued over the decades in English-speaking countries. I was very surprised by this.
And in reviving the Silent Hill series now, I think Mr. Okamoto was also very conscious of the need to move the series from a standstill.
Reading Mr. Okamoto's past reviews, it makes sense that “The Short Message'' has researched and incorporated the design of English-speaking walking simulators and narratives. This game was developed by Hexadrive, and I felt that Mr. Okamoto and his entire team were thinking very carefully about it.
It's also worth noting that “The Short Message'' will lead to the remake version “SILENT HILL 2,'' which is scheduled to be released this year. This is because Bloober Team, which was commissioned to remake this time, is the same team that has created notable walking simulators and ADVs over the past 10 years, such as “Layers of Fear'' and “Observer.'' It is worth considering the meaning of remaking “SILENT HILL 2'', which was in the context of Japanese game design 20 years ago, using their development philosophy.
In conclusion, “The Short Message'' conveys KONAMI's intention to seriously revitalize the “Silent Hill'' series. This will lead to the remake of “SILENT HILL 2”, and I plan to fill the gap in the series that has spanned more than 10 years in this one year.“The Short Message'' is definitely the signal that will signal the rebirth of the series..
Title name:SILENT HILL: The Short Message
Genre:psychological horror
Compatible models:PS5 (download version sales only)
Delivery date:February 1, 2024
price:free
CERO rating:C (for ages 15 and older)
©Konami Digital Entertainment