Silent Hill: The Short Message Reviews
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 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.
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.
Silent Hill's return to consoles after 12 years away falls flat thanks to a script lacking even an ounce of subtlety.
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.
Silent Hill The Short Message is a product that misses the mark and fails to deal with extremely serious and delicate issues in the best possible way.
Review in Italian | Read full review
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.
Silent Hill: The Short Message is a boring, contrived, borderline offensive experience.
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 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.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The Short Message is a short and satisfying modern take on the classic themes of Silent Hill, and overall feels quite solid, especially since it’s free. I’d definitely encourage any fans of the series with a PS5 to check it out. It may not necessarily blow you away or change your life, but it does manage to hold its own and signal a decent return to a series that hasn’t had a proper entry in twelve years.
An interesting modern take on Silent Hill, with a fascinating story and excellent location design. Apparently, Konami has really taken the series seriously — although fans will find something to complain about anyway, they want to see more psychological horrors like this.
Review in Russian | Read full review
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 is true to Silent Hill, and delves head first into psychological horror.
Unfortunately, I am personally very disappointed with Silent Hill: The Short Message. Even though it's a free game, Konami has left a lot of potential untapped here. The creative minds could have put a bit more effort into the possible new direction of the franchise. The storyline is in tune with the times, really important and well told. Both visually and acoustically. Only the lame strolling through the predetermined corridors of the building, coupled with the unfair and completely confusing chase passages, really spoil the fun of the game. Owners of a PlayStation 5 can of course form their own opinion free of charge, but shouldn't expect too much.
Review in German | Read full review
Silent Hill: The Short Message feels like an echo of an echo. Its existence reverberates through the horror genre, but it is a noise we first heard 10 years ago replicated time and time again. The P.T. comparisons are still possible because of its initial stirring. The aesthetic and gameplay echoes are now indistinguishable in a way that comparison is inevitable. The difference is that this echo comes from the publisher that set that first sound into motion.
Silent Hill: The Short Message potentially shows us the direction the franchise might go, but also seems to not understand what the games are about.
Let me clarify that, whilst Silent Hill: The Short Message wasn’t exactly the kind of game we were all waiting for, it’s not entirely that bad. It’s a mixed bag of a horror experience, with a story which tried to deal with some heavy personal themes (not exactly new ground for the series, mind you), only to fall short in its execution. Regardless, it’s still worth giving a shot. There is stuff to like in here, and let me reiterate the fact that it’s free, and brief. It’s not particularly a risky investment.
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. That's not to say it's perfect. The "walk around and find the only interactable object in the room" gameplay brings nothing new to the table, and after being caught by the monster two or three times the escape room segments become far more tedious than they do scary (especially the final one). The dialog is a bit too on-the-nose, and all the social media references that seemed pretty important in the beginning are quietly shoved to the side once the real story reveals itself. That all being said, it's a far better start than it could have been, and it is undeniably the best new Silent Hill media since 2014.
If you’re a fan of the Silent Hill series, The Short Message is definitely worth checking out... However, if you’re hoping for a revolutionary entry in one of gaming’s most iconic horror series, you will be disappointed.