Silent Hill Downpour Review

This post does not contain ANY story spoilers.

 

In Silent Hill Downpour, you play as Murphy Pendleton, an inmate being transferred to another prison when his bus crashes, leaving him stranded and looking for a way to escape the nightmarish hell he finds himself in. Murphy's crime is a mystery at first, you learn more of his background as you progress through the game.

 

Downpour is not really linear. You're free to wander around and explore, doing sidequests along the way to your overall goal. I only did a few sidequests on my first playthrough because I was too terrified to spend time doing anything unless I absolutely had to. As for the areas that you are required to visit, I explored everything thoroughly, watching the lights flicker on and off, listening to doors slam shut behind me as the tension built and I felt my heart begin to race. Every second I spent examining the environment made me feel more unsafe than the previous. I knew it would only be a matter of time before an enemy would attack and all I could do was wonder when it would happen and what would trigger it. That is exactly the feeling I am looking for in a survival horror game and Downpour nailed it. I think if I were Murphy, I would sit in a corner and sob. I could never get through something like this.

 

I crawled through most of the game. You would think, since it's so scary, that I would run through the rooms just so I could escape. No, I was always afraid to smack into something or that something would jump out at me. I also had to psych myself up whenever I would open a door because I was so afraid to find out what was behind them.

 

There's more to a game than its scare factor though, right? So let's see how well Silent Hill Downpour does overall.

 

What you should know before playing:

 

*The main focus (as far as dealing with enemies goes) is melee or fleeing. You will rarely ever have a gun with you. Don't worry though, there are plenty of melee weapons at your disposal, ranging from fire axes and crowbars to chairs and knives.

 

*Rain plays a very important part in Downpour's gameplay. If there's a monsoon outside, you should probably seek shelter until things calm down.

 

*If you get stuck, listen to what Murphy is saying. He'll sometimes give you clues as to what you should be doing.

 

*Amazon offered a pistol and a baseball bat as a pre-order bonus for Downpour. This was not an exclusive bonus, anyone can use it on the lockers you find in the game. For anyone looking for the codes, here they are.

 

Normally, this would be the point where I would point out everything I loved about the game (I like to give the good news first because it's almost always proceeded by very, very bad news), but I think I'll start with the issues the game had first, followed by what I loved and then some tips to help you get through Silent Hill.

 

What I didn't like:

 

I'm starting with the negative aspects first because, honestly, there aren't many. And the things that I do consider to be negative are so minor they're almost not worth mentioning. I feel like I had to really look for things to complain about with Silent Hill Downpour just so it wouldn't seem like I'm supporting the game based on its name alone. If it wasn't great, I would admit it. In fact, I had built it up in my head so much that I had expected to be completely let down. That was not the case at all.

 

First up, the one issue that really does need to be discussed. Slowdown. It gets a bit better later on in the game (or maybe I just got used to it), but around the area where you encounter your first enemy, it's awful. Based on that one part, I really thought the game would be unplayable. Hopefully a patch will be released soon.

 

Silent Hill Downpour doesn't have save points, it autosaves for you. My major concern here was that I would end up running out of first aid kits or ammo (as it turns out, I didn't even use a gun until the last 20% of the game) and I wouldn't be able to reload an earlier save. When I'm playing a survival horror game, I always make multiple saves just in case I screw the game up so badly that I can no longer continue playing it. Autosave prevents that. I also thought it saved at the wrong points. There's one particularly difficult section towards the end of the game that I got through only to have to hit a button prompt that I missed. The game didn't save before the button prompt and I had to do the difficult section over again. But it had no problem  saving when I would open doors that were already unlocked and led to a hallway where absolutely nothing happens.

 

Murphy will get stuck on invisible edges. If you've played Fatal Frame, you know exactly what I'm talking about, it happened with Miku all the time. Murphy also stopped running sometimes, even while I was holding R1 down. Whenever that would happen, I would have to stop moving him all together before I could get him to run again. There are certain points in this game where not being able to run is likely to get you killed, so I found this to be particularly frustrating. (It was not an issue with my controller, it happened with both of them.)

Will you try to help him or provoke him?

One of the major aspects in this game was supposed to be your ability to make choices, whether they're "good" or "bad." You're only asked to make three throughout the entire game, so I felt like this wasn't nearly as important as it was made out to be, although it does have a significant impact on which ending you get. I just expected it to come into play more than it did.

 

What I did like:

 

Murphy is like Nathan Drake, he keeps a journal and he can climb rock walls. I like the idea of him keeping a journal because all of the files and maps you collect are stored there. They found a new way to actually incorporate the files into the game, rather than just having them in the menu for you to read whenever you want. It's a really minor detail, but I'm a big fan of minor details so it's important to me.

 

Without spoiling the story, at a certain point, you will be able to hear music from some of the older Silent Hill games. It's a nice throwback and I was happy they were included, especially since Akira Yamaoka did not work on Downpour. I wish he had. That being said, the new soundtrack is different from the others, but it still does its job. The game was incredibly creepy thanks to the soundtrack, sound effects and the overall atmosphere.

 

If you look in the pause menu, you'll notice you can check your statistics. This allows you to see the exact percentage your health is at and how much of the game you have completed. I like having a real number to look at, rather than trying to gauge how much health I have left based on the color of the avatar in the menu. This is much more precise.

 

Downpour has a really strong story. It's the first game in the series to bring me to tears. Murphy is an interesting main character and it's easy to empathize with him.

 

The sidequests, while I did not complete many of them, are a nice addition because it extends the length of the game. It gives you more to do and now that I know what to expect, I won't be such a coward next time and I'll complete more of them. One of the few I did complete was the movie theater sidequest and I definitely recommend doing that one. It was very well done.

 

Tips and tricks for survival:

 

*Your health will always regenerate to 40% and if you die, it is fully restored. If your game saves and your health is low, it's probably worth taking a few hits and dying so that you can come back with full health. Try to be smart when fighting, run around a bit until your health is back up to 40%, then go back to the enemy. It will help you save your first aid kits.

 

*I took refuge (in what I assume was a subway) when it started downpouring. My game saved and I decided to take a break from playing. When I turned it back on, it was no longer raining outside. I tried this again later on, and the rain stopped again. I'm not sure if it automatically stops raining when you enter a new area or if quitting the game magically changes the weather, but either way, if you're looking to dry off, this will help.

 

*You can reload your game after the credits to get multiple endings. You cannot get every ending this way, but I was able to get three. Keep this in mind in case you get the "fake" ending I got the first time. You will not be happy with that one, reload your game and get a real ending.

 

Verdict:

 

Silent Hill Downpour is a proper survival horror game. You're not expected to fight every enemy you come across (in fact, you're rewarded for not doing so). The puzzles require you to think. This isn't like Resident Evil 4 where all you're expected to do is find two halves of a plate and insert them into a door. Your hand isn't held throughout the game, but you're still given enough direction so that it never becomes frustrating. I appreciate the extra challenge, I like being forced to think things through. Downpour expects you to be smart and really study your surroundings. The atmosphere is exactly what you would expect from a Silent Hill game, and this ranks right at the top of my list, along with Silent Hill 2, 3 and Shattered Memories. Vatra did a really nice job creating a terrifying atmosphere and I hope that Konami allows them to work on the next Silent Hill game, too.