Silent Hill: The Short Message recently hit the PlayStation 5 for free.
Konami’s silent release surprised everyone, considering fans hadn’t gotten a new Silent Hill game since 2012. While Konami did announce another Silent Hill being in the works, we still haven’t gotten a release date or updates like who will be behind it.
The game series has had its fair share of successful games and massive disappointments. So far, fans have divided opinions on this game so far, but one thing is for certain.
The Short Message is trying so hard to be deep it ends up being shallow.
While this isn’t the worst game in the series, it lacks the qualities we’ve all expected. Let’s go in-depth into where The Short Message comes up short.
Lost in Voice Mail
[Image via Konami]
In the misty and bleak apartment complex in Germany, Anita wakes up to find messages from an artist named Maya. The building itself is somewhat famous for being a popular suicide spot for teenagers. The text messages on her phone and her paintings guide Anita to discover the graffiti artist.
Anita flashes back to moments where she’s able to talk to Maya. She finds Maya unique and constantly puts herself down. The moments where she remembers interactions with Maya are glimpses of how Maya saw the world, but then Anita puts herself down realizing she could never amount to who Maya was.
Unsure of where this trip down memory lane will lead her, Anita explores this warped building and tries to uncover what happened to Maya and why she’s trapped in this hell.
The Short Message Differs In Some Ways
[Image via Konami]
The Short Message tells its story via a first-person perspective. Anita traverses around the building using her phone as a light source. The game takes place throughout the building as well as some dream sequences that occur at random—for example, her flashbacks with Maya from the game engine transform into a live-action cutscene.
Honestly, these cutscenes can be a bit jarring. Not only is it only a live-action section in a fully 3D game, but also the actress seems to be dubbed in English while speaking her native language. It’s unclear if this was intentional or not.
The Short Message runs on the Unreal Engine 5. The game makes great use of lighting and textures, which adds to the gloomy atmosphere. Anita’s model looks decent enough even if players only see her in cutscenes.
The Short Message Tackles A Heavy Topic
[Image via Konami]
Should you decide to play this game, we advise viewer discretion.
Like other Silent Hill games, The Short Message tackles a deep topic. In this game, the main topics appear to be depression and bullying. Anita encounters messages and images that show that many classmates bullied her in her life, and even had an abusive mother growing up.
Thoughts of suicide, isolation, the use of social media to attack Anita throughout her childhood. Self-harm circles her. The fact that she’s in a building that has become a hotspot for teen suicides also becomes a fitting commentary.
In between segments, the game puts up trigger warnings for those who are playing the game. They also put up a hotline number for fans who are struggling to call if they need help. Naturally, many games depict bullying and even suicide. However, the way the game explores these topics may lead to mixed reactions.
Bare Bone Walking
[Image via Konami]
One of the main takeaways from The Short Message is that it’s not like other Silent Hill games in gameplay. Konami designed The Short Message as more of a walking simulator. Players travel from room to room looking at bits of text. There are a couple of chase sequences from the entity that fans call “Sakura Head,” but there is no combat at any point in the game.
The puzzles are almost nonexistent as well. There’s a grand total of one puzzle in the game,\ and it involves looking for a code to a locker.
This is something that can throw off a lot of players as not only are they not used to a first-person Silent Hill game, they’re not used to a Silent Hill game that lacks all the key elements that comprise just about every entry. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories removed combat altogether at one point and it ended up becoming a frustrating mess.
Granted, P.T. didn’t have combat or that many puzzles as well. However, it was a demo that was meant for a game that never got released. Sure, players don’t need combat necessarily to make a good horror game. Nor does a game need to be filled with that many puzzles. However, designers need to give players something to do other than walk from point A to point B for hours on end.
The Short Message Is Too Short
[Image via Konami]
There’s a lot to discuss from The Short Message. One of its chief issues is that it seems like a lot is missing. It’s a Silent Hill game without Silent Hill. Just let that thought sink in for a second. Even in some games where Silent Hill isn’t shown until close to the midpoint of a game, they still call back to the iconic foggy town. Not here.
Another thing to note is that the protagonist functions as if she is in a fog. Throughout the whole game, Anita just keeps going back to feeling depressed and worthless, acting like her existence is pointless. While this is a classic sign of depression, it occasionally frustrates the player because the game doesn’t challenge her on this.
The closest comparison would be Heather from Silent Hill 3. She too was a bit of a mess when players first met her. But eventually, she grew as a character and became someone fans love. In Silent Hill 2, James Sunderland struggled through grief and loss as he tried to find some closure on his deceased wife. In one of the endings, he’s able to move past it and even takes on a little girl with him to have a second chance at a family. There’s hope.
Anita’s story seems to shut out any sort of glimmer of hope, making her feel like she deserves all that’s been put in front of her. Frankly it feels like the game’s creators were indeed treating her in an almost unrealistically unfair way.
Dreary And Gloomy To A Fault
[Image via Konami]
Along those lines, let’s discuss The Short Message’s overall tone. Silent Hill games have never been beacons of joy. However, at the very end, there typically is a glimmer of hope. In fact, there are even a couple of joke endings you can unlock in most of the games.
The Short Message doesn’t have that. To be fair, depression is brutal. Not everyone makes it. However, the writing feels so obvious that the game lacks all subtlety. This makes it less an honest exploration of the topics and more a preached message on it. What attempts to pass for hope comes off as the writer manipulating it from thin air.
The symbolism is skin deep; it has nothing deep to say. Anita feels like she was clout-chasing most of the time. Hanging around Maya allows her to get some of that “clout magic” in her. Perhaps it was trying to be relevant to GenZ or people who have gone through that “one phase” in middle school.
Yet it isn’t very interesting, and it’s not clear what the game wanted to say besides that depression is horrible. The ones making this game were trying to make a P.T. lookalike without any of the charm and aesthetics that made P.T. such a joy to play through.
Is Konami Sinking Slowly?
[Image via Konami]
The low review scores and mixed reactions from fans make this seem like Konami is losing its grip. Between their questionable decisions, harsh working conditions, lack of communication with fans, and shutting down anyone who speaks up about them, the once great gaming giant seems to be a shell of its former self.
Very recently, the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection was released to mixed reactions from fans. While it was great to once again play as Solid Snake and sneak around in cardboard boxes, many fans pointed out how even the PS1 emulators could run the first game better than what was given.
Konami has fallen from grace, despite releasing some of the best titles that the gaming industry has to offer. With a remake of Silent Hill 2 coming on the horizon, many wonder if Konami can make a good game.
The Short Message: Brief and Bitter
[Image via Konami]
Silent Hill: The Short Message will take the average gamer a little less than two hours to get through on a single playthrough. There aren’t interesting things to look for like alternate endings or costumes to unlock. The game mimics depression, but lacks perspective. It creates a world where Anita’s reality is reality, but that’s not how depression typically works. It’s shallow.
The Short Message fails in a lot of ways. It fails to deliver a coherent story worth caring for and leaves people depressed, even triggered, after playing it. You could give it the benefit of being a free game and not costing anything to play. Still, even after spending time on this, you’re going to ask for your money and time back.
Is it a bad game? Debatable. Is it a bad Silent Hill game? Indeed it is. It has wonderfully detailed graphics and some interesting set pieces. Yet as a game for fans of the series, it’s not the return to form that we had hoped for.
However, one thing is certain. It’s still way better than Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.
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