Silent Hill: The Short Message

As a complete surprise, Konami released a new title in the Silent Hill franchise called The Short Message for free to give new and existing fan a taste of what that series could offer. It’s a short experience full of unending psychological damage.

The game is all in first person and you play as Anita who is dealing with the loss of her best friend Maya who committed suicide and trying to look for clues that led to the untimely death.

So this game reminds you very well that it contains themes of suicide and encouraging those that struggle with that to reach out for help. The atmosphere in this game gets very depressing while providing visceral fear in moments as well.

Mostly it will be you exploring environments searching for clues. There will be chase sequences where you are literally running in fear from an entity I called Flowerhead. Or more appropriately it would be Cherry Blossomhead? The fun part will be how this creature can appear anywhere. So it quickly turns into running from them to running right into them. There was many times I opened a door only to run into them and my death.

However it’s not game over, it just rewinds you back to the last check point so you can try again.

This game is definitely Silent Hill but at the same time, it’s a different experience. It will drive on your nerves and also challenge you emotionally. It’s when you get to final moments it really digs it claws in. I needed a breather afterwards. There is a scene involving a fridge and you read a newspaper detailing something that happened with that fridge that I was not mentally prepared for.

I know most reviews for this game haven’t been positive but I was fine with it. If you have the opportunity definitely play it for yourself however this one is only available exclusively to Playstation 5.

If you did play Silent Hill: The Short Message, what did you think of the experience? Feel free to leave your thoughts below!

Till next time, stay scared!
-Tha Thrilla-