With that knowledge
in hand, Sara, my other Sister Emily and I set about solving the puzzles, and
one by one, we each completed the demo. We did observe some mild differences
between each play through, but nothing substantial. (Spoiler alert) Basically, when
the bathroom door opens a crack, press R3 to peer into it. In the next loop, go
into the bathroom, grab the flashlight, and look at the thing in the sink.
Then, no worries, the ghost tries to break down the door, the intensity of the attack
varies. But she won’t. The door will then re-open. When you see the writing on
the wall, backtrack to the phone and it should say, “hello,” backtrack to the
wall, and a letter will be moved from one wall to the other. Keep doing it
until the message reads, “I can hear them calling me from Hell.” There are six
pieces of a picture, one in the broken bottles by the clock, one in the vase
holding the plant, one in the corner by the teddy bear, one tucked into the
support beam between the bathroom and the front door, one on the right side of
the stairs leading down to the door that starts the next loop. Finally, one in
the menu, press options, then R3, and you've re-assembled the photo. Next, you
will see a message on a wedding photo saying “gouge it out, zoom in on it, then
press X. Next, follow the distorted hallway to a spot where the picture has
fallen off the wall, stare into the hole in the wall and witness an audio
murder. Then follow that hall until it normalizes. Finally, despite all the debate,
we can say the final puzzle is solved thusly, in that we repeated this multiple
times, and it worked every time. 1) Wait for the clock to strike 12, 2) Stop
moving and say “Jarith,” into the microphone. 3) Wait as much as 30 seconds, the
baby will laugh. 4) Take 10 steps in any direction. You do not need to wait for
the haunting to end, but DO NOT FACE THE GHOST. The baby will laugh again. 5) Hold still until the controller
starts, and then ceases to vibrate. The Baby will laugh a third and final time. 6) Answer the phone. These steps worked for
all three of us who completed the demo.
Now, why am I
moving from raw excitement to disappointment? Well, around the Net there is all
kinds of stuff about, how the play through is never the same twice, the ghost
responds to you when you talk into the mike…. Oh, DO NOT YELL THE SECRET CODE
INTO THE MIC. It makes Lisa very angry. But in reality, most of these things
are nuances. I had expected more, especially since, when I got locked in the
bathroom, Lisa made it much more clear to me that she wanted my head that first
time through, than she did in any other play through. It was enough to scare me
into setting the game down. But now we know, don’t face her, and you have
nothing to fear. Face the mirror in the bathroom, and when the door opens, she does not come through. Once you know this trick, she becomes a nuisance, not a threat.
You see, once we
figured out the secret, we never saw any of the hauntings. We never faced them.
When we heard her, we froze and held real still, like Dr. Grant facing off with
the T-Rex. We knew she was there, we knew she could be in the rafters, or
outside the window, or in the bathroom, or right behind us. We knew that
witnessing these hauntings could lead to possession or death, and so we used
that knowledge against the game. We beat it, using the exact same method, three
times last night, which leads me to a concern.
Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem could be played up to three times with varying results. But
there were three distinct paths. Mass Effect, not a horror game, is never the same twice until you reach the
end of the third, where you have three, similar endings to choose from. It
seems like a lot of games where there are supposed to be changing worlds so
that everybody has a unique experience fail at some point. PT is no different. All three of us had, largely, the same experience, leavng all three of us feeling let down, although we all had our jump moments.
Speaking of jump moments... the demo is heavily reliant on jump scares. Once you know when and where they are, and how to avoid them, it ceases to be scary. What's worse is that there are several random loops where nothing happens at all, and in these moments the demo can get dull and boring. Although to be fair, these are the loops to work on the photo puzzle, which will move the game along, but of you don't know that, you will likely get bored. Lastly, while this demo was fun and scary the first time through, it’s not exactly re-playable, once you know what to do. Then there is the full length trailer, which looks to offer more of the same, but on a larger scale. Basically, the game has become a glorified Nightmare on 13th, a horror themed fun house, rather than a fully realized HP Lovecraft like experience.
The puzzles are overly complex and really need a community to solve. Thank goodness my mom knows German, which was close enough to whatever language it was that the messages would appear in to allow us to figure out the puzzles. None of us could have gotten this done on our own, without an online guide, and while that might sound cool, for Silent Hill, it's not. Silent Hill is a personal horror story, that is meant to be experienced in isolation. The clues should have been easier to decipher, for us solo gamers.
These facts have me
worried about the final product, because a lot of promises are being made, and while I cede the point
that if anyone can deliver, it’s Kojima and Del Tororo, having spoilers
and knowing what to do will damage the experience. Meaning, they have
got to have more than a few subtle changes per play through. Things should
change more radically, or more precisely, erratically. The over reliance on jump scares is troubling. Sure,
you will get a few screams out of me, but in the end, it won’t linger like
Silent Hill should. Silent Hill should make me afraid to fall asleep. PT, once we figured out the trick, didn't deliver.
Silent Hill is in a
funk, as a series. It hasn't been scary in a long time, in part, because they
have lost touch with what makes Silent Hill good. It’s not a confusing story,
it’s not jump scares, and it is definitely not an inability to defend yourself.
In fact, Shattered Memories just pissed me off. It’s about not understanding
what you are looking at. It’s about being simultaneously repulsed and
fascinated with the monsters that are before you. Half the time, it’s about
knowing something is out there, but not being able to see it. The confusion is
in the environment, in the creatures, not in the story.
Silent Hill 1, 2
and 3 all were very well written stories. Even Silent Hill 4 got at least that
right.
Silent Hill Homecoming’s story was too similar to Silent Hill 2’s.
Shattered Memories story was Silent Hill in name only, and the others were a
convoluted mess. Confusion in the narrative isn't the solution to SH’s
problems.
Neither is denying
the protagonist the ability to defend themselves. Sure, limit our resources,
but if there is something I don’t understand menacing me in the hall, and I
have to get past it, I need a way past it. If I get too close, it will grab me.
Shattered Memories wasn't scary, it was obnoxious. Denying me the ability to fend monsters off wasn't fun, it was frustrating. It didn't induce panic,
it induced rage. It didn't induce fear, it lead to me tossing my Wii mote
against the wall. Which is why I am confused by the game journalists who railed
against Shattered Memories, but now praise games like Outlast, and Amnesia, as
if they are the best thing ever. It is just the same thing as Shattered Memories,
but in First Person. Run, and hide, and pray. And it’s not fun. Not fun at all.
For something short
and sweet and to the point, like PT, sure, it works. But for a 20 hour game? No
thanks. Silent Hills could be a First Person game, I’d be fine with that, but
if all it is is running and hiding, I will pass.
Kojima, and Del
Toro should study the first three games, and deeply, so that they genuinely
understand what made these games work. Impossibly hard monsters (Downpour), or
making me run and hide constantly, doesn't make for a good 20 hour game. Tragically, it doesn't help if the combat is too easy, and supplies to readily available.
While the game
journalists get giddy at the latest release of anything that’s actually
obnoxious to those of us who do not get paid for good reviews, in reality,
games like Alien Isolation, Five Nights at Freddy’s, and Outlast are terrible.
They are games I literally played once, and walked away, never to return. The
thing is, the new Silent Hill cannot afford to be another one of those games. It has to be something
more. What’s worse is that I could not tell you what makes Silent Hill work,
only what breaks it. Kojima and Del Toro have a tall order saving a series that
jumped the shark with its “reboot,” years ago, and failed to get back on track with Downpour. The talent lining up behind Silent Hills is immense, but if this game is just another
Amnesia clone, it will be the final nail in the coffin of a series that used to
be synonymous with terror.
A 3 out of 5: Great the first time through, but subjects to moments where nothing is happening, lacking in variety, and easily avoidable dangers. The finished game needs to be much more than this.
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