Silent Hill: Downpour

This is the path Silent Hill needs to continue to take, because it has that old school survival horror flavor that fans, including myself, have been clamoring for since 2003.

Even despite its flaws, Silent Hill: Downpour manages to scare and entertain the living hell out of me. Change isn't always bad, especially for a town so devoted to change its visitors as Silent Hill. [May 2012]

The latest incarnation of Silent Hill is really worth visiting as the spirit of the Japanese original is strong in this Czech Downpour. [May 2012, p.77]

Perhaps the largest compliment we can bestow is that it feels very old school, like a spiritual remake of Silent Hill rather than a bold new statement.

Vatra Games managed in bringing back the great feeling and gameplay balance of the first games in the series, delivering us a real survival horror in a time when every game seems to prefer the action route. It's not perfect, but definitely a big step in the right direction for Konami's franchise.

The first hour or so is pretty dull, as you fight uninspired enemies in an equally as uninteresting old mine. Once you get into the town of Silent Hill, things get far more engaging, and everything gets better from there on. Downpour isn't the strongest installment in the series, but it is a very good old school survival horror game. If anything, it'll make you nostalgic for the days when finding that evasive red key so you could unlock that mysterious red door to find the blue key for the other door was the most important thing on your to-do list.

When it's not forcing a sub-par combat system on players, and when it allows itself to be as imaginative as it can be, Silent Hill: Downpour is a stylish, slickly produced, beautifully foreboding game.

It's quite possible to enjoy the game's story, characters and eerie ambience. But just how long are you prepared to endure through an experience riddled with problems, from clumsy combat mechanics, serious freezing and screen tearing, as well as other glitches.

Though at times plagued by faults that might scare away some players, Silent Hill Downpour offers an absolutely engrossing experience-one that gives longtime fans true hope for the future of the franchise.

Silent Hill Downpour brings the series back to the origins, involving free exploration of the town and lots of intresting puzzles. A must buy for the hardcore fans.

Silent Hill: Downpour is not for gamers who've gotten used to having the path pointed out to them over the last generation of survival horror games. Its moments of brilliance tend to shine through the fog of frustration. Having played through the game a single time, I feel like there were many, many things that I missed. Diehard Silent Hill fans shouldn't miss this one, and anyone else hurting for a new horror game could certainly do worse.

From side quests to sound design, Silent Hill: Downpour isn't afraid of change. The result is a captivating game more expansive than the series has ever seen.

At times, the game's many puzzles and open-world areas did leave us aimlessly wondering and wandering. But varied gameplay, solid combat, and an effective mix of psychological scares and freaky encounters make Downpour a worthwhile trip to Silent Hill's haunted 'hood.

A solid game with a typically twisted story underneath all of the pretence. Still the gameplay mechanics are starting to show their age and there is a lack of genuine shocks and intrigue, it feels like familiar ground, albeit fairly well made familiar ground.

The latest installment of this horror series delivers a decent story and good puzzles but is rather weak in terms of action sequences, fighting system and graphics.

New Silent Hill is different than the old ones but it's a movement in right direction. Unfortunately, moments of pure terror and interesting side quests are spoiled with technical issues. [May 2012]

A sterling effort that is sure to please fans of the series. A juicy challenge that's only likely to be ruined by the ability to go online and find all its solutions. [Issue#84, p.78]

For the first time ever, the Silent Hill franchise has been developed by a western studio and since Silent Hill 3, this is probably the most attractive episode that we recommand you to play as soon as you can.

The mood is eerie enough, but the enemy design could have been better.

The ideas and creativity are there, and I like the inclusion of the side quests, giving the player a reason to explore the foggy town. It's just a shame that the atmosphere is spoilt with some unnecessary framerate drops and basic combat.

Silent Hill: Downpour is a good game, with many great ideas and a nice story. It's a nice comeback to the series, despite its technical issues and the bugged combat. A nice survival horror that goes back to the roots of the genre.

Downpour marks progress compared to what we saw with Homecoming and the latest chapters. Anyone expecting a return to the origins of Silent Hill, however, must wait again. Vatra's mission, with ups and downs, can be considered accomplished but the survival horror's perfection, that lethal mix of anxiety and irrational fear making you turn off the console in the middle of the night, it's quite another thing.

Downpour is an engrossing, eerie play, but it's simultaneously empowered and constrained by its necromantic heritage. There are two sides to every Silent Hill, and like every studio since Team Silent, Vatra hasn't brought enough to the party.

The actual gameplay leaves a lot to be desired, but as recent Silent Hills go, this is one of the better ones.

I don't regret my time with Silent Hill: Downpour, but mediocrity hung over most of my playthrough like a fog. [Apr 2012, p.82]

Great concept and changes in the series but poor execution result in an average game. Only fans of Silent Hill will have plenty to be happy about with Downpour.

Developer Vatra clearly has a fondness for the material and they've tried to address some of the series' more nagging issues with varying degrees of success. There are moments in Downpour that genuinely work and showcase what this franchise could be with a little more TLC. Unfortunately, there are still rough patches to be smoothed over and kinks to be worked out in subsequent sequels-but here's to hoping Vatra gets another crack at it.

Downpour doesn't do much to evolve neither it's genre nor the Silent Hill series, but rather sticks to its dim recepie of dead children and blood on the walls to create a game that is just above average, and not much more.

As far as plot-twist clichés go, Downpour trots out all of the usual suspects.

Silent Hill Downpour is an average survival horror game that has a few good ideas, but doesn't live up to its predecessors.

The game has a lamentable amount of bugs and the combat is rather basic, but you will still have fun playing it. Intelligent level design means that the campaign is engaging pretty much throughout, but it's the sense of atmosphere that really brings back some of the Silent Hill magic.

For as good as the narrative construction is, the game falls short of modern standards. At 8-10 hours, it's worth a weekend rental to enjoy the story, but it's hard to recommend a purchase for anyone other than hardcore Silent Hill fans.

Silent Hill: Downpour frustrates and irritates, it confuses and confounds. It doesn't scare as much as it should and it doesn't impress as much as we wanted. But there's no denying its ability to keep you playing; to push through to the end.

Almost nothing about in game can be described as enjoyable or satisfying.

A step in the wrong direction for the series. Tension and atmosphere take a back seat to cheap, impotent scares and tedious combat encounters.

Silent Hill fans desperate to find any good left in the series will be relieved to know that Silent Hill: Downpour is a step up from 2008's forgettable Homecoming, but Konami seems to be trapped in some horrifying nightmare of its own design.