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[uncleslappy]

I'm a huge Silent Hill fan. I even loved Homecoming. But this mess of a game is unacceptable. Don't get me wrong - I'm still enjoying the creepy/scary factor, but the framerate dip and multiple bugs and graphical glitches are unreal. Having to load just walking down the street, delayed responses to button presses, slow loading textures...it's like they didn't even run it through QA!

 

[Mesoian]

Just don't throw your axe.

 

[Denton]

One game that really should have gotten a PC version (ok, second game, next to RDR). I hated the terrible framerate on PS3, but the game itself is great. Really fucking sucks.

Konami what the hell are you doing. Port this shit. And MGS collection too while you're at it.

 

[Cudder]

It has its moments. I thought the sidequests were the best parts of the game. I absolutely hated the otherworld in this game, though.

 

[hawk2025]

Massive, massive disappointment.

After playing through Homecoming on the cheap and ending up pleasantly surprised, I grabbed this, and... wow. I was laugh at "unplayable!" statements, but I just could not muster the will to continue with how damn messy the whole thing was.

 

[doctorblurg]

At least there's the fact that Silent Hills exists now. So downpour doesn't have to be the dying gasp of the franchise

 

[DJSharpeCheddar]

You're gonna find a lot of people here on GAF who champion this game. Those people baffle me. I had pretty high hopes for it but in my opinion it was the absolute worst SH to date.

 

[Figboy79]

After the shitfest that was Homecoming, I actually enjoyed Downpour, but the series was done when Team Silent went away for me. Silent Hill 1-3 are definitely my faves. 4 was interesting, but yeah, the first three were great. My expectations for Downpour were so in the gutter though, that it was hard for me not to be impressed that it wasn't complete and utter shit. At least it had some good atmosphere, and some of the side quests were genuinely creepy and scary. Homecoming made me want to tear my eyes out, and not in the good way.

I'm very interesting in seeing how Kojima and Del Toro breathe new life into the series, though.

 

[hawk2025]

How... how did you guys play this game?

All I remember from it is an absolute technical mess, one of the only times I have *ever* dropped a game because of how awful it was technically.

Should I give it a second shot? Am I overstating the point here?

 

[pelican]

I am have to admit Downpour is the only SH game I have completed outside of SH2.

I didn't think it was that bad.

 

[pinkurocket]

I enjoyed Downpour for what they tried to do. The story had potential, there was an atmosphere. It scared me a few times. But it's true the game was so buggy. I had a glitch that broke my game whenever I tried to go through a tunnel. This was right after a boss battle, so I assume the tunnel tried to load something and it froze every single time. Ugh, such a mess. This was after the 'patch' as well.

 

[Krappadizzle]

I thought it was okay. Not great compared to the others but it had its moments. The music was really good though even with the new Dexter composer.

 

[foxuzamaki]

Just don't throw your axe.

dat two best friends reference

 

[uncleslappy]

That's the worst part - it had so much potential! If it was more technically sound it would be one of the better Post Team Silent SH games.

 

[Dusk Golem]

Downpour has flaws (technically, monsters, Otherworld sections, etc.), but I do think it's underrated. I enjoyed exploring, side-quest, a variety of moments and atmosphere, and enjoyed some old-school elements (like puzzles and fixed-camera sections), and think it's better than a lot of B-tier horror games I've played, and my personal favorite non-Team Silent SH effort.

I felt Homecoming and Origins had a lot more flaws personally, but were still okay games. I may just be weird and found Downpour enjoyable, and the closest thing we got to an old-school styled horror game last generation, and felt it pulled off several elements well.

 

[Ahasverus]

It's a technical mess, but it's beyond that it's the best Surival Horror past gen.

 

[RoyaleDuke]

I remember trying to play this and I gave up because it was so godawful, but it was a lot better than Homecoming.

I hope Silent Hills is a return to form for the series.

Just don't throw your axe.

Totally throw the axe tho.

Do it.

Spoiler

Perfect, you know what I mean?

 

[Neff]

My favourite Silent Hill game. Am I doing this right?

 

[8 X 11 Printer Paper]

Just don't throw your axe.

 

[BkMogul]

Maybe I just love Silent Hill so much that I looked passed all the technical issues (and they were quite a few). Still an enjoyable game with great sidequests.

 

[CorporateClown]

Personally, I really enjoyed the game and appreciated that the game tried to capture the spirit of silent hill without just copying a bunch of stuff from the classic games. The story was interesting and the sidequests really helped add an extra layer to the game while promoting some exploration.

However, the game definitely needed some more time in the oven to iron out some issues (glitches/framerate) and the enemy design sucked. Like, most of them were some of the worst I'd ever seen. Still, I enjoyed it enough to get the platinum!

 

[PotentialAcorn0]

Just don't throw your axe.

 

[SlasherJPC]

Higly enjoyed this game and didn't have that many tech issues. I did play on xbox and installed. I tried the ps3 version later and the hiccups to framerate and stuttering seems worse on it. Not a bad game by any means and just sadly not design or built extremely well. Still it had vision and the play scene was absolutely fantastic.

 

[Castef]

You're gonna find a lot of people here on GAF who champion this game. Those people baffle me. I had pretty high hopes for it but in my opinion it was the absolute worst SH to date.

Eh, pretty much my opinion. I was looking for an horror game and found a horror of a game. Sooooo bad!

 

[Monochrome_F3ar]

The technical aspect of the game is awful. The story itself is pretty damn good.

 

[J_Ark]

Everything is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y9hNKe93u0

I think is the worst Silent Hill game by far. Far beyond the technical mess, THAT terrible story... My god. Even in Homecoming i find things to love (bosses' monster design, the

Spoiler

"curse" of Shepherd's Glenn involving murdering children

, the first part of the game,...).

 

[uncleslappy]

Higly enjoyed this game and didn't have that many tech issues. I did play on xbox and installed. I tried the ps3 version later and the hiccups to framerate and stuttering seems worse on it. Not a bad game by any means and just sadly not design or built extremely well. Still it had vision and the play scene was absolutely fantastic.

Absolutely! Very creative use of the elements. I was impressed by that scene for sure.

 

[Pilgrimzero]

While SHD had its bugs etc and the monster design was generic I still liked it.

The story (and endings) make even more sense if you realize that you are in the female cops (Anne) story/Silent Hill.

 

[Altairre]

Just don't throw your axe.

You know what I call that first reply? Perfect!

 

[RedAssedApe]

personally i thought it was better than homecoming (outside of the monster designs) oh and i guess the water slide/chase sequences were weird. but the open-world-esque side quests were pretty neat

 

[CreeperBlocks]

The only Silent Hill I can't go back to. I was so bored playing this. I had to return it. Homecoming and Downpour are the least scariest Silents Hills.

I hope Kojima and Del Toro do this Franchise Justice. where others have failed.

 

[Draxyle]

Only watched a playthrough of it myself (the Best Friends one referenced a few times here). Definitely the worst part about it is the potential it had; it comes across as the most earnest attempt at a Silent Hill since SH3, but it just falters in too many small ways to be worthwhile.

Also, even the slightest technical hiccup, texture load-in, or glitch is absolutely unacceptable for a horror game trying to be Silent Hill (being on the Unreal Engine probably didn't help).

 

[brandonh83]

Best story in the series, easily, since the second game. It was very well thought out, fleshed out, and executed. For me that's a huge part of what makes Silent Hill awesome to me, so yeah, I thought very highly of it. Now if they'd just remaster it and fix the technical issues...

I had to return it. Homecoming and Downpour are the least scariest Silents Hills.

I think they're all mostly just creepy rather than scary which is another reason I like the series. I would say that those two are way better than Shattered Memories in that department.

 

[RadioHeadAche]

I liked it better than Homecoming, but it runs like shit. I think Silent Hill HD post-patch ran better.

 

[NewGame]

The technical aspect of the game is awful. The story itself is pretty ***** good.

Yeah, like some sort of B grade soap opera directed by a Tim Burton fanatic. Move over Shawshank Redemption.

 

[Silky]

The only Silent Hill I can't go back to. I was so bored playing this. I had to return it. Homecoming and Downpour are the least scariest Silents Hills.

I hope Kojima and Del Toro do this Franchise Justice. where others have failed.

If you're expecting something great out of them in regards to SH, then lol

 

[CartridgeBlower]

You're gonna find a lot of people here on GAF who champion this game. Those people baffle me. I had pretty high hopes for it but in my opinion it was the absolute worst SH to date.

Can I ask how far you got in the game?

Because, and I know this excuse is used A LOT in video games, it really does get much, much better after about three hours.

The story is great, and it all connects.

 

[Lucinice]

I know so many people who'd want to destroy you for liking homecoming.

 

[Concept17]

I'm a huge Silent Hill fan. I even loved Homecoming. But this mess of a game is unacceptable. Don't get me wrong - I'm still enjoying the creepy/scary factor, but the framerate dip and multiple bugs and graphical glitches are unreal. Having to load just walking down the street, delayed responses to button presses, slow loading textures...it's like they didn't even run it through QA!

It's the best of the worst Silent Hills, and the technical problems were not nearly as bad you claim them to be. The game is highly under-rated, and the side-quests are fucking amazing. The downside was the monster variety, but was otherwise a pretty good game, and a decent trip back to survival horror. I loved it.

 

[Yanksfan]

I am glad this thread exists. This has been removed from my wishlist and I will save myself the time and frustration I would have spent trying to play this piece of crap. If people are saying they like Homecoming better than this, then it truly must be bad.

 

[akidnamededdy]

I'm a huge Silent Hill fan. I even loved Homecoming.

Stopped reading there.

Not really, but yikes. Homecoming's SINGLE redeeming quality was that they apparently spent more on that game's QA than they did on Downpour's (and even then, it wasn't much).

I'm not typically one to let technical quibbles like tearing irritate me so the only real problems I had with Downpour were the frequent load times and the uninspired enemy design. Vatra had some really neat ideas that Konami unfortunately didn't bother to make sure worked out smoothly in a technical sense.

I'm not saying you're going to love it, but this series is so subjective with so many wildly differing opinions that it would be foolish if you didn't try it out. I thought Downpour smoked Homecoming.

Same here. Downpour was way more memorable for me than Wannabe Silent Hill 2

 

[brandonh83]

I am glad this thread exists. This has been removed from my wishlist and I will save myself the time and frustration I would have spent trying to play this piece of crap. If people are saying they like Homecoming better than this, then it truly must be bad.

I'm not saying you're going to love it, but this series is so subjective with so many wildly differing opinions that it would be foolish if you didn't try it out. I thought Downpour smoked Homecoming.

 

[mollipen]

You're gonna find a lot of people here on GAF who champion this game. Those people baffle me. I had pretty high hopes for it but in my opinion it was the absolute worst SH to date.

It's better than SH4. It's far more inspired than Homecoming. It's actual Silent Hill, unlike Shattered Memories. It has some of the most interesting and SH-like elements since SH2.

It's a shame that all of that is blender together with some real junk. Still, absolutely worth playing.

In terms of the technical issues, I don't remember having too many problems on the Xbox 360 version. I keep meaning to play the PS3 release some day, so I'm not sure how that one runs.

 

[brandonh83]

It's better than SH4. It's far more inspired than Homecoming. It's actual Silent Hill, unlike Shattered Memories. It has some of the most interesting and SH-like elements since SH2.

You forgot Origins, with its on the nose prequel aspects and terrible protagonist story. I don't hate Origins, and I liked Homecoming and Shattered Memories, but Downpour was the one despite its other problems that made me feel like I was playing something with a lot of thought put into it. There are things like the sidequests that don't feel very well implemented, some of the bad creature designs, and the general technical issues like the stuttering and bland texture work, but the story, atmosphere, sound design and music were all very good to me.

 

[Tapejara]

I absolutely adored Downpour, but as soon as I realized L2/R2 was to aim/shoot, I knew it was gonna have some problems. It could be such a mess at times. I hope the game gets re-released someday with all of the technical issues cleaned up.

 

[Northeastmonk]

Is it bad if this game feels atrocious? I am trying to play through it, but the prison thing isn't doing it for me. I went back to my save I had about a year ago and I wasn't feeling it. The cavern thing is just not cool. Does the plot get better later on?

Last SH I finished was Homecoming. SH1-4 it's been a while. I know what to expect from SH, but this feel completely messed up