SILENT HILL: Townfall

I'm a new Silent Hill fan. It started with Silent Hill 2 Remake, then Silent Hill F. I loved both of these games. The lack of hand holding in the storytelling, the mystery, the thematic elements expressed in so many ways. SH2R and SHF were very different games, but I greatly enjoyed them both. Townfall is another hit for me, and without a doubt I am a fan of this series going forward. All 3 of the latest games have done it for me. How much you like this game will depend a lot on how much you don't mind stealth. SH2R had plenty of combat. SHF's biggest critique was that it had too much combat. Townfall has quite little overall, save for a specific chapter. This is said by someone who generally tried to avoid combat when possible but wasn't afraid to commit to a fight when it was necessary. If you need constantly engaging gameplay to be hooked, this isn't for you. I remember reading reviews about how this game's storyline/reveals are predictable. I think that's true but only in hindsight. I was intrigued and curious about the answers all the way to the end. The 3 main characters of this game are all excellent in their own ways. Simon (the protagonist) doesn't have the same depth as James or Hinako, but he's enjoyable and the performances from all 3 main characters is stellar. Richard in particular is a standout. He's a super intriguing character and while one major reveal related to him was very obvious, they kept enough away to keep other possibilities open. So the confirmation wasn't so much a "duh" moment. Rather confirmation of a fairly simple theory. The worst part of this game was in one of the final chapters. The stealth became unbearingly tedious and before the last patch at time of writing, the balancing for one of the monsters in particular was completely out of whack and made for a miserable time. After the patch I didn't see the same annoying behaviors, but my experience with the changes was already very late in the game. Base framerate in the game is pretty solid, the problem was all the stuttering. This has supposedly been much improved in the latest patch but I didn't get enough time to fully confirm that. If I had to give it a number, it'd be an 8.5 out of 10. One of the last chapters really soured my experience which was incredibly good up to that point, but the ending (Abandoned) and its presentation made me forget how that felt, so it came back a bit. This isn't likely to be in someone's top 5 games like SH2R could be, but it's a good time and worth a play if you want something narrative focused, relatively light on combat, tense, and wanting to piece the story together yourself.

I'm a silent hill fan, but this game is a chore. I don't want to just dump on the game, but I cannot recommend in good conscience.

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