Silent Hill Homecoming

Silent Hill is not the sort of place you’d want to visit for a holiday.

It’s a hideous blood-soaked, rust-encrusted nightmare netherworld populated by faceless, shuffling monsters.

Homecoming is the sixth game in the long-running series. The original Silent Hill was something of a landmark survival horror game when it appeared ten years ago, but time hasn’t been particularly kind to the game. The control and combat systems have felt dated for some time now, and the initially intriguing conceit has gradually worn thinner with every subsequent release. The mediocre 2006 Hollywood movie adaptation did little for the credibility of the series.

With the odds somewhat stacked against it, Homecoming actually manages to come off pretty well. You play the role of Alex Shepherd, a Special Forces soldier whose search for a missing brother lands him a one-way ticket to you-know-where. Core gameplay remains largely the same as before: the player is required to explore a series of sinister locations for clues, objects, people and puzzles, a combination of which will usually move the story on.

However, Homecoming implements a number of welcome improvements. The controls have had a well-needed rethink, for example. You can now move your on-screen character around and simultaneously control the in-game camera as you would in many other modern third-person titles.

The combat system has enjoyed a makeover, too. The range of available weapons is fairly familiar (shotguns, bits of lead piping etc) and Silent Hill’s ammunition supplies are as scarce as ever, but Alex can now perform a series of counterattacks, combos and finishing moves, which makes things a little more action-oriented.

But while these changes are largely beneficial from a gameplay point of view, the overall effect seems to have diluted Silent Hill’s trademark brand of weird, psychological horror. Gore and violence appear to have been ramped up to compensate, which rather cheapens things.

Despite some very atmospheric touches, including a simply stunning use of sound design, Homecoming is something of a mixed blessing. It’s easier to play than previous Silent Hill games, but it’s ultimately less satisfying for it.

PEGI age rating: 18+