PT (Silent Hills) My Thoughts
"Watch out. The gap in the door ... it's a separate reality."
I was shaking; my PS4 controller lay on the ground, having succumbed to the sweat which was teeming from my hands. I had an absolutely terrifying experience, yet as a result, I felt euphoric and that filled me with great joy and hope.
The feeling of joy and hope has continued to resonate within my mortal self ever since my nerve racking night with PT. You may think to yourself that I sound like a lunatic, why would anyone conjure positive emotions from an experience where negativity was primary involved? Well, it is because I recently finished playing PT on the PlayStation 4 and for the first time in a long time I am truly drooling with anticipation for a new Silent Hill game, not since Silent Hill 3 have I felt so on edge from not knowing what terror lay waiting, lurking behind the shadows. I enjoyed Shattered Memories - but that game felt more like an experimental psychological experience, rather than a truly terrifying one.
PT for those that do not know is a Playable Teaser for the new Silent Hill game (dubbed as Silent Hills in the trailer), apparently Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid, Policenauts) and movie director Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) names attached to the game. If that is not enough to whet your appetite, Silent Hills stars (as pictured above) none other than Walking Dead star Norman Reedus. You could say that is Pretty Terrific, or you could even say that the game is Pretty Terrifying (sorry, I'll stop now).
The game runs on Konami's Fox engine and graphically looks absolutely stunning. Kojima has reportedly said that they attempted to restrain the power of the Fox engine as he wanted it to look like an indie developer had created it and not a Triple - A studio. Now, I think this could be taken as a little bit of an insult, but at the same time I could see where his motivations were coming from - he wanted to keep it a secret that it was a teaser for an upcoming Silent Hill game. (a secret that was not kept a secret for very long as the internet discovered the truth rather quickly, and anyone who visits gaming websites on a regular basis could not miss the headlines that littered websites with wording such as 'PT is teaser for new Silent Hill game' or 'Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro working on next Silent Hill).'
PT breaks from Silent Hill tradition and is presented from a first person perspective and begins with the player awaking in an ominously cold and empty room. Already, interesting questions are presented, where are you? What happened? Did someone (or something) knock you out? Who are you? The first Person view is extremely effective in immersing yourself within the game's spooky environment, you truly feel uneasy and tense, undoubtedly this has been inspired by the masterpiece of Amnesia: The Deadly Descent and the slew of first person horror indie titles that have stampeded into the market. The area where PT takes place is rather minimal, game-play primarily takes place in the same hallway, but with what little space PT offers, it excels at using it to clever dramatic effect.
Although it is not all good, trying to trigger the ending becomes more of a chore in attempting to carry out mundane tasks in the correct sequence, which breaks the illusion, kills the suspense and harshly reminds you that it is merely a videogame. Waiting for the ghost to trigger at an exact moment in a certain way so you can attempt to find the ending - your terror soon becomes a frustration. People have even reported unlocking the ending in different ways, one method may work for someone, but may not work for others. Despite this for the majority of the time PT is refreshing, a nice change of pace from Triple A horror releases, that overpower the player and seem to downplay the fear aspect.
PT feels like a gift from Kojima, it is like he is speaking to the fans and he is happily encouragingly survival horror fans to have faith by telling them: "Here, here is a free, short, incredible horror experience to have fun with, and it's absolutely free. PT is highly recommended for horror fans, it is best played at night with the lights out and with headphones turned up for complete immersion.
Now, if they can release it for the Oculus Rift ...
I was shaking; my PS4 controller lay on the ground, having succumbed to the sweat which was teeming from my hands. I had an absolutely terrifying experience, yet as a result, I felt euphoric and that filled me with great joy and hope.
The feeling of joy and hope has continued to resonate within my mortal self ever since my nerve racking night with PT. You may think to yourself that I sound like a lunatic, why would anyone conjure positive emotions from an experience where negativity was primary involved? Well, it is because I recently finished playing PT on the PlayStation 4 and for the first time in a long time I am truly drooling with anticipation for a new Silent Hill game, not since Silent Hill 3 have I felt so on edge from not knowing what terror lay waiting, lurking behind the shadows. I enjoyed Shattered Memories - but that game felt more like an experimental psychological experience, rather than a truly terrifying one.
PT for those that do not know is a Playable Teaser for the new Silent Hill game (dubbed as Silent Hills in the trailer), apparently Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid, Policenauts) and movie director Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) names attached to the game. If that is not enough to whet your appetite, Silent Hills stars (as pictured above) none other than Walking Dead star Norman Reedus. You could say that is Pretty Terrific, or you could even say that the game is Pretty Terrifying (sorry, I'll stop now).
The game runs on Konami's Fox engine and graphically looks absolutely stunning. Kojima has reportedly said that they attempted to restrain the power of the Fox engine as he wanted it to look like an indie developer had created it and not a Triple - A studio. Now, I think this could be taken as a little bit of an insult, but at the same time I could see where his motivations were coming from - he wanted to keep it a secret that it was a teaser for an upcoming Silent Hill game. (a secret that was not kept a secret for very long as the internet discovered the truth rather quickly, and anyone who visits gaming websites on a regular basis could not miss the headlines that littered websites with wording such as 'PT is teaser for new Silent Hill game' or 'Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro working on next Silent Hill).'
PT breaks from Silent Hill tradition and is presented from a first person perspective and begins with the player awaking in an ominously cold and empty room. Already, interesting questions are presented, where are you? What happened? Did someone (or something) knock you out? Who are you? The first Person view is extremely effective in immersing yourself within the game's spooky environment, you truly feel uneasy and tense, undoubtedly this has been inspired by the masterpiece of Amnesia: The Deadly Descent and the slew of first person horror indie titles that have stampeded into the market. The area where PT takes place is rather minimal, game-play primarily takes place in the same hallway, but with what little space PT offers, it excels at using it to clever dramatic effect.
Although it is not all good, trying to trigger the ending becomes more of a chore in attempting to carry out mundane tasks in the correct sequence, which breaks the illusion, kills the suspense and harshly reminds you that it is merely a videogame. Waiting for the ghost to trigger at an exact moment in a certain way so you can attempt to find the ending - your terror soon becomes a frustration. People have even reported unlocking the ending in different ways, one method may work for someone, but may not work for others. Despite this for the majority of the time PT is refreshing, a nice change of pace from Triple A horror releases, that overpower the player and seem to downplay the fear aspect.
PT feels like a gift from Kojima, it is like he is speaking to the fans and he is happily encouragingly survival horror fans to have faith by telling them: "Here, here is a free, short, incredible horror experience to have fun with, and it's absolutely free. PT is highly recommended for horror fans, it is best played at night with the lights out and with headphones turned up for complete immersion.
Now, if they can release it for the Oculus Rift ...
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