I was going to write this into the intro of my Homecoming video, but it felt better here: I wanna give a quick disclaimer to try and avoid some mistakes in the future, that I admittedly made in this video. First off, I wanna be clear that everything I say in this video, along with all of my past and future projects, is just my opinion. You are fully encouraged and expected to have a different opinion than me, and that's totally okay, I love having discussions with you guys in the comments and getting to understand your views. The purpose of my videos is to entertain. I'm not here to to give a complete, detailed tear down of the elements that make up this game, or start a war in the comments section. All I want is to make your day a little better when you click on any of my videos, whether it be from the dumb jokes I make throughout the game, or having a great discussion in the comments, that is my only goal. Nothing I will say, or have said, in ANY video is fueled by the motivation to gain more attention, or clicks. I am simply just stating my opinion on topics I find interesting, even if my opinion is not the most popular. Honestly, I am not used to having such strong feedback, positive or negative, on anything I've ever created. I've been told to ignore negative comments by close friends, but that didn't feel right to me. Hopefully, this helps a few of you understand where I'm coming from. None of my videos are intended to induce anger, and I'm very sorry to the people that were affected this way. I've read multiple times that the title of this video is one of the biggest factors that have caused many of you to be upset. Despite that, I stuck to my opinion, and never changed the title. I want to be clear, again, that the title of this video did NOT come from an attempt to gain more views. When uploading this video, I thought nothing of it, nothing more than proclaiming what I thought was the general consensus, based on the review scores of Downpour, and, of course, my own opinion. Regardless, this was never intended to make anyone upset, and I am very sorry to those of you who felt misled by it.
I started watching this yesterday and came to finish and check your channel out for other vids. I was hoping for watch more like this but looks like this is your first "video essay/review", so sucks to be me I guess. I hope you do more. And at least you a reaction from some people, good or bad. Better than no reaction.
@@tandemcross I'm glad you enjoyed, and this is definitely the first of many. I'm already scripting my video on Homecoming, and I've got plans for more essay/review type videos on the way :)
I am astonished you are getting negative feedback from this video. I have just come back to this video to finish watching it and was surprised by 1) seeing this update in the comments, and 2) seeing that this video is sub 100k views and that you are still a small channel (for now). I thought this video was great and informative, and moreover, I thought it was pretty damn clear that you're giving your opinion, not declaring how everyone should feel about the game. Respectfully, I think your friends are right and you should largely ignore the negative feedback. It's wonderful that you don't want to make anyone upset with your content, but quite frankly, if someone can't handle a random TH-camr having a different opinion on a game vying for the worst title it's series, they probably should just log off. Don't overthink it. Your title is funny and, in my opinion, correct. I just subscribed to you and can't wait to see your Homecoming video! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the more recent Ascension and A Short Message as well. Keep up the good work!
i think a large portion of murphy’s mental anguish is that he was a normal person who killed out of revenge. i think any normal person would feel the same way after taking a life for the first time, regardless of the reasons.
This is why I respect Downpour. It tried to remove itself from and be different than SH2 while retaining a trauma-based scenario, and in my opinion it wasn't perfect *by any means* but the idea itself was a damn good one.
If going by the good ending where he didn't kill anyone, his anguish mainly around being part of Sewell plan that started the prison riot and got countless people killed, also witnessing Frank being brutally beaten by Sewell and unable to help him.
one more thing I rarely hear people talk about is the voice actor for Murphy. Maybe it's just me, but I absolutely loved his performance. He doesn't really sound like a "video game protagonist", he sounds like a dude absolutely stressed tf out and just wants to get out of there. Reminds me a lot of Harry from SH one. Also, his screams of pain legit sound like he's DYING and I always feel bad for the guy lol
I think the VA for Murphy did great most of the time, though there were a few moments that felt pretty rough from him lmao, his screams were insane though!
I didn't think to mention that in my comment but you are right. I actually liked Murphy's voice actor; I wonder whatever happened to David Konrad. That was his only credit. Haha they should have gotten him to go over Guy Cihi as James in the 2012 Remaster if we knew in retrospect how much a douche Cihi actually is; the dude said AIDS was fake. What an idiot.
I loved the way he reacted to the world around him and even his screams of *fear* (let alone his screams of pain which were, yeah, pretty believable lol)
Its the only game I’ve ever played which does the protagonist talking out loud to himself as actual mumbling. It’s such a nice, immersive change of pace compared to most games.
@@arvesto it is quite ridiculous that it's possible to get the joke ending as the first ending, just like it's ridiculous that its possible to get the UFO ending in Homecoming as the first ending.
Not to mention the song that plays in said ending: Here Be Monsters by: Ed Harcourt What a way to end the franchise, morose and melancholy yet loving. Also shoutout Ed Harcourt, fantastic musician and the composer for S. Darko which sucked but the music was quite decent and faithful to Donnie Darko.
I had a whole multi-paragraph essay typed out about the actual irrelevancy of the titular "downpour" in-game but deleted it all because I only just now, *years* later, realized that the symbolism of a constant downpour that causes ambient fog and worsens when it triggers fights is symbolic of the showers Murphy had to turn on to hide his actions. I cannot believe it took me this long. And it definitely makes more sense than just following a loose association with water because Murphy saw his son's body be pulled out of a lake. Alex Sheperd has just as much trauma around lakes if that's what we're talking about, and I think that only gets utilized in his game roughly three times? That embarrassment aside, the downpour was a mechanic that I really wanted to love but that felt like an annoying progress-stopper at worst when I was playing. The rain stayed light enough that I constantly wondered if it was actually at the most intense it could be, because I don't think they figured out how to convey the oppressiveness of an actual downpour in the environmental design without ruining player experience or game performance. I really like alternate takes on Silent Hill's presentation-- I am forever a Shattered Memories ice world defender -- but the storms were, like nearly everything in this game, disappointing. I'm not at all surprised you didn't talk more about it. All that being said, you've got a new sub. This was really well edited, your audio quality and cadence were good, you had a good balance of summary and opinion in a way that felt natural and formed a cohesive stream of thought. This was a good video.
I’m glad you enjoyed the video, and I appreciate the deeper look you provided into the “downpour” of Downpour. That being said, I do still stand by my point of watching his son being pulled from a lake being a catalyst for the focus on water in this game. It would be difficult to argue that watching Charlie’s lifeless body being pulled from the bottom of that lake wasn’t a giant source of trauma for Murphy, an image forever burned into his mind, one that he’d see every time he closes his eyes for the rest of his life. I do like your idea on the prison showers though, it’s a great theory, one that I hadn’t thought of when I wrote the script for this video. I mean, why can’t there be multiple reasons rain plays a major role in the symbolism of Downpour? The murder of Napier was also a major source of trauma for Murphy, and the prison showers that accompanied that attempt on Napier’s life definitely could explain the relation between the monsters and the heavy rain that follows them. Thank you, again, for leaving such a well written comment, you’ve definitely given me more to theorize about for this game!
That's totally fair. I've never played Homecoming, but I haven't heard great things about it. Maybe someday in the future, I can do another video like this on Homecoming!
Downpour tried harder, and atleast if I see a shot of this game I know its Downpour...Homecoming and Origins felt too much like they were riding on the success of SH2 and in terms of atmosphere and colours they both look very much the same? You could snap a location from one of them and I wouldn't know which game it came from if you didn't include a character
Downpour had great atmosphere, terrible enemy designs and a lukewarm story. So...overalll....good game. Homecoming had the complete opposite problem. Awesome enemy design, shitty atmosphere and a confusing story that played it safe and predictable. Downpour imo is pretty good, I loved the side quests you could do and levels.
I'm glad you found stuff to enjoy in this game, there's a ton of people out there that aren't willing to give it a shot. Personally, I thought it was okay, not great but not terrible either. I'll have to give Homecoming a try some day, I've been slowly working my way through the whole franchise for a few years now :)
I disagree. I personally believe downpour has the worst and the most lazy enemy designs I have EVER seen in a horror game. One of the enemies is literally just a woman with dirty hair. Story is complete garbage that literally makes 0 sense if you think about it for more than 10 seconds and it probably has the single worst interpretation of the town and its just downright cringe as
While i also think the atmosphere and mood is really good, there's only so much it can do to hold your attention in a game that has its main catch being the psychological aspect.
Nah, I actually enjoyed Homecoming. The story was pretty good and gameplay wise it was fun. Not to mention, it has one of the scariest and most fun boss fights in the SH franchise (Scarlet Doll fight was so cool). I feel like the surroundings could of have changed a bit, but overall it was a great game.
Bro there's NO WAY you can say Homecoming was WORSE than Downpour. It was a dogshit game, but it was wayyyy more of a Silent Hill game than this shitshow. At least it was a LITTLe scary in some parts and had some cool enemy designs and ideas. Downpour was just...boring. And forgettable. I can't tell you a single thing that happened in Downpour. Being boring is worse than being bad imo.
"Homecoming" had great music, awesome monsters and a good story. If it was a movie I'd have loved it. Sadly, it was a game, meant to be played, and that's where it looks like a monkey fucking a football. From a gameplay perspective it's one of the five worst PS3 games I ever had the misfortune to waste time on.
Compared to a lot of the western Silent Hills, I actually think Downpour was really good. It’s really unfortunate that the enemy designs were so lack luster and some of the stages were just kind of eh, ergo the prison level and a lot of the segments where you have to traverse the streets of the town. I loved, however, the optional content and side quests and completed every single one voluntarily. I think if it was given the proper time and support it needed to cook then it woulda been something truly special
I recently watched another video essay that claimed Downpour's story would have been much more compelling if they changed Napier. More accurately, changed how he killed Charlie. Basically remove intent (like a car accident) so Murphy getting revenge on Napier was more on the morally gray side. That way Murphy's struggle would be a lot more guilt on top of his grief.
I think an interesting comparison here would be Saw 3, though admittedly characters are not the strength of the Saw series. In that case a grieving father is offered revenge against the man who killed his son but it is explicitly shown that it was an accident and the man showed immediate remorse. Also, the collateral damage of this kind of mentality is shown, with Jeff ignoring his living daughter because he is so consumed by the loss of his son.
"Where's everybody going? Bingo?" Lol In the canon ending, when Murphy turns, smiles and says to Cunningham, "there's somewhere I have to be." reminds me of Leon in the canon RE2 ending, smiling saying,"Hey, it's up to us to take out Umbrella!"
Silent Hill Downpour is one of my favorite games, despite it truly being a "bad Silent Hill game". I find it charming, and I've always been captivated by Murphy's story. I'm glad you were able to find some good in it as well.
I really like the idea of an immortal/ghost mailman, but I'm not sure how to fit that into the overall lore of the games. I've been a part of a lot of online discussion groups over the years, and one of the more common "things to discuss" is trying to figure out how to tie all the games together, no matter how outlandish the explanation. But outside of all of that, I feel that Silent Hill as a story works best the more alone the protagonist is, and having a ghostly mailman subtly guiding the protag kinda-sorta takes away from that "vibe" but I'm sure there's ways to make it work. Downpour, overall, is very strange to me, because even after all these years, I'm still not sure where I stand with it, unless we're going with the "Each Silent Hill game is the Dying Dream of the protagonist" angle. Anyway, great video! Please make more!
The mailman is a character insert by one of the writers (Tom waltz), who made really bad silent hill comics (that did not understand the source material at all). The mailmans first appearance is as one of the stories from them. It's pretty bleh.
I'm commenting because you have so low views. You made this video and I listened to the whole thing and immediately subscribed. I checked your channel and it seems like this is the first of its kind you have made. You did a very good job and I would listen to more long form content if you made it.
I'm so happy you enjoyed it! This was my first time making a review style video, but I'm definitely open to doing more in the future if people like it! Regardless, I plan on making long form content my main focus. Hope you stick around :)
My problem with Downpour is that it looks and feels nothing like a Silent Hill game. The atmosphere as a standalone game is great, and I had tons of fun playing it. But it's just not Silent Hill. The art direction, color tones, monsters, horror style, the music, the architecture of the town... Nothing looks, sounds or feels like Silent Hill.
Yeah homecoming is stupid, bad endings, bad facial movements, stupid combat. Like I get it he’s a “military” guy but rolling around to dodge like dark souls was dumb.
I agree. At least Downpour didn't reuse Pyramid head which is a sin in itself. That's James' demon/vision. The only thing that was worse in Downpour were the basic enemy designs. I loved the openess, the combat was a little better, the atmosphere was absolutely brilliant, and while the boogeyman was a lame big baddy, at least it wasn't reused pyramid head. Also, that Orphanage scene where the play stage turns real cabin in the storm back to just being a wooden cutout cabin....that was excellent. Oh and The otherworld in Downpour was pretty bad
@@Vivien_Sz what would have been cool is if while playing he messed up those rolls every now and then, or like maybe turned into a heavy roll like in DS. Maybe make it where aiming had more recoil or something. Little touches where it showed he wasn't trained after all.
This was quite an enjoyable watch! I'm a fan of the entire Silent Hill franchise (including the ... less enjoyed ones, like Book of Memories) and listening to your thoughts and opinions was pretty good. You've got a nice voice for video essays like these, and the quality of the audio/video editing is really good! Thanks for a good time, looking forward to future videos.
The title is clickbait to create drama. We all know it's not the worst silent hill game because games like Silent Hill - Book of Memories exist. Secondy the game is considered as the better game compared to Silent Homecoming. Check the sh communities. e.g. the "Poll: Which is Worse, Homecoming or Downpour?" Almst very poll shows SH downpour is the better game. Lastly his video doesn't fit the title: I still don't know why it's the worst SH game compared to other silent hill games e.g. homecoming. 95% of his video is just a summary of the events and gameplay which is quite borring.
@takeyourtime3328 I find it hilarious that you think I purposefully crafted up a title in order to try and create some sort of “drama” within the Silent Hill community. This video was based off the fact that Downpour has the lowest review scores of any main-line Silent Hill game ever released (book of memories is a handheld spinoff). Furthermore, I state multiple times throughout the video (even within the first minute) that Downpour is “one of” the worst, and with my concluding statements, if you even bothered to make it that far before you left this comment, I stated that I personally don’t even think this game is that bad. Regardless, I promise you I am not the end all be all of Silent Hill opinions. I am simply a casual fan on the internet sharing their thoughts about a game. I was surprised to see so many people with strong opinions about Homecoming, and I do admit that I probably should’ve delved deeper into more opinions about Downpour before starting this project, but at the same time, this whole video was supposed to be an entertaining spin on a mediocre at best game, not a complete and utter breakdown of the elements and themes that make up Downpour. Clearly this video was not meant for you, and I apologize that you felt slighted by it, but I will never be a source of serious criticism for the Silent Hill franchise. My job was to entertain with this video, and I think I did pretty well on that front.
@@atlasinuu5913 I watched your video and yes you said "It's one of the worst" but you picked the title "The worst" which is common with clickbait videos. The controversial title doesn't fit the content of your video. That is what called clickbait. Why is it controversal? ...because obviously Silent Hill book of memories has lower ratings: by the community and reviewers. Your title also says it clearely "Worst Silent Hill game" and not "one of the worst Main-Silent Hill games". "This video was based off the fact that Downpour has the lowest review scores" The irony is that it has higher ratings by users compared homecoming. Another problem with your video (in combination with the title and the expectation by the viewer) is you don't explain or make it clear why the game is the worst silent hill game. With a different and more fitting title there would be no criticism from my side. e.g. "My perspective on Silent Hill Downpour"
Really well done review! Despite all of it's flaws I am also strangely drawn in by the story and characters and find myself pretty immersed in it every time I play it. I do really enjoy looking around the town, and the bits of the Otherworld before the chases start, even though there isn't much to see. I find the ability to control the camera to look at whatever I want really makes me feel like I am there, as the character, which makes me excited for the SH2 Remake. I expect it to take hours to get to where I need to go because I'll be slowly walking around looking at everything lol.
Good video, I have a few minor critiques though (if you plan to do more longform videos like this!). One issue that many of these kinds of videos often fall into is becoming basically just a beat-for-beat plot walkthrough. We don't really need to know every single step - this game's 11 years old - what we're here for is the criticism, showing through examples as justification for the sensational title. There is a lot of interesting stuff in here but it's peppered into what is otherwise like a solid middle hour of you just reading a walkthrough of the game's events. You can cut a lot of that and jump to parts you have something meaningful to say about, maybe lore inconsistencies, unfulfilled plot threads, the lack of symbolism in the game's monsters compared to prior titles. The very fact that the game has preorder codes that rip you right out of the story when it sends you to gamefaqs to look them up, and that for anyone who cannot access internet they just have a game with content locked out for them forever. The game has a lot to criticize. Was hoping for more observations in that vein from 'the worst silent hill'.
My thoughts exactly on a lot of these newer silent hill critique/analysis videos. While they're enjoyable to watch, I've learned to skip to the last 10-20 minutes of an hour+ long video because most of it is just recapping the game like a walk through, with most of the critiques saved until the end.
alternatively i’d like to argue that this video serves as also a bit of a “retrospective”. a look into the game in its entirety for those who might not have had the chance to play or simply don’t want to. it’s definitely an interesting trend with videos about games now, instead of a general overview of how a game is good/bad we’re basically given a playthrough as well. and instead of the video title specifically saying retrospective, now it’s almost implied if it’s an hour long. i’m not saying you’re critique is wrong, just that personally i value the sort of beat by beat telling of the game mixed with the review. although like you and the other commenter said it can tend to get a little long winded if things arent wrapped up concisely or some things were missed.
This is more of a Suffering sequel than Silent Hill. Why? Because depending on your actions , it changes who Murphy was before he got to SH. In SH2 your actions only change the ending, not who James was or what he did. Suffering had exactly the same mechanic as Downpour, but on the other hand combat is crap in that game, so it doesn't fit Suffering universe neither.
I had a glitch, in the prison area, at the end of the game: In the cutscene where the juggernaut has the two guys on leashes... it took all my weapons away... yes including the shotgun... Through sheer force of will I still beat the game... but I'll never forget that bullshit XD
One issue with doing all the good choices is that it creates this plot hole where there is no reason for Murphy to be in silent hill he literally did nothing.
I assume the town was preying on him for having the intention to cause harm to another human in retribution for his son. It was also likely the guilt that he felt for not preventing his son's murder that got him trapped in Silent Hill
Downpour is far from the worst one. The way Homecoming and Origins shit on the lore established by the early games make them way worse. Downpour’s biggest sin was trying to be SH2 and failing. The story is at least interesting and it’s own thing. In the end, it was let down by the fact that the writers copped-out: in SH2 James always murdered his wife regardless of ending. Only how he deal with this revelation changes. In Downpour, in the “good ending” Murphy is a goddamn saint: turns out he didn’t do anything bad! In the “bad ending” he did everything bad. It totally ruins the story they were trying to tell.
Why would Sewell even think Murphy would go through with killing Frank? Murphy had already gotten his revenge, Frank was a good friend, and Sewell was already very likely to be fired soon. Why would he align himself with him? He had no reason to actually follow through, unless he's just really committed to fulfilling a promise, I guess.
That’s a fair point! My guess would be that Murphy didn’t want the extra time for Napier’s murder. Holding that over Murphy’s head was probably enough for him to bend his morals, and I doubt Sewell knew just how close Frank and Murphy had become over his sentence.
I think the thing I dislike about Downpour is not that it does anything egregiously bad but rather than it does everything serviceably and that's it. Like a cake with no frosting. Especially with the symbolism. There's police cars patrolling (because Murphy was in prison) and prison bars (because Murphy was in prison) and caged birds (because Murphy was in prison) and clocks (because Murphy was in prison), and monsters that look like prisoners (because Murphy was in prison). There's like 3 types of symbolism in this game. Prison, wheelchairs, and water. Everything else feels incidental. Why are there sex doll monsters? What does that symbolize? What do the screamers represent? Why does Murphy go to an orphanage? Was his kid adopted? Was _he_ adopted? Who knows. And personally, good monster design can save even the worst game or movie for me, but these monsters are literally just people. Guy in wheelchair, guy with tattoos, a weird looking woman, a very tall man, etc. Boooooring, especially coming from a Silent Hill game. And what happens to Bobby Ricks?!?!
I think you’re just about spot on, and all that you pointed out is why I feel such strong negative feelings about Downpour. Aside from all the water symbolism, which I think is kinda neat, all the other stuff is so surface-level. The prison symbolism in particular is all so obvious and seems like they couldn’t think of anything else interesting to point out about Murphy’s character or struggles so they lean on that as much as possible. I think the Screamers are supposed to represent Murphy’s wife’s anger towards him for letting their son die but the horrible monster design (they’re all just weirdly textured people) negates any clever aspect of it. Almost everything in the whole game felt to me like the devs had a super shallow understanding of what SH is supposed to be that it cancels out the good ideas that they did have (cool side quests conceptually and a decent framework for the story)
The worst part of all the prison symbolism is that WE ALREADY KNOW HE WAS IN PRISON! We see that first hand at the very start of the game. Why are they symbolising things they already established plainly? It's actually kind of funny. Like hmmm I wonder what it could mean?🤔🤔 @@MiLu002
The worst part about all the prison symbolism is they literally established that he is in prison FIRST THING in the game. So like... what's the point of alluding to it after that?! It's just text at that point. Like what reaction are we supposed to have...? "Hmmm all these bars and cages and prisoners.... what could it mean?!" @@MiLu002
It wouldn't change anything, really. They both have prison in common just one is a guard and the other an inmate. Also makes the female screamer even more ambiguous. The only thing that would make more sense if the wheelchair guy since ig Murphy didn't know that Frank survived the initial attack. @@zeldagameryt4018
You’re gonna blow up soon sir. This video alone shows that the quality is on par with the big youtube channels out there. I’m going to let you know right now that I’m one of your earliest subscribers ❤️❤️
i will say, i think Murphy's voice acting is really good, especially when compared to the other SH games. first protagonist that REALLY feels like "just a guy in a fucked up situation"
the boat scene seems so unfinished. the fact the lady just APPERED and we didnt even get any type of indication or visual image. its like thats the point that the tower magically made her apper at the right time
47:20 the only game I can think of that had a graphic child death scene was telltales walking dead, where you bashed some kids brains in the attic. He was infected but still pretty disturbing
Your commentary is hilarious and honestly, I'd rather watch you play for 1 1/2 hours than EVER play this game. Good, fucking, God. I couldn't imagine a worse game being made than this thing, it's just awful compared to any other game, let alone a Silent Hill game.
I’m glad you enjoyed! I remember being nervous when writing this script and playing the game that my commentary would be obnoxious, so I’m glad someone found me funny haha. This wasn’t a great game, definitely worse than Homecoming in my opinion. Honestly, I don’t think it was absolutely terrible though, it had its moments story wise, it’s just a shame this is how the Silent Hill franchise ended for so many years.
I know everybody hates this game but as a kid, I loved playing it, I finished all the quests and even earned the platinum. However this was my very first SH game ever, and as a standalone game it was good
Anyone else realize the control scheme for downpour is a one to one copy of saw 2 flesh and blood. These devs were new to unreal at the time so I wouldn’t doubt Konami gave them this as a foundation…heck even the UV light and multiple puzzles are one to one recreations from saw 2. I like downpour but once you see this you can’t unsee it.
I’m shocked at your subscriber count! This is the best video I’ve seen on SH: Downpour, and one of my favorite SH breakdowns. I’m excited to see more of your content!
One substantial change I would make to the game is to have Napier still be alive and on the bus with Murphy and the other prisoners. It would be an active goal for Murphy to reach and would allow for more tension and decision making to help guide several possibilities for more interesting endings and character decisions
People that say downpour is bad are forgetting about homecoming and shattered memories… downpour is quite good… just the enemy design and unrewarding side quests (which are great) make it lackluster and not scary enough…
I actually like this game. 90% of people saying they hate this game haven't even played it I swear. They just go along with whatever the internet says.
I've had a SH marathon last year. All games was played on normal except Downpour. It felt unplayable with it's weird battle system and enemy movesets. Despite dropping Downpour in 3-4 hours of walkthrough and replaying it from beginning on easy difficulty I still can't put it below Origins and Homecoming in my SH games list
I'd rather play anything, including the pachinko machines, before I'd want to play Silent Hill 4: The Room again. A miserable, frustrating game that everyone pretends is okay.
I played homecoming without doing anything extraordinary and got the alien ending. To me that the worst silent hill because of that silly ending coming out of nowhere.
I may despise this game. But that Easter egg ending was amazing. I actually felt genuine joy when I got it for the first time. Little did I know it would be one of the saddest endings in the series history…
I cant believe you're like the only one who actually did a complete rundown of this game cutscenes included All of the channels ive seen cover this game straight up just skip a lot of the scenes
I'm surprised by the bold claim that Downpour is the worst, considering we have two Silent Hill games looming in the future. one being made by a Western developer, because tradition. (?) I guess there could be worse news. Imagine if one of them was made by Konami.
Great video. I’m one of those people who actually enjoyed playing through this game and I have fond memories of it. In fact I still have my PS3 copy. But you had a throwaway line about the first 2 hours not taking place in Silent Hill and the only thing I will say to that is that SH3 does the same thing and that game is only 5 hours long. That’s a big chunk of arguably the second most loved game in the franchise not taking place in Silent Hill. I just thought it was a little unfair to Downpour is all.
I’m glad you enjoyed the video, and I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the game too :) That line was just a joke, not really a critique. I didn’t mind the sections outside of the town, just something to try and make people laugh is all
this game means so much to me, it got me through a passing of a close family member and i related to murphy so heavily.. it’s a well done game even if it doesn’t give the silent hill vibe
Thanks for making a video like this! Never had the time to play these Silent Hill games either because of limitations or my time being consumed by school or work so i love watching videos like these when i get a little free time. Would love to see more Silent Hill games being discussed on this channel when u get the time to in the future. Origins next maybe?
I played this game many years ago, although the combat is frustrating the game itself is an enjoyable horror survival game, although it doesn't follow the traditions that make a silent hill game which let's it down Had there been nods to the silent hill franchise, even if its stuff going on in the background and spending more time in Silent Hill along with exploring the other realm, the game would be much better. As for the side quests if your going for full completion of the game they can get frustrating but again this would of been an excellent time to throw in some easter eggs to give a nod to the silent hill franchise and was missed entirely.
"For anyone who still thinks that Downpour is worse than Homecoming, there is not enough time in the world to show you why you're wrong." - Matt McMuscles
Well technically Downpour is consider the 2 worst game in the series. The first being Book Of Memories, which is a psvita game. So not a lot of people really count it. So as one of the major console game, it's the worst one.
@Over_Toasted Then they should have reviewed it better then, because I'm saying it's the worst because it's been ranks by scoring as the worse mainline silent Hill game
Man I think Homecoming was worse. I’ve been a Slight Hill fan since the first one. That one got me way more than RE. I tried to play Homecoming but I just couldn’t do it. It was a total lake of interest. I dig the video so I’m gonna sub
After reading all these comments about Homecoming, it’s a little crazy to think it got a higher score than Downpour from critics. Looks like I’ll have to give the same treatment to Homecoming and find out if it’s as bad as people say it is!
I must say, the writing for the dialogue is actually superb. Compared to games like the Dead Space remake, this one has little exposition and really subtle artistic cues, like JP’s Devil’s Pit speech (18:50). It gave a vivid, well delivered account of what the place used to be like. I enjoyed the characters a lot. That said, the gameplay’s ruined the whole game. But watching it on Let’s Plays on TH-cam is a fine choice.
Great video! You earned a like and a Subscribe! In regards to your closing comments, I would love to see more Silent Hill videos, or videos on survival horror games in general (doesn't have to be Silent Hill).
unskippable boring cutscenes... lame combat... american team made.... lame humanoid enemies meh story weak protagonist... breakable weapons... bad music.... bad otherworld scenarios.... run away from red light...... only for ps3.... exclusive... this game is trash..... I played it in a playstation 3 emulator in PC and just quit....its very BORING. not worth my time. such a pity of develpment.
Downpour is so insanely terrible and plays on all the tropes of people who think they understand silent hill but not only missed the plot but somehow reinforce the most untrue parts of silent hill? It truly is a masterpiece in destroying a franchise
wait what 2k subs only ? What I really appreciate about your writing is that you give objective analysis without elevating yourself to a high and mighty, dispassionate critic. You SHOULD be swearing when trying to navigate clunky controls to kill 3 mobs
I was going to write this into the intro of my Homecoming video, but it felt better here:
I wanna give a quick disclaimer to try and avoid some mistakes in the future, that I admittedly made in this video.
First off, I wanna be clear that everything I say in this video, along with all of my past and future projects, is just my opinion. You are fully encouraged and expected to have a different opinion than me, and that's totally okay, I love having discussions with you guys in the comments and getting to understand your views.
The purpose of my videos is to entertain. I'm not here to to give a complete, detailed tear down of the elements that make up this game, or start a war in the comments section. All I want is to make your day a little better when you click on any of my videos, whether it be from the dumb jokes I make throughout the game, or having a great discussion in the comments, that is my only goal.
Nothing I will say, or have said, in ANY video is fueled by the motivation to gain more attention, or clicks. I am simply just stating my opinion on topics I find interesting, even if my opinion is not the most popular.
Honestly, I am not used to having such strong feedback, positive or negative, on anything I've ever created. I've been told to ignore negative comments by close friends, but that didn't feel right to me. Hopefully, this helps a few of you understand where I'm coming from.
None of my videos are intended to induce anger, and I'm very sorry to the people that were affected this way.
I've read multiple times that the title of this video is one of the biggest factors that have caused many of you to be upset. Despite that, I stuck to my opinion, and never changed the title. I want to be clear, again, that the title of this video did NOT come from an attempt to gain more views. When uploading this video, I thought nothing of it, nothing more than proclaiming what I thought was the general consensus, based on the review scores of Downpour, and, of course, my own opinion. Regardless, this was never intended to make anyone upset, and I am very sorry to those of you who felt misled by it.
I started watching this yesterday and came to finish and check your channel out for other vids. I was hoping for watch more like this but looks like this is your first "video essay/review", so sucks to be me I guess. I hope you do more.
And at least you a reaction from some people, good or bad. Better than no reaction.
@@tandemcross I'm glad you enjoyed, and this is definitely the first of many. I'm already scripting my video on Homecoming, and I've got plans for more essay/review type videos on the way :)
I really enjoyed the video - great job and look forward to more 🎉
I am astonished you are getting negative feedback from this video. I have just come back to this video to finish watching it and was surprised by 1) seeing this update in the comments, and 2) seeing that this video is sub 100k views and that you are still a small channel (for now). I thought this video was great and informative, and moreover, I thought it was pretty damn clear that you're giving your opinion, not declaring how everyone should feel about the game.
Respectfully, I think your friends are right and you should largely ignore the negative feedback. It's wonderful that you don't want to make anyone upset with your content, but quite frankly, if someone can't handle a random TH-camr having a different opinion on a game vying for the worst title it's series, they probably should just log off.
Don't overthink it. Your title is funny and, in my opinion, correct. I just subscribed to you and can't wait to see your Homecoming video! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the more recent Ascension and A Short Message as well. Keep up the good work!
@@weeniehutgeneral6479 Thank you so much for your kind words. Comments like yours give me the motivation to continue creating videos like these
i think a large portion of murphy’s mental anguish is that he was a normal person who killed out of revenge. i think any normal person would feel the same way after taking a life for the first time, regardless of the reasons.
This is why I respect Downpour. It tried to remove itself from and be different than SH2 while retaining a trauma-based scenario, and in my opinion it wasn't perfect *by any means* but the idea itself was a damn good one.
If going by the good ending where he didn't kill anyone, his anguish mainly around being part of Sewell plan that started the prison riot and got countless people killed, also witnessing Frank being brutally beaten by Sewell and unable to help him.
Silent Hill Ascension has joined the chat.
Does that even count as a game? It seems more like one long cutscene loaded with microtransactions.
@@grumpysphinx4911 it has mini games so maybe it is a game????
Book of memories too lol
@@grumpysphinx4911 its crazy how some of those old flash games have more gameplay than ascension
The short message has also joined
one more thing I rarely hear people talk about is the voice actor for Murphy. Maybe it's just me, but I absolutely loved his performance. He doesn't really sound like a "video game protagonist", he sounds like a dude absolutely stressed tf out and just wants to get out of there. Reminds me a lot of Harry from SH one.
Also, his screams of pain legit sound like he's DYING and I always feel bad for the guy lol
I think the VA for Murphy did great most of the time, though there were a few moments that felt pretty rough from him lmao, his screams were insane though!
I didn't think to mention that in my comment but you are right. I actually liked Murphy's voice actor; I wonder whatever happened to David Konrad. That was his only credit. Haha they should have gotten him to go over Guy Cihi as James in the 2012 Remaster if we knew in retrospect how much a douche Cihi actually is; the dude said AIDS was fake. What an idiot.
I loved the way he reacted to the world around him and even his screams of *fear* (let alone his screams of pain which were, yeah, pretty believable lol)
He's not bad. He just sounds a bit too bored at times. Which I get he is a prisoner.
Personally, I didn't really like it but it's whatever.
Its the only game I’ve ever played which does the protagonist talking out loud to himself as actual mumbling.
It’s such a nice, immersive change of pace compared to most games.
Tbh, the best thing about this game is the secret ending where everyone enjoys a big cake 🎉
Who doesn't love cake? Lol
@@saga2964weird people don't 😂😂
I got that on my first playthrough and was just like wow, that's an interesting way to end it.
@@arvesto it is quite ridiculous that it's possible to get the joke ending as the first ending, just like it's ridiculous that its possible to get the UFO ending in Homecoming as the first ending.
Not to mention the song that plays in said ending:
Here Be Monsters by: Ed Harcourt
What a way to end the franchise, morose and melancholy yet loving.
Also shoutout Ed Harcourt, fantastic musician and the composer for S. Darko which sucked but the music was quite decent and faithful to Donnie Darko.
I had a whole multi-paragraph essay typed out about the actual irrelevancy of the titular "downpour" in-game but deleted it all because I only just now, *years* later, realized that the symbolism of a constant downpour that causes ambient fog and worsens when it triggers fights is symbolic of the showers Murphy had to turn on to hide his actions. I cannot believe it took me this long. And it definitely makes more sense than just following a loose association with water because Murphy saw his son's body be pulled out of a lake. Alex Sheperd has just as much trauma around lakes if that's what we're talking about, and I think that only gets utilized in his game roughly three times?
That embarrassment aside, the downpour was a mechanic that I really wanted to love but that felt like an annoying progress-stopper at worst when I was playing. The rain stayed light enough that I constantly wondered if it was actually at the most intense it could be, because I don't think they figured out how to convey the oppressiveness of an actual downpour in the environmental design without ruining player experience or game performance. I really like alternate takes on Silent Hill's presentation-- I am forever a Shattered Memories ice world defender -- but the storms were, like nearly everything in this game, disappointing. I'm not at all surprised you didn't talk more about it.
All that being said, you've got a new sub. This was really well edited, your audio quality and cadence were good, you had a good balance of summary and opinion in a way that felt natural and formed a cohesive stream of thought. This was a good video.
I’m glad you enjoyed the video, and I appreciate the deeper look you provided into the “downpour” of Downpour. That being said, I do still stand by my point of watching his son being pulled from a lake being a catalyst for the focus on water in this game. It would be difficult to argue that watching Charlie’s lifeless body being pulled from the bottom of that lake wasn’t a giant source of trauma for Murphy, an image forever burned into his mind, one that he’d see every time he closes his eyes for the rest of his life. I do like your idea on the prison showers though, it’s a great theory, one that I hadn’t thought of when I wrote the script for this video.
I mean, why can’t there be multiple reasons rain plays a major role in the symbolism of Downpour? The murder of Napier was also a major source of trauma for Murphy, and the prison showers that accompanied that attempt on Napier’s life definitely could explain the relation between the monsters and the heavy rain that follows them.
Thank you, again, for leaving such a well written comment, you’ve definitely given me more to theorize about for this game!
The showers and the fact that his son drowned
I mean, fucking duh man.
Down pour can’t be the worst when both book of memories and homecoming exist
This guy hasn't even played those games so this whole video can just be ignored.
While I agree with a lot of your points, I find homecoming to be much, much worse.
That's totally fair. I've never played Homecoming, but I haven't heard great things about it. Maybe someday in the future, I can do another video like this on Homecoming!
Agreed homecoming was trash. Atleast this had some atmosphere going for it
Absolutely agreed. Homecoming is a bad video game & a bad silent Hill game. Did not enjoy it at all. 😢
Downpour tried harder, and atleast if I see a shot of this game I know its Downpour...Homecoming and Origins felt too much like they were riding on the success of SH2 and in terms of atmosphere and colours they both look very much the same? You could snap a location from one of them and I wouldn't know which game it came from if you didn't include a character
@@atlasinuu5913 If you want to, i will definitely tune in! if you want to i would for sure :3
Downpour had great atmosphere, terrible enemy designs and a lukewarm story. So...overalll....good game. Homecoming had the complete opposite problem. Awesome enemy design, shitty atmosphere and a confusing story that played it safe and predictable. Downpour imo is pretty good, I loved the side quests you could do and levels.
I'm glad you found stuff to enjoy in this game, there's a ton of people out there that aren't willing to give it a shot. Personally, I thought it was okay, not great but not terrible either. I'll have to give Homecoming a try some day, I've been slowly working my way through the whole franchise for a few years now :)
Also the combat in homecoming just made it completely unbearable
@@step9624 Yeah I remember essentially getting softlocked st the first spider enemy (I forget the name) because of how un reliable the dodging was 😫
I disagree. I personally believe downpour has the worst and the most lazy enemy designs I have EVER seen in a horror game. One of the enemies is literally just a woman with dirty hair. Story is complete garbage that literally makes 0 sense if you think about it for more than 10 seconds and it probably has the single worst interpretation of the town and its just downright cringe as
While i also think the atmosphere and mood is really good, there's only so much it can do to hold your attention in a game that has its main catch being the psychological aspect.
Not sure what you mean. Homecoming makes Downpour look like an untouchable masterpiece.
Nah, I actually enjoyed Homecoming. The story was pretty good and gameplay wise it was fun. Not to mention, it has one of the scariest and most fun boss fights in the SH franchise (Scarlet Doll fight was so cool). I feel like the surroundings could of have changed a bit, but overall it was a great game.
Agreeed
Bro there's NO WAY you can say Homecoming was WORSE than Downpour. It was a dogshit game, but it was wayyyy more of a Silent Hill game than this shitshow. At least it was a LITTLe scary in some parts and had some cool enemy designs and ideas.
Downpour was just...boring. And forgettable. I can't tell you a single thing that happened in Downpour. Being boring is worse than being bad imo.
agreed homecoming was so ass
"Homecoming" had great music, awesome monsters and a good story. If it was a movie I'd have loved it. Sadly, it was a game, meant to be played, and that's where it looks like a monkey fucking a football. From a gameplay perspective it's one of the five worst PS3 games I ever had the misfortune to waste time on.
silent hill ascension, book of memories, and the short message would like to have a word.
Compared to a lot of the western Silent Hills, I actually think Downpour was really good. It’s really unfortunate that the enemy designs were so lack luster and some of the stages were just kind of eh, ergo the prison level and a lot of the segments where you have to traverse the streets of the town. I loved, however, the optional content and side quests and completed every single one voluntarily. I think if it was given the proper time and support it needed to cook then it woulda been something truly special
I recently watched another video essay that claimed Downpour's story would have been much more compelling if they changed Napier.
More accurately, changed how he killed Charlie. Basically remove intent (like a car accident) so Murphy getting revenge on Napier was more on the morally gray side. That way Murphy's struggle would be a lot more guilt on top of his grief.
I think an interesting comparison here would be Saw 3, though admittedly characters are not the strength of the Saw series. In that case a grieving father is offered revenge against the man who killed his son but it is explicitly shown that it was an accident and the man showed immediate remorse. Also, the collateral damage of this kind of mentality is shown, with Jeff ignoring his living daughter because he is so consumed by the loss of his son.
"Where's everybody going? Bingo?" Lol In the canon ending, when Murphy turns, smiles and says to Cunningham, "there's somewhere I have to be." reminds me of Leon in the canon RE2 ending, smiling saying,"Hey, it's up to us to take out Umbrella!"
Silent Hill Downpour is one of my favorite games, despite it truly being a "bad Silent Hill game". I find it charming, and I've always been captivated by Murphy's story. I'm glad you were able to find some good in it as well.
Agreed...got a little soft spot for it, myself.
I really like the idea of an immortal/ghost mailman, but I'm not sure how to fit that into the overall lore of the games.
I've been a part of a lot of online discussion groups over the years, and one of the more common "things to discuss" is trying to figure out how to tie all the games together, no matter how outlandish the explanation.
But outside of all of that, I feel that Silent Hill as a story works best the more alone the protagonist is, and having a ghostly mailman subtly guiding the protag kinda-sorta takes away from that "vibe" but I'm sure there's ways to make it work.
Downpour, overall, is very strange to me, because even after all these years, I'm still not sure where I stand with it, unless we're going with the "Each Silent Hill game is the Dying Dream of the protagonist" angle.
Anyway, great video! Please make more!
The mailman has been there forever he always there as long as your in silent hill he can appear in lore basically
The mailman is a character insert by one of the writers (Tom waltz), who made really bad silent hill comics (that did not understand the source material at all). The mailmans first appearance is as one of the stories from them. It's pretty bleh.
I'm commenting because you have so low views.
You made this video and I listened to the whole thing and immediately subscribed. I checked your channel and it seems like this is the first of its kind you have made.
You did a very good job and I would listen to more long form content if you made it.
I'm so happy you enjoyed it! This was my first time making a review style video, but I'm definitely open to doing more in the future if people like it! Regardless, I plan on making long form content my main focus. Hope you stick around :)
I absolutely agree. Such a nicely paced, well done video. I had a good time watching it. More of these please :)
Keep cooking, chef. 🍳
My problem with Downpour is that it looks and feels nothing like a Silent Hill game. The atmosphere as a standalone game is great, and I had tons of fun playing it. But it's just not Silent Hill. The art direction, color tones, monsters, horror style, the music, the architecture of the town... Nothing looks, sounds or feels like Silent Hill.
Come on,... we got The Short Message after all
Nah is Homecoming, Downpour at least tried to not copy all the other entries
Yeah homecoming is stupid, bad endings, bad facial movements, stupid combat. Like I get it he’s a “military” guy but rolling around to dodge like dark souls was dumb.
@@zombieslayerC94and then at the end you find out that he's not even a military guy, so the fact he can do that doesn't even make sense.
@@Vivien_Szyeah it doesn’t make any sense, the twist was kinda dumb
I agree. At least Downpour didn't reuse Pyramid head which is a sin in itself. That's James' demon/vision. The only thing that was worse in Downpour were the basic enemy designs. I loved the openess, the combat was a little better, the atmosphere was absolutely brilliant, and while the boogeyman was a lame big baddy, at least it wasn't reused pyramid head. Also, that Orphanage scene where the play stage turns real cabin in the storm back to just being a wooden cutout cabin....that was excellent. Oh and The otherworld in Downpour was pretty bad
@@Vivien_Sz what would have been cool is if while playing he messed up those rolls every now and then, or like maybe turned into a heavy roll like in DS. Maybe make it where aiming had more recoil or something. Little touches where it showed he wasn't trained after all.
Homecoming is way worse than Downpour😂
This was quite an enjoyable watch! I'm a fan of the entire Silent Hill franchise (including the ... less enjoyed ones, like Book of Memories) and listening to your thoughts and opinions was pretty good.
You've got a nice voice for video essays like these, and the quality of the audio/video editing is really good! Thanks for a good time, looking forward to future videos.
Glad you enjoyed, and thanks for the kind words
you’re so terribly underrated, i love ur style in commentary and very interesting to listen to. love this video so much keep going man
Thank you, it means a lot!
The title is clickbait to create drama. We all know it's not the worst silent hill game because games like Silent Hill - Book of Memories exist. Secondy the game is considered as the better game compared to Silent Homecoming. Check the sh communities. e.g. the "Poll: Which is Worse, Homecoming or Downpour?" Almst very poll shows SH downpour is the better game.
Lastly his video doesn't fit the title: I still don't know why it's the worst SH game compared to other silent hill games e.g. homecoming. 95% of his video is just a summary of the events and gameplay which is quite borring.
@@takeyourtime3328 girl wtf are u talking about 😭😭😭
@takeyourtime3328 I find it hilarious that you think I purposefully crafted up a title in order to try and create some sort of “drama” within the Silent Hill community. This video was based off the fact that Downpour has the lowest review scores of any main-line Silent Hill game ever released (book of memories is a handheld spinoff).
Furthermore, I state multiple times throughout the video (even within the first minute) that Downpour is “one of” the worst, and with my concluding statements, if you even bothered to make it that far before you left this comment, I stated that I personally don’t even think this game is that bad.
Regardless, I promise you I am not the end all be all of Silent Hill opinions. I am simply a casual fan on the internet sharing their thoughts about a game.
I was surprised to see so many people with strong opinions about Homecoming, and I do admit that I probably should’ve delved deeper into more opinions about Downpour before starting this project, but at the same time, this whole video was supposed to be an entertaining spin on a mediocre at best game, not a complete and utter breakdown of the elements and themes that make up Downpour.
Clearly this video was not meant for you, and I apologize that you felt slighted by it, but I will never be a source of serious criticism for the Silent Hill franchise. My job was to entertain with this video, and I think I did pretty well on that front.
@@atlasinuu5913 I watched your video and yes you said "It's one of the worst" but you picked the title "The worst" which is common with clickbait videos. The controversial title doesn't fit the content of your video. That is what called clickbait. Why is it controversal? ...because obviously Silent Hill book of memories has lower ratings: by the community and reviewers.
Your title also says it clearely "Worst Silent Hill game" and not "one of the worst Main-Silent Hill games".
"This video was based off the fact that Downpour has the lowest review scores"
The irony is that it has higher ratings by users compared homecoming.
Another problem with your video (in combination with the title and the expectation by the viewer) is you don't explain or make it clear why the game is the worst silent hill game. With a different and more fitting title there would be no criticism from my side. e.g. "My perspective on Silent Hill Downpour"
Really well done review! Despite all of it's flaws I am also strangely drawn in by the story and characters and find myself pretty immersed in it every time I play it. I do really enjoy looking around the town, and the bits of the Otherworld before the chases start, even though there isn't much to see. I find the ability to control the camera to look at whatever I want really makes me feel like I am there, as the character, which makes me excited for the SH2 Remake. I expect it to take hours to get to where I need to go because I'll be slowly walking around looking at everything lol.
Lets be honest the worst Silent Hill is Homecoming.
Downpour sucks it's just not able to reach Homecomings level of stank.
The "puzzle" at 29:15 is to randomly look up btw, the combination is literally written on the wall.
Good video, I have a few minor critiques though (if you plan to do more longform videos like this!). One issue that many of these kinds of videos often fall into is becoming basically just a beat-for-beat plot walkthrough. We don't really need to know every single step - this game's 11 years old - what we're here for is the criticism, showing through examples as justification for the sensational title.
There is a lot of interesting stuff in here but it's peppered into what is otherwise like a solid middle hour of you just reading a walkthrough of the game's events. You can cut a lot of that and jump to parts you have something meaningful to say about, maybe lore inconsistencies, unfulfilled plot threads, the lack of symbolism in the game's monsters compared to prior titles. The very fact that the game has preorder codes that rip you right out of the story when it sends you to gamefaqs to look them up, and that for anyone who cannot access internet they just have a game with content locked out for them forever. The game has a lot to criticize. Was hoping for more observations in that vein from 'the worst silent hill'.
My thoughts exactly on a lot of these newer silent hill critique/analysis videos. While they're enjoyable to watch, I've learned to skip to the last 10-20 minutes of an hour+ long video because most of it is just recapping the game like a walk through, with most of the critiques saved until the end.
alternatively i’d like to argue that this video serves as also a bit of a “retrospective”. a look into the game in its entirety for those who might not have had the chance to play or simply don’t want to. it’s definitely an interesting trend with videos about games now, instead of a general overview of how a game is good/bad we’re basically given a playthrough as well. and instead of the video title specifically saying retrospective, now it’s almost implied if it’s an hour long. i’m not saying you’re critique is wrong, just that personally i value the sort of beat by beat telling of the game mixed with the review. although like you and the other commenter said it can tend to get a little long winded if things arent wrapped up concisely or some things were missed.
Great video mate, would love to see you cover the rest of the series.
This is more of a Suffering sequel than Silent Hill. Why? Because depending on your actions , it changes who Murphy was before he got to SH. In SH2 your actions only change the ending, not who James was or what he did. Suffering had exactly the same mechanic as Downpour, but on the other hand combat is crap in that game, so it doesn't fit Suffering universe neither.
I really like how downpour handles side quests, I think every silent hill has their own quirks to enjoy in the small things
They definitely do! I didn’t mind the quests themselves, just wasn’t interested in the rewards personally
I had a glitch, in the prison area, at the end of the game: In the cutscene where the juggernaut has the two guys on leashes... it took all my weapons away... yes including the shotgun... Through sheer force of will I still beat the game... but I'll never forget that bullshit XD
One issue with doing all the good choices is that it creates this plot hole where there is no reason for Murphy to be in silent hill he literally did nothing.
I assume the town was preying on him for having the intention to cause harm to another human in retribution for his son. It was also likely the guilt that he felt for not preventing his son's murder that got him trapped in Silent Hill
Downpour is far from the worst one. The way Homecoming and Origins shit on the lore established by the early games make them way worse.
Downpour’s biggest sin was trying to be SH2 and failing. The story is at least interesting and it’s own thing. In the end, it was let down by the fact that the writers copped-out: in SH2 James always murdered his wife regardless of ending. Only how he deal with this revelation changes.
In Downpour, in the “good ending” Murphy is a goddamn saint: turns out he didn’t do anything bad! In the “bad ending” he did everything bad. It totally ruins the story they were trying to tell.
Why would Sewell even think Murphy would go through with killing Frank? Murphy had already gotten his revenge, Frank was a good friend, and Sewell was already very likely to be fired soon. Why would he align himself with him? He had no reason to actually follow through, unless he's just really committed to fulfilling a promise, I guess.
That’s a fair point! My guess would be that Murphy didn’t want the extra time for Napier’s murder. Holding that over Murphy’s head was probably enough for him to bend his morals, and I doubt Sewell knew just how close Frank and Murphy had become over his sentence.
This was better than homecoming
Genuinely shocked you dont have 100k+ subscribers. Your future is extremely bright!
I think the thing I dislike about Downpour is not that it does anything egregiously bad but rather than it does everything serviceably and that's it. Like a cake with no frosting. Especially with the symbolism.
There's police cars patrolling (because Murphy was in prison) and prison bars (because Murphy was in prison) and caged birds (because Murphy was in prison) and clocks (because Murphy was in prison), and monsters that look like prisoners (because Murphy was in prison).
There's like 3 types of symbolism in this game. Prison, wheelchairs, and water. Everything else feels incidental. Why are there sex doll monsters? What does that symbolize? What do the screamers represent? Why does Murphy go to an orphanage? Was his kid adopted? Was _he_ adopted? Who knows.
And personally, good monster design can save even the worst game or movie for me, but these monsters are literally just people. Guy in wheelchair, guy with tattoos, a weird looking woman, a very tall man, etc. Boooooring, especially coming from a Silent Hill game.
And what happens to Bobby Ricks?!?!
I think you’re just about spot on, and all that you pointed out is why I feel such strong negative feelings about Downpour. Aside from all the water symbolism, which I think is kinda neat, all the other stuff is so surface-level.
The prison symbolism in particular is all so obvious and seems like they couldn’t think of anything else interesting to point out about Murphy’s character or struggles so they lean on that as much as possible.
I think the Screamers are supposed to represent Murphy’s wife’s anger towards him for letting their son die but the horrible monster design (they’re all just weirdly textured people) negates any clever aspect of it.
Almost everything in the whole game felt to me like the devs had a super shallow understanding of what SH is supposed to be that it cancels out the good ideas that they did have (cool side quests conceptually and a decent framework for the story)
The worst part of all the prison symbolism is that WE ALREADY KNOW HE WAS IN PRISON! We see that first hand at the very start of the game. Why are they symbolising things they already established plainly? It's actually kind of funny. Like hmmm I wonder what it could mean?🤔🤔 @@MiLu002
The worst part about all the prison symbolism is they literally established that he is in prison FIRST THING in the game. So like... what's the point of alluding to it after that?! It's just text at that point. Like what reaction are we supposed to have...? "Hmmm all these bars and cages and prisoners.... what could it mean?!" @@MiLu002
@@GippyHappyI think I heard somewhere that the monsters and prison references aren’t supposed to relate to Murphy, but rather Officer Cunningham
It wouldn't change anything, really. They both have prison in common just one is a guard and the other an inmate. Also makes the female screamer even more ambiguous. The only thing that would make more sense if the wheelchair guy since ig Murphy didn't know that Frank survived the initial attack. @@zeldagameryt4018
You’re gonna blow up soon sir. This video alone shows that the quality is on par with the big youtube channels out there. I’m going to let you know right now that I’m one of your earliest subscribers ❤️❤️
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
i will say, i think Murphy's voice acting is really good, especially when compared to the other SH games. first protagonist that REALLY feels like "just a guy in a fucked up situation"
the boat scene seems so unfinished. the fact the lady just APPERED and we didnt even get any type of indication or visual image. its like thats the point that the tower magically made her apper at the right time
47:20 the only game I can think of that had a graphic child death scene was telltales walking dead, where you bashed some kids brains in the attic.
He was infected but still pretty disturbing
I totally forgot about that, but yeah, I think that's the only other game I can recall that has a child death scene
Your commentary is hilarious and honestly, I'd rather watch you play for 1 1/2 hours than EVER play this game. Good, fucking, God. I couldn't imagine a worse game being made than this thing, it's just awful compared to any other game, let alone a Silent Hill game.
I’m glad you enjoyed! I remember being nervous when writing this script and playing the game that my commentary would be obnoxious, so I’m glad someone found me funny haha.
This wasn’t a great game, definitely worse than Homecoming in my opinion. Honestly, I don’t think it was absolutely terrible though, it had its moments story wise, it’s just a shame this is how the Silent Hill franchise ended for so many years.
I know everybody hates this game but as a kid, I loved playing it, I finished all the quests and even earned the platinum. However this was my very first SH game ever, and as a standalone game it was good
Anyone else realize the control scheme for downpour is a one to one copy of saw 2 flesh and blood. These devs were new to unreal at the time so I wouldn’t doubt Konami gave them this as a foundation…heck even the UV light and multiple puzzles are one to one recreations from saw 2.
I like downpour but once you see this you can’t unsee it.
I’m shocked at your subscriber count! This is the best video I’ve seen on SH: Downpour, and one of my favorite SH breakdowns. I’m excited to see more of your content!
One substantial change I would make to the game is to have Napier still be alive and on the bus with Murphy and the other prisoners. It would be an active goal for Murphy to reach and would allow for more tension and decision making to help guide several possibilities for more interesting endings and character decisions
Amazing job! Extremely entertaining, your comments kept the video fresh and never dull. Please keep up the good work!
People that say downpour is bad are forgetting about homecoming and shattered memories… downpour is quite good… just the enemy design and unrewarding side quests (which are great) make it lackluster and not scary enough…
Bruh worse than Homecoming I dunno XD At least it's kinda fun to play, silly as it is. Homecoming was just... A disaster all around.
Dude, you haven't "played" Silent Hill Ascension, haven't you?
I actually like this game. 90% of people saying they hate this game haven't even played it I swear. They just go along with whatever the internet says.
I've had a SH marathon last year. All games was played on normal except Downpour. It felt unplayable with it's weird battle system and enemy movesets. Despite dropping Downpour in 3-4 hours of walkthrough and replaying it from beginning on easy difficulty I still can't put it below Origins and Homecoming in my SH games list
Great narration with the review. Will you do a review for Silent 2 hill remake?
I’ll definitely consider it when it comes out :)
The “oh” after throwing your wrench was so good haha
I'd rather play anything, including the pachinko machines, before I'd want to play Silent Hill 4: The Room again. A miserable, frustrating game that everyone pretends is okay.
I played homecoming without doing anything extraordinary and got the alien ending. To me that the worst silent hill because of that silly ending coming out of nowhere.
I may despise this game. But that Easter egg ending was amazing. I actually felt genuine joy when I got it for the first time. Little did I know it would be one of the saddest endings in the series history…
* ten minutes of me not understanding what the fucks going * I felt that energy lol
Silent Hill Ascension coming to take its crown as the worst Silent Hill game.
This is some great content man. You should do long form videos for other games as well. You got a sub just for this video alone.
I cant believe you're like the only one who actually did a complete rundown of this game
cutscenes included
All of the channels ive seen cover this game straight up just skip a lot of the scenes
Rambo vs Predator is a crossover i didn't know i needed lol
I really enjoyed this video. I'd live to hear your thoughts on Shattered Memories. Now off to check your back catalog
I'm surprised by the bold claim that Downpour is the worst, considering we have two Silent Hill games looming in the future. one being made by a Western developer, because tradition. (?)
I guess there could be worse news. Imagine if one of them was made by Konami.
Great video. I’m one of those people who actually enjoyed playing through this game and I have fond memories of it. In fact I still have my PS3 copy. But you had a throwaway line about the first 2 hours not taking place in Silent Hill and the only thing I will say to that is that SH3 does the same thing and that game is only 5 hours long. That’s a big chunk of arguably the second most loved game in the franchise not taking place in Silent Hill. I just thought it was a little unfair to Downpour is all.
I’m glad you enjoyed the video, and I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the game too :) That line was just a joke, not really a critique. I didn’t mind the sections outside of the town, just something to try and make people laugh is all
@@atlasinuu5913 Ah lol, I mean I figured it wasn't a big negative for you since you didn't touch on it more or elaborate.
Love this type of content and I really like your style. Great video!
I wish the rewards for side quests would have been additional lore and cosmetics. Something fun like that.
Downpour? Worst silent hill game?
I don’t think so…..
5:40 I pooped mY diaper
Give my boy Howard a spinoff game!! He seems like a really interesting character.
When the hell they gonna re-release the originals on psn?
Wow, I can’t believe you don’t have more subs or covered other silent hill games. You should do more!
this game means so much to me, it got me through a passing of a close family member and i related to murphy so heavily.. it’s a well done game even if it doesn’t give the silent hill vibe
its not a "well done game", it looks an plays like shit
@@necrotafeio😂
womp womp idgaf @@necrotafeio
Thanks for making a video like this! Never had the time to play these Silent Hill games either because of limitations or my time being consumed by school or work so i love watching videos like these when i get a little free time. Would love to see more Silent Hill games being discussed on this channel when u get the time to in the future. Origins next maybe?
Glad you enjoyed! I'll definitely be covering another Silent Hill game soon :)
Awesome video, looking forward to more
Thank you!
Really enjoyed the vid! Hope you make more SH analysis, it was fun to relive the game alongside you. Hope more people see this 😊
Downpour is underrated honestly
I played this game many years ago, although the combat is frustrating the game itself is an enjoyable horror survival game, although it doesn't follow the traditions that make a silent hill game which let's it down
Had there been nods to the silent hill franchise, even if its stuff going on in the background and spending more time in Silent Hill along with exploring the other realm, the game would be much better. As for the side quests if your going for full completion of the game they can get frustrating but again this would of been an excellent time to throw in some easter eggs to give a nod to the silent hill franchise and was missed entirely.
Exactly the same way I felt while playing, a ton of missed opportunities
"For anyone who still thinks that Downpour is worse than Homecoming, there is not enough time in the world to show you why you're wrong." - Matt McMuscles
"worst silent hill game ever made"
proceeds to show footage of the game that contradicts this statement entirely
Well technically Downpour is consider the 2 worst game in the series. The first being Book Of Memories, which is a psvita game. So not a lot of people really count it. So as one of the major console game, it's the worst one.
@@Ma5jay5dontxdoxthathomecoming is worse than downpour, most people agree with this.
@Over_Toasted Then they should have reviewed it better then, because I'm saying it's the worst because it's been ranks by scoring as the worse mainline silent Hill game
Agreed @@Over_Toasted
@@Ma5jay5dontxdoxthat By far, homecoming is the worst silent hill.
The worst part about this was going to your channel and not finding the same style of video for every silent hill game😢
I'm not far in, but you've really drawn me in, can't wait to see what else you do!
Hope you enjoyed it!
So glad SOMEONE can agree that HOMECOMING is NOT the worst sh, it is DEFINITELY this one! 😅
Man I think Homecoming was worse. I’ve been a Slight Hill fan since the first one. That one got me way more than RE. I tried to play Homecoming but I just couldn’t do it. It was a total lake of interest. I dig the video so I’m gonna sub
After reading all these comments about Homecoming, it’s a little crazy to think it got a higher score than Downpour from critics. Looks like I’ll have to give the same treatment to Homecoming and find out if it’s as bad as people say it is!
Im sorry but homecoming is much worse than this one
That title screen intro goes hard.
I enjoy your commentary and editing style! Looking forward to watching more videos like these if you choose to make them :)
I must say, the writing for the dialogue is actually superb. Compared to games like the Dead Space remake, this one has little exposition and really subtle artistic cues, like JP’s Devil’s Pit speech (18:50). It gave a vivid, well delivered account of what the place used to be like. I enjoyed the characters a lot. That said, the gameplay’s ruined the whole game. But watching it on Let’s Plays on TH-cam is a fine choice.
Wouldn't this be slightly better if Cunningham was the main protagonist 🤔
Really liked your take on this game and how you organized the video!
Def hope to see more review vids like this.
The worst one is the one with the blue people running after you. I actually returnd it. I was super sad about it.
shattered memories
Great video! You earned a like and a Subscribe!
In regards to your closing comments, I would love to see more Silent Hill videos, or videos on survival horror games in general (doesn't have to be Silent Hill).
Is there video of you playing this game? I wanna watch it lol
I did think about uploading the footage of my playthrough, but I haven’t done anything yet. Maybe one day though!
@@atlasinuu5913 well you got a new sub for if that day, and any other Silent Hill videos l lol
unskippable boring cutscenes...
lame combat...
american team made....
lame humanoid enemies
meh story
weak protagonist...
breakable weapons...
bad music....
bad otherworld scenarios....
run away from red light......
only for ps3.... exclusive...
this game is trash.....
I played it in a playstation 3 emulator in PC and just quit....its very BORING. not worth my time. such a pity of develpment.
Downpour is so insanely terrible and plays on all the tropes of people who think they understand silent hill but not only missed the plot but somehow reinforce the most untrue parts of silent hill? It truly is a masterpiece in destroying a franchise
Your voice is really pleasant to listen to !!!!
What a weird way to spell Homecoming 🤔
no mention of the silent hill 4 easter egg?
wait what 2k subs only ? What I really appreciate about your writing is that you give objective analysis without elevating yourself to a high and mighty, dispassionate critic. You SHOULD be swearing when trying to navigate clunky controls to kill 3 mobs
This videos great! Looking forward to more!