Reviews for Silent Hill: Room 304

[BAMDANAproductions]

badass

the parts that really scared me was at the end just before you meet adrian, the ghost pops out and comes towards you, that and the one in the camera, this was one of the few absolutely great point n click andventures, it wasnt extremly hard like you find on a lot of them, and it wasnt too easy, hard enough to take some time, but easy enough not to absolutly need a walkthrough, i did most of the game without a walkthrough, i only need a walkthrough/hint once, and that was for the safe in the attic, i couldnt figure the code, i got though. great game and great story, make more, but you should have added on more to the basement and certain areas of the game, theres a huge basement with a bunch of rooms and halls in it, abd you cant explore the creepyness of it, all it was, was a key on a string.

[Haynayy]

Oh mylanta.

Going back to the potty after watching the archive footage... I not only jumped so hard that I nearly broke my computer, but also maybe wet myself a little bit.

[link0068]

DAMN!!!!

Havent gotten scared in a long time I Fucken jumped out of my seat!!! The bathroom scene, after i checked the survaliance, Scared the crap out me!!! One problem though, after that scene it just closed the widow and had to start over. Other than that Pretty good game.

[Sanjiallblue]

Atmosphere Nailed, But That's It

As a long-standing fan of the Silent Hill games I can honestly say that the auditory tone of Silent Hill was captured very well in this game. Akira Yamaoka's tones always create the most unsettling atmosphere in the most skillful of ways. All the tracks were very well used.
With the compliments out of the way here's my critique. Starting from the opening of the game you lose quite a bit of Silent Hill in the artistic design of the game. Since you are coming out and calling it "Silent Hill: Room 304" it is no longer an homage, but an extension of the Silent Hill universe. Most of the photos were entirely too bright. This was particularly bad in the case of the cabin and the school. I would recommend in the future for horror games like this to crack open Photoshop and drop the gain on all exteriors. Having one extremely directional light source will also help tremendously in these indoor environments.
While there have been a number of compliments, the things that pop out and scare you are not part of the Silent Hill atmosphere. Silent Hill is about psychologically terrifying the viewer, not popping out and scaring them (that's Resident Evil's thing). Even in Silent Hill 2 with the scream in the mannequin room you still had to go back around the corner to face the scream and were confronted with a decapitated mannequin. It seems you modeled the reveal in this game after Silent Hill 2 as well. However, throughout the course of the game the audience is allowed to know about Mary's fate through the characters of Maria and Pyramid Head. So though it is a reveal to James at the end of the game it isn't a reveal to the audience, instead we were treated to the horror of a man's reality collapsing around itself. The reveal in this game is one that is unintentionally obvious. Without a character who's motivation and actions we care about, we lose the ability to care about the main character.
Another huge pratfall that takes you out of the Silent Hill universe is the lack of both monsters and the Nightmare world. I can't imagine a reason for leaving out one of Silent Hill's most terrifying elements. You also lose the psychological reflection the Nightmare world provides to the viewer. We never get that insight into what truly terrifies our main character that defines Silent Hill.
One of the most damning elements is the lack of any consequences for actions (e.g. death, loss of life, etc...). This takes away the persistent atmosphere of persecution that Silent Hill creates. The fact that you are potentially never safe from these Francis Bacon inspired monsters never affords you that breath of fresh air necessary to a Silent Hill game.
Curiously, you referenced some locations from the game but never really represented them. Areas of Silent Hill like Toluca Lake, the school, hospital, bowling alley, etc are all hallmarks of the franchise and generally have the same appearance externally. Internally though most Silent Hill buildings change to reflect the psyche of that particular individual the game has as the main character.
To wrap things up, great atmosphere but you might want to play a few of the Silent Hills again before tackling another game.

sober-joe responds:

I agree with what you're saying, but this is basically MY take on the Silent Hill universe and mythology. i chose not to follow the classic formula of the games step by step, and instead came up with something that I thought ultimately would appeal to a larger audience. Thanks for the suggestions though!

[mattsnow81]

Great game!

My only thing against it is that hints could be a little more obvious, like the pc thing, but the game scared the hell out of me and was beautifully made! Best point and click I've played in a while.