Downpour reclaims Silent Hill in a new, grungy and deeply immersive style.
The characters involved are well depicted and the strange occurrences are in the just amount to not feel repetitive yet to hold a constant grip over players attention. From this point of view and the atmosphere enfolding the entire gameplay, Vatra has preserved the core of Silent Hill, the urban limbo where nightmares unfold.
A totally different direction was taken in the style and the pace this feeling is delivered. There is so much more to do in Silent Hill and exploring eerie parts of the town is truly a pleasure for horror loving fans. The graphics are amazingly detailed and few glitches in frame rate doesn't take from this sensation. Hidden shadows, entrapped fears and surreal encounters expect the player to be uncovered, feared or fought. Easter eggs and small elements of pleasurable guilt can be found dispersed through the town often causing subtle effect of inner jokes and Silent Hill connoisseurs "deja-vu".
The combat is well handled for a survival horror game. The protagonist Murphy Pendleton is not a trained soldier and the way he reacts in combat encounters is close to that of every normal person forced to fight for own integrity. The player with time will begin to identify himself with Murphy's conditions for his nightmare has roots deep in psychological elements. That is another perk delivered in Downpour, the drama is very human like and combined with supernatural elements dwelling in man's subconscience conveys an almost personal uneasiness.
The music score is deeply haunting and it is a constant companion of the journey in the abyss just to abandon the player during the fighting moments in the mercy of creatures' screeches. The effect is an almost realistic, anti-Hollywood epic, struggle to stay alive or just preserve mental sanity. The less developed monsters serve to this purpose leaving the town to be the haunting entity like a giant Overlook hotel.
The endings, whatever the players choices might have been, strikes down as a ton of concrete bricks (there is a pun reference to games elements here), bringing doom or redemption as the Korn's song played while the credits roll emphasize this feeling, leaving inside that morbid curiosity that leads to replay...
Silent Hill is alive and breathing darkness again!