Its mind blowing to me that in the years between the runaway success of Silent Hill 1 and "current year" game industry with its abundant cash flow, thousands of developer powerhouses, not to mention a never-ending supply of indie developers, we are still somehow left with a grand total of just one survival horror franchise - that being Resident Evil, which also seems to be stuck in a perpetual cycle of uncertainty. I find it quite irritating that not one of the many thousands of "horror" games that litter the Steam & GOG storefront has any semblance of a combat system, let alone a good grasp on what it means to be a horror game. Nearly every one of them either forces the player to be stuck hiding behind cupboards for most of their playtime, or running for their life, neither of which constitutes for particularly riveting game-play. Thankfully, Silent Hill 4 is here to save the day and show everyone how its done, with no scripted events, no quick-time events, no hand-holding or immersion breaking "hints" that point to intractable objects, no characters going "OH MY GOD THAT'S SO SCARY MAN, DID YOU SEE HOW SCARY THIS THING IS?!?!", over and over again, which really tries my patience, and best of all - no jump scares. It seems subtlety is another thing that's completely lost on the vast majority of modern horror games. But not here. Here, all is well. Silent Hill 4 may be the black sheep of the franchise, but it still retains the core tenants of what a survival horror game should be - punishing and unforgiving combat, with a scarcity of resources and a lumbering hero that fights like he has noodles for arms. Add to that one of the most compelling stories ever told, video games or not, and you've got yourself a real winner here. And maybe, just maybe, the re-release of SH4 will finally remind developers how to make proper horror games again.
