Silent Hill f Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Summary

Kinda Funny Gamescast: Silent Hill f Review – Summary

Podcast: Kinda Funny Gamescast
Episode: Silent Hill f Review
Date: September 22, 2025
Panel: Roger McCorney (Host), Greg Miller, Madeline Stanley (special guest reviewer), Cole “beans”

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Episode Overview

This episode features a detailed review of Silent Hill f, the newest entry in the Silent Hill franchise, with special guest and horror game aficionado Madeline Stanley (“madexposure”) providing an in-depth analysis as the only panelist to have completed the game. Roger and Greg support the discussion by posing questions from the perspective of both long-time fans and newcomers.

The review covers gameplay mechanics, narrative structure, combat, puzzles, aesthetics, and how the title fits within the broader Silent Hill and survival horror legacy. It also delves into topics such as accessibility, replay value, and scare factor, making the episode useful for both returning fans and newcomers to the franchise.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction & Context (05:00–07:04)

• Silent Hill f is developed by Neobards with a story by Ryukishi07 (renowned Japanese horror writer).
• The game takes place in 1960s rural Japan, diverging from the classic Silent Hill town setting and thematically exploring the dichotomy between beauty and horror.
• At time of recording, Silent Hill f holds an 88 on OpenCritic and 85 on Metacritic.

2. Gameplay Structure & Experience (08:14–14:00)

• Madeline played the game on the recommended “story mode” difficulty on PS5, finishing it in about 11 hours.
  • “If you do normal or hard difficulty, you might get a little bit longer in there. But I didn't find any of the combat to stick too long for me, which ended up being perfect.” (08:40, Madeline)
• The game allows separate difficulty tweaks for both combat and puzzles, with “story mode” making the experience accessible but not trivial.

Notable Quote

“I really, really enjoyed this game. I think it hits a lot of the things that Silent Hill fans are looking for, but is also an incredibly great starting point for people who have no context for Silent Hill.”
— Madeline, 09:12

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3. Combat System & Mechanics (11:17–14:00)

• Combat offers both melee (light/heavy attacks) and parrying, though Madeline notes parrying isn’t crucial unless playing on higher difficulties.
• There’s some discussion online about “Souls-like” elements, but Madeline clarifies:

  “I don’t think this is a souls game. I think people see parry and they're like, okay, that's a souls game. And that's not really very accurate.” (12:10)

• There’s weapon degradation; players can only carry three weapons at once. Emphasis is on resource management rather than nonstop combat.

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4. Atmosphere, Narrative & Themes (14:33–23:59)

• The game’s main theme is the dichotomy within the self, explored through protagonist Hinako and her relationships in a small Japanese town.
  • “Dichotomy is the word that I kept coming back to for this game...like ugly versus pretty, traditional versus modern.” (20:45, Madeline)
• The narrative focuses on personal and social expectations, with heavy allusions to Japanese cultural and gender dynamics.
• Two primary world states—a fog-engulfed town and a spiritual/fantastical “otherworld”—each showcase different story aspects and gameplay mechanics.

Notable Quote

“I personally resonated with this story more...there’s so much back and forth that I feel like it keeps you really engaged with the story.”
— Madeline, 22:26

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5. Puzzles & Exploration (23:59–29:27)

• Puzzles range from traditional logic-based to combat-integrated setpieces. Only one was frustrating for Madeline, primarily due to overthinking.
• The in-game notebook organizes maps, notes, and context clues (“I love a good notebook with some pictures.” – Roger, 25:37).
• Exploration is optional but rewarding—side paths give narrative depth and context rather than direct gameplay upgrades.

Notable Quote

“From a story perspective, it’s definitely worth it. From a gameplay perspective that kind of depends. You’re not getting experience...so it really is: what do you want to spend your weapons and your health items on?”
— Madeline, 28:37

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6. Resource Systems: Health, Stamina, Sanity (32:01–37:41)

• Three core parameters:
  • Health: Self-explanatory.
  • Stamina: Limits actions in combat; protagonist is fragile, so players must balance aggression and caution.
  • Sanity: Decreases when seeing or experiencing disturbing events; low sanity starts draining health.
• Items provide different combinations of healing effects, often requiring memorization for optimal play. Inventory space is limited but upgradable.

Notable Quote

“She’s just a little teenage girl. She’s holding these heavy pipes. She gets tired easily...you run out of stamina and she just gets scared and stands there.”
— Madeline, 32:46

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7. Difficulty, Boss Battles, and Accessibility (38:20–40:09)

• On Story difficulty, bosses are generally approachable but still engaging—especially the final boss.
  • “I am also a well-known boss battle hater...but I found these to be good.” (38:32, Madeline)
• The game provides customizable challenge to cater to both horror veterans and story-driven players.

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8. Performances, Voice Acting, and Presentation (40:02–41:41)

• Both English and Japanese voiceovers available; tone is intentionally unsettling, echoing the franchise’s tradition of ambiguous, off-kilter delivery.
  • “At first you might be like, ooh, I don't know if this is good line delivery...but I ultimately think that's actually what the game wants you to feel.” (41:09)

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9. Scare Factor and Horror Tone (41:41–44:48)

• The game leans less on jump scares and more on creeping dread and psychological discomfort.
  • “I went to bed feeling sick to my stomach two nights in a row.” (41:43, Madeline)
• Compared to P.T. — while not reaching the same intensity, Silent Hill f carries an “off-putting, dreadful” vibe throughout.

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10. Replay Value & New Game+ (45:01–49:12)

• The game supports multiple playthroughs—New Game+ introduces new notes, cutscenes, and context for alternate endings.
  • “It’s meant to be played more than once to get more context about what’s going on.” (45:01, Madeline)
• At 10–12 hours per playthrough, the cast agrees a second run feels reasonable.

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11. Final Thoughts & Must-Play Verdict (45:01–47:34)

• Madeline scores the game 9/10 (“amazing”) on the Kinda Funny scale.
  • “A must-play for horror fans...If you’re new to Silent Hill, I think this is a great place to come in.”
• The group praises Silent Hill f’s balance of franchise heritage and accessibility for newcomers.

12. Community Q&A (50:48–51:35)

• Madeline confirms the game is appropriate for first-timers to the series—prior Silent Hill knowledge not required.
  • “You can definitely play this as your first.”

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13. Quick Review: ‘No, I’m Not Human’ (53:04–61:00)

• Greg gives thoughts on indie horror No, I’m Not Human, a Papers, Please-style, “trust no one” paranoia simulator. He praises the concept but finds replay loop repetitive.
  • “Not a ringing endorsement, but I’ve enjoyed my time with it. ...it’s cool. ...really creepy off-setting, you know, off-putting vibe.” (60:06)

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On Accessibility & Inclusivity:

  “I’m really appreciative they did different combat and puzzle levels because I think that makes it easier for lots of people to kind of join in on this franchise.”
  — Madeline, 45:01

• On Silent Hill f’s Scare Factor:

  “There are moments where I genuinely did scream and kind of run away or kind of freak out...But mostly I was like, oh, I just feel sick about what’s going on...”
  — Madeline, 43:05

• On Playing for Endings:

  “I don’t like that generally because I don’t have that much time to play games to begin with...But I don’t mind putting 20 hours into this game and giving it two playthroughs.”
  — Madeline, 48:03

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Silent Hill f Review begins: 05:00
• Base impressions & playtime: 08:14
• Combat, parry mechanics, Souls discussion: 11:17–14:00
• Score & what makes it amazing: 14:05–17:03
• Theme, story, setting, dichotomy: 17:35–23:59
• Puzzle design & notebook system: 24:12–26:22
• Exploration and rewards: 28:37
• Health, stamina, sanity system: 32:01–37:41
• Boss difficulty & accessibility: 38:20
• Voice acting & presentation: 40:09–41:41
• Scare factor & psychological horror: 41:41–44:48
• New Game+ & replay value: 45:01–49:12
• First-time player question: 51:00
• Mini-review: No, I’m Not Human: 53:04–61:00

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Conclusion

Silent Hill f is lauded as a major success for both genre veterans and newcomers. Its strong atmosphere, stellar sound and visual design, engaging story, approachable yet challenging gameplay, and replay value make it a standout entry—maybe even a new starting point for the franchise.

Madeline’s final verdict:

“A must-play for horror fans...I think this is a great place to come in...I’m excited to play New Game+ and see the new clues and cutscenes.”

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For more from Madeline:

• Twitch: madexposure
• Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram: @madexposure

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Next episode: The Kinda Funny Podcast.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

What is up, everybody? And welcome back to the Kind of Funny Games cast for September 22, 2025. I'm Roger McCorney. I'm your host for today and I'm joined by Greg Miller and Cole beans over here.

[C]

Cole Wiener dogs here, everybody. He hates it. He still hates the studio. Yeah, he doesn't mind the office. It's the studio itself. Yeah, he's got his little bed down there, but he won't sit in it. He wants to run out. If you put him on the ground.

[B]

If you put the bed on the desk, he won't sit there.

[C]

Let's try it. Pick it up. Put it up there. Let's see. This is a test. This is a test. Earlier, of course, Roger did compliment this dog bed and I said it is from the dead dog next door, so I can't.

[B]

The dead dog from next door. Oh, let's see, everybody.

[C]

Oh, oh. Settle down and stay. Will you do that for us so we can do a show? I'd have to have you uncomfortable giving.

[A]

Him a little pet.

[C]

Thank you, Madeline. Thank you. You're doing God's work over there.

[B]

And that voice you hear over there is horror game extraordinaire. You might know her from her streams over on Twitch tv, madexposure, or as Kind of funny's latest up and comer, it's Madeline Stanley.

[A]

How you doing, Madeline? How you doing? Hello. Nice to see you guys.

[B]

Nice to see you. This is very exciting. It's exciting for you to be back on the show here and also for reviewing Silent Hill F. Holy crap. It's so, so cool. Hell yeah. Before we get into the review for Silent Hill F, let me tell you a little bit about us because this is the kind of funny gamescast where each and every weekday we get together to talk all about the biggest reviews, previews and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch and podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, support us with the kind of funny membership on Patreon, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube Music to get all of our shows ad free, watch us record them live and get a daily exclusive show for a chance to be a part of the show. Submit your thoughts and opinions as YouTube super chats as we go. We want to hear your thoughts on Silent Hill F. Are you going to be playing it? Are you excited for it? A little housekeeping for you. We're an 11 person business. All about live talk shows. Today's kind of Funny games daily was all about Xbox's prices going up after this is going to be the kind of funny podcast. And after that, Andy is playing a video game. Maybe dying light.

[C]

Oh, no. Okay.

[B]

He's playing a video game.

[C]

It's a well oiled machine around here.

[B]

We know, we know. It was on the calendar. But you know, we give him some room just in case he wants to try.

[C]

You never know what's going to happen. That's more of a mic thing though, Mike, I feel like is the real one.

[B]

Yeah. But you know, Andy might just be like, I want to play Hollow Knight. I want to play more hollow. Yeah. I wanted to give him the out, you know, just in case he wanted to play Hollow Knight.

[C]

Him and Tim making the worst decisions.

[B]

What are they doing? And of course, kind of anime came out earlier today. Go check that out. That is your Demon Slayer Slayer review. And also Donda Don season two and much more if you're a kind of funny member. Today's Greg Way is.

[C]

It's not in there?

[B]

No, I just wanted to give it to you.

[C]

I like giving it 24 minutes of my skate review so far.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah. Played a lot of skate. Did you like it with Benny? Love it.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

When's Ben's review?

[C]

I mean, I can play. I. Okay.

[B]

Oh, wow. Holy crap. I didn't. Oh, wow.

[C]

Okay, that wasn't.

[B]

That wasn't me challenging.

[C]

Hold on. No, you want to. You want. You want to try to get me? Get me the king of the.

[B]

I don't mean to get you. Right.

[C]

Not going to get me. Hold on.

[B]

I didn't mean to get.

[A]

We got an exclusive right here, y'. All.

[B]

I got him.

[C]

Where's the one with the thing guy?

[B]

Cole is so scared right now.

[C]

Say that again, man. No, no.

[A]

I go do another challenge. Can you help me?

[C]

Yeah, I can do that. That wasn't his review. That was him just being cute. I guess it's this one.

[B]

We'll see.

[C]

Ben, you've been playing skate for a little bit. What do you think of it?

[B]

Cool game.

[C]

It's a cool game.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Are you really good at it?

[A]

I'm really good. Okay.

[C]

Are you a pro skater?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

What did you say about skating over there? You said you didn't want to walk, you wanted to skate. Why?

[A]

Because it's really fun to skate.

[C]

Okay, good enough.

[A]

Love you.

[C]

He's done.

[A]

Can you get me out of this distraction?

[C]

Yeah, you already know. Hit Tron. Oh, there you go.

[B]

You're out.

[C]

You got yourself out. Look. Crushed it.

[B]

You know what I'm gonna do?

[C]

What's that? You're gonna skate on that. No way. Wow.

[B]

Okay, there it is.

[C]

He can skate on anything. You can skate on anything.

[B]

My favorite. My favorite Ben ism. Now, I like that we're getting to the point now where, you know, we have these little things that we can associate with him.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Is that when he gets so, like, flustered cause he's so into a video game that he's like, out of breath. He just sounds like he ran a marathon when. Which I hear from you sometimes too.

[C]

You know me, I get excited.

[B]

Thank you to our Patreon producers, Karl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney the Sum twining. Today we're brought to you by Shady Rays and Factor. We'll tell you all about that later. For now, let's start with topic of the show. Silent Hill F. Madeline, you've been playing it.

[A]

Have you beaten the game? I sure have beaten the game.

[B]

Oh, Greg, have you played this game?

[C]

No, I haven't at all. You know, I. I'm a big horror fan in general and tis the season.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

So, yeah, it was heartbreaking to have Silent Hill F code come in and all of us be too busy with Ghost of Yote Hollow Knight redacted. There's a million games going on here where we just couldn't get to this one. Which is why when the light bulb went off and I said, if you're thinking about a horror game at kind of funny, you're thinking about Madeline.

[B]

Yes, absolutely. And we're so happy that Madeline could be here and actually review Silent Hill left. Because sadly, I have not been able to play Silent Hill F. What's the deal with that?

[C]

You were so excited about these, you won't shut up about it.

[B]

It's heartbreaking because I got the code in my inbox and I was so excited. And then Mike comes to me and says, you have to go and play with me because we all know that Silent Hill F F is for friendship. And so I said to myself, roger, you and I love Silent Hill so.

[C]

Much with the new Silent Hill boys, you know what I mean? Who are the old Silent Hill bowls boys? I don't remember that ever being a bit. Who is the old?

[B]

We're here to play Silent Hill F together, but with one special twist. Roger, what is that twist? We're just gonna play together, right? We're gonna. No, I want you to stay close.

[C]

To me the entire marathon weekend so.

[B]

Roger will be handcuffed me the entire Halloween weekend where we will play Silent Hill F together for your horror, for your delights, and for your Scares. But like, we're just. We're gonna have two controllers, right? Together.

[C]

One controller, two men.

[B]

I. We're just gonna share a pair of handcuffs.

[A]

No.

[B]

And one meal. We're only allowed to eat one meal.

[C]

Just don't get a three ounce steak and complain it's too small this time. How about that? As a reminder, no one forces them to do these marathon streams. No, this isn't in their job descriptions. They don't. They could go home.

[B]

Mike does force me, though, so that's.

[C]

That's fair.

[B]

Yeah. So that is the reason why I've not played it. I am waiting for this amazing marathon stream. Mike is not either. But Madeline, you stepped up. You actually played the game. You finished the game.

[C]

You actually. You actually played the game.

[B]

Yeah. You're not a psychopath like us. We're going to lock each other in a room and play this game all weekend. But let me give you a little bit of description of what Silent Hill F is before we get into your reviews and your thoughts. Silent Hill F right now as of this morning is at an 88 on OpenCritic and an 85 on Metacritic. It is retailing for $70 in the U.S. it is written by Japanese horror writer Ryukushi07 and developed by Neobards. The interesting thing about Neobards is that they have not. They mostly developed ports and remakes like Dead Rising Deluxe Edition. They worked on Final Fantasy 7 integrated, but. And their only original games are Resident Evil Resistance and Resident Evil Verse. So the bad multiplayer games that we all expect. So when this game was announced, it was like, oh boy. Like, do they have the stuff? Right? And I'm excited to hear if they have the stuff. The Silent Hill F Steam description reads, Hinako's hometown is engulfed in fog, driving her to fight grotesque monsters and solve eerie puzzles, uncover disturbing beauty hidden in terror. Again, Madeline, you said that you have finished the game. About how long did it take you, what consoles you play on and just tell me your thoughts.

[A]

Yeah, I just want to say first, I've finished Silent Hill F and being handcuffed to Mike sounds way scarier than my experience.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay, well, that's good to hear.

[A]

I just wanted to get that out of the way.

[C]

Yeah, we appreciate that.

[A]

Thank you. Yeah, I played on PS5. I played laid on story mode, which is what Konami recommended. And it took me about 11 hours to complete the game.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

So I won't be handcuffed him too long. That's good. That's good to know.

[A]

Okay, so I Do think if you are on a little, if you do normal or hard difficulty, you might get a little bit longer in there. But I didn't find any of the combat to like stick too long for me, which ended up being perfect. I honestly think for me. We'll get into further thoughts obviously, but it was a really perfect length for what I would like out of a horror game.

[B]

Awesome. And what console did you play it on? Do you play on PC? PS5?

[A]

PS5? Yeah, just a base PS5.

[B]

Awesome. Well, just tell me, tell us your base level thoughts right now. What do you think of it?

[A]

Sure. So overall I really, really enjoyed this game. I think it hits a lot of the things that Silent Hill fans are looking for, but is also an incredibly great starting point for people who have no context for Silent Hill. My main experience of Silent hill, Silent Hill 2 remake, which I played last year around this time and I know a lot of you guys did as well and that was a great little primer, but it comes with a lot of, I think not baggage, but history and a lot of context for other people. Whereas this one, if you go in with nothing, you're going to have just as good of a time, I think, as if you go in knowing a little bit about Silent Hill 2. I think Tim was mentioning it earlier on kind of funny gamescast. It's not an exact one to one, but this really did kind of give me Resident Evil 7 vibes and the fact that its bones are very much Silent Hill to me. But it's doing something kind of different as well, kind of bringing a new flavor to it. And I think that's something that I really enjoyed about it, kind of expanding the world. I know the creators of this game were like, we don't just want to stay in the town of Silent Hill forever. And I think you can explore a lot more interesting stories if you expand the location and the sort of the themes and kind of setting this in the 60s and telling stories about inequality and the dichotomy of evil and good and all of the things like that really expands what you can kind of explore. And I really liked what they did end up exploring here.

[B]

Awesome.

[C]

Can I hop in with a question right away? Madeline, you said at the top here, you know, you played on story mode and that's what they recommended in the reviewer's guide or whatever. Is story mode easy mode? Is it like, is it just normal mode? And is there something like I, I, the fact they called out to do that I thought was an interesting choice. And then I've seen some other people be like, ah, combat wasn't that great. But I've seen the people saying that are the ones saying, I also played. I played it on story mode in this way.

[A]

Yeah. So there's kind of two different modes, similar to, I believe, Resident Eve or to Silent Hill 2. You can set different, different difficulties to the puzzles and then the combat. So I set them both to story because that's what was recommended in the guide, I think partially to help you be able to get through it a little bit quicker. But I did start again with on normal and I see a few differences, but not honestly a ton. Ton. For me. I think as you get further, maybe the combat will get a little bit harder. But so the combat difficulty for story, I wouldn't call it easy mode, but I think you just have to. You don't have to be as strategic, I guess, as maybe you do on normal mode.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

So a lot of people, not the.

[C]

Usual survival horror, I'm gonna save this thing, or if I have this bullet, I shouldn't have shot that guy kind of thing.

[A]

There's still all of that. So I think that's, that's where it gets interesting. Which is like something you people may have seen, is that people are calling this like a souls inspired game. Oh, it's something that, that people have been talking about. And I will say, as someone who is not really interested in souls games, I don't think this is a souls game. I think people see parry and they're like, okay, that's a souls game. And that's not really like very accurate. I will say, like, there is a parry mechanic. I think I used it four times during my entire playthrough. It's not necessary to beat the combat challenges. It makes some things easier for sure. And there were definitely times where I felt like it was sort of the game changer in a fight that I was in. But ultimately I think more the combat just. It's a little bit. There's a lot of mechanics and I think you have to be less like pitch perfect if you're playing on story versus maybe on the hardest difficulty. The parries are very integral to the combat, but on that story mode, I felt really comfortable with where it was at. The combat is a little clunky, I would say, but I honestly had a lot of fun with it. You have a light attack, a heavy attack, you have this ability to parry, but you also have a focus ability where it kind of shows you when you should parry. It kind of extends the window slows down time a little bit and puts this little red outline around the enemy, which will allow you to know when to press that Perry. Right. Trigger for. For me. So that was very helpful. As someone who doesn't really like doing that, I'm more of a Dodge girl.

[B]

Going back to the overall thoughts, do you have a score on the kind of funny review scale?

[A]

Oh, this was hard, Roger. Because I was going back and forth. But ultimately, I think I want to give this a 9 out of 10.

[C]

Wow. And amazing. All right. Hell, yeah. What about it is amazing to you? When we've talked, we immediately got you into mechanics way too quickly for you when you're talking to somebody over coffee or a beer eventually about this game. Why is this amazing?

[A]

So for me, it's amazing because when I was looking at everything I liked about the game, which it was literally almost everything, like the music and the sound design, fantastic. The visuals, literally a really gorgeous game. I don't know why it looks this gorgeous, but whatever they did with their lighting and all of the art design, it's just a really stunning game. And we'll kind of touch more on this, but, like, the whole concept of the game is comparing sort of like the ugliness and the beauty and the dichotomy of. Of horror and beauty. And I think they literally nailed that in the music, in the visuals, in the story, where everything is very unsettling and weird but intriguing. So story, great atmosphere, great. Like I said, the combat is probably the only thing that I think for some people, they might find it lacking. For me, personally, when I go into a horror game or a survival horror game, the combat's not my number one thing I'm looking for. It's probably fourth or fifth on the list. I need it to be good enough that I'm having a good time, which I was here. I liked it. I was really nervous because I am not really someone who would choose melee combat in a lot of things. I'm more comfortable with a gun, like many people are, or some other. Or a bow or something like that. But getting up close, the hits feel really heavy. They have gravitas. You feel impactful when you're doing damage. And like I said, I think some people might find it a little lacking. I personally had a lot of fun and they keep introducing new aspects that kind of keep it fresh, I think, throughout the entire story. The story itself, really interesting. I didn't want to stop playing. I kept wanting to see what was going on. It was. It's very Vague in certain ways, where you're constantly looking for any scrap of paper that can kind of give you more context on what's going on. And they really trickle it out piece by piece, just kind of being like, oh, here's a little hint. Keep looking. And that's something I really like as someone who loves to, like, solve mysteries and figure out what the fuck's going on in this place. And I think I was very satisfied with every new piece of information where it was like, oh, okay, I thought we were going a different direction. I found something new, and now I'm completely rethinking what I thought was going on here.

[B]

Yeah, I just want to jump in there really quick. The thing I loved about Silent Hill 2, as somebody who played it for the first time last year, was how vague everything was and how it was. You have to really dig deep to kind of understand what the story is all about. Does that feel similar in this game? Does that. Does the core of what Silent Hill 2 and what that kind of story is transfer over in Silent Hill F? Or does it feel different or its own thing? Or is it kind of similar to what Silent Hill 2 brought. Brought to the table?

[A]

Yeah, I think there's both. Like, there's similarities. Similarities and differences. I think it's similar in that it is very. Like you said, looking for every little context, everything's a little vague. You're kind of trying to just figure out what's going on in this person's mind. But I think that also there's a little bit. I feel like the setting context and then the character being different. Obviously their story's a little bit different. I think how they go about sort of their own mind and what they're trying to solve is refreshing. So it's a little bit different in that way.

[B]

Gotcha.

[C]

So I have two questions then. First, with the combat stuff in here, is it survival horror? I'm running from enemies and trying to hide and get away from them, or is it I'm bringing them head on? It's melee combat, almost Callisto protocol. Like, I need to be fighting everything all the time.

[A]

So that's one of the things that I personally liked about this combat here, which is that it's kind of a mix of both.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

I would liken it more to how I play Resident Evil 2, which I've been playing recently, going back through the RE2 remake, which is that you. You don't have to fight everything. You do have to fight some things, and there are benefits to fighting things sometimes. And not fighting things other times. Right. Because you have. You're only allowed to carry three weapons at any given time. And they do have weapon degradation, which I normally hate, but in this instance I think works really well. So you're kind of like, okay, well, if I'm fighting everything, I'm going to keep losing my weapons. You can fix them with repair kits, but there's only so many weapons in the world and in your space. So if you lose one and you're fighting too much, then you will run out of weapons, essentially. And once you don't have any weapons, there's nothing you can do. You can't punch or do anything else.

[B]

Can you dodge?

[A]

You can dodge, yeah.

[B]

That's good.

[C]

And then my other question, if there's more, go.

[A]

Oh, no. And then sometimes it makes way more sense to run and be strategic. Like, I don't need to go in that area, or maybe I'm full up on stuff. Let me just run around because I don't want to waste my stamina, my health or my sanity, like fighting this monster when I could more easily go in a different direction and kind of circumvent them. So I think it's depending on how you would like to play. If you want to fight everything, I think you probably can, but it might put you.

[C]

I want to get away from everything and hide and be done with it. My other question too is like, I know about this game so nebulously. Obviously, it's Silent Hill. I know it's a period piece. We've read the description here. This fog and, you know, it takes over the time. What can you tell me about what the story is? I know people keep talking about how great the story is, and I know it's so hard to talk about why story matters in a game like this. Without spoiling it, is it just a. It is that all of a sudden everything goes crazy and there's a fog and then it becomes this personal tale or what. What's going on in Silent Hill?

[A]

Av. Yeah. So I would say the biggest. The sort of biggest words I would say about this story is like the. The dichotomy within yourself.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

And I feel like that's like very, like, massive. So I'll. I'll bring it in more. So you are playing a teenage girl, Hinako. She is in 1960s Japan in a really small town. And you. You meet all of her friends. She has like three friends. And. And she has a family. And you, as you start going through the story, you kind of find that Things her relationships are not as they seem. There are multiple sides to them. And you're kind of exploring her relationship with herself, but also with what the expectations are of her friends, of her, of her family, of her, of the world. I think there's a really interesting commentary here on like what we expected of women in that area of that time. Sort of a modern. There is definitely like a modernism versus traditionalism undercurrent. That's why I say dichotomy is the word that I kept coming back to for this game because it's like ugly versus pretty. Like traditional versus modern. Like femininity versus masculinity. Like hero versus villain. Like who is the hero here? Who's the villain? I think there's a lot of questions where at any given point you're kind of battling between two thoughts of like, what is. What is happening here? Can I trust in that? Can I trust my friends? Can I trust my family? Can I trust my own mind? And I think that's a lot of the stuff that Silent Hill 2 also dealt with. But this kind of just deals with it in a little bit different way in my opinion.

[C]

Interesting.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Do you like how they dealt with here better?

[A]

I personally resonated with this story more. Oh yeah. I found the subject matter and the character of Hinako just really interesting. I think that there's there. It's like both have a lot of open to interpretation, but I really felt for her. But also sometimes I would be like, wait, I don't know if I feel for you anymore. There's so much back and forth that I feel like it keeps you really engaged with the story. I will say too, something I need to mention with the dichotomy thing. The game exists kind of on two different planes. So you have sort of the town that she's living in which is getting overtaken by these disgusting yet beautiful flowers and monsters and blooms. And then at certain points Hinako will pass out and she will end up in this other world area which is fashioned very much like a sort of shrine or more feudal Japan looking area. There's a word I'm thinking of the Torii Gates. Like Torii Gates, Very like traditionalist area. And that kind of shows you two different sides of Hinako and what she's going through. And I did find. I really liked kind of switching between those two because they give you different aspects into her character as well as kind of different ways of fighting things and different puzzles. Because we haven't talked about the puzzles yet either. Which I really loved. The puzzles in this game.

[B]

Yeah. Tell me all about it. Like, what are. I know you can't go into detail about, like, all of the puzzles, but, like, what is kind of, like, the main idea of what you're doing in some of these puzzles? Is there kind of a through line or is it just kind of varied throughout the experience?

[A]

Yeah, I think there's a lot of different puzzles. Some of them I liked more than others. There was only one that I felt very annoyed by, and that's okay. I think that was more on me. Like, I was overthinking it, which is what I do sometimes when it comes to puzzles where I'm like, it has to be more complicated than what I think the solution. And it's like, oh, just press this. It's fine. And I'm like, okay, that's on me. But some of the puzzles were extremely cool. Like, they're like, I can't go too much into it. But there are a couple of puzzles that are lengthy and involve the combat as well and are what I would consider, like, puzzle combat set pieces that I will be thinking about for a really long time. Like, the. Just the way that they look, the things that you have to do. I'm, like, not sure how much I should go into detail because I don't want to spoil it for anybody.

[C]

Yeah, you shouldn't. Yeah.

[A]

But there is puzzles where you're kind of dealing with different time, different. I don't know, lots of different components where you're taking things and putting them other places. I just think it's really engaging. I don't want to. Like I said, I don't want to go too. Too much into detail, but I found the puzzles really engaging. You keep a notebook, and we draw.

[C]

Pictures in his notebook.

[A]

Yep. You're drawing pictures in the map.

[B]

I love a good notebook with some pictures.

[A]

That's where you keep your map. All of your enemy info, all your tutorials, everything, all the different people you meet are all through this notebook. You can kind of refer to it.

[B]

Awesome.

[A]

And it's one of the things that I think is really immersive about the game. There's no really UI until you get into a fight. Otherwise, you're just kind of experiencing it. And the map. You pull up your notebook, you look at your little drawings of where everything is. It does a standard thing where if you check a door, it's locked, it X's it off. It shows you where important key things are within your notebook. So it makes it really easy to Go back and see where you've been, what you need to do, kind of where you're going.

[C]

So there's only one puzzle that frustrated you. You're talking about the map here. I hate being in games, especially classic survival horror, which was a turn off for me back in the day. And feeling like I am lost. I don't know what to do, or I'm just frustrated that it's not clear what to do next or where to go next. Did you have those moments here? Is it pretty?

[A]

So I also hate getting lost and comparing this because I'm comparing it to Resident Evil 2 because I've been playing that recently. Like there are many times.

[C]

The remake or the original?

[A]

The remake.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

And I have. You have the map there. But I feel like I do get lost a lot in that game where I'm like, okay, where am I supposed to go in this one? I think I was not getting lost a lot. It kind of pushes you along a general path. There are definitely places where you can explore more. There are houses you can go into and some that you can't as well, or most that you can't. But there are some you can kind of go into and expand what you're kind of looking at. Like I said, that's the fun of survival horror for me. Right. Is like, is it worth the risk of kind of staying off of that main path to find something interesting, to get more notes, to get more context for the world, or should I just keep on this sort of direction that they're pushing me ahead? And I found as someone who normally likes to golden path things, I found myself thinking it was worth kind of going off exploring even though there's generally more enemies over there. Just because I wanted to see like what else I could find about what is going on in this town? And there's some, there's some fucked up shit going on in this town.

[C]

Oh no, I would have never guessed.

[B]

Yeah, I was going to ask about exploration because I've been playing Kronos and I really, really don't like the, the exploration on that game.

[C]

Where are you still playing Chronic?

[B]

I mean, I'm 80 through it. I'm like, I'll go back to you after Yotay. I'll go back to it. I'll play it, I'll finish it. But when I, when I played it recently, it was like, man, like the exploration is a lot of like you, you explore, you fight a bunch of enemies and up you get like some credits. Right. It's not really important. It doesn't really push the story forward, doesn't push your gameplay forward. So you feel like the exploration was worth it. Was it worth it in. In both a story perspective and also a gameplay perspective? Like when me and Mike are bound together, should we be exploring and trying to get different items and stuff?

[A]

Yeah. So I would say from. From a story perspective, it's definitely worth it. From a gameplay perspective, I think that kind of depends. You're not getting experience or anything from killing the enemies. And so it really is like, what do you want to spend your weapons and your health items on which I do want to get on to. I do want to get into the sort of loop of the stamina, health, sanity thing, because I think that's really interesting. But yeah, you kind of have to decide. Is getting a little extra story crumb a half of a note from a doctor who seems to be taking out people's eyes or something like, is that.

[C]

Worth you Maybe we call those an optometrist.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[A]

Sorry. Yeah, I'll just decide if it's worth it for you.

[B]

For sure. For sure. Well, it seems like we have a lot more to talk about. Silent Hill Life. And Greg, you have a little review going on as well?

[C]

I have a review so far. Yeah, I know Madeline likes horror games. I've been playing a different horror game I want to talk to her about.

[B]

Little Tease. We'll tell you all about that and more after a word from our sponsors.

[C]

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[B]

Hey everybody. Welcome back to your gamescast. Madeline, I want to ask about Health Stamina, Sanity Health stamina sanity health stamina 70.

[A]

You got it, Rod.

[B]

Yeah. There it is. Tell me about that. Tell me, tell me how that those systems work.

[A]

Yeah. So I think this is something that was really interesting to me and I think is one of the things that when we talk about going into combat encounters and why you choose not to or maybe you do, is that everything you have, your health, obviously that's a no brainer. Stamina, we kind of know as well every attack that you do takes up stamina. So that's one of the things that I had the most issue with with my combat experience was just like she's just a little teenage girl. She's. She's holding these heavy pipes. She gets tired easily. Okay. And so there's a lot of times where you run out of stamina and she just gets scared and stands there.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

And she cannot attack or move until her stamina comes back. So I found myself having to be very strategic about which attacks you're using so that she doesn't get depleted of stamina and then, and then hit immediately by a monster because you're kind of unable to defend yourself. However, you can also use your sanity kind of plays into the combat as well because like I mentioned earlier, with the parrying, you can parry normal or you can use a little bit of your sanity. Sanity to focus and that will allow you to kind of extend that window or give you that red outline, like I said. But if you are attacked while you're doing that, if someone interrupts you or hits you during that focus mode, your maximum sanity will decrease. And if your sanity goes all the way down, it starts eating at your health. And there's also monsters who are doing attacks that just make you upset and that will decrease your sanity as well. So if you see something really fucked up that this monster does. Oh, interesting. You will lose sanity from that as well.

[B]

Okay, So I like that a lot. So if something just scary happens, just automatically your sanity drops and you can't really do anything about it.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, okay. So you are. So that's one of the. One of my only, like, quibbles, and it's a very low one, which is just that you have a lot of different healing items, and there are so many different ones that do different things that some of them do health, some of them do stamina, some of them do sanity, and then some of them do combinations of each. Some of them are short term, some of them are long term, Some of them build upon each other. So you have maybe like. I think there's. I want to say there's like 10 different. It might be more items. And all of them are, like, fun in world things like a soda that has a specific name or like a chocolate bar. I could not for the life of me remember what each of these things did. Every single time I was needing to heal, I was like, okay, that one does sanity. I would have to open up my menu, look in my equipment, and be like, okay, yeah, the chocolate bar does sanity plus health. The pills do just health plus this or this one just does stamina. And that. That felt a little cumbersome where I was having to constantly go on my menu and remind myself each of these did, because they were not super easy to remember. For me specifically.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, that's what's so good about Resident Evil, right? It's just the green. You know what that is? You get it? You're mentioning all these items. Do I have to worry about inventory space? Because I'm so over having to memorize and figure out this whole inventory space moving around the Kronos has just triggered me. I just. I can't do inventory anymore.

[A]

You do have to worry about inventory space. You have a bag that only has a certain amount of spaces in it.

[B]

Can I upgrade it?

[A]

Yes, you can upgrade it. You find upgrades and you. Some items do stack. It's kind of confusing. They stack in like, sets of three. So if you have three chocolate bars, it takes up one slot, but if you have. It takes two slots.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

I don't know why that extra chocolate bar puts you over the edge, but it does. And so that's the other thing that I think is really important about this too, which is that I haven't gotten into. There are hakoras or shrines all over, and that's how you save the game. So you pray at a shrine to save your progress. But at the shrines, you can also use things that you found throughout the world, including your own health items, to pray and receive faith points. And these will either restore your sanity, which you need, obviously to continue throughout the world, or you can use them to buy these charms and you can equip them to yourself. So you can have a charm that increases your stamina or health, or a charm that lets your weapon do more damage if it's at high durability. There's a lot of different things. And so you kind of have to decide do you want to use these as health items and help you in the battles, or do you want to present them as offerings to receive more faith and get these longer term buffs? So I do. I really enjoyed that interplay because I would collect a lot of things, I'd run out of space and I'd be like, okay, I have no more space in my bag. Can I offer some of these up to a shrine? Where's the last hekorah that I saw? Maybe I should sacrifice this one or give it for faith. Then I can redo my sanity or get another charm. Or I can maybe use it in a. In a battle and kind of deciding what's it worth more to you as like a long term charm or as a short term boon within a fight.

[B]

Awesome. That's. Yeah, that's way more involved than I thought it was going to be. Is there, like, did you feel like you were hurting for these shrines in terms of save points or was it all pretty natural? Like, was there a lot of moments where you're dying and you're like, oh, crap, I have to go all the way back here?

[A]

No, I'm a. I'm an extremely chronic saver, so I am like, looking for the save points. I always know where a safe point is on the map at any given time.

[C]

You will not be caught out without knowing where that point is. I appreciate that.

[A]

I will not be caught out there. So I do think. I think it's. They're good. They're well spaced. Okay. Like they are just far enough where you're like, okay, if I just get through this pass this one person, I can make it. I think there's probably something on the other side and I don't have to. Or I could run all the way back. But that presents its own challenges. So I think they are well spaced where it kind of leaves tension. But you're never like, what the fuck? Like, where is the next place I'm.

[B]

Supposed to go when it comes to the difficulty. Are there boss battles or are there just a lot of enemies? Like, where does the difficulty kind of lie?

[A]

Yeah, so there are bosses and the bosses are really cool. I am also a well known boss. Battle haters. I just don't.

[C]

Well known it's a shirt for.

[A]

And. But I found these to be good. I will say I don't. On the. On the story difficulty. I don't think I died more than once to a boss. So if that is something I know, like people feel weird about the difficulty thing. If that's. If this all sounds too easy. Yeah. Feel free to play on the normal or the harder mode. I really liked this because I wanted to experience the story and every piece of the combat, including the bosses, really ties back into the story. What she's feeling, what she's going through, what her family and friends are going through. And I would say the very last boss that I fought was really hard. I wasn't sure I was gonna make it through and I did it and it felt really satisfying. But the designs are really cool. I will say that's something I don't think I've said. The main set of things you fight in the sort of fog town area, there's not that many of them. I will say that's another little ding for me. It's just like I wish there was a little bit more variety when you're just out and about. But the bosses are really cool designs. They're really gorgeous and disgusting. Like I said, that dichotomy is so intriguing to me. I love it that everything is beautiful but also disgusting. And you're kind of not sure if you think it's more beautiful or disgusting at any given moment.

[B]

Yeah. I want to ask about the performances when it comes to the voice acting and the side characters. What did you think about that?

[A]

Yeah, I think the performances were good. I played mine with the English voice dub and then I did turn on because you can switch during the game. I turned on the Japanese one as well. I think they're both really strong. I think I Prefer the Japanese one a little bit more, which I think makes sense. But I think they're both really good. I felt the. Everything in the game is really unsettling. So I think it's hard sometimes because you're like. I don't know if that was a weird delivery because it was supposed to be, or if the delivery was just strange.

[C]

Did it take you out of the experience or were you still just locked in for what was happening?

[A]

No, I was locked in. And I think by the end, I was like, oh. At the very beginning, you're like, what the fuck? Why are. Why are they talking like that?

[B]

I mean, it's kind of The Silent Hill 2 thing, though, right? Like, you play that game, you're like, something's wrong here. And I can't tell if this is bad or if this is on purpose.

[C]

You're off kilter. Yeah. I always want you to be. Yeah.

[A]

And I think that's, like. At first you might be like, ooh. I don't know if this is, like, good line delivery or like, this dialog seems weird, but I ultimately think that's actually what the game wants you to feel. Because I will say, like, in terms of horror and scariness, I think there are definitely. There's good jump scares in here. I definitely screamed a couple of times, but I would say jump scares are not the primary thing here. It is like a long, drawn out tension. Like, I went to bed feeling sick to my stomach two nights in a row.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

I was just like, I could feel it in my body being tense. I. I literally felt, like, physically tired from, like, clenching because there's just these long moments of, like, what is happening? Can I leave? What are we doing here? Like, why is everyone acting so weird? And it's like, the normal people are acting weirder than the monsters sometimes. And you're like, why? I don't understand. That's how I feel whenever I leave the house. Exactly. Barrett.

[B]

Yeah. I was going to ask about the. How scary this was, but, like, comparatively to Silent Hill 2, which is a game that maybe it's just because it's in the. I don't know. There's a fucking astrobot that's a. That's a pyramid head. Right. Like, it's just not like, at this point, it's pop culture, so it wasn't as scary for me playing it for the first time. Silent Hill 2, that is Silent Hill F. Do you think it's scarier than Silent Hill 2 or about the same.

[A]

For me? Like I said, I think that There's a distinction there. And what scares everyone is different, I would say for this, for Silent Hill F, it is more like dreadful and unsettling. Like that long term low, that low register like bad feeling in your stomach. And there are moments where I genuinely did scream and kind of run away or kind of freak out physically in.

[B]

Real life, out of the streets.

[C]

Madeline, come back.

[A]

But mostly I was like, oh, I just feel sick, like about what's going on in real life, what's going on with the monsters, what's going on in this other realm, in this sort of more traditional Japanese area. Like things are just not good and we are not well. So that makes me feel more tense and scared and unsettled and less of sort of the. Maybe a traditional jump scary horror like you would consider like an outlast or.

[C]

Something like that hell somebody in chat went through and it went fast or whatever, but was like, oh man, the dread. That's what you know, I loved about pt. Did you get vibes of that here? Like, obviously PT is such a high bar to reach. We all love pt but yeah, I.

[A]

Would say it's hard to compare to that because also I think PT really benefits from being such a contained experience. Right? It's easy to reach a really high level of dread and horror when you're doing it in such a contained thing. Whereas like I think most horror games, after playing for what, 10, 11, 12 hours, depending on how long it takes you, like at a certain point you are going to like fall off a little bit. Right? There's only so much you can contain. I can see aspects of pt. I don't think it ever reaches like that high. Oh that. That high. But I will say that it is very dreadful. Like you are. I don't think you're going to feel like good playing this chill experience. You're going to have fun. But I was like in another situation I definitely would have broken this up into more plays because I was. I like, like, I. I can't explain enough. I literally went to bed being like, I don't feel good.

[B]

Madeline, we're coming to the end of your Silent Hill F review. We're going to read some super chats, but I want to just ask you last question or last overthought, what are your general like closing thoughts on this game? Anything that we missed? Anything you want to talk about?

[A]

Yeah, I think that I would say there's one big thing that I wanted to talk about that we didn't get to ending thoughts. I do think this is A must play for horror fans. Like, if you love horror games, I think this is a great game to play. If you like Silent Hill in the past, I think you're still going to like this game. I think those people are a little bit harder to please because everyone has their sort of expectations coming in. But if you're new to Silent Hill, I think this is a great place to come in. It's great for newcomers. I think I'm really appreciative of they did the different combat and puzzle levels because I think that makes it easier for lots of different people to kind of join in on this franchise that so many people love. And I will always be. For more people being able to play video games and have the type of experience that they want. If they want to just really bash their head in with these bosses, play on the in the Fog level. It's supposed to be really hard. And if you just want to experience a really cool story where you still there is gravitas to dying and coming back and fighting things like the story. The story mode was not like easy. You don't have to do anything. There's still a lot of fights and difficulties to be had there as well. But I think it just makes it easier for someone who doesn't want to have such a gritty experience be able to enjoy the game. I will say I talked about it took me 11 hours to finish. There is new game plus in this game where I already started it. I only got a couple minutes into it and there's already new things. So I do believe that this is a game that's meant to be played more than once because they're already giving me more context for Hinoko's story in the new game plus. So I think Silent Hill is known for having the different endings. There are different endings within this. It is meant to be played more than once to get more context about what's going on. And that's why another reason I think that 1011 hour mark is great because I don't want to play a 20, 30 hour game multiple times. I do. I am definitely going to play this to the end again. Oh, like I'm excited to play the new game plus and see what new notes. Like I've already found a new note that I didn't find before. Apparently cutscenes are maybe different, longer extended change. And I find that really exciting because it's like, okay, I kind of know I have a better idea of what's going on going into this a second time. But now I Can kind of look at things again but they're going to give me new clues and completely recontextualize everything that I just saw. And I find that to be really, really fun.

[C]

So I would like to stop have a conversation about that. But in a general sense, do we like you got to play the game again for the real ending or whatever thing. Yeah, ending, blah blah.

[B]

I'm not forward for longer experiences but for this I'm down for it like 11 hour experience twice. That's about what I expected this game to be, honestly the first run through. So the fact that 22 hours, that's not bad for me. And also probably faster if you're playing.

[C]

How do you feel overall?

[A]

So yeah, I. Overall, I don't like that generally because I don't have that much time to play games to begin with. We always say too many games. We know there's too many. Like giving one game multiple playthroughs when there are tens to 20 other games that we want to play. Does sting a little bit however when I compare the fact that I put 50 hours into metaphor Refantasio because I loved it. I don't mind putting 20 hours into this game and giving it two playthroughs. And that's why I think that 10 to 15 hour depending on how long it takes you is a great length. Because I think they're like, look, we know we can't get you. Maybe you don't want to play a 30 hour thing twice or a 50 hour thing twice. But I think 10 hours is a great median place to do twice. Because I've definitely played 20 hours games all the time. And that's, that's totally fine.

[C]

It's such a where you are in your life kind of thing. Not even as dad Greg. Greg before this, just with a million games to play and wanting to do stuff. It's always such a turn off to me because even when you put a different note in there or change a cutscene, I'm still doing the same gameplay.

[B]

Sure.

[C]

Know the same environments. I'm still. And like yeah, it can be harder, it can be this, can be that. But it's like I am, you know, old game is old. I don't like rewatching things, let alone replaying things that take that much investment for me. So it's like this is like such a. Oh yeah, I like it, I.

[B]

Like it, I like it.

[C]

And then be like oh yeah. I mean I know I can just YouTube the true end.

[B]

And that's. That's where I'm at. Yeah, for Silent Hill 2. I did that and it was like, yeah, like that's a nice little afternoon. Watch all the endings. That's fine. I had the experience. But yeah, I'm with you being a.

[C]

Kid obviously and like you're one game. Exactly. Remember where it was like such a big deal to you know, scrounge up the 70 bucks even in high school to buy, you know, 60 bucks then 50 bucks, whatever. Like, you know, you then want to just replay, replay, replay. I get that. Especially having those giant afternoons and evenings free we used to like nowadays. Like now I gotta move on to the next thing.

[B]

Yeah. We thought that we had so much that so many things to do, so much homework. Yeah, everything was so hard back then. Yeah, we got a lot of super chats. The Trogs in the audience are very excited to see it Madeline. So let's go through some of them really quick. Mr. Hawks. Yeah, Mr. Hawks. Super chats and says super chat for the always incredible Madeline and the adorable Cole only don't touch Greg. Roger can have 69 cents fairness.

[C]

Thank you.

[B]

Thank you very much.

[C]

Fair enough.

[B]

Samson says Mike and Roger Silent Hill freaking Itza. That's great. I love that Joshi G says hey Madeline, the Portland. Portland Kev. Right, sorry. Portland Kev. It's not show. I just want to make sure shout out to Madeline. She was very recent recently on my show the PlayStation Plus Game Club and was one of the best guests I've ever had. Hell yeah.

[A]

We talked about the Forgotten City which is a really great game.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Ash super chat says love seeing Mad back on KF content. Hope we see more of her. Just wondering, can I play this as my first Silent Hill or should I play to remake first?

[A]

Yeah, you can definitely play this as your first. I think there are some like slight nods to Silent Hill 2, but it's very, very, very vaguely connected, I think. Hell yeah. I don't think you need any context to play this.

[B]

We have two more right here. We have said nuggies says just only slightly bummed we won't see her initial reactions on stream playing this. But I love hearing Madeline's perspective for this. She is my scream queen. Here's to bringing more girlies to the table. Hell yes. And Ryan Pahala Higgins is the last super chat says much love to mad.

[C]

Exposure to all that but especially the last one. Right? Yeah. Thank you Madeline for doing this. Your first, you know. Congratulations. Your first freelance here for kind of funny. I saw, I saw one angry chatter the star like oh, none of the guys played none of this guy, like, well, no, we hired Madeline to do that. Would you rather it be that we never talk about this game or we hire reviewer? Thank you for stepping up.

[B]

And it's such a great job. You did an amazing job.

[A]

I do have to bring something up, which is that I. When I was asked to do this game, I got a text from an unknown number that just said, hi, it's Greg Miller. How are you? And I was like, yeah, okay. Interesting. Hi, Greg. I'm good. How are you? I didn't have Greg's number. I didn't know who it was. Was it a scam? And then it turned out it seemed like it was a scam because he asked me to go to CVS and buy him gift cards.

[C]

I wanted to know if you remember Ro. Madeline's like, I want to show this at some point during the show. And I was like, I don't know what I said that was funny. I totally forgot that I did this. Yes. Understanding that Madeline.

[B]

Absolutely.

[C]

I knew Madeline didn't have my number. So, yeah, I was like, I was gonna act like I'm a scammer.

[B]

That is awesome.

[C]

And I turned. I was actually, do you want to review a game for us?

[B]

Yeah. You were like, I don't know why.

[C]

I need your help and your expertise as a horror game aficionado.

[B]

You're like, why are you showing private text messages? What did I do? Weird.

[A]

Greg should have known it was Greg because It was also 911 that day.

[B]

All right, Greg, you have one last review so far for no, I'm not human. I'm very excited to hear about this because I showed the trailer to Lianza last night and she genuinely had nightmares. It was the biggest.

[C]

Oh, okay. Yeah, so pop up the trailer there, Barrett, if you don't mind. Currently a 77 on Metacritic. Steam description reads warning, stay inside, lock your doors, close the blinds. Only let humans in. Eliminate all visitors in anxiety Horror about paranorma in the paranoia in the end times Developer I'm probably get around but I would say Trio Skies Publisher Critical Reflex 1499 on Steam. Usually it is marked down to 13 something right now the discount. Madeline, you are my horror expert. Have you heard of this game yet?

[A]

No, but this looks right up my alley.

[C]

I want to give a shout out to the one, the only Eurogamer. Matt Wales had an article up over there that was called Quirky Horror. I didn't have that. Quirky horror with a timely story Hidden beneath Indie gem. No, I'm not a Human might be one of the best. My favorite games this year. Saw that headline, immediately went and purchased it over on Steam or whatever because I'm a big Steam player, as you know. Now I'm a big PC gamer. Rog Ally changed my life. Then of course I got this Portable Razer Blade 16. Changed my life. Yeah, it's portable, so It's La Vita 2. We don't need to get into the bits right now anyways though, as you watch it right now and if you aren't watching Ladies Gentlemen and Bees, it's a papers please kind of idea. You wake up one day and your neighbor's at your door. You exist kind of PT like and just in l hallway with the doors you open up, it's all first person of you clicking on things and going into it, right? But the idea is that, hey, the sun's going supernova and it's. You can't go outside anymore. So during the day the sun's flipping the fuck out. You gotta be in the house during that. At night, people come by and knock on your door. You have to let people into your house to be safe from the visitors. There are people, zombies, visitors, whatever you want to call them coming up out of the ground that are can talk and act normal, but maybe act a bit off. Maybe totally act completely off. And you have to decide who you're letting in and why.

[B]

Do you have like a quota?

[C]

No. So the idea is that I think he's even on night one dude knocks on the door and he ain't. He ain't a dude. And he's very much like, is there somebody in the house? And like this guy will show up periodically through the game and if he ever catches you alone, smashes in your door and attacks you and kills you. And that's the end of.

[B]

Is he the shirt?

[C]

Yeah, exactly. That's the end of your run. So this is. Yeah, that guy right there. So this is very much a. Not roguelike, you know what I mean? But you're doing runs out. I guess it is in the way that you're not bringing items but information in. So as you progress and go through the day, night cycle and do all these different things, you get news reports that start telling you what to look for from the visitors. So you can identify a visitor by perfectly white teeth, by dirt on their fingernails, hairless armpits. You know, this goes on for a couple showing you what's going on. And then during those daytimes when you can't go out, but not at nighttime when People are knocking and you're choosing, if you're letting them in, since you're stuck in the house with these people, then you go and talk to them and they give you more about their story and it might be that the story isn't adding up or whatever. And then you can then go and basically check them them. And so you run the test of like, let me see your fingernails, let me see your armpits or whatever. Now just because they are hairless armpits doesn't mean they're a visitor. But you could put it into the pot, the thing. And then as you just saw, eventually you can call them on their, pull out your gun and blow them away. They can talk you down or whatever. And so there's this whole idea of the deception, trying to figure out, okay, are they real, Are they not? Is it a visitor? Is it not? You'll wake up sometimes and then you'll be like, ah, smells like someone died. Like there's a visitor in the house, clearly from the group that has killed somebody else in the group. So now you've got it, you can really start sussing it out. But then you have the other thing where you go multiple nights with the same crew and nobody's dying and it's like, okay, don't do this now. You might say then, okay, sounds pretty easy. Then just have that done, right? The problem is that eventually fema, the government, they start showing up. They will pull people out of your house. So, and they, you can't stop them. They're going to take them to go test them or whatever. Then it becomes this whole thing. Are you working with them, against them? There's all these like little things and you're making dialogue choices on this and it's influencing, you know, what's happening, but also building out your world. And again, back to that run thing. As you come back and restart, you can go the alternate path and see what kind of happens. You're randomized on who you get. On top of that, you are randomized if they are aren't a visitor. So you, you'll get people who are visitor one time and then the next time you can get them and they're not a visitor. Oh, so you can.

[B]

I mean this really is like multiple runs. Like you can.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. So yeah, you're not. There's multiple landings. There's so many different people, you couldn't see all. But I think at least you couldn't see all the people in one run. Like there's a whole collections tab on the Main screen that shows you the people you've seen. It keeps all your endings in track there or whatever, so you can go through it. Really cool idea. Really great concept. Really. The way they open it opens very much like a zombie movie. And even what they're showing you of sunrises, sunsets and things being a little off, like, we went to the beach, it says at the bottom. And there's like a dead or sleeping. Is it a dead person or a sleeping person on the beach? That kind of thing. You know what I mean? Of toying around what's going on. And so it's a very interesting evolution into one of the things I left off, I think when you're checking, hey, let me see your armpits, let me see your eyes or whatever. Like, you only have so many action points for the day. So once you run out, like, maybe you didn't. It's, you know, you're unsure of it, but you gotta let it ride or whatever. You know, you can't ask more questions or whatever. So it's a reason to do that over and over again.

[B]

So the people that you bring in to the house, let's say you bring in one that is a visitor, can they kill you or do they just kill everybody around?

[C]

I haven't been killed by a visitor yet. Okay, now I think for, you know, you're like, oh, you got a review. Review so far. I played this on the plane before I switched over to Rataton and I. So I did like an hour, I think it was, of this. And then since then I've done like maybe another hour in like, I would say, a run. If you're not getting distracted by bs. That's blue sky, Tim. Or, you know, texting somebody or doing a work email. You're doing 15, 20 minute runs or whatever, 30 minute runs on what you're doing. So I've done it a bunch of times already, but I haven't had that happen. But I'm not prepared to say it wouldn't happen or couldn't happen. My problem with it, what makes me not excited to do it over and over and over again, is just how repetitious it is. Like, it is that idea that, you know, I ha. When you restart your next run, you still have to have your neighbor come by and explain what's going on. You have to skip all his stuff and then talk to him the next morning to learn that beer can put you to sleep. If you. If you have action points to burn and you don't need them, you can drink A beer, then go right to bed or whatever, it's like, I get that. And then when the people knock on your door, even if they. And I shouldn't say necessarily, but usually in my experience, even if they are. Aren't visitors, their dialogue trees are kind of the same until you get to something wonky. So it's like you're spam. I'm spamming a. To get through things.

[B]

I've heard you've only played this game for like two hours. Exactly.

[C]

And again, it's. I don't think it's meant to be a 80 hour opus by any stretch of the imagination, but it is that idea of like, that wore thin for me into a place where I was like, oh, okay, like. Like I get it and I see it and like the symptoms are locked into what they're going to be. So, like, I'm checking you, but you. You can't check for armpits because I think it's the third or fourth symptom that's revealed until you've heard about it on the thing.

[B]

That's. Yeah. If that was randomized, I feel like that could get a lot more.

[C]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So again, it's cool. It's definitely got a really creepy offsetting, you know, off putting vibe to it or whatever. Being able to get on discounts. Nice. Right now. But it's not a ringing endorsement. But I've enjoyed my time with it.

[A]

It. Okay. Okay.

[B]

Are you gonna keep on playing it?

[C]

No, I mean, I'm gonna keep it around on the rog.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

It'll be that thing where it's there. So if there is that. Oh, man, I want to do something and I need something quick. A quick hit of something. I'd keep it on there, but I'm not. Like, after we review Ghost this week, I'm not gonna immediately run back to this.

[B]

Okay, I'm gonna check it out. I'm gonna check it out.

[C]

Okay, good.

[B]

Okay. Maybe I like it. Maybe I hate it.

[C]

I like it. Don't. Don't act like I didn't like it.

[B]

No, I like that. That's. That's that. Because when I see that trailer, I'm like, I have no idea what this is. Like, it just looks creepy as hell. But understanding what that actually is. And it's more of a papers police situation. Yeah. You can try that out at all.

[A]

Yeah, definitely. That seems like a really fun stream game. Just play like ask, ask people. Like, do y' all think this person's a visitor? What the hell's going on.

[B]

Yeah, we should get Mike in there and play that. That's a fun part there.

[C]

Yeah, put him in a medical uniform.

[B]

Madeline, thank you so much for doing an amazing review of Silent Hill. F. Where can we find you? Let us know about your. Your Twitch streams. Let us know everything you're doing.

[A]

Yeah, you can find me everywhere. Adexposure. Blue Sky. Sorry, bs. You can find me on Instagram and on Twitch and I'll probably be streaming, I think, the first couple hours of this game tonight on Twitch tv madexposure. So if you want to see a little bit of the opening, you can come by tonight, I think around 7:30pm PT.

[B]

Hell yes. Well, this has been a great podcast, a great time, and this has also been the kind of funny gamescast where each and every weekday we get together, talk about all video game reviews, previews and topics in gaming all around the world on YouTube, Twitch and podcast. If you love what we do, please support us on the kind of funny membership on Patreon or YouTube. Of course, after. This is going to be the kind of funny podcast, so stay tuned for that. Love y'.

[C]

All.

[B]

Have a good one. Peace.

[A]

Thanks for having me.

[C]

Thanks for being here.