I went into Downpour with admittedly pretty low expectations. I didn't know too much about it beyond the general reception of the Silent Hill games after the first four games and how my feelings aligned with that consensus at least with the games leading up to this one. Perhaps because of these lower expectations, I found I actually enjoyed this one the most out of those games after The Room. Origins I thought was okay, but felt a little formulaic and like too much of a spin-off, despite being a prequel. My frustration with Homecoming was that it seemed to understand the gameplay structure alright, but not the core concepts of Silent Hill. Shattered Memories to me had the same problem in reverse, capturing some of the themes well while not executing very well with the game design in a way that would make it work. Downpour on the other hand understood the assignment, even if it still falls short of the original games in a lot of other ways.

That's not to say Downpour tries nothing new; it certainly does. Perhaps most notable is that the game features a good number of side quests and optional tasks to do outside of the main plot. This is something I've always wanted a touch more of in the previous games. The series was one of the earliest to make a big open town you can run around in that actually has interesting design and detail to it, even in the first game on the PS1. The downside is that there's been almost nothing to do in any of those iterations of the town map, with the streets mostly serving as a transitional map you traverse to get to the next objective, with few exceptions. On the other hand, I think one could fairly describe Downpour's approach as somewhat open-world, though I don't feel like it goes to that extreme, especially as there are points in the game that—as far as I could tell—bar you from returning to the previous area and completing any side objectives there. But the idea is still fairly similar. Somewhat hilariously, despite my wish that the series would do something specifically like this, I found myself having zero interest in any of the side content and I ended up skipping most all of the side quests that popped up. This is partially due to the fact that I didn't feel managing the to-do list was very accessible and keeping track of what all was available I found more annoying than engaging. But I also didn't feel like the hooks for the side content were that interesting or like they encouraged me to take a break from the main plot to pursue them. But my biggest issue is simply the need for moderation: I don't need 20 side quests, just give me a few optional tasks to obtain a special weapon, subplot, or story route. That keeps in line with the game's primary genre better without feeling like it's just fluff.

All that aside, the main game I still enjoyed pretty well. I won't go into too much detail on the specifics, but you control Murphy, a convict whose prison transfer is interrupted by a bus crash that leaves him free, but lost in a spooky town with monsters and one of the prison guards doggedly intent on bringing him back into custody. Throughout the game, Murphy is faced with a number of Big Decisions—that remind me of the type of things that would end an episode of a TellTale game—which shape your ending and how some of the story progresses while also often tying off the segment of the game you're at. There are a few subplots and side characters that in my opinion do a good job of not just adding to the town, but reinforcing the themes and foreshadowing the plot revelations to come. This is mostly what I meant by the studio "understanding the assignment." It's not on the same level as the first four games, but it to me felt closer to a true iteration on them than the games in between did.

At the end of the day though, I still just didn't feel like the game was that great. Even skipping the side content—which I've heard can add on significantly to the overall playtime—the game felt like it went on too long. While I liked a lot of the progression, foreshadowing, and revelation pacing throughout the game, it felt like it built up just a little too much, leading me to think Murphy's back story might actually be worse than it is, which is always a little awkward when it's almost like reverse shock value where the truth is less extreme than you expect. The story still goes some interesting directions, but this largely left me with a "that's it?" feeling.

Beyond the story elements, the gameplay was about average at best. The combat is, for the seventh time, pretty different yet still not very good. The exploration I'd say was sub-par for the series, containing a lot of the fun of solving a survival horror map but just not quite up to the standards of previous entries. The Otherworld aspects of the game were also kind of weirdly executed with chase scenes involving this big...light thing? If I ever figured out what that was about, I've since forgotten but while those segments weren't terrible, they weren't all that interesting compared to how the Otherworld has been used elsewhere in the series. The street maps were a little better as far as detail but the wealth of side content made traversal all the more confusing with so much random stuff I wasn't all that interested in getting in my way. The general design doesn't feel as unique either with forgettable monsters and a lacking atmosphere due in part to Akira Yamaoka's absence from the project.

This is one of those games I ended up liking a lot more than I expected to, but still felt a little lackluster about. I think if you were disappointed by the other games after The Room, there's a chance you too might find this one a step above them and enjoy it. But while I think it's worth playing if you're interested, I wouldn't highly recommend it either. While I give Downpour 4 stars, I'm rounding up some; it's better than 3 stars, but not really what I'd consider a clean 4-star game in most respects.

My other Silent Hill reviews:

Silent Hill: Homecoming ★★★

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories ★★★

Silent Hill: The Short Message ★★★