T w e n t y S i d e d

That joking around we were doing about how Silent Hills was going to be turned into a pachinko machine? Yeah. That wasn’t joking around. That’s a real thing that Konami is doing.

I know I make a big fuss over Silent Hill 2 and how developers keep getting it wrong, but the truth is I’m not really a Silent Hill fan as much as a fan of the concepts and tone. I wouldn’t want to play a knock-off Batman game with some generic faux-Batman lead. But Silent Hill? I don’t care about the name. I’m here for the dread, the art style, the psychological games, the twisted monsters, somber quiet moments, the sense of mystery and the focus on exploration over combat.

Amnesia is the closest thing we have now. That’s nice and all, but I really wish someone else would pick up the Silent Hill torch and run with it.

“Spoopy” is apparently a real word now. I learned it from my teenagers. That’s something of a turning point in the life of a parent, when your kids start teaching you new words. Spooy is apparently a twee sort of spooky. Dracula is spooky. Count Chocula is spoopy.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Warning: The following video contains images that may cause extreme terror in some viewers that are Campster.

Campster discretion is advised.

We needed a a couple of silly one-off episodes before we start the next season of Spoiler Warning, which is still a secret that I can’t tell you and you will never figure out so you probably shouldn’t bother trying.

I want to stress that this is a free game, and I’m not even sure why or how it was made. It’s very likely that all of the seemingly dumb and goofy things here were done on purpose. The title screen makes it pretty clear this thing isn’t trying to be Amnesia. So while we’re laughing at the game in confusion, please don’t mistake this for some sort of mocking “CAN YOU BELIEVE HOW LAME THIS INDIE GAME IS?” shtick. These are just our honest gut reactions to unexpected content in an unknown game.

EDIT: Talking to my daughter Esther confirms my suspicions that this game was designed to exploit, mock, or comment on the fad of “Scream Streams” where people play through jump-scare games and over-react for the audience. Five Nights at Freddie’s is the most notable example of the genre. A game that’s made for streamers instead of the masses.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.