Panned PS5 Survival Horror Silent Hill: The Short Message Has Topped 3 Million Downloads | Push Square

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With the release of free PS5 experience Silent Hill: The Short Message, it’s clear Konami was trying to replicate the unprecedented success of PT. For those who don’t remember, Hideo Kojima’s iconic horror was released on the PS Store as a way to announce Silent Hills – a project that would never see the light of day due to the auteur’s public spat with publisher Konami.

Now that the company has several new Silent Hill projects in the pipeline, however – including Bloober Team’s upcoming remake of Silent Hill 2 – it commissioned the release of The Short Message to put the series back on fans’ radars. And despite being widely panned by critics including ourselves, it’s been a successful experiment, driving over three million downloads to date.

Ghost this one

Back in our 4/10 review, we lamented: “Incredibly bland gameplay and some overly frustrating chase sequences make Silent Hill: The Short Message a chore to play much of the time. While there are some intriguing full-motion cutscenes and heavy story details, they're not worth pushing through the dull sequences in between to experience them.”

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.

Being completely honest here, I never knew this even existed. My best friend who’s a gigantic silent hill nerd never once bothered to mention this game, which I suppose is very telling.

Barring the technical issues caused by the unlocked framerate (instead of just locking to 30fps), I thought it was absolutely fine for a two hour freebie.

Then again, I've found enjoyment in recent years playing stuff like Kuon, Curse: Eye of Isis, Carrier and Chaos Break, so I suppose I have a high tolerance when it comes to survival horror.

Worst thing I’ve