twisting itself for their
personal torment.
If the individual can
successfully overcome
their own guilt and failings, they will leave Silent Hill both stronger
and happier for it. Those
who succumb to their
vices? Well, death isn’t
the worst this town can
do to you.
Our main character
is a man named Alex
Shepard, recently discharged from the US
Army and returning
home for the first time in
years – hence the subtitle. Now, in a better Silent Hill game, we would
have the town draw on,
for example, his PTSD
and survivor’s guilt. The
town becomes a battlefield, with gunmetal,
fallen soldiers, and military symbolism galore.
This never happens.
Worse, Alex doesn’t
even go to Silent Hill
until the very end of
this game. He’s in some
place called Shepard’s
Glen, which is close to
Silent Hill (geographically), but for no real
reason. This is especially
strange when the Glen
is almost identical to
Silent Hill from a visual
standpoint. It’s got the
customary fog, the grey,
dilapidated buildings,
and even the massive
sinkhole barriers.
Alex isn’t interesting. He’s got no personality, and no memorable quotes. He’s an
ex-soldier with daddy
issues and a bit of an
obsession with his little
brother.
That wouldn’t be so
bad – the other Silent
Hill protagonists have
tended to have relatively
bare personalities – but
every other character in
the game is the same.
The childhood friend/
damsel in distress. The
suspicious leader. The
evil mechanic guy. None
of them seem to have
any reason for being
there or any relation to
the main character.
The story gets worse.
There’s the running subplot about Alex looking
for his younger brother
Josh that leads to the
m