52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

[ignition365]

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bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.

114. Caravan Sandwitch (PC)
I had been interested in this game since I first saw it, can't recall if it was steam or in store, but game looks like a chill driving, 3d platforming, collectathon sort of, kind of game, which is totally up my alley.  The game has a big open world, you spend most of your time driving, occasionally hopping out and wandering about for things.  Sort of reminds me of Mad Max in that way because that was a lot of what that game was, though this doesn't have any combat as it's a chill laidback kind of game.  All in all, sounds great, the problem is the game has lots of bugs, the driving feels a bit awkward most of the time, and the game isn't really intuitive at least early on when you're limited in what you can do.  Game is mostly composed of fetch quest type things, which can be derisive for some, but I enjoy the chill nature of that gameplay.  Early gameplay seems promising in the size of the map and the amount of content there looks to be, but it's misleading because most of the world is vast and empty with nothing in between a lot like some of BotW and TotK, but really not comparable in quality here as this game truly provides nothing to do between locations, like there are some map areas with literally nothing but the tower that unlocks the map for that area, I'm possibly be hyperbolic here, but it's an apt description.  Story wise, it all makes a bit of sense, though it could have leveraged more ruins/abandoned sites to truly convey the events of the story and provide more value to the player.  Story itself is fairly good, the endings aren't the best, your choices do feel meaningless, and the game... and I feel like a jerk saying this but... seems to heavily lean on being overly inclusive for no reason other than to, in my opinion, check some boxes.  I've got no issue with inclusiveness, but when the content is made part of quests for no reason other than to check boxes, it feels more forced than natural and that's where I take umbrage.  Without giving a real example, I'd say something like the game has 3 inclusive characters/groups, 2 of them make sense within the story and have their own plots that make it make sense, but 1 person/group is just claimed to be to claim to be, but has no plot or story and serves no significance other than to just say a character is a certain way to check a box.  Like if a story has a character in a wheelchair, but there is no explanation, it's never talked about, and it never comes up in any way because the character doesn't take part in events for one reason or another, it serves no purpose other than to check a box.  I'm really going on a tangent on this, I really just mean to convey the game seems more concerned about checking boxes than providing natural or interesting content.  That all said, I did enjoy the game, I just recognize it could've been better, the game is very middling and honestly maybe just might not be worth your time.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

115. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (XS)
I had started this game last year when it launched but dropped it fairly quickly for no good reason, this seems to be a habit for me.  I jumped back in because there was a global quest for Playtracker for the game and I was really struggling to find games to earn points so I knew this would be one I would have to do to get my 7 points in.  The game being a MachineHead games game, it definitely has a lot of the mechanical feel of the Wolfenstein games, which is great because those games are absolutely smooth games to play.  I will also start off with that Troy Baker (I think that's who voices Indy here) doesn't sound like Indy/Harrison Ford, he sounds like Garfield.  I hope if you play the game, you hear it too and now that I've said it I hope you can't unhear it, because that was my experience with the game from start to end.

[dhaabi]

60. Resident Evil: Director's Cut || PlayStation || 09.25.2025



After several years of slowly playing through the Silent Hill series which more-or-less served as my introduction to the survival horror genre, I've started a new journey: Resident Evil. From what I knew about the series beforehand, I was actually a bit nervous about starting since there are certain defining features about it (particularly the early installments) that I'm not used to, and there seems to be a larger and more general focus on action that I felt I would struggle with. Still, I was excited to begin.

When we begin, the elite task force S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics and Rescue Service) is responding to some biological disaster at a mansion in the mountains. In short, it's a science experiment too perfectly executed that's elevated beyond lab control. In almost no time at all upon their arrival, zombies and other kinds of test subject monsters threaten any who dare enter. Matters immediately spiral out of control, and the members of the team are either separated from another or killed. So, we as the player assume the role of one of two playable characters, Chris or Jill, navigating across the mansion grounds in two separate and unique campaigns while two other team members playing supporting roles survey the premises on their own. Of course, even after their units' numbers have dwindled, they quickly further divide themselves. On our own, we slowly patrol each corridor while choosing to either evade or diffuse any threat we encounter. What's to come are dangers never encountered before, including human zombies consuming flesh and Cerberus dogs barricading through glass windows. As the game likes to remind its player upon dying, we have entered the world of survival horror.

With that said, Resident Evil's characters aren't portrayed in a way that conveys the elite, experienced task force they are which does feel conflicting at times. Much of the reason for this lies in the written dialogue and voice work. Both are equally at a B-movie amateur level, but what's presented is actually not as bad as I was expecting it to be considering everything I've read about the game before ever playing. Alongside writing, the other most notable aspect to the cast's characterization is the game's limited use of FMV sequences. These scenes appear at only two moments—the game's beginning and end—but they're memorable for their impressionable quality and performance. I'll also mention now that I feel as if the game's mature rating could have been pushed more, particularly in regards to its language. Dialogue that's ultimately presented is written in a rigid, formal style that I can't envision a team that seems so inexperienced and vulnerable to speak. Nevertheless, we as the player slowly piece together the events leading up the situation through found diary entries and general notes waiting to be collected in rooms. In contrast to dialogue, the story all throughout the campaign maintains a strong pace of narrative flow and its settings instills a commendable horror atmosphere.

Despite having not played before, I was familiar with a few specific moments early on in the game: notably, the first proper zombie encounter and the hallway with the window breaking. As previously mentioned, there are two different campaign paths to choose from, so I opted to play as Jill, "master of lockpicking." Jill's campaign is regarded as the easier of the two, and this mostly relates to her ability to unlock certain doors that Chris instead needs the key for alongside an increased inventory capacity. There are some other minor differences, but I believe that both campaigns largely control the same. Across both, players will need to decide what actions benefit them most in the long run: due to limited supplies that must be collected, do you engage the enemy or avoid it? For new players and especially ones who decide to not be thorough in their search, this question becomes the most important factor toward reaching the game's end. If players perform poorly, supplies will be wasted, and they will not replenish upon being exhausted.

At the mansion, it's more akin to a haunted house with puzzles and traps. While a horror game, it's almost equal parts a puzzle adventure game. Most require keys or have some sort of key-adjacent barrier to clear such as having to combine two items together. They're thought-provoking, though I fortunately wasn't ever stumped to the point where I needed to consult a guide. Of course, there comes a point when players will have explored everywhere without a clear destination in mind, and it's predictably difficult to confront certain enemies when needing to traverse back-and-forth and all over. Toward the end of the game especially, choosing to evade enemies is near impossible (or it seems that way, anyway), so these moments create a high level of tension that may negate a player's focus toward the immediate puzzle obstacle. In nearly every open space, enemies await around the corner or just out of view. They're regularly difficult to be seen due to the game's dynamic preset camera angles which follow the player's movement. Enemies can sometimes be heard despite not being seen, though there are times when everything remains silent. Fortunately, enemies don't respawn upon felling them which obviously makes traversal much easier.

Unlike the games later inspired by it, Resident Evil is a game that offers fewer resources, though an amount that's still manageable if players are thorough. So to say that it's a game that greatly emphasizes both survival and preemptive planning is apt. The types of consumable items available to players consist of ammunition, health restoratives, and ink ribbons. While the former two are self-explanatory, the latter is a finite resource that enables players to save their progress. They're used as a resource to manually type out one's progress at the limited number of typewriters scattered throughout the mansion grounds and is, in my opinion, the game's most novel design element. In theory, they exist as the single most component to the game to foster tension. Should I, as the player, pause to use one of these valuable resources? Have I made enough progress to warrant its use? If I save now, will I be stuck in a vulnerable position? And, naturally, because ink ribbons consume one of few item slots, players will need to manage their filled inventory to hold onto them or make room for ones newly-found. However, the tension manifested through ink ribbons is quite minimal, and that's because, even though their number is finite, they're liberally supplied. Even for new players, there are more than enough supplies to circumvent this stress. Related to items is the inventory itself, which I'll briefly mention is a constant tool to manage through the various storage boxes available to players which, fortunately, connect to one another.

Alongside limited items, something else to consider is that information itself is limited. Throughout the entire campaign, the player is forced to navigate on their own to solve how to progress every immediate step. While maps are provided, they're not always available right away. But even once they're gained, players must still remember hallway layout to avoid unnecessary conflict and which rooms or paths aren't necessary. Even knowing which enemies are ahead greatly improves the player's chances of survival; so, this means that dying and having to reload should provide the opportunity for a more successful follow-up attempt. Still, neither locked doors of all kinds nor key landmarks aren't marked on the map which would be a small but appreciated tool. But I do recognize that the limited information is part of the game's puzzle which works toward instilling fear, so it's a design choice I ultimately respect and value.

Lastly, I'll quickly mention the game's overall presentation. Often, there's no music at all which greatly reinforces the horror atmosphere. Instead, most sounds are your own footsteps, but the off-screen moans of zombies or the distant howl of a Cerberus may also be heard. Because of the game's fixed camera angles, there are many instances of sound preceding sight. On that note, while the CGI and FMV sequences are fine, more would have been ideal and a better alternative than the higher number of in-engine scenes.

So, finally, I've begun playing through the Resident Evil franchise. My time with the first entry was a lot of fun despite a few instances of being in severely vulnerable states. I'm looking forward to playing more titles in time, and I'd like to revisit this first entry again someday while selecting Chris as the playable character instead.

[realpoketendonl]

11. Super Mario Galaxy [Nintendo Switch]

I already beat Super Mario Galaxy on Wii a long time ago, but now that Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 is out on Nintendo Switch, I decided to buy it and replay it (and finally beat Super Mario Galaxy 2, which I haven't beaten before, but that's next up.)

Super Mario Galaxy...is a game I cannot give an unbiased review of. This game is way too close to my heart. I'll be honest: I cried so many times while replaying this game. And I'm not someone that cries easily, at all, but this game just gets it out of me.

I grew up on Mario games, including Super Mario Galaxy, and to my childhood self, this game was magical. Genuinely magical, like nothing else was. I think many of us know that feeling, that one childhood world that spoke to our imagination, our emotion, in such a deep and special way. I think this game is to me what some Disney films seem to be to many others.

This game knows how to trigger that feeling too. I think everyone here knows about the soundtrack. The orchestral score is still one of the absolute best soundtracks in gaming history, and many songs still give me shivers whenever I hear them. The worlds are brimming with colour, imagination, joy. And I just need to mention Rosalina's Storybook....my god.....every new chapter I unlocked made me break down a little and cry. I'm not exaggerating. I can't even describe it, it just hits me in the core of my heart like nothing else. It makes me want to hug my own mom or dad and bawl my eyes out.

I know I'm just gushing, but I'm sorry. These characters and this world just mean so much to me. And Super Mario Galaxy is the absolute pinnacle of why that is. Gosh I'm getting teary-eyed again as I'm writing this. It was incredible to re-experience this title after such a long time. This is one of those games I will genuinely cherish the memories of. There's a reason that when earlier this year, when I got the opportunity to meet Charles Martinet, I asked him to sign my original childhood copy of Super Mario Galaxy. It has a place in my heart that it will never lose.

Phew...and with that, on to Super Mario Galaxy 2!

[kashell]

65. Silent Hill f - Coming Home to Roost

The year started with Silent Hill 2 Remake, and now we're in spooky season with Silent Hill f. Two great games in a great series. Silent Hill f was this close to being perfect. The combat needs some adjustment. But, it does work and can oftentimes be really fun. Everything else is absolutely on point. Bloody horror. Psychological horror. Squelching horror. Atmospheric horror. It's all there and backed by a unique, 1960's Japan setting. Hinako went through it, and she's about to go through it some more as I go for the rest of the endings.

[bikingjahuty]

103. The Simpsons (Arcade)

One of my Halloween/October traditions is to watch classic Treehouse of Horror episodes from the first 10 or so seasons of The Simpsons. With us being about a third of the way through October, I decided to start doing this tonight. Following my annual rewatch of the first Simpsons Halloween Special in season 2, it inspired me to want to play the beloved Simpsons arcade game again, mostly just for the cemetery level. However, it has also been 5 or 6 years since I last played through The Simpsons, so I just decided to blast through the entire again once more, which only takes about half an hour anyways.


Growing up, I only ever came across The Simpsons arcade game a few times, and being a big fan of the show during the 90s, I was always drawn to it. However, one drawback the game has, which isn't entirely the games fault but is still something I noticed even back in the day when playing it are the random characters that are used for many of the game's enemies and bosses. Yep, even Bart says it best when running into some of these bosses when he says, "Who the hell are you?" Other than the final two bosses, you're guaranteed not to recognize 90% of the enemies from the show. A big part of this is due to the fact that in 1991 when The Simpsons arcade was released, the show was still very much so in its infancy and many of the better characters, villains and defining moments of the show would eventually become famous for simply hadn't happened yet. There are still a decent amount of characters and cool references to places and events in the show still, but at the same time, it's easy to wonder why you've never seen certain things in the show that pop up frequently in the game. Regardless of this, the visuals and just overall presentation do a fairly good job at capturing the look and feel of the cartoon perfectly, with some of this thanks to great cutscenes which play out between stages to help drive the story forward.


The audio in the Simpsons stands out by offering voice clips from the various main characters in the Simpsons, voiced by the same actors that star in the show. This aspect definitely elevates the game in terms of its faithfulness to the IP its based on. There are also various songs, mainly the main Simpsons theme that is present often throughout the game as well. As for the original music in this game, it's pretty good and catchy for what it is. As for sound effects, a lot of it will probably sound familiar to you if youv'e played the TMNT beat em ups that Konami released back in the 80s. While this does feel a bit lazy, it isn't too bad and doesn't detract too much from what is other was a pretty excellent audio presentation.


To this day, and after beating The Simpsons multiple times throughout the years, I will say this game's biggest flaw by far is its overly simplistic and frankly pretty cheap gameplay. Unlike beat em ups like Final Fight, Streets of Rage, and Golden Axe, the beat em up gameplay in the Simpsons is lacking in the same depth and range of features that all the aforementioned games possessed, as well as a decent amount of other beat em up titles from this time period. The Simpons has less attacks, moved, abilities, power ups, weapons, and other features that definitely help elevate beat em ups beyond the monotony thay many games from this genre suffer from. You pretty much just have a basic attack and a jump, which allow you to do a few unique moves, but nothing that will make the game anymore enjoyable to play past 5 minutes into the game. It also doesn't help that this is a pretty imbalanced a cheap arcade game that wants to bankrupt you if you play this game in arcades. You will die a ton in The Simpsons, which for an arcade game means you'll be throwing a ton of quarters into this game if you want to see the ending. Even if you happen to be playing this game on free play, or emulating it, it's hard to deny how annoying and cheap most of the bosses are, as well as the way the game throws enemies at you in certain parts which make it very difficult not to take damage.


Like several other 90s arcade beat em ups, The Simpsons is heavily carried by its IP and is probably the main reason most people my age remember this game fondly. Fortunately Konami did a pretty good job with the games presentation, which definitely distracts the player from the pretty lackluster gameplay. As a beat em up, there are way better games than The Simpsons, but regardless it's still a pretty fun and sentimental game to play, even nearly 35-years after it was first released. (10/10/25) [32/50]

[telly]

Game 24 - Astro's Playroom (PS5) - 3 Hours

Astro's playroom was a really fun, short and sweet platformer that feels like such a great homage to all things PlayStation. I could understand if when playing this game you feel like you're being advertised to. For me, because the game had tight controls, great graphics, excellent music and tons of variety, it was really hard to get cynical because it did feel like the developers were trying to make a quality product. The idea that the game represents a world inside your PS5 is a really neat idea.

This is the first game that I've played (and it may be the only one I end up playing) that takes full advantage of the dual sense controller, and a lot of it was great. I think the Monkey climbing stages were a little awkward, but I enjoyed everything else. One of my favorite aspects of the game was testing my knowledge of all the little hidden homages to previous video game franchises and I definitely wasn't able to identify all of them but again it felt like such a nice little nod to the history of PlayStation and also video games in general and because each area was structured after a different Sony game console, you also have the opportunity to see lots of different pieces of history, some of which I didn't even know about.

So overall this game didn't overstay its welcome; it was a fun little distractor from all of the horror games that I've been playing recently, and I definitely want to try out the fully fledged Astro Bot at some point in the future!

[Cartagia]

Got the true ending of Hollow Knight: Silksong.  Just a masterful game.  A pretty natural progression of design from the first game, which was all I wanted.  I think the map may actually be a hair too big for how long it is, making it easy to forget about stuff in areas you haven't seen for dozens of hours.  The game is difficult, but once you hit a certain point everything just sort of clicks into place.

[kamikazekeeg]

28 - Poppy's Playtime: Chapter 1 (PC 2021) - BEAT - I thought I had played this before, but I think I just watched someone play it, but this is mostly just a tech demo, proof of concept, as it's free and very short, mostly just to set things up for the next chapters.  I kinda dig the goofy extendo hand gadget, it offers some lightly unique gameplay elements.  Aside from Five Nights at Freddy's, I'm kinda generally not into mascot horror a ton, there's a lot of slop out there, but this and maybe Bendy seemed decent enough to check out.  I'll get to the next one once it gets a sale, maybe there will be a Halloween bundle sale.

[bikingjahuty]

8. Silent Hill (PS1) - ABANDONED

Years ago, before I started scoring the games I beat, I played the first Silent Hill on the PS1 as my introduction to the series. I remember living the games audio and visual presentation, and its very unique horror atmosphere, something that really set it apart from any other game at the time. However, where I felt Silent Hill really shit the bed and something everyone seems to conveniently forget when discussing how iconic this game is, is its terrible gameplay. However, since my first trek through the eerie town of Silent Hill, I've since played both Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 2 remake, two games I absolutely adore. So after all this time I figured maybe I was too harsh on the first game, or maybe my love of its sequel would soften me up to Silent Hills clunky, cumbersome gameplay. Not only did that not happen, but I might actually dislike Silent Hill's gameplay even more than I did nearly a decade ago when I first beat it.


During my second go around with Silent Hill, I made it all the way to the lizard boss in the school basement. Seeing the story book in the library, I knew exactly what I needed to do in order to defeat it. However, like so many things in this game, knowing what i needed to do was constantly hampered by how poorly implemented the controls are. If you ever thought the classic Resident Evil games' tank controls were awful, just play Silent Hill and it'll make you appreciate those old RE games at a level you never thought possible. Not only is movement absolutely dreadful, but just doing things like lining up your character to pick up an item or examine something. Avoiding slow moving enemies feels like steering the Titanic and anything other than firearm weapons will almost guarantee you'll take damage. The point I'm trying to make here is I kinda hate playing this. Yet, despite this I don't hate Silent Hill.


As mentioned, this game's presentation is outstanding. It's still creepy as hell, which I feel like is aided by the aged graphics and distorted polygons which at least at the time with borderline cutting edge for a console game. The art direction is absolutely stellar and it really creates a nearly constant tense, frightening atmosphere. This is only complemented even more by the creepy as hell OST and overall sound design in Silent Hill, which literally gives me chills. I guess my only minor gripe is the pretty bad voice acting that nearly every character demonstrates.


In many ways, I feel like what Konami was trying to do with the first Silent Hill, but fell short with, especially in the gameplay department, was perfected with Silent Hill 2. Even Silent Hill 1's story isn't as interesting as the second game. I really, really want to like the first Silent Hill game, I truly do. But unfortunately the gameplay is so crap, I don't think that's even possible. This is why I'm even happier than I was before that Blooper is in the process of remaking the first game, which I can safely say needed a remake way more than Silent Hill 2 did. Perhaps with some much more refined gameplay, I can finally enjoy playing through Silent Hill. Until then, however, I'll stick with its newer entries, at least the ones that are worth playing. (10/12/25)

[kashell]

66. Silent Hill f - The Great Space Invasion!

It's not Silent Hill unless there's some goofy bonus ending. That's what this was, and it was a lot of fun to get because it tied into the main game with Hinako's and Shu's favorite movie and past time. There was an even some homage to other Silent Hill silly endings. I really appreciated the 1960's, black and white, Speed Racer looking presentation. Time to move to the next ending - New Game Plus is pretty damn awesome.

[telly]

Lots of Silent Hill going on in this year's challenge! Love it! 

[kamikazekeeg]

29 - Five Night's At Freddy's 2 (PC 2014) - DROPPED - My anger to beat the last night might bring back before the month is out, but I've dropped this for now, because this game is ass, and it's entirely because of ONE thing.  The Withered's.  They pop up randomly, forcing you to quickly bring up a Freddy mask to cover up, but the timing window is something like...a second? Maybe less? So any hesitation from bringing your mask up leads to immediate death.  It's absurdly tight, which is weird, because all of the other characters have some leeway from the feel of it. 

If I die from Toy Bonnie, Toy Chica, Foxy, Mangle, or get screwed by Balloon Boy, it's my fault, I missed the audio cue or wasn't watching the vents well enough.  The problem as things ramp up and I keep flipping to the music box and back, I start to lose a tiny bit of focus, which in some ways helps, because I'm just trying to grab glimpses of possible characters, I don't need to actively see Foxy, I just need to vaguely see his orange shape while being more focused on the vents when I swivel to look.  That's when I'm in the process of bringing the tablet down, going to a vent light, and then being hit by a Withered, but I was in the process of moving, and by the time I swing to the mask, it's over.  It's so frustrating and not fun. 

I've seen some guide stuff that you need to start bringing up the mask immediately after dropping the tablet no matter what, even if there's no clear threat just to predict an appearance, which is meant meant more for the bonus, harder night, but I'm already meta gaming/micro-managing the game down to the tightest it can be, that anymore just isn't fun, it's such a badly designed game because of this timing, and honestly, despite liking the idea, worst than the first game.  You really don't use the cameras at all once you learn what you need to do other than use the music box, but you aren't using it to look in that room, just to wind up the music box.  I really hate that Scott never updated this at any point to make it a more reasonable experience.  A half second update to this window would make the game not great, but tolerable.

I poked abit at FNAF 3 because I was mad at FNAF 2, but not sure I'll play it.  They made the cameras look terrible and have super annoying audio, making it almost unplayable to me.  It's really not good and I think it might have some annoying mechanics to it, not 100% sure on it.  My run through the original FNAF games is not going well lol

[kashell]

Lots of Silent Hill going on in this year's challenge! Love it! 

Same. I'm glad to see it!

[dhaabi]

61. Silent Hill f || PlayStation 5 || 10.03.2025



For nearly three full years, I've been curious to know what sort of direction the Silent Hill franchise would take with its first original and premium entry since 2012 after having largely been dormant for over a decade. Fortunately, Silent Hill f's release comes at a time that's perfect for someone like me who's only just recently completed every previous main installment.

First, it's critical to discuss f's identity. Of course, the game's most overt difference from the games before it is its 1960s Japan setting. And while this itself is a rather stark change, it is not the change I consider to be most significant. Instead, that change would be that the game is set in a town that is the protagonist's home. No, it's not some unfamiliar place or a home she's revisiting after having long been away from it, and it's not a town with any connection to Silent Hill either. And while the town of Ebisugaoka is certainly not Silent Hill, the game establishes connections between the two: coal mines, a town that's segregated from the city by bridge, a fog-laden mountain landscape that even covers the lower foothills, and religious beliefs steeped in folklore that contrasts the beliefs held by The Order. Despite the major shift in setting, there is more that's similar between the two towns than meets the eye. On a more fundamental level, why the psychological horrors that are to be experienced by Hinako exist in such a way is best explained by the game preceding f that many will assuredly overlook and not play, that being Silent Hill: The Short Experience.

To be forthright, f's writing is arguably the most transparent among its peers. Observant players will find hints to this theme all throughout the game whether it be through narrative, monster design and behavior, or environmental storytelling. However, this is not to suggest that I'm critical of the value it provides. Above all else, f's story revolves around gender roles. As the protagonist, Hinako as a young woman dares to question and defy societal gender expectations. She is called, or thought to be called, a traitor on numerous occasions even by her peers. And throughout her nightmarish journey, she grapples with what womanhood is exactly and what it means to sacrifice one's self for the patriarchal order. Despite her aversion to what's commonly accepted, she finds herself not only experiencing but submitting to what she's been avoiding all this time but on an unparalleled level that only psychological terrors can unleash. And since this thought does relate to writing, I'll bring attention to the game's endings. Or, rather, how they're earned. For some reason, the developers found it best for an incomplete ending to the narrative be experienced for all first completed playthroughs. To earn more fulfilling ones, subsequent playthroughs are required while simultaneously completing certain requirement goals.

Visually, the game looks fine and is not something I take issue with. In the game's opening hours especially, meandering through this small mountain town with its rising and lowering elevation and the small spaces between its clustered homes is enjoyable. It's a town that was designed far before urban planning regulations were enforced, so city design has an organic presentation and sense of space. At all points throughout the game, it's visually expressed as a forlorn, failing town that's seen better days long ago since before the war. I especially enjoyed the details in smaller environmental assets such as broken-down household appliances and alcohol bottles littering the perimeter of homes. And by contrast, f's otherworld environment takes on the setting of an ancient shrine. It's not particularly scary as it omits much of the surface-level horror elements with its visual design, but it does utilize darkness and often more intense combat sequences to help promote a greater sense of vulnerability.

Regarding the game's combat, I feel as if my opinion toward it is skewed largely because of the combat difficulty setting I elected to choose at the start. On the day of the game's release prior to any patch updates, what is traditionally considered the "Hard" difficulty setting was referred to as Balanced; in time, this was changed. Despite the lower level Story difficulty option even mentioning that it is the "traditional Silent Hill difficulty," I dismissed it due to its placement among options and chose Balanced. However, Story difficulty certainly should be the option most players choose as the game directs, as what was once named Balanced mode is anything but. With that said, it is difficult to properly assess my thoughts based on this fault since even at this moment, I've not seen how combat is like for the Story-focused experience.

Nevertheless, I believe I can still make judgment toward the game's combat. With how it's designed, the game's combat feel far too complicated for a survival horror game. Throughout general play, players must manage several different elements beyond straightforward attacks that include a Focus meter which doubly serves as the blocking function when certain weapon types are equipped, a Sanity meter that coincides with the Focus meter while also acting as a form of health, weapon durability depletion, and the window of opportunity to successfully evade and even parry enemy attacks. To say that there's no shortage of systems to monitor is an understatement, and combat's design makes the game far more action-focused than it needs to be. There's no merit in declaring that combat is objectively good or bad because it's neither of the two but instead mixed. Although, I will mention that the complex systems do add something toward elevating the sense of being vulnerable against the monsters awaiting you and, in a sense, do instill a greater emphasis on survival. Having first played through the game on a higher difficulty setting than is intended for a more tailored experience, what I can say from such position is that combat on Hard difficulty absolutely requires players to be well-versed in combat's design or overly patient upon failed attempt after failed attempt. Ignoring or being ignorant of any one individual combat element to the larger system will unquestionably make one's play experience more strenuous. And of course, despite it not always being possible or the best means of action, evading enemies altogether is (sometimes) a possibility.

And still, there is more relating to combat worth discussing. Unlike the majority of previous series titles, f restricts players with a limited inventory capacity, albeit one that can be upgraded over time through various means. Interestingly, the amount of items able to be stacked atop one another in one slot is also finite. For instance, acquiring more than three bandages will carry over to a second slot that allows for a combined total of six. As a result, players are routinely needing to parse through their inventory to see what's truly needed and what can be discarded. However, fully discarding items isn't actually what's done. Instead, items may be offered to shrine in return for Faith points which act as a form of currency. Also at these shrines, these points may be redeemed for stat upgrades or equippable charms gained randomly akin to gachapon. Needless to say, there is a lot of moving parts to combat and play style. Meanwhile, I'll also mention the visual effects that are present throughout combat. Enemies light up prior to when they may be counterattacked. A whooshing animation plays in slow motion upon the impact of a successful heavy attack. Like previously mentioned, these aspects diminish the presented horror elements. And while this last aspect is an outlier to the aforementioned, it's definitely worth mentioning that, arguably for the better, f is a game that's fully reliant on melee combat: there are no guns or other ranged weapons at the player's disposal. But I won't deny that combat feels overtly foreign as a result of some creative decisions toward the end of the game where battle gameplay evolves.

I'll preface this final section that, like with most things, horror is subjective. With that understanding, I consider f as a game that does not induce much fear. In fact, it may be the least scary game in the franchise—it's certainly a contender, anyway. Part of this is due to the game's emphasis on combat, whereas another part is that Japanese horror is far more subdued than western horror. However, I actually was anticipating this reduced fear prior to playing based on the latter which, to me personally, is not that scary despite myself still enjoying Japanese horror. But there are other factors at play too, such as the first boss having a specific attack with the corresponding "dodge this!" scripted dialogue. While psychological horror is still a hallmark of f, I feel as if much of the horror passed to players is translated through disgust and unease through body horror imagery that's, to be fair, also usually present within the series. But I feel as if it's taken to a slightly more intense level in this installment.

Throughout my time playing, my opinion of Silent Hill f transformed from being mildly disappointed to mildly satisfied. There are certain design choices I perhaps would have more greatly preferred to be opposite to what was finalized, but the game ultimately exists as a worthy entry in the series—a full-fledged entry that's the first of its kind in thirteen years. If this sort of quality continues, then there are good things to expect from the franchise going forward. At this point, I'm being more a backseat spectator to a second playthrough to reach a more satisfying conclusion, though I'm sure there will be times when I do play for myself. And as I've mentioned before elsewhere, I do believe that, in this moment, f now exists as the franchise's most divisive game entry.

[dhaabi]

Lots of Silent Hill going on in this year's challenge! Love it! 

And it keeps on going.