Downpour Spoiler Thread

[Smiley]

Just got my copy of the game. Taking a break from ME3 to go through it. Hope it's good.

[Wrathborne]

Good Luck, yer gonna need it to play a new SH game. @.@

[Canas Renvall]

So far, I gotta say... The game is better than Homecoming (which I liked), but an annoyance is how large some of these buildings are, coupled with the fact that you only find a map once you've practically explored the entire place. I'm in the radio tower right now.

Also, some of the puzzles are pretty fucking hard on Normal. But that's not a bad thing.

[Smiley]

Nope. The exploration is pretty good. Turns out the blood spatter scenes aren't optional sadly. Still, I'm glad the game encourages running more than fighting.

EDIT: The "preorder" weapons code is also a load of BS. It's universal. Go to your nearest locker and put 171678 down. Ta-da.....!

[Wrathborne]

Blood splatter scenes?

[Smiley]

During moments of intense gore or violence blood will hit the screen.

[Canas Renvall]

I haven't encountered more than two of them really. One was the opening bit in the shower and the other was right after the first Otherworld experience, where you meet the first enemy and it slashes the inmate's throat.

[REmaster]

So would you guys recommend it so far? I beat SH 1-4 and loved the majority of them but I never played any other ones including homecoming. I've been wanting to buy this (which I'll probably do tommorow), I just wanted to hear some feedback from you guys first.

[Smiley]

So far so good. I've got everything on the normal setting right now and I'm still having a scarce amount of health barely surviving close encounters. What I also did was turn off action prompts and turned on "item shine" which makes all the objects you can interact with stand out so I don't make this too hard on myself. It glows like the objects you examine and drop in Resident Evil: Zero so it's not too out of the ordinary. With items you just have one melee and one use of a shooting range weapon. Even then you have to block enemy attacks just right to avoid further damage. One of the best features of Shattered Memories were the chase sequences, and that carries over here for parts of the game where fighting is not an option. Ammo is very scarce and your melee weapon of choice will deteriorate over time. So yes I do run more than I fight in this regard.

What I'm relishing are the actual puzzles that the game has to offer. My brain is forcing me to go back to my notes and further scope out an area just to find some hint of how to solve them and progress. This reminds me of survival horror a lot more than most recent horror games. You're exploring lots of locations barely getting by, and adding to the side quests and puzzles I have to say that this Silent Hill is one of the best that I've played since the third game.

Thus far my only gripes are the technical issues like screen tearing and frame rate drops that occur once in a while. Not as bad as 'Amy', but still jarring when you run through the next loading point. The game also has a checkpoint system, and I prefer to have save points so I can go back to some of my favorite parts in the series. Graphics also feel outdated. Regardless, it's clear that the team behind this looked at the strengths of each title before it and integrated those here.

As for recommendation I think that depends on how well you liked the last games or old school survival horror. Playing on easy for puzzles and difficulty as well as having action prompts and checkpoint saving might make this game fun for a casual audience, but I think they'll be turned down by the sluggish combat.

And if you're a die hard SH fan that thinks Team Silent is the only way this series can continue then it's not worth your time. I liked Akira Yamaoka's music, but I think Daniel Licht is a worthy successor to the series. I'm being bias though because I've been a fan of his music before I found out he was working on Downpour and Book of Memories.

If you've never played the games I've been told you don't need to know any of them to understand this because Downpour is a stand alone plot. That said there are references to other SH games that fans will uncover. Like this one:

Spoiler:

show spoiler

[REmaster]

^ That's it, I'm sold. I love being on the verge of death and having no ammo, exactly why I loved the old RE titles as a kid. Thanks for the info.

[GuardhouseMusic]

I like it so far, especially the ability to turn off action prompts and item highlights. I mean, there's quite a bit more to talk about (Smiley probably covered it), but Vatra were definitely thinking in the right direction in terms of developing this game.

[REmaster]

I like it so far, especially the ability to turn off action prompts and item highlights. I mean, there's quite a bit more to talk about (Smiley probably covered it), but Vatra were definitely thinking in the right direction in terms of developing this game.

Yea I like the option of item shine. Is it scary? I don't like things chasing me so I already know I'm going to be a nervous wreck lol.

[Smiley]

There's some good scares. There's also a lot of eerie and weird moments too. A train segment comes to mind. The rain creates more chaos because that's when monsters become really aggressive so you either take shelter or push through. The weather is randomized most of the game so you never know when it's going to come.

[REmaster]

There's some good scares. There's also a lot of eerie and weird moments too. A train segment comes to mind. The rain creates more chaos because that's when monsters become really aggressive so you either take shelter or push through. The weather is randomized most of the game so you never know when it's going to come.

Rain makes them more aggressive? That's pretty awesome.

[GuardhouseMusic]

Also, there's a fourth wall scare that impressed me. You know how load screens often have hints of how the game is played? I almost didn't notice this during a transition, and it brought chills upon noticing it.

Hold the R1 button to run

Press up on the D-Pad to bring up the inventory screen

They never loved you

You can bring up the map and look at Murphy's journal with the select button.

[Smiley]

My loading screen told me the following:

STOP DOING THAT!!!

Me:

[Canas Renvall]

^ I got that one too. I was actually taking a drink of my pop when it came up so it legitimately jolted me for a second.

Edit: Played a lot tonight. Still not going to give away spoilers, but... damn, I'm so glad that some nobody Czech development studio learned so much from studying the older games. They really seem like they paid attention to what makes a game atmospheric and tense. Definitely a game that has been putting me on edge, I'm really pleasantly surprised.

Edit edit: Oh yeah, might as well absolutely praise the puzzle design. The highlight of the puzzles was definitely when... well I know it's a spoiler thread, but even so, definitely when Spoiler:

show spoiler

Murphy is putting on the Hansel and Gretel show, and just... out of nowhere, the entire thing comes to life in a huge thunderstorm. Then when you go in the cabin and do that puzzle, then leave, the cabin just flops down like it's a normal standee.

Blew my friggin' mind. Seriously, props to Vatra.

[Smiley]

This is definitely not a 4.5 game.

[Canas Renvall]

You can't spell ignorant without IGN!

Seriously though, who listens to them anymore anyways? XD Every other reviewer is going for 7 or 7.5/10. Me personally? 9/10. The combat just needs a little more tweaking, but other than that I really can't find major flaws in the game.

[Smiley]

The survival horror fan in me wants to give this a 8-9/10 as well. I was shaken up by the idea that Homecoming was rated higher than Downpour, but clearly whoever wrote that Downpour review either forgot or has never played a traditional survival horror title before, let alone from Silent Hill 2 and 3 which the reviewer ironically praises as the 'glory days'.