If you love psychological horror games, and you’re already getting your fix this month with Google’s new content for Play Games and Google TV, then you’ll be happy to hear that everyone’s favorite horror game, Silent Hill, is coming to Android soon! However, you may then be disappointed to hear that it’s hardly a game at all, but rather an ‘interactive series’. Think of this as the Netflix Bandersnatch version of Silent Hill. Essentially, you’ll watch cutscenes, make decisions, and watch more cutscenes.
By definition, it is a game since it offers interactive elements, and you’re shaping the story and outcome by your decisions, but I just want to make sure that when it drops you don’t go into the experience thinking you’re going to be walking around town in a thicket of fog fighting off monsters. One interesting tidbit that came out about Ascension is that it will be episodic, and every day you open the game there will be new cutscenes to watch and interact with. So, for someone like my girlfriend who is obsessed with Everbyte’s Duskwood, which is basically the same thing but through a simulated phone in the game world, this will be perfect.
Still, anyone who has played a Silent Hill game in the past will know that their decisions impacting the story in meaningful ways is still worthwhile and fun. In fact, the most mind-bending part of the series for me is when you begin and you’re journey and the game begins profiling you psychologically. After doing so, it throws different jump scares at you depending on what you’re most afraid of.
Anyway, it’s no secret that the game industry has shifted heavily toward mobile over the past five years (“Do YoU gUyS nOt HaVe PhOnEs?”), and with it, some of what makes platform-exclusive AAA console and PC games immersive is often lost to grindy loot boxes, micro-transactions and shady pay-to-win practices.
While only time will tell whether or not this trend continues, or if Ascension will be an interesting experience you can get lost in without breaking immersion, you can pre-register for it right now. Let me know in the comments if you’re going to give it a go!
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