Lotus Prince Let's Play: Silent Hill Downpour (Complete)!
Silent Hill is back, and this time, it has an entirely different aesthetic!
Silent Hill: Downpour
Players: 1 Offline Player
Publisher: Konami
Genres: Horror
Publisher: Konami
Genres: Horror
Release Date: March 13, 2012
Developer: Vatra Games
MSRP: $59.99
Developer: Vatra Games
MSRP: $59.99
Silent Hill: Downpour follows Murphy Pendleton, a prisoner who is stranded in the town of Silent Hill after the prison transport vehicle he is being transported in careens off the road. Downpour's plot is unrelated to previous installments in the series, focusing on Murphy rather than the series' mythos, and its events take place in the southeastern region of Silent Hill, which has never been explored in previous games.
Lotus Prince Let’s Play: Silent Hill Downpour (Complete)!
Posted By LotusPrince about 2 months, 3 weeks ago
Lotus Prince Let’s Play: Silent Hill Downpour (Complete)!, 
Here we go again, folks: we’re tackling another Silent Hill game! Downpour stars a convict named Murphy Pendleton, who is in jail for reasons unknown. During a transfer to another prison, things go awry, and we’re stuck walking the foggy streets near Toluca Lake! You know that this is going to be the start of something gloriously terrible. LET’S GO CRAZY
This is a playlist! Once it loads, click on any installment you wish, or simply let them play continuously!
This is my 35th Let’s Play! You can check out my other work in my archive, here!
Card 1, by JackFrost:
Card 2, by MEgamer (kjekz_party):
Card 3, by FallenBane:
Card 4, by zorgof:
Silent Hill: Downpour Review
Does the newest Silent Hill overcome its soggy E3 demo and bring the series back to its roots? 
Vatra Under Review: Is the Silent Hill: Downpour Developer getting Shut Down?
The Developers of “Silent Hill: Downpour” are under review.
Silent Hill: Downpour Review
Does the newest Silent Hill overcome its soggy E3 demo and bring the series back to its roots?
Silent Hill: Downpour Delayed Til 2012
For those who don’t know yet, it seems that Silent Hill: Downpour will be darting away from its scheduled release date.
First assets for Silent Hill: Downpour released
There’s been quite a bit of talk about the Silent Hill series on Blistered Thumbs,
Silent Hill: Downpour on the Way
We’ve known that there’s been a new Silent Hill in the works since E3, but
Vatra Under Review: Is the Silent Hill: Downpour Developer getting Shut Down?
The Developers of “Silent Hill: Downpour” are under review.
Silent Hill: Downpour Delayed Til 2012
For those who don’t know yet, it seems that Silent Hill: Downpour will be darting away from its scheduled release date.
First assets for Silent Hill: Downpour released
There’s been quite a bit of talk about the Silent Hill series on Blistered Thumbs,
Silent Hill: Downpour on the Way
We’ve known that there’s been a new Silent Hill in the works since E3, but
Silent Hill: Downpour Review
Posted By Austin Yorski about 1 year, 2 months ago
Silent Hill: Downpour Review
Lotus Prince Let’s Play: Silent Hill Downpour (Complete)!, 
Silent Hill: Downpour was one of BT’s “Worst Games of E3.” The demo Konami had on hand wasn’t just bad, but actually unplayable, as it glitched and became impossible to progress. I tried to put my first impressions of the game aside to review it, assuming they used the multiple delays to iron out bugs and tighten up the newest entry in what had once been one of gaming’s marquee franchises. I was pleasantly surprised by a lot of the I things I saw in my latest trip to everybody’s favorite haunted town, but I can’t help but feel the lingering ghost of the problems that haunted the original gameplay demonstration.
| PROS | Soundtrack, Some clever puzzles, Clumsy combat |
| CONS | Frustrating technical flaws, Embarrassing monster design |
| WTF?! | Mario 64 staircase, Black light ghosts, Side-quests |
You begin Downpour by taking control of protagonist Murphy Pendleton as he violently penetrates another man in a prison shower. Perhaps I could have worded that better… Either way, you then follow the prisoner onto a transport bus that crashes in the titular town of Silent Hill. Yes, the game has the same opening as The Fugitive, but its content is much different. It’s about a psychologically tortured prisoner who has to fight off symbolic monsters while coming to terms with his dark past that has something to do with his child. Oh wait, that’s the plot of The Suffering.
Snark aside, Murphy is actually a pretty unique main character, as far as white, heterosexual, American males go. His personality faults are clear from the get-go, and his exasperation with the behavior of the few residents of the eponymous hellhole is actually hilarious. Of course, the conclusion of his character arc depends on which ending you get, but the general storytelling on display here is good, if not up to Silent Hill 2‘s standard. But, then again, what is?
This is one of the only supporting characters. He is a magic mailman.
It’s important to address the franchise’s legacy right out of the gate though, because your attachment to previous games in the series will likely dictate if you should purchase this game or not. While Downpour doesn’t reach the lofty heights of its fore-bearers, it is a lot closer to them in terms of gameplay style. Gone is Homecoming‘s focus on combat or Shattered Memories‘ personality guessing system. This iteration is the closest of any of the modern Silent Hills to the original trilogy in terms of mechanics, so if you’re looking for that old-school fix, then it’s finally arrived.
As you may have noticed, I put the game’s “clumsy combat” as a positive at the beginning of the article. This is because Silent Hill isn’t meant to be an action-heavy experience, and the frantic fumbling that accompanies any given encounter is actually to the game’s advantage. In fact, the game actively encourages you to avoid combat, with several achievements/trophies being dedicated to avoiding, running away from, and not killing enemies. It also appears that some of the criteria for certain endings is based on how many monsters you take down, with the better ones favoring pacifism. Don’t come into Downpour expecting something like the modern Resident Evil games. I found two guns and about 50 bullets between them over the course of my play-through, and never needed to fire a single shot.
Gosh, I sure hope nothing comes in through that cracked window.
So, if you spend half of the game running away, then what do you do the other half of the time? Solve puzzles, of course! There are your standard combination locks, the old “find the right key” gambits, and even a sliding tile puzzle waiting for you, but there is the occasional exceptionally clever challenge. One in particular that I really enjoyed involved putting on a stage production of Hansel and Gretel, if you can believe it. Another smart one I solved through sheer luck, and only later realized what I should have done upon further reflection. The game does offer several different difficulty options for its puzzles at the start, but from what I can tell the answers usually stay the same, but the clues and methods of carrying out the solution become more complex on higher settings.
The last important element of Downpour is the fact that there are large sections of it when you are just left to your own devices in the city. These segments actually let you explore the locale at your own leisure, and are some of the most atmospheric and interesting. I only got lost once, thanks to the surprisingly useful maps that Murphy keeps in his journal. More interestingly, these sections allow you to walk around and complete side-quests. Yes, side-quests in Silent Hill. From freeing caged birds to returning stolen items to their rightful owners, these diversions are interesting, but pretty out of place. It’s yet to be seen if completing all of these quests has any effect on your ending, but it seems to make sense with Pendleton’s character arc that he would be rewarded for taking the time to do so.
6/10
Silent Hill: Downpour Review
Does the newest Silent Hill overcome its soggy E3 demo and bring the series back to its roots?-
March 22, 2012 at 03:26pm
actually if you read linkara’s twitter you’ll find out he is an active player of silent hill downpour.
oh well, by the way i also disagree with the rating, 6/10? really?
it’s a well looking game, and being honest, i haven’t even encounter any of those glitches.
yes, sometimes is kinda laggy, but it is nothing that matters for real.
the monsters, oh well, i fund them disturbing and scary: it’s not the monster, its the atmosphere they’re into…
i consider it a 8.5 game, its fun but is not perfect -
May 24, 2012 at 10:13pm
A number is just a number. The day it no longer became acceptable to give a game an 8.8/10 purely because the score failed to match the hype was the day numbers in video game reviews became FUBAR, F*cked Up Beyond All Repair.
A famous review site that specializes in video reviews absolutely trashed NBA 2K8, yet at the end gave it an 8/10. They sugarcoated the score because they figured the majority would backlash against them had they given it a score that fit the tone of the review and the many negative points presented, which in NBA 2K8′s case, imo, was a 5.5/10 review tone. I watched other reviews on their site, and again I found sugarcoated scores, increased by 1 to 3 points for the sake of keeping their viewers happy. Most of all, they wanted to keep the publishers happy. I’ve bought games in the past where reviewers omitted large flaws with the game, such as glitches that were game-breaking. I appreciate Austin’s honesty in describing this games pros and cons, as an honest reviewer should. Dena & I did encounter glitches. None that broke the game, but she encountered a few minor gameplay glitches and we both have seen many instances of texture render lag.
Anyone remember the backlash from the reviews of the majorly hyped game Haze prior to its release? Boosh! What about Too Human? That game was a sure thing Triple-A title, right? Well, they fell short of the mark. Way short. Too Human got inflated scores from sites too afraid to speak their mind about the overhyped turd, and Haze… man Haze was just garbage. I have a friend that tries to find the good in all games, and even he hated that half-assed monstrosity.
Common sense dictates that 5/10 is an average game. Yet just about every other major site has made 7/10 the “new” average score. It seems to me that, by scale, a 6/10 review here is the equivalent to a 7.5/10 review just about anywhere else, which is exactly the score many top sites gave this game, except for one dissident that will remain nameless (Let’s just say they’re Ignorant.
Austin, on the other hand, gave his honest opinion, and gave a score that reflected that opinion. A 6 does not imply a bad game, as others lead you to believe these days. It is as the score says, this is an Above Average game. On other sites, 8.5 means Above Average game. Over a decade ago, I used to constantly give 6s to games I flat-out considered Good. From my experience with Silent Hill Downpour, yes, it is a GOOD game. Unfortunately, saying a game is Good warrants a minimum of 8 or 8.5 because of this weird policy that more and more are getting attached to after the Twilight Princess controversy. It’s Austin’s opinion that this is an above average game, a 6/10 here and practically a 7+ everywhere else, and I respect it. One man’s 6 is another man’s 7.5 or even higher. Numbers and game reviews just don’t mix anymore, it seems.
-
March 20, 2012 at 06:22am
Glad I stayed away. There are reasons why these new teams can’t get it right and never can or will. Monster design is one of them. Second is being able to get in your head and scare you psychologically.
-
May 24, 2012 at 10:28pm
The game is worth a rental. Then again, that can be said for 98% of games these days with the short play-time.
-
March 16, 2012 at 03:36am
Why you has to mention Book of Memories. I was doing so well in trying to forget it exists. @@
But as for Downpour… The review kind of has me leaning towards actually getting the game, simply to see what they’ve done to get back the roots of the series. If the glitches aren’t too bad, I could maybe live with them. Shame about the monsters though.
-
March 16, 2012 at 12:16pm
The glitches can be overlooked since they’re pretty minor. In all honesty, the monster design is this game’s biggest problem. The dolls are pretty freaky, but the main enemies are really rather basic. Then again, the game makes up for the lack of monster scares with other visual scares and sound scares, which is easily where this game shines. It’s not Amnesia, but you wont find a better console horror this generation unless you manage to get your hands on Fatal Frame 4 along with the fan translation to english patch.
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March 15, 2012 at 11:36pm
This game, unlike Homecoming and Shattered Memories, “feels” like a Silent Hill game. Sure, there are flaws, but this game is one of the best REAL survival horror games in years. While I agree that some technical flaws and the monster designs are pretty weak, the game has amazing atmosphere, a reason to explore the town (sidequests, which one of them has one of the game’s scariest moments), and a reason to run rather than fight due to the combat being more like classic titles and not like Homecoming’s superhuman commando combat.
I disagree with the 6/10 score, but it’s not far off. I’d give it more like a 7. 8 if some of the glitches were ironed out a bit more. 9 if it did that and had more creative monster design. 10 if it did all that and had better graphics.
Seriously, the only problems this game has are nitpicks and minor problems. If those kinds of things bother you, then a 6/10 is justified. If you try to look past all of that, you’re dealing with a real gem of a horror game for the Silent Hill series that brings the SH name back to it’s scary roots of the original Team Silent games.
This is easily, IMO, the best Silent Hill game since SH3. On-Par with 4, if not better.
-
March 15, 2012 at 07:57pm
More sub-par, 8hr long, $60 games. Steam has Toe Jam and Earl for $5.. get that instead.
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March 15, 2012 at 11:31am
Well, I’ll definitely get this since I haven’t played a Silent Hill game in a long time(avoided Homecoming and tried to play Shattered Memories, but that damn nunchuk…) and in light of Linkara’s coverage of the series, have started to miss it. I’ll just wait for the price to go down first
-
March 15, 2012 at 12:28pm
Speaking of which, I wonder what Linkara and Phelous will have to say about this game…
-
March 17, 2012 at 11:10pm
Does it really matter? Linkara doesn’t play them and Phelous (like most SH fans) can’t move on from the first three.
Complaining that a new Silent Hill game is not like the originals is stupid because it’s not the same team.
-
March 19, 2012 at 05:00pm
Actually, since his reviews of the Silent Hill comics, I think Linkara has been making an effort to play the games himself, if only to avoid making mistakes when referencing them. So he may be interested in looking at Downpour.
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March 24, 2012 at 12:53pm
Actually, after the review of Dying Inside, a fan was kind enough to donate a PS2 to me as well as Silent Hill 2. I played through Silent Hill 2 and as of this writing just finished Downpour.
I really enjoyed Downpour, despite some flaws.
-
March 24, 2012 at 12:58pm
I really liked it! ^_^
I didn’t encounter the same kind of graphical errors this one did, but I don’t know what system they played on, plus I only played for about three hours at a time, which might make a difference. It did have some occasional framerate issues when loading new areas, but it wasn’t too distracting and personally I found the increased rain coverage to be great in the town, and I tensed up whenever I noticed the rain increasing in strength, since I’m not good at memorizing areas and have a tendency to stop and check my map, giving monsters an opportunity to take a bite out of me.
I’d say the bigger flaws are in the lack of extra content, surprisingly enough. We get crumbs of other stories going on with the Side Quests, but there was an astonishing lack of extra stuff to pick up, read, and learn more about the other characters. Yes, there is a lot of documents in the game that you pick up, but most of it relates to the main story or progressing through the game instead of just being creepy extra stuff. We don’t learn a lot about DJ Ricks or the postman, though one of the endings implies that the same thing that happened to Murphy in that ending happened to them.
Otherwise, I feel the story is strong, the atmosphere good, the music good, and I don’t feel like I wasted 14 hours.
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Lotus Prince Let's Play: Silent Hill Downpour (Complete)!
Silent Hill is back, and this time, it has an entirely different aesthetic!
Part 20,
Spaceballs reference?
Part 16,
Oh no Zero did it!
(ha, obscure yet current reference)
yes, I did just play Virtues’s Last Reward (looks away sheepish)
That one’s over my head, I’m afraid.
Hey LP, just wanted to say love the series and the fact you gave Downpour a chance. It’s got it’s flaws but I thought it was a much better entry than either Origins or Homecoming.
I just wanted to know what your take was on the changing of composers from Akira Yamaoka to Daniel Licht.
It is of course disappointing to not have Yamaoka, but I think that Licht did a really good job.
I was really looking forward to this playthrough! Downpour’s become one of my favorites of the series, and I really like your LPs, so it looked like a match made in…er, Silent Hill, I guess. It was cool to see how you played through it- it seems like everyone goes through the game a little differently.
You may have been told this already, but the mailman actually showed up first in one of the graphic novels, Silent Hill: Past Life. It’s set in the 1800s, so he’s been in town a LONG time.
Yeah, he’s in a comic, and he’s apparently the shopkeeper in Book of Memories. It’s bizarre.
Thanks a lot for your support!
I did my own LP of this when it came out. Wish I held off… since I finished, it got patched and made to run more smoothly. That and I now have HD capture and better editing skills. x.x
It was patched to run more smoothly? SWEET! I also LP’d this game when it came out, and the lag during autosaves was a serious pain in the ass.
Having only played the game after the patches I didn’t experience any of the tech problems, and I just shake my head at people that knocked the game so much..
Mixes a little bit of everything, and throws in so many tid-bits all over.
Lots of exploration and side quests actually gave you something to do beyond “Go here, find locks, grab this, unlock, fight something” repeat 100 times also.
But watching these LP’s, you notice a LOT of stuff you didn’t/couldn’t in the background. Monsters, faces, hands, bodies falling from water, etc., etc.
Seeing those kind of things along with someone else reacting to it made for a fun watch, heh.
Hi Lotus, again I love your lp’s they are really awesome.
A small question, at the start of part 3 u picked up a chair.
and u said “its clobbering time” are u by any chance a CM Punk mark? or is it just me reading into stuff waaaaaay too much?
Keep up the good work and please try Dreamfall. its an awesome game..
I don’t follow wrestling at all. I know the name “CM Punk,” but I don’t know who he is. If I said “it’s clobbering time,” then I was probably referring to “the Thing” from The Fantastic Four.
Thanks a lot for your support!
“Murphy Run!”
That might be the birth of a whole new crossover fan fiction.
Who would be the antagonist? Nicodemus Archleone?
Would the island that James went to in the “Rebirth” ending be Demon-reach?
Is Silent Hill the result of Dresden death curse?
The answer is in the head of a fan fiction writer near you!
=SPOILERS=
But seriously I loved the game but I find it lacks identity, Murphy feels like a mix of Harry, James and Heather. A father that has lost his child(Harry)that killed someone as the “easy” way to deal with it(James) that finds out that he is growing a monster within him(Heather).
But I found that Downpour showed respect to the first 3 Silent Hill games, and for that it earns a lot of credit.
This game does feel a bit too much like Silent Hill 2, right down to the hammer man being Pyramid Head. It was still fun, despite really clunky combat, at least.
Also, Downpour actually gives shoutouts to every Silent Hill game that preceded it.
Dude just want to say i love your let’s play series.
Wish i could get back the enthusiasm i once had that is now yours for playing even if it’s a shit game.
Really enjoy your videos.
Oh BTW
You should consider a career in radio as your voice is very likeable
Wow, thank you very much!
What helps with my enthusiasm is that I’m either playing a game blind, so it’s all fresh to me, or I’m playing a game that I know I enjoy, so there’s a good reason to be excited.
Thanks a lot for your support!
Watching this LP on good old YT made me buy the game. For $20.
Sounds awesome! I’m glad you liked the LP, and bought the game! You won’t be sorry.