Hannan Mundia 
The January 31, 2024, State of Play event gave fans their first look at Silent Hill: The Short Message and also served as a way to announce its shadow drop.
Fans had their hopes high to finally get a release date for the Silent Hill 2 remake. While they didn’t get that, Konami revealed and subsequently released a standalone game set in the Silent Hill series called Silent Hill: The Short Message. The game’s existence has been known for years, with concept art making its way to the internet in 2022.
More recently, the game was leaked by the Australian games rating board back in November 2023, which also gave fans major story-related spoilers. However, fans now know what sort of gameplay to expect from it.
What is Silent Hill: The Short Message?
Silent Hill: The Short Message is a standalone, first-person, free-to-play survival horror title set in the Silent Hill universe.
Players play the game through the eyes of Anita, a young woman who explores a modern-day German apartment building called The Villa to uncover what happened to her friend. Not all is as it seems, however, as Anita soon finds herself running from horrors that roam the seemingly abandoned building.
Throughout the game, cutscenes detailing Anita’s tragic past full of abuse and self-harm are shown to the player. Players also learn more about Maya, who seems to be Anita’s deceased sister. It’s implied that both Anita and her mother blame the player character for Maya’s death and that Anita, in an attempt to escape her mother’s abuse and match up to Maya, jumps off the ledge of a rooftop.
Like past Silent Hill games, the game seems to be packed with themes of domestic abuse. The game is aesthetically very different, however. Instead of the literal fire and brimstone of the series, it uses flowers, mushrooms, and Post-it notes to create an eerie Otherworld atmosphere.
Silent Hill: The Short Message release date
Silent Hill: The Short Message was released alongside the initial January 31, 2024, State of Play announcement and is available to download on PlayStation 5 now.
The entire game is free-to-play. While most players can simply go to the PlayStation store to digitally download Silent Hill: The Short Message, players in Germany will require a PlayStation Plus subscription to play the game.
Silent Hill: The Short Message is the official title for Silent Hill f, which was officially revealed in 2022. The game was previously pitched as a mainline installment in the Silent Hill franchise, though it’s unclear if this is still the case.
