Silent Hill 4: The Room Demo

Silent Hill is among the most famous survival horror series out there, in most part thanks to the second game, which featured a very well-written story line. The success came from the fact that it employed psychological gimmicks to frighten the players, rather than fill the screen with zombies or aliens.

Silent Hill 4: The Room returns to the old recipe and puts you in the shoes of Henry Townshend, a simple guy who one day finds himself trapped in his apartment, while every night he is haunted by recurring nightmares filled with terrible monsters. Thus, with massive chains sealing the doorway and no way to open the windows, he is a prisoner in his own home and slowly turning mad in the process.

You do, however, manage to get out after a few minutes and the game's real story starts to unfold, but the premise is interesting enough to fill you with curiosity. In essence, although the plot may be rather simple and the dialog a bit silly, it does feature a few twists and turns that keep you wanting to see how it all ends, especially since you can observe your character changing over the course of the game.

Although this installment is much more action-oriented than the previous titles, it is still a survival-horror at its core, which means that you are not able to go through the levels with the finger glued to the trigger. Thus, although you do find various guns and weapons spread around the environment, there isn't too much ammunition available, which forces you to use them only when there are no other alternatives.

Technically-speaking, the game employs a few tricks and techniques to make the environment look scarier, thanks to the potent graphic-engine it uses. As it is customary for horror games, the sound is sublime, with carefully chosen noises to make your skin crawl with every step. You do, however, have to get used with the controls and gameplay style, since it is designed from a very unusual perspective for PC users.

In the end, Silent Hill 4: The Room does a good job when it comes to atmosphere and story, although it could have refined the gameplay elements a bit more. Other than that, horror fans should be able to enjoy this installment, since it brings back a few good memories from the previous episodes.