Fans have been clamoring for a new Silent Hill game ever since they got a taste of what it could look like with the infamous P.T. demo. Some titles have capitalized on this engagement by implementing features inspired by Konami's lost Silent Hill title. Though Konami's Silent Hill project with Metal Gear Solid's creator, Hideo Kojima, didn't yield a complete game, the P.T. demo was enough to ignite the passions of fans.
Those fans are currently lighting up the internet again, as the indie project Abandoned is being accused of being a secret Hideo Kojima-led Silent Hill title. While the teams behind Abandoned continue to insist it's a project unrelated to Silent Hill, those looking to rekindle their horror spirits following P.T. have plenty of options.
Despite the reactions to the P.T. demo, it was still shocking to hear that Capcom's Resident Evil series would ditch the over-the-shoulder gameplay from previous titles and move to a first-person perspective. The game would also take several notes from P.T.'s tone, adopting gameplay more centered on slow and careful exploration as opposed to the franchise's more recent action focus.
The gamble paid off; Resident Evil 7: Biohazard quickly became a hit among players and critics. The game details the protagonist's (Ethan Winters) deadly encounter with the Baker family on their Louisiana property while searching for his missing wife. Though played through a first-person perspective, the title offered a return to form for Resident Evil, reminding players Capcom could still make stellar horror games. The title's success led to a direct sequel, Resident Evil Village, continuing Ethan's story and tying the narrative back to the greater franchise.
Layers of Fear is a first-person psychological horror game. Once described as "P.T. on drugs," the title takes a lot of the experience P.T. enamored players with and fleshes it out into a complete game. The ambiance is in the spotlight, letting the setting and mood do much of the heavy lifting. The majority of Layers of Fear revolves around exploring an ever-changing mansion while solving puzzles and locating important items. Akin to titles like Amnesia or SOMA, combat was not the spotlight of gameplay.
The narrative revolves around a painter returning to his home in the 1920's intent on finishing his masterpiece. However, as the artist begins painting, he starts having hallucinations. What follows is a macabre delve into the man's history and eerie revelations about his magnum opus.
Evil Inside is one of the most recent attempts at a title that delivers what got so many excited when they played P.T. Functionally, it plays a lot like the Silent Hill demo, only developed into a title a little over an hour long. The game relies heavily on claustrophobic navigation and ghostly entities, providing plenty of jump-scares. Thin hallways will be a common sight as players navigate the protagonist's two-story home. Though it's bite-sized, it'll scratch the itch of anyone looking for something just like P.T.
Evil Inside's story details Mark's attempt at uncovering the truth behind his mother's murder. With his father implicated and arrested, Mark has too many questions he feels will go unanswered. Resolute to discover the truth, Mark attempts to contact his mother using an ouija board but learns the truth can be maddening.
Visage borrows heavily from the P.T. demo, but it adds enough of its own narrative ideas to offer something unique to players. Much of the gameplay mirrors P.T., including semi-modern residential environments, first-person perspective and spectral entities, but it also adds a little to the formula. Some entities can harm the player, and there's also a Sanity mechanic that works a lot like the one in Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
Visage's story takes a more biblical direction, putting demons and ghosts at play in a world that intermingles with hell. The game opens on a rather dark note, as the protagonist murders his wife and children before taking his own life. From there, he awakens and must traverse his shifting home and explore the history of its past residents to uncover the truth about himself.
Don't Knock Twice is a movie tie-in game and a first-person psychological horror experience. The title can be played in VR on supported platforms, and that's undoubtedly the ideal way to experience the game. The option for non-VR players to get their hands on the game is nice, but there are plenty of other options for more traditional gameplay. It offers some P.T. quality scares for VR players that want to get even closer to their fears.
Don't Knock Twice trades thin hallways and ghostly homeowners for a vast manor intertwined with an urban legend. The story follows a mother attempting to save her estranged daughter, Chloe. She must uncover the truth behind an urban legend and find a way to save her daughter from the clutches of the fearsome witch of Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga.
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