Silent Hill: Downpour Comic-Con Screenshots

Konami has released a new batch of screenshots for Silent Hill: Downpour. It’s not as twisted and disturbing as you would think. The visuals in Downpour just don’t capture the essence of Silent Hill. Not at this point in development, at least. The main character still looks too clean and the environments lack anything of interest.

I still remember how creepy the screenshots were for Silent Hill 3. All they had to do was show a decomposing dog on top of a dinner plate. That image alone was enough to creep someone out. At the very least it looked interesting. Can’t say the same about Downpour yet.

Source: Press Release

15 Comments

  1. Awwww that last picture is so heartwarming. The environments do look pretty boring though, you’re right there.

  2. Totally agree, be one i will definatly be buying like i did with Homecoming because i loved the old games but they dont have the psychological scare in them anymore.

  3. Looks great, strange to say it really but it feels like silent hill, havent thought that about a silent hill game for some time. Ill be getting this for def.

  4. Looks scary, but defo not freak-out early SH scary.
    More like the US “The Ring” and “The Grudge” remakes vs the original “Ringu” and “Ju-On” movies.
    You still get the jumps, but more due to loud sound effects than the horrifying tension build up.

  5. I’ll be getting this. Just hope it will be as good as I want it to be.

  6. Those pics seem to be lacking something, hopefully gameplay footage will show it off better.

  7. I think (hope) you are all being too harsh here.
    The thing we’re not getting is movement. If they manage to pull off the lighting effects, then really the things to be scared of aren’t the things you can see.
    If done well, then I reckon I’ll be scaring the life out of myself rather than the game doing it. It’s all about the suspense.

    Plus, the last Silent Hill game that I played (Shattered Memories) was incredible (in my opinion). You didn’t even have a weapon in that, AND you knew you were safe till the ice came, yet STILL I got freaked out every time the controller started to crackle! WOULD LOVE LOVE LOVE A PS3 Move/HD/3D remake of that!

  8. Looks like they’re really focusing on the isolation al la Silent Hill 2, going by those screens.

    I don’t understand anyone saying they don’t look like S.H when only the 8th and 9th could be lifted from another game (Alan Wake). The others are very Silent Hillesque.
    I’ve been on the fence about this game for a while and honestly think they should still scrap it and let the franchise die with a little bit of dignity left after the turds that were Homecoming, Origins and Shattered Memories (played it on PS2, so don’t go mental at me rept0n!).
    The game hasn’t been the same since Team Silent let it go and Akira Yamaoka took more of a backseat role (nothing to do with Downpour at all).
    …saying that though, what i’ve seen lately has sparked my interest again and I hope and pray to Valtiel that it’s good. I hope this game is good for my sake, for the fan’s sake.

    Oh, and they ABSOLUTELY NEED to stop Korn from doing the ‘theme’ song. That is quite possibly the worst idea I’ve ever heard in my entire life.

    • I can see how Shattered Memories could be seen as potentially the worst of the S.H games, but honestly – the motion control and the way they integrated that into the experience made it THE BEST Wii game that I have played.
      Really showed the potential of a ‘serious’ game on that console (something that only Dead Space Extraction had done previously).

      The psychological aspects were quite clever, I played the game through at the same time as a friend, and the nuances were very clever.

      For me, the closer they can bring the player’s senses to the game’s core, the more gripping it can become.
      Horror is all about suspense, emotion, fear and the unknown.

      What I want…
      Pyramid Head, in 3D, on the Move, with Heavy Rain’s ability for characters to die, but the story to continue.

    • Considering Team Silent developed the atrocity that was Silent Hill 4, which was not originally a SH game and it shows, the old guard opinion of ‘not the same since the original developer left’ doesn’t hold out here. Origins was a great Silent Hill game considering it was built for PSP, Homecoming was OK but was far too Westernised, throwing combat in every 3 seconds and doing away with psychological horror and puzzles. Personally I think this game looks very promising from all SH perspectives. Not mention it’s doing something original this time and has gone back to the ‘Silent Hill is a reflection of the subjects inner conciousness’ theme that punctuated earlier games.

      • Team Silent did a far better job of making a non Silent Hill game than any developer has done with making an actual Silent Hill game, which is testament to how Team Silent ‘got’ horror, atmosphere and grit of their environments. And they don’t recycle old apparitions from previous games (previous characters mental states)… If Pyramid Head is in this new game I’m going to lose my rag.
        Either way, Silent Hill NEEDS Akira Yamaoka.. and definitely does not need Korn. :/

        But yeah, you’re right… this new one does look promising and I hope they follow through with the promises they’ve made this time around. I cannot bear to play another bad Silent Hill game, it pains me.

  9. day one buy for me.

  10. Iswear this is the last time I give the SH series a chance. If this is as much as an insult as the last installment and overpriced piece of rat-crap called Homecoming, I’ll never support them again. I am saddened by the idea that the best Silent Hills (SH2 an absolute highlight imo) 1 to 4 only be played on a ps2 system, which I unfortunately don’t own anymore.

    These screenshots don’t look promising. Instead, they look uninspired, boring, far to clean and empty. The one with the staircase is nice, but hey, turn off the light in any staircase, put up an old poster and voila, horror-survival.

    Who remembers the epic moments of descending deeper and deeper into the ground, entering your own grave to descend even further into the depths. And that was only one of the countless breathtaking experiences the SH series had in stall.

    Fingers crossed. I’m afraid though, very afraid this is not gonna work out.

    • First paragraph is my sentiments to a tee, matey. I’m playing through the games in order soon hopefully (1-4).. Lucky for you the HD reissue comes out soon.

      I get your point with the screenshots, though I think they look (mostly) decent. It is a shame that survival horror these days largely relies on cliche..like the little boy playing with the toy car in the dark room. Hopefully its not just full of shock scares and actually is genuinely, psychologically unsettling. I remember playing the first game on a demo disc, shipping with Metal Gear Solid and absolutely bricking my pants! I want that back. I want to soil myself again through fear, not through anger that devs can’t get their bloody game right.

      And yeah.. the last sentence sums it up for me too unfortunately.

Comments are now closed for this post.