SILENT HILL: Ascension Reviews

by SpideyJ007

An interactive show that has severe monetization and design problems that unfortunately distract and take away from its main draw: experiencing the story.

At its core I don’t really have anything wrong with an audience actively making choices in a Choose Your Own Adventure-type show to guide a story. It’s just everything else in SILENTHILL wants to take away from it.

Pop-ups to vote in future decisions blocking subtitles and events in the cutscenes, distracting chat and emotes taking away from immersion, random quick time event segments after each day’s scenes that have little to no relevance to the day’s plot, mini-games that feel extremely unpolished, a season pass required to experience 90% of those mini-games, choices that don’t seem to have a direct impact on the story so far except for what dialogue a character says, labeling those choices so there’s nothing interesting about thinking what consequences a decision could have, experiencing the story in small increments so you can’t settle in, etc.

Outside of all of that the plot of Silent Hill Ascension could have been interesting if it was a standard adventure game. However with all of these systems tacked on that are meant to inspire community engagement with the story of a game a long-dormant franchise, it only pushes you away from having any connection with its world or characters.

by JustJimTV

Update: To the community manager that replied saying nothing is behind a paywall.
You get a vote but can buy more votes for money and effect the story for everyone, this is imbalanced.
Also I disagree with your points, I will not be gaslit or have my opinion manipulated by your opinion that is very obviously not shared by the community.
My rating has been updated to reflect the customer interaction experience.

While I was initially curious about the game I was disappointed that it took substantial time to successfully create even the required account to even load the title. Once able to “access” the in-game content I quickly saw the “experience” was locked behind countless micro-transactions. This is another example of Konami IPs being tarnished for what they were with micro-transactions. I’d rather a fully game or “experience” that is feature complete than what this is. Dear developers, no-one likes micro-transactions. These are very predatory and the quantities of in-experience currency is designed to make it nearly required to partake in the designed experience. Don’t make the same errors Konami made with Silent Hills and the ousting of Kojima. Respect the material and respect the consumer.

by Ah Dishwasher

Was really excited to try this out being a die hard silent hill fan but I was very disappointed. Everything feels cheap, and the story is not good at all. This was a huge let down and many others agree. I love silent hill and their best was when they made the silent hill 1-4 games in the ps1-ps2 era.

My advice is to either scrap this, or give us the level of horror and everything that was present in silent hill 4. We as fans just want really good games like silent hill 1-4. I would love another game or another piece of media to be like silent hill 4, that was my favorite. The level of horror/ sounds/ visuals were terrifying in it, so please re write the story to be like these old games I mentioned.

by Lallen3

The game is garbage, but it didn’t go from 1.9 to 3.9 stars without you erasing bad reviews. It’s still a pile of doodoo.

by WolfEXE57

Im a really big silent hill fan so i was pretty critical of this game when it released. The game is split into two halves which occur every day at the same time. A narrative section and a mini game section. Bothe of these occur while live-streamed and are a community based experience. This community based system immediately ruins the game. Players vote on one of three possible outcomes for a small narative slice akin to a telltale game. But where telltale allows you to make your own decision and compares it agains the communities, this game forces you to abide by what the community decides. Additionally they allow people to pay money to increase their vote further diminishing your own.
The second half of the game is a quick time event game that is never once explained, so as your franticly tapping and pressing the screen trying to figure out the controls your actively losing because again this is a livestreamed event as everything is “live”.
My final issue is that although its a live experience it dosent give off the apperieance that it needs to livestream every element, but somehow it seems to do so rather then preload the elements and then replay them in higher quality. I played this on my iphone 15pro max with my home fiber internet connection and the game was a pixelated blurry mess that was hard to see.

0/10 So many other games are worth your time and storage.

by Bob The Builder's Cousin

I was mildly optimistic/interested in this when announced but this has to be maybe the most soulless Silent Hill project aside from the pachinko games. The idea of a community creating a canon Silent Hill story sounds great but the execution ranges from disappointing to terrible. SILENTHILL interface is pretty cluttered and ugly. It really clashes with the self serious tone of the story when you have a chat that allows you to throw goofy stickers out at as scenes unfold. The animation of characters, specifically the facial animation, is incredibly stiff and everyone has a dead eyed Polar Express look. The writing is littered with clunky exposition and unnatural conversations. Voice acting ranges from robotic to flat out silly. I was often reminded of the worst cutscenes from Heavy Rain while watching. And while the developer has constantly argued this experience is not pay to win, you can literally buy “influence points” to have a larger effect on the story. The monetization is disgustingly greedy and reeks of a corporate cash grab mindset way more scary than anything happening in this series. Avoid it at all costs and wait for the other, far more promising projects. Or better yet, play some of the original games for some of the best thematically rich stories in gaming.

by Porterone

This is legitimately the worst media endeavor I have ever been subjected to. As a long time fan of Silent Hill I feel personally offended that the IP was attached to such a soulless, uninspired project. The only way this could be improved is by apologizing, pulling SILENTHILL , and issuing refunds to anyone who was tricked into spending money on this absolute travesty of a Silent Hill installment. It is absolutely unsalvageable in writing, design, execution- literally every aspect of SILENTHILL is absurdly flawed to the very core. Even the base concept is awful. I don’t understand how any of this was approved for development and then release. At its core it is not a story, it is a shameless money grab that appeals to vanity and desire for control. The narratives presented are not compelling enough for me to even have an opinion about how they should proceed. I’ve never before been so disgusted by an app that I’ve felt the need to write a full review, so I guess it was moving in that sense.

Edit: My first reaction to the developer’s response to this review was surprise at their apparent lack of reading comprehension skills, but I guess it makes sense considering the quality of the writing. Have you managed to move past the exposition yet?

by Infinity Ammo

In short: this is a slightly-less-than-mediocre TV show. Its gimmick is that the audience is taking part in creating the story. The problem is that the show you’re creating is awkwardly acted with mediocre writing and there’s just a million better things you could be watching. The voting and live participation was somewhat engaging at first, but I’ve already lost most of my interest—I have to enjoy watching the show enough that I care what happens in it. The visual and sound design deserve praise; it looks and sounds spooky (notwithstanding the expressionless character models) and might be a nice comfort watch before bed. It’s gimmick-first, and it’s kind of an insult to the audience’s intelligence that the developers think this gimmick alone is enough to sell the experience. The Silent Hill games are incredibly compelling pieces of horror media and monuments to the artistic potential of video games. It’s puzzling that after ten years without Silent Hill media, this is the comeback. In the hands of an experienced and talented developer, a good old-fashioned video game with the Silent Hill name could sell millions of copies.

by Calanagear

Silent Hill is my favorite series of all time. What sets SH apart from other series is the emphasis on atmosphere and creating a haunting horror game that’s a manifestation of the character’s psyches. The town ( and other places impacted) are a sort of interim/liminal space that’s both enticing and haunting, and often terrifying. I admire that the developers of Ascension wanted to make something different and that’s interactive, although I ( a die hard fan) guessed early on that it probably wouldn’t be a good fit for the series. Nonetheless, I wanted to give it a go to see if my thoughts on it being bad ( the trailer gave me that impression, particularly the voice overs). I couldn’t get through the first chapter. The main issue for me was the acting, but overall, it just felt off. Developers that are lucky enough to make a game that’s part of the SH franchise need to learn what they seem to reject: we fans want what the original games had. We don’t want a Westernized version. Please take a look at how RE went downhill after 4 but learned their lesson and came back with incredible games like 7 and 8.

by ReFreak94

This is one of the worst modern pieces of interactive media I’ve ever experienced. It’s a total scam. A $20 season pass that gets you different skin tones and some stickers. IP Points can be purchased to influence decisions, but whales will outbid you making it pointless. IP points start at $5. (Excluding IP points included with season pass.)There’s some mini games, but they are awful. You can just download free games off SILENTHILL Store that are better than this. (For free). Please stop giving developer rights for this series to people who have no idea what they are doing. This is not something to be proud of. I honesty can’t believe this exists. It makes me very concerned about the future of this series. This very well could hurt the brand in the long run. Lastly, I hope this doesn’t sour anyone’s first dive into the series. Because, believe it or not, at one point this series was superb. If you want an amazing SIlent Hill experience, play 1-3 on a PlayStation 2. The original 2006 Movie is pretty good as well.

by Enfohm

Attempting a comeback with this is like sawing off your own legs right before running a marathon. Absolutely pathetic-on every front. Shame on all involved. I will personally check whatever genvid does next and actively boycot. Do not let this crap make one red cent. We vote with our money.

Update: in response to developper’s comment. Yes you can learn from it. You can learn to make better choices, you can learn to make better products because this, objectively, is crap. A bad idea executed badly, regardless of license. You can learn to implement monetization in an ethical way. You can learn, from the overwhelmingly negative response-and that’s an understatement-that your project has made the industry worse and has destroyed your reputation, and that it’ll take a drastic stance change to win back people. If you were actually willing to learn you would have already presented your apologies. This is abysmal quality stuff without even considering the very problematic precedent you’re setting monetization-wise.

by JoseMalk

I been diehard fans of Resident Evil for over 5 years. When this came out and I want to tried this out because I never play Silent Hills before. After downloaded and I saw there have 50 minutes (I feel there will have more stories with every 50 minutes, nope!) for watch whole one show just make me feel boring like “come on, I want play third person, not movie.” This game is like Netflix interactive and make you decide if lead to good or bad ending, that’s big no-no for Silent Hills and horror games fans. I definitely agree to people who wrote negative reviews about micro transactions, I don’t want to see the higher prices. Look Konami, how Riot Games have best micro transactions for their games. Compare your micro transactions was clearly cash grab and worthless. Please stop running this game and focus on real games for Xbox and PlayStation. Great, I don’t have Xbox and PlayStation. This game just make me feel sick. Leave one star for you.

by Gaming-Dream

Even though it was said AI wasn’t used, I’m behind that it was implemented in the writing.

Everything feels so..cold. The soul of Silent Hill is lost in this series. I wish that we were not thrown into so much trauma right away. I also have no clue what’s going on because I’m not even given time to know these characters to begin with. I want to be fed bits and pieces I want to think about this charcater before I commit to deciding their fate. I feel like this is a bad attempt at a Telltale game because even the choices just feel poorly handled and there’s not really an impact made nor felt.
I want to see the actual town of Silent Hill I want to see the town pull in people fighting through their own personal battles..I want to relate to them. Sadly I diddnt get any of that from this and after 16 minutes in I just had to turn it off. I’m sorry..I’m a big Silent Hill fan but this was hurtful to experience.

by AxelRawr

I honestly hate to write negative reviews of things normally. But I couldn’t sit here and not share my distaste with this whole app/game/experience (whatever you want to call it).

When this was announced I was pretty unsure of what to think but tried my best to remain hopeful that it wouldn’t be too bad, possibly even great. But now that I’ve seen SILENTHILL , attempted (through the glitches and lag) to “play”, and seen the sheer amount of monetization slapped all over, I truly cannot believe this is even real.

Silent Hill is such a beloved franchise and after being practically nonexistent for a decade, it’s so disheartening seeing that THIS is what the devs decided to do for Silent Hill’s big comeback. It feels insulting to the fans that have been playing since the early days back on PS1 & PS2, and is a far cry from resembling Silent Hill at all. It honestly feels and looks more like a generic, poorly written indie horror game with “Silent Hill” slapped on there with some minor Easter eggs thrown in as an attempt to convince the fan base that this is authentic.

I was so optimistic but now I don’t even feel the drive to watch the story play out in any form. Let’s just hope that this does not negatively impact the other Silent Hill projects announced last October as well…

by @SeriousBeats

Was hoping for a great return for silent hill. This isn’t the silent hill I remember. Silent hill 1 remaster would be great or an hd collection for ios and Nintendo switch. Not sure what silent hill acension was trying to accomplish but it failed.

by DecemberJosh

The fact you guys actually put this out is just a big fat SPIT in the face to fans. This is absolutely the WORST silent hill i have ever witnessed.

by Questell3000

I can even log in gives me an error 404 forbidden.

by Cuniac

Poorly acted and should be skipped. Uninstalling it was more fun that anything these Devs had to offer.

by Mthtonight

This is essentially a pay to win Tv series where the rich have a much greater influence on how it plays out. Don’t even try this. It’s pure and utter garbage. Gives me no hope for the Silent hill franchise.

by Odthenrecover

It’s a really bad animated clunky show

by Chezburgaz

Your app redownloaded itself onto my phone. I did not at all touch it or redownload anything. Scummy behavior and very scary that can happen. I
deleted SILENTHILL a long time ago as I didn’t care. Today I noticed it on my main screen.

by Rachel_valentine

I won’t watch season 2. The entire season 1 tells nothing,Tobby must go / die just for Eric to catch up his job. Finally Rachel meet with Astrid at the season final episode just for season2. Nobody cares your characters’ fate any more, why should I waste time again in 2024?

by Vexer1990

Can’t sign in. Created an account with google and tried signing in but it wouldn’t work, SILENTHILL directs you to a internet browser to sign in, even then I still can’t sign in. SILENTHILL never fully loads up, the bar fills to only 75%. Can’t sing in. App won’t load up, google doesn’t have any search results related to my issue either.

by Chibi Ann

Character customization is broken. It randomly changed after you select things. Puzzles are mediocre so far and provide no actual challenge as you’re just clicking around to find things. The intro videos play on a weird loop randomly. You can’t actively influence decisions easily. The whole app is an absolute mess. I don’t know why I expected any differently.

by Toxic Toucan

The votes feel like they don't change anything. The animation is lackluster. Chat covers the screen with stupid stickers. People can just pay to have votes. When the best part of the game with a quick time event, you know it's bad.

Verdict: 1/4 baked.

by Haydee134949

When I downloaded this, I thought it was the game.
So heads up this isn’t a game this is a show but I wouldn’t even download it if I knew it was a show. Because why is it even in the Apple Store. it would've been ok if it was a website where you could watch the episodes it would be better but putting it in a game store like…

But why is this in the Apple Store if it’s not even a game. I got so hyped up thinking I could play the game on my phone but anyways, not downloading this again😭…

by Bigchungus99

Just downloaded SILENTHILL and it is filled with season pass how is this a good game when only the opinions of rich people matter the poor average joe never has a say. This reminds me of how life in America really is only the rich opinion matters but the poor man’s opinion doesn’t ………….

by EmEmeraldCave

So the first day of Silent Hill Ascension was wild. Users were getting banned for typing “scam” and “Hideo Kojima” but were allowed to drop full on slurs. The moderation was completely awful (we will get to this) and so was the stream itself. At random there would be quicktime events and obviously everyone purposely failed them.

But even without all of that, Silent Hill Ascension literally wouldn’t work. Even if they made it a full game in and of itself. The story is badly told, the characters are uninteresting, and the look of it all as well as quicktime events all keep it from being good. Also it’s movie canon too!

Anyway, the chat was moderated by ChatGPT and the devs are deleting negative reviews lol. So it’s safe to say this project was doomed to fail. The devs were defending the microtransactions and bad moderation earlier too which made me laugh.

I understand this is Konami we’re talking about but I never thought they would ever managed to reach this low when it comes to Silent Hill. I hope this thing gets scrapped midway through.

by Mhvet

Selling MTX in a live show that’s not even a game. This needs to be outlawed worldwide

by Âūrēłïüš

Another in the line of the trend that rips any nostalgia or favor you have in the series in order to milk money out of the user while simultaneously spitting in the face and memory of a once great franchise. 0/0 This game shouldn’t exist. The fact that it exists is insulting to anyone who has ever played the original team silent games. Do yourself a favor and play any of the Silent Hill 1-4 games instead. Play them for 8 months on repeat instead. Spend your money on any of those copies of those games instead. They are worth their prices, I assure you. You will be blown away. Forget this “game” exists in the same space as silent hill. It is soulless, it is predatory, it is insulting.

by Solrac Rod

Nonsensical story and just not interesting.

Response to developer: thanks for the reply. None of the story connects especially when there was no build up to what is going on. It’s all over the place and all of a sudden the creatures are in the background in some scenes and it just doesn’t flow. I’m a huge silent hill fan like many others who were open minded for the project but this just doesn’t hit. It’s not a game, the puzzles are unoriginal, it’s not a movie because you have to watch it in segments, it’s not Silent Hill because the subtleties to build a story are not there. Sorry, thanks for trying but I’ll pass. (Not to mention, there is a battle pass!)

by HarryMason86

Had huge expectations for this, I was actually excited. Even defending it at the beginning because people were judging based off the first day. With that being said, I gave it time and it never improved. Acting is terrible, story feels like it doesn’t follow one path, feels all over the place. I stopped playing after the first couple of episodes, and noticed all the qte scenes were the same and only had different characters.

by IsmaelHinojosa

Was hopeful for this then it actually dropped and it’s a supposed “game” that’s trying to trick fans into thinking their choices actually matter when we all know the people with the biggest wallets will be the ones to actually make decisions in this. Microtransactions everywhere for an interactive video series. gross.

by Ebola Of EPeen

This is painful to watch. It feels as though this was made by a highschool AV club. The stories are so mind bogglingly poorly acted and written. The pacing is all over the place. This is such a bad experience and should be avoided. I find it hard to believe there was any quality assurance with this product. Not one bit of it was interesting, scary, or made you think. This project should be cancelled.

by QueenBeckyBook

First of all my 1st review was deleted. This money grab is absolutely horrible. The story is vapid. The acting is terrible. The quick time events are repetitive. It’s pointless to vote on anything because people can pay to get more votes. This is the absolute worst piece of media I have ever had the displeasure of participating in. They should refund everyone’s money. So so bad. And deleting reviews!!! Gross.

by Mrstaypuffed

In app purchase took my $20 but did not unlock the promised (on any) content, in game currency fluctuates randomly, daily gifts don’t work. I can make my peace with in app purchases in mobile games, but if they don’t work and just rob you that’s a huge slap in the face. Their in app support does not respond to my trouble report, hopefully I’ll have more luck with Apple’s support.

As for the game itself it’s basically just a series of cut scenes where you can pay to vote on the outcome of events, that wouldn’t exactly be good, but horrible UI makes it unbearable, and the problems with purchases as described above make it unusable. Don’t waste your time and money on this trash. It’s another sad day in a long line of sad days for the Silent Hill franchise.

by Earth Versus Soup

I’m a huge Silent Hill fan and I signed up to be notified when this dropped, something I’ve never done before. I’ve been trying since the game was released to *just get the terms & conditions to load,* much less actually get SILENTHILL to function. Today, a week after release, they finally did load, and I find I have to agree to give the company the right to use my name and image for free in perpetuity to use SILENTHILL . What a crock, not happening.

Deleted without ever even being able to “play,” but on the upside, every single thing I’ve heard about this has been **profoundly** negative and that it isn’t even a game, so at least I know I’m not missing out.

by SSGRedReaper

Funny how I’m rewriting my review after it was deleted before the reviews can come out. Too bad that now they see that the game truly is 1 star trash meant to take money!

The concept of a Silent Hill game that worked like other choice based games (Until Dawn) sounded really good! Having to choose what happens to each character, whether is all die, all live or some die/live. That’s actually sounds cool for Silent Hill, considering that the premise of each game is that the characters choices cause the horror.

Yeah this isn’t the game! The choices picked don’t matter considering it was admitted that the story already has been picked (remember the beginning prologue? People picked that she continue ceremony but they killed her anyway). Don’t fall for this hot garbage! Let it die out. If people want to be dumb and pay for it, let them!

by Teas4250

Not only is this the worst Silent Hill content I’ve ever seen, and one of the worst pieces of media I’ve ever experienced, but SILENTHILL is terrible as well. The UI is ugly as sin, everything takes up too much room, the “puzzles” are worse then the bottom of the barrel old school point and click adventure games, and the CEO has so many people around him huffing his farts and saying it smells like daises to realize or care.

Save your time (and your money, dear God especially your money), and do anything else instead. Eating glass would be a more enjoyable experience.

by ExiasNight

From bearer ladies to a plot that’s all over the place, the only terrifying thing about this game is the seemingly AI written storyline. Tension is executed poorly, dialog is cringe, and the essence of silent hill is so far removed from this game that it shouldn’t even be called as such. Users can influence choices, but this is far from being a community driven story with its paid to win feature of buying influence.

If you’re looking for either nostalgia or a fresh take on a beloved franchise, don’t. This game is definitely not it. If, however, you seek a Bollywood experience, then by all means, welcome to the circus.

by Rawk01

Definitely not what I expected. There’s one game to find some pages for XP for a decision for the silent hill video. The video keeps playing at the main screen even though you don’t touch anything. Just…not what I expected at all. I was expecting action and being able to move around this….is like escape room with a decision voting board.

by Gaspatchosoup

I get no error of any kind. It also loads so sloooooow. I get to the part to enter my name and birthday and after entering the info it just sits there and does nothing. I went to add a few different characters to my name and it basically crashes and takes me right back to that screen. If it’s not ready to air or work have a message right when you open SILENTHILL it’s not ready till such and such time. Many apps have done it before and it’s worked.

by Ninjin0x0

I thought this game was gonna be a third person game where we’ll get to PLAY IT.!?? but we only get to decide in who lives and who’s dies like??? Make the game where we can walk around and explore and feel trapped in the horror of Silent hill and what would be incredible if WE can make our own characters and at the end of season 1 whatever decision has the highest percentage AT THE END wins the the decision but who ever was right one WINS a rare reward for being right.

by Satansballs666

I want to start by saying the concept of this game is really good but felt like it was very rushed. I also felt like the long break kind of killed the audience’s interest and felt like we haven’t seen anything suspenseful like previous Silent Hill games and movies have.
It would have also been awesome if they included original concepts like pyramid head and nurses. I was really hoping to see more of the actual town of Silent Hill and the horrors inside it.
Its hard to believe that the people creating this are diehard fans because the community has been begging for a classic style Silent Hill for a long time.
However my main complaint and why i rated this two stars was the daily games. The tutorials are vague and I could not find any additional information online on how to play the new games added which majorly affected my interest sense this is how to collect IP and raise characters hope.
I also was frustrated how all games added new levels daily for pass holders which resulted in having to play for hours daily just to catch up as a free player.
My game often crashes when i try to vote and have missed out on livestreams because of glitching.
Please listen to what the community is saying because this has the potential to be a really kickass app!

by Searafantasia

I thought it was going to be a game, huge let down

by Schxndr

A way better idea would’ve been to make it live action but give ability to choose the fate like in Final Destination. Tbh you guys had super high expectations that where a bit unrealistic to achieve. Looking forward to the sh video games but would’ve probably been better just making more movies or a tv show.

by Bluefunoodle311

Worst UI ever. Streaming video audio plays over top of the puzzles. Puzzle progression keeps resetting and removes IP rewards after receiving them. I don’t see a way to place my vote and it’s not made very clear what spending the extra points on each selection does. The chat is just filled with people spamming emote stickers. Eats up my battery on iPhone 13 Pro with iOS 17. Hopefully the premiere goes well and will keep me engaged, otherwise I will just stream the videos after the fact to see what happened. Neat idea. Poor execution.

by Kobrahhhh

Story seems good but why couldn’t y’all just turn this into a pc and console game instead of this weird mobile game, not many people want to wait around and do decisions everyday after playing for 5 minutes you should have made this into a normal silent hill game with this story and just had multiple endings like normal

by Silvercgu11

Unfortunately, an immense disappointment. I simply cannot believe, they let them use the “Silent Hill” franchise for this game, just wow.
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There is nothing fun, exciting, scary or innovative about this game, nothing at all. It feels like a bait & switch, type of gimmicky game in which, very little effort went into this game, in hopes people will download it and then feel as if they should invest their time and money into it, based on the franchise, history and popularity.
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1. Everything is too small.

2. The graphics are just simple pictures, small kids, created.

3. You have to find hidden objects, in very boring settings.

4. There is nothing scary, interesting or fun, in this game.

5. It feels like, just a very simple low budget, hidden object game.

—————————————————————————————————————

It feels exactly like just another bait & switch game with a big name but very low effort and content. I noticed, almost nothing to do with the original franchise, either in content or enjoyability.

by Sarah2897

I tried to play it but I got a screen instead saying that they were working on it so it could be up and running again

by Plagueseason

UI is atrocious, first live show was really buggy. It’s unclear when you’re supposed to vote because the voting pops up for three seconds (not even enough time to read everything) then disappears.

Daily “puzzles” are either poorly explained or just don’t make any sense. Tap all over your screen to find everything then brute force the rest, because there’s no accompanying explanation. Guess you gotta pay for hints or something.

Story seems outright bad so far. Jumps all over the place constantly. Voice acting is awful. Someone in chat asked, “Did AI write this?” and I couldn’t stop thinking about that through the whole first episode.

Just a really awful first experience all around. Phone was burning up by the end of the show and lost like 20% battery. Kind of weird if it’s just playing a video. I don’t understand how you overcomplicate and mess up such a simple concept. I have to wonder if any of this was play tested.

by DRE4DX

Currently I have spent only 30 minutes on this but I have noticed that the intro videos go in a loop even after finishing them. They will restart constantly interrupting your gaming experience. On top of this the points you get for solving the puzzles are not showing in your profile after you complete them. Also, when trying to customize your character nothing seems to save and will revert back to the default character features. This has the potential to be a really awesome experience but at the time being it’s almost unplayable if you can’t acquire the points to input your choices for the story. I understand this is freshly new and will require many patches for fine tuning. At the moment this review is for my current experience on the Day 1 release.

by Dogifia<3

I thought this would be where you got to play but I’m pretty sure it’s just shows and stuff like that. A bit dissapointed but that’s okay

by Haven3

I’m enjoying the concept overall and the story is interesting enough so far. The UI could be a little clearer for sure. The biggest problem is that it feels like your decisions really are not that impactful unless you want to spend a ton of money (like…a ton). I’m not crazy about letting the richest decide the fate of the characters but it’s absolutely a novel idea, so I commend them for trying something new in terms of pay-for-play mechanics.

by DMurphy2008

I know it’s not your fault, but I was really expecting a game, or at the very least something I can play, this just doesn’t work for me

by Hilifono

This show/game is a new thing I haven’t seen before and I give them props for trying. A lot of the reviews here are negative, and they make some good points. The choice system ends up being the show’s downfall, because as we’ve seen with things like Twitch plays Pokémon, the majority of people end up trolling. They vote on the funniest option or the one that ruins it for others or makes it hard on the writers. But I get the sense that this could have been way more popular as a Netflix interactive show. It very likely all the branching choices were already written and animated. A bit more time in the oven would probably have let people play this for themselves. They would choose their own story and feel more closely connected with the show.

by Thedavidlynch

Ok, I know everyone is saying it is, but it really isn’t. It’s clear from the get go that the pass is for cosmetic purposes and I’m totally fine with that. The game is still new and has many bugs to work on. It’s a shame it wasn’t in a better condition at launch. Please use the money I paid to improve the many MANY bugs. Allow the tutorial levels on the mini games to be repeated. I’m stuck on the lockbox lvl1 because I can’t remember every detail I was supposed to learn on a VERY rough launch night. The features are a good idea but people will always try to ruin the experience for everyone else, hence all the racist comments on the chat(fixed) and everyone going for the redemption arcs on every choice.

by Airalo Is SCAMM

This is tge very first silent hill game since 2012! Mind you i was 12y old in elementary school, now i’m about to graduate a 5 year degree!. And i used to think downpour was a disappointment. Thankfully there’s a full silent hill 1 remake on Dreams for ps4/ps5

by Holasoyjohn

App is off to a bad start. Even though I purchased the season pass. It shows as if I still don’t have it. And it’s prompting me to make the first choice over and over

by Skfdll

Does not load the iPhone 12 mini game After registration, the game does not start further than the loading screen so far 3 stars

by Johny🙉

I was expecting telltale’s style but noooo. Very fake and not very intuitive. Not very user friendly. Looks like a mess. Money hungry company. Everything you have to pay for. Doesn’t give me Silent Hill vibes

by Shalvi95

I have played the first four Silent Hill games when they came out as well as the two main titles that came after them. Therefore I know what makes a good Silent Hill game and what doesn’t. I have practically grown up with the series as many of the users that are playing Ascension must have as well.

First of all, I feel like a lot of the feedback here is a bit too dramatic and exaggerated. This certainly is not an abomination, however I do understand what is upsetting most folk and it does need some massive improvements.

1) don’t be disheartened or discouraged by your efforts vs the awful feedback that you are currently receiving. This is certainly a very bold and ambitious project, which is undoubtedly extremely challenging to pull off. as with any new technology or concept, there’s usually a shaky start finds a solid direction after receiving feedback. Keep your chin up, with a few changes it can drastically improve in the eyes of Silent Hill fans, and hopefully pull some new ones.

2) while this is neither a game nor a pre-rendered TV series, rather, it is a hybrid of the two mediums: it should be implementing the best elements of both of those mediums. The voice acting, the facial expressions, the emotions, and the dialogues all need a rethink and an enormous upgrade. The movements of the characters and pacing of the dialogues seems quite unnatural, and very AI-like. A greater emphasis needs to be put on improving the standard of the overall visual and particularly the voice acting. At the moment it seems as though the voice acting, animations and facial expressions are from the PS1 era, except with PS3 era graphical fidelity. This is borderline unwatchable from the POV of a tv series. In some cases, the graphical fidelity does seem like it is from the PS4 era - which is not too bad.

3) I know that the lighting of the original games was very very dark. Almost to the point that you can't see anything except that which is illuminated by the flashlight and that atmosphere certainly needs to be respected. However, the lighting in some scenes is so dark that it is difficult to make out what is happening. You could slightly increase the brightness in very dark scenes.

4) SILENTHILL itself can do with some basic improvements, perhaps with the UI. I don’t really have a problem with it. however I do feel that I should be able to have a back button that allows me to leave the current episode and not just a skip button. I may be missing something, But at the moment I only seem to be able to skip the current episode.

5) I think you should completely remove the chat feature and replace it with fixed dialogue options for the user to choose. I don’t think the community is ready to work together collectively, and shape this narrative in a respectful, logical and serious manner. I think the trolling will only continue. instead the character choices and in game decisions should be fixed prompts and the popularity of each choice determines the outcome.

6) please avoid terms such as 'trauma' and 'guilt' being thrown around ESPECIALLY when marketing this product. The whole point of the town of Silent Hill is that it draws you in for reasons you don’t understand. The greatest success of this franchise was in its subtlety and symbolism. Try and maintain that mysterious and vague vibe.

7) I don’t know about later episodes, but currently I am not in that infamous town as yet. Although I’m quite sure we do eventually end up in that town and I’m really looking forward to see what it’s going to look like in an interactive series. But for now, I do not agree with the feedback from many folk, claiming that it is too early to make decisions for characters. I don’t think you need to know a character in order to make the best decision for them. I think you just need to make the best choice that you would in their situation.

8) I don’t think there is any need for a "battle pass", however if you want to monetize, sure. Just potentially make some changes to it. premium users should not be able to influence the outcomes via a prioritized choice. That defeats the purpose of community driven narratives. Your premium package or season pass whatever it may be called can include customizations and slight extra features, but not be able to prioritize the choices of users having that season pass. Plus it is very expensive as well.

in conclusion: I think the devs need to take some time to bring some huge improvements to the visual quality, and particularly the dialogues, the expressions and the voice acting. If you fix that, you are already 85% of the way to creating a much more watchable experience. I understand that that may take a long time. I would suggest that you take as much time as you need to make that improvement and return with the bang. There is a lot of potential here with this project. Start by bringing the visual experience up to the standards of a TV series, and then focus on implementing some of the other feedback as well. Having said that, I had very low expectations after reading so many of the comments online and in the feedback on SILENTHILL Store. And I am pleasantly surprised at what I have seen so far actually in terms of the story and dark atmosphere. I hope that the next episodes after the winter break will include some of these changes.

by Wyatt Rodarte

After watching the first three episodes and catching a live episode it’s actually not that bad. The animation is a bit janky but the acting is good. The only thing I hope this series does is that once it’s completed you can go back to any episode, by yourself, and explore different dialogues or outcomes.

by Travelingtanuki

First off pros :
- it is super refreshing to see ANYTHING new from silent hill so TY!!
- I am not super heavy into silent hill and this still was very fun ! Was it perfect ? No but something about participating/ watching this as a live community that felt so fun. This almost felt like those horror movies where it’s of a live streamer an chat is popping off in the corner LOL.
- it may not be a traditional game but we have so many mobile games that are basically the same so it’s nice to see devs trying something new !
- graphics were pleasing , setting was creepy

Ok so if I’m not being biased ; cons :
- phone felt like it was going to melt ( not sure why since this is more of a FMV then a game ? Also twitch nor genshin combined would make my 13pro max feel this hot ) so forsure that needs fixed.
- lots of lag during the community quick time events. They were designed to need rapid input which is annoying but fine ; however if that’s the case there can’t be any lag !!! Make it feel like my fault we lost not yours ?!
- clicking around to type in chat or flip through menus also feels laggy and clunky.
- this is great launching on Halloween but if it’s live everyday it should of been through out all of spooky month and maybe had a special episode for Halloween !!!

I say all these cons with love so you guys can work on making this a fun game. This will obviously benefit the community and your pocket$. I look forward to the next episode tomorrow !!

by Jonny Lupsha

GenVid has taken on one of the most ambitious ideas in modern entertainment: Fusing components of audience-voted television, psychological horror, social media and video gaming in order to let the public participate in and shape the world of Silent Hill - one of the most beloved and respected horror franchises of all time. Ascension features live decision-making and quicktime events, pre- and post-show breakdowns with the developers, in-app minigames that influence characters’ mental states, weekly-compiled episodes on Tubi, a soundtrack by cEvin Key of legendary industrial band Skinny Puppy and more. Staples of the series that appear here include its unique monsters, dynamic characters in complex relationships, hope and despair, fractured families, eerie sound design, the parallel world known as The Otherworld and of course the infamous fog. While some bugs and glitches made for a rocky start to the show, the developers have been quick to acknowledge and fix them. This unprecedented endeavor must be seen to be believed. For now, no one - including its developers - knows which directions it will take.

by Cmm1438

we need chinese！！！

by Noor Alkh

Nice game I like it and I love it please complete your journey

by Ssssssssssp

I feel like a lot of players went into it without realizing what it's supposed to be and were disappointed, but for what it is, it's pretty well executed.

by Bonbon67crap

This is such an awesome and unique idea to have a Silent Hill show unfold in real time that people can vote and chat about in real time. My only complaint is that I’m just discovering this after a few episodes have completed. They do have a cool playback mode though. Awesome take on a concept for user engagement

by Clayton Matushek

Ok so I have been a big silent hill fan for a long time, since I was a kid. I know that this might not be what some fans wanted and I totally understand that, but for what it is I think it gets more hate than it deserves. It hasn’t been out that long and I’m sure it’s gonna get better. I also think most fans expected it to be a game like I did. However I will say game or not seeing anything silent hill is a win in my books!