{"id":736892,"date":"2025-11-22T16:33:53","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T16:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/silent-hill-the-short-message-review?utm_source=feed&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=feed"},"modified":"2025-11-22T16:33:53","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T16:33:53","slug":"silent-hill-the-short-message-review-a-potent-but-hardly-subtle-parable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/silent-hill-the-short-message-review-a-potent-but-hardly-subtle-parable\/","title":{"rendered":"Silent Hill: The Short Message review &#8211; a potent but hardly subtle parable"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/silent-hill-the-short-message-review-a-potent-but-hardly-subtle-parable.jpg\" \/> <\/p>\n<p><em>Content Warning: Silent Hill: The Short Message contains explicit and continual themes and references to self-harm, suicide ideation, child neglect, and child abuse. While I won&#8217;t dwell on these in this review or go into much further detail, please be mindful of this before reading further or, indeed, playing the game yourself. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s long been known that different Silent Hills wait for different people. For some &ndash; most famously perhaps &ndash; there are faceless, buxom nurses lurking in the rust-encrusted corridors. For others, flames tower around them, leeching the air of all light and hope. For Anita, sticky notes daubed with crude insults are layered like feathers on every surface. It&#8217;s kind of beautiful in a dark, melancholic, effed-up way.<\/p>\n<p>Kind of beautiful in a dark, melancholic, effed-up way is actually a pretty good summary for Silent Hill: The Short Message, actually. I went in hopeful, if cautious &ndash; I know better than most how many false dawns Silent Hill has had &ndash; but by the time I came out the other side just a couple of hours later, I was surprised at not only how complete The Short Message feels, but how much it affected me, too.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/silent-hill-the-short-message-review?utm_source=feed&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=feed\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/silent-hill-the-short-message-review?utm_source=feed&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=feed\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Content Warning: Silent Hill: The Short Message contains explicit and continual themes and references to self-harm, suicide ideation, child neglect, and child abuse. While I won&#8217;t dwell on these in this review or go into much further detail, please be mindful of this before reading further or, indeed, playing the game yourself. It&#8217;s long been known that different Silent Hills wait for different people. For some &ndash; most famously perhaps &ndash; there are faceless, buxom nurses lurking in the rust-encrusted corridors. For others, flames tower around them, leeching the air of all light and hope. For Anita, sticky notes daubed with crude insults are layered like feathers on every surface. It&#8217;s kind of beautiful in a dark, melancholic, effed-up way. Kind of beautiful in a&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/silent-hill-the-short-message-review-a-potent-but-hardly-subtle-parable\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":736893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[9687,1192,957,877,9350],"class_list":["post-736892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer","tag-hexadrive","tag-horror","tag-konami","tag-silent-hill","tag-silent-hill-the-short-message"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Silent Hill: The Short Message review - a potent but hardly subtle parable | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Content Warning: Silent Hill: The Short Message contains explicit and continual themes and references to self-harm, suicide ideation, child neglect, and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/silent-hill-the-short-message-review-a-potent-but-hardly-subtle-parable\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Silent Hill: The Short Message review - a potent but hardly subtle parable | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Content Warning: Silent Hill: The Short Message contains explicit and continual themes and references to self-harm, suicide ideation, child neglect, and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/silent-hill-the-short-message-review-a-potent-but-hardly-subtle-parable\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-22T16:33:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/silent-hill-the-short-message-review-a-potent-but-hardly-subtle-parable.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/silent-hill-the-short-message-review-a-potent-but-hardly-subtle-parable\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/silent-hill-the-short-message-review-a-potent-but-hardly-subtle-parable\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"Silent Hill: The Short Message review &#8211; 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