Silent Hill: Homecoming | A Complete History and Retrospective

[Music] silent hill homecoming an entry in the series developed by another team new to silent hill it drew inspiration from previous games and also the silent hill films a game that was taking the psychological elements from the series roots but its gameplay was something else originally meant to be silent hill 5 homecoming would try to revolutionize that silent hill formula and change things hopefully for the better today i'm going to be taking a comprehensive look at silent hill homecoming exploring gameplay mechanics story and everything in between if you haven't seen my previous videos on the series you should probably go check them out now most of the events aren't going to be directly referenced but it would help to get a better sense for the themes of the series before moving forward spoiler alert for silent hill homecoming hi dad it's me your favorite son and today i want to talk about silent hill homecoming to really get into homecoming's origins we need to go back before silent hill 4. originally team silent wanted the third entry in the series to be a more psychological story following the tone of silent hilt 2. they wanted to continue the concept of preying on the inner fears of the audience konami didn't like this idea as they weren't impressed with silent hill 2 sales and had also heard complaints from fans that silent hill 2 didn't continue alessa's story the team had to compromise and ended up shelving their ideas until silent hill 4 was released since sales were waning the team wanted to make a strong fifth entry musashi suboyyama stated in 2004 that development had begun on silent hill 5. they were revisiting their ideas for silent hill 3 and it was originally supposed to start off as a normal town that would rot away as the story progressed this idea was eventually cancelled team silent was disbanded and silent hill homecoming was created a new team would be working on the games this time around double helix double helix was created out of two merged companies the collective and shiny entertainment the collective was also created out of two other merged companies backbone entertainment and foundation 9. that's usually a good sign right at e3 2007 a teaser was revealed announcing that this would be the first silent hill game developed for next-gen consoles double helix wanted to take inspiration from past games but also try their own hand at the series there will be quite a few references to the previous entries with this game again akira yamaoka returned to complete the ost and sound effects for the game there was some slight controversy surrounding censorship for homecoming before release the australian classification board refused to classify the game due to impact violence and excessive blood effects the australian version of the game was banned until 2009 silent hill homecoming was released on september 30th 2008 for playstation 3 and xbox 360. before we get into things i'd like to give my obligatory notes if you've seen my previous videos you'll know that the story of silent hill is usually hidden beneath requiring research and multiple playthroughs to deduce the real tale first i'll give a surface level explanation of my playthrough including mechanics gameplay and story at the end we'll get into the real story of silent hill homecoming i also would like to say that i played silent hill homecoming on the xbox 360. i had a lot of trouble trying to get the pc port of this game to work i tried many fan patches troubleshooting and just pounding my head against my desk in frustration but nothing worked in the end i had to panic by an xbox 360 disc with overnight shipping because i couldn't play the pc port with a resolution higher than 1280 by 720 and still get footage top that off with the game not saving half the time and crashing whenever i alt tabbed i had to go to consoles sorry pc bros even the xbox 360 version had its fair share of issues though it dropped frames constantly which trust me you'll inevitably see in the footage silent hill homecoming starts with a first-person view of our new main character alex shepherd he's been gurneyed through a hospital and he's seeing people tortured in the other rooms the scene is very jacob's ladder it's actually almost identical to the hospital scene from that movie this movie has been a large inspiration for the series so far and really shows its head here alex is left in an operating room and the nurse that took him there is impaled outside we have to escape the gurney using our new friend qtes which rear their head again in this entry there's a memo stating that a patient is to receive a lobotomy tomorrow alex heads out into the hospital he sees his brother joshua on the other side of some bars but he can't get to him alex heads down the hall and hears a baby's cries coming from one of the rooms and finds it to be a burned doll and here we find an x-ray film that we can combine with another in the office to get the keypad code and get to josh josh runs away but his drawing is left on the ground chasing joshua through the bathroom the place starts to turn we see the transformation of this area into the otherworld this new look and aesthetic takes very much from the film's other world rather than the games especially the flaking floor and wall transformation we fight our first nurse and get our first taste of combat homecoming throws out silent hill's old system of hacking away at heads and auto aim in favor of this new action-y combo system we have a light and a strong attack with melee weapons we can use these in conjunction to get combos which do more damage the ranged combat is free aim and is the greatest change from the previous entries i'll spoil it for you now but i loathe this game's combat system so much the controls are also incredibly different long gone are the days of tank controls and jarring camera angles representing the horror-laden world now we just have a static over-the-shoulder camera with a combination of third and first person controls i'll get into the nitty-gritty later as the mechanic's terrible insides didn't really show themselves until about halfway through the game alex makes his way through the other world fighting nurses and eventually finds a fleshy wall which he can cut with his combat knife we're introduced to a new enemy the swarm these are pretty similar to silent hills bugs of days gone by they'll aptly swarm alex and even attach themselves to him draining his health slowly we find a polaroid photo on the ground of joshua's toy robbie the rabbit in his backpack the toy being a reference to silent hill 3's bloody amusement park companions before a room swarmed with nurses alex finds a shock therapy schedule for a patient on a shelf someone was getting copious amounts of treatment at the hospital dropping down into the lower area we'll have to engage our new encouraged stealth mechanic there's not really a crouch stealth in this game just consists of moving slow and turning off our flashlight enemies will be more drawn to alex with his light on which isn't anything new so this can be used to tactically avoid battles this was an interesting addition but overall felt under utilized i feel like if the team wanted a stealth system in the game they should have just gone all the way with it because i rarely used it outside of maybe two or three areas in the game running away is always just faster in the next room alex finds a man who's been sliced in half he holds the key to the operating theater heading there we find some information stating that the doctors have been experimenting with higher than healthy levels of electroshock therapy we find joshua nearby again blocked by bars he wants his toy so we have to find it during this conversation we get introduction to another interesting mechanic choice dialogue i don't really hate this as much as i thought i would it doesn't really detract from the game very much but it's also not really that impactful either outside of three choices in the game none of the others will have an effect on the playthrough find robin i want my toy i haven't seen any toys around here alex heads through into one of the hospital rooms and finds a hole in a mirror reaching inside almost sees him pulled into it by some creature but luckily we pass our qte and he gets josh's robbie the rabbit toy alex gives it to him but he doesn't really care and runs away again [Music] here i want robbie is this yours you remember [Music] take it [Music] where are you going [Music] alex rushes after him and calls the elevator but he's quickly killed by a creature with a large blade and wakes up in a truck if you've seen my other videos then this shouldn't surprise you that this was all a nightmare the trucker is giving alex a ride to shepherd's glen and just so happens to look a lot like travis grady from silent hill origins this might even actually be travis grady but i couldn't find any definitive statements online even though the silent hill wiki seems to state it pretty definitively alex is from shepherd's glen he's returning home having just been released from the hospital for wounds he took during battle alex finds a 150th anniversary celebration flyer for the town of shepard's glen and heading toward the town hall alex sees someone he knows alex judge holloway hey i didn't know you were home does your mother know she didn't say anything no i haven't talked to her he says he doesn't plan on sticking around and judge holloway says he should catch up with elle her daughter alex heads into the town hall and finds another polaroid this time of his mother and judge holloway in their home we also get a big back story on the town of shepherd's glen it was settled 150 years ago by pilgrims looking to practice their faith the town thrived off tourism and grew over time still managing a close-knit community a newspaper article on the wall tells the story of an almost tragedy when alex was a boy a bus full of students was swept down the river and dr fitch saved the children but alex's leg was trapped in the front of the vehicle dr fitch stayed with alex until help arrived and probably saved his life outside of the new combat system items and weapons are mostly unchanged from the original entries we have multiple healing items the classic health drinks and first aid kits with the new edition of serums serums are the most powerful and rarest healing item in the game but they also top alex's health off a little higher than full giving him a slight shield weapon menus and item menus are now separated we can access the weapons by holding the right bumper and selecting our option from a wheel and can use items by holding the left bumper and doing the same pressing x or y on the items page will let us use a health drink or first aid kit and pressing x or y on the weapon screen will let us turn our flashlight on or off and stop our radio this menu change was something i mostly felt neutral about the ui itself was okay and it probably made sense to split things up so you weren't searching for items for too long the only problem with the menu was the way the selection worked if i select an item with the stick by accident and end up deciding to use a health drink letting go of the left bumper will still use the item i had selected this is an especially grave mistake if the item selected was a serum because they're pretty rare and i ended up doing this on multiple occasions throughout my first playthrough alex makes his way back to his family home but inside there's no response upstairs he finds a note from his mother to his father she says the house is empty without him there in his old bedroom alex finds a flashlight and he has a flashback to his childhood god what's your problem i i had a bad dream never mind it's nothing look take it moving some books on a shelf will reveal a hidden back room and inside we can find a map of the house which you think alex would already have memorized but okay alex finds his mother sitting in the living room in an almost catatonic state mom his mother says that everyone is gone while holding an old revolver in her hands she won't say what's happening with the town alex hears something coming from the basement and heads downstairs inside we meet our first lurker these monsters crawl on the ground usually underwater they drag their legs and have hooks for fingers the goal with them is to deliver quick combos before they have the chance to attack the basement is flooded and we need to get to the backyard unfortunately we can't open the door because the latch is underwater alex heads to the garage to get gas for the water pump inside he finds the gas can that's behind a steel door this door can be pried open with the steel pipe that we retrieved earlier each weapon in this game not only has its use in combat but its use in accessing different areas in the world the dagger will unlock doors later and the axe will hack down boards this adds a new element to the game in the form of old areas having new points of access heading to the child's playground we find a photo of a spider next to alex's toys and another child's drawing both the drawings and polaroids are collectibles they provide more context to the town and alex's life and family finding all of them throughout a playthrough will net us an extra scene at the end of the game in the playground is a newspaper article about paul russell douglas who murdered eight children around silent hill and shepherd's glenn and was executed for it alex finds a truck beside the playground and fills the gas tank using it to turn on the water pump in the basement this allows him access to the backyard out back we find another drawing and get access to the kitchen inside we can listen to a cassette tape found upstairs of josh being scolded by his father for being too much like alex am i in trouble no of course not why are you yelling i'm not yelling at you listen to me josh don't you think this is a little too silly for you do you want to end up like alex playing all this make-believe i don't know all right from now on just let alex play with his own friends okay and if you need a friend you come talk to me got it yes sir pretty early on here we get the hints of the dynamic between alex josh and their father it seems josh was the favorite son and alex was mostly a screw-up in his dad's eyes he didn't want josh to be anything like alex and it seems wanted to do it right this time we can head out of the backyard and into an alley that leads to the shepherds glenn cemetery i have to say for all this game's faults it does look pretty good even if we're usually looking at it with a low frame rate the environments are pretty well detailed and the system upgrade has really done well for the atmosphere though i definitely don't think it even comes close to matching any of the first three entries inside the cemetery alex sees a man digging graves we're introduced to a new monster here as well the feral these are very reminiscent of the groaners from silent hill 1. they're pretty easy to deal with though by just spamming combos at them one of the statues is dedicated to a child who died at 8 years old and a half plate is laid on it which we can take alex makes his way through the cemetery and finds the second half of this plate sat upon a statue dedicated to the girl's twin sister who also died we can use these two plates to unlock the gate heading out of the cemetery alex comes across a girl stapling missing posters up to a board this is elle judge holloway's daughter ah damn it you always were a klutz you okay alex oh my god alex hey elle your mom told me i might see you around here oh my god it's so good to see you it feels like it's been forever you alone out here well hey you know i didn't think i'd ever see you again she says everyone has gone missing in the town and no one is showing back up alex wants to look for his brother and elle gives him a walkie-talkie that she got from deputy wheeler heading to the junkyard we find the man that owns the place curtis he's unresponsive to all of our questions until he recognizes alex as the son of the sheriff maybe this will interest you i know you sheriff's kid alex right military man now i see i'm pretty sure it's broken what do you think [Music] hmm i think you must have stole this from your daddy just tell me if you can fix it now don't go barking orders at me soldier he asks curtis to fix up the old revolver he got from his mother and he's pretty apprehensive eventually he agrees to trade us a working pistol for it heading back outside deputy wheeler contacts us on the radio alex is quickly assailed by a cloud of smoke and we meet another enemy the smog these guys can be annoying as they spit out clouds of smoke that will disable alex until a button press is completed they can be easily taken down though by shooting their exposed lungs when attacking backtracking through the cemetery one of the tombs is now open we can complete a puzzle on one of the coffins to unlock it this is just moving shapes around until we have enough space to free the piece at the top these puzzles reminded me of those little toys you'd get at the book fair as a kid and eventually give up on because i didn't care about seeing the smiley face picture in the end the coffin opens and inside is a watch when alex takes it he hears sounds until he passes out and wakes up in silent hill josh runs inside of a motel but we can't get inside just yet alex heads down a path and finds an axe which lets us chop down the boards and now we can get inside that was easy josh runs away inside and we find some notes about mayor bartlett working in the atrium we have to get the power back on and getting the maintenance key will give us access to the power box we have to rewire the thing to get the power going and using the note beside it that says xxi will tell us that we have to form those letters with the wires i didn't really love the puzzles in this game and i don't think they became particularly inspired until about halfway through a lot of them were like the previous ones sliding pieces around without any context or clues given some of them exist as their own isolated things and half of the rest are just really simple there's a few in this game that were interesting and made me think critically but a lot of them just felt mundane with the power back on alex calls the elevator and on the way up he's attacked by new enemies the needlers these are a high point of enemy design and i say that with their visual design in mind not necessarily their design as an enemy that you actually have to fight they look quite terrifying their contorted bodies blades sticking out of appendages are unsettling the elevator falls down and alex escapes before it crashes we find a painting that can be slashed open revealing a door behind on the door is a polaroid of joey bartlett in the shepherd's treehouse alex meets a formless woman beyond a door seemingly older in age who wants us to find three memories of her life she's been confined to the hotel and wants to regain these memories of the past better times we find the woman's first memory a postcard of alcamilla hospital a time before her illness overtook her throughout this area is the story of an affair between mayor bartlett and a woman named carol it's told through memos that we find hidden in different rooms alex hides behind a barricade as he sees something stalking the halls oh yeah that's pyramid head well actually in this game he's called the boogeyman i know for a fact that this facet of the game has been complained about to no end and for that reason i won't spend too much time on it as we all know or should know by now pyramid head was specific to james he was a representation of james's guilt for his actions and his self-punishment he was there to torture james for what he had done part of james's arc in silent hill 2 was him overcoming that torture and learning to move on there's no reason that the character should be transferred to this game you could realistically make the same case for things like the nurses or lying figures as they are too subject to a reflection of james's psyche though i don't think those are nearly as egregious as this the question here that needs to be asked is why revisit this monster well there's multiple reasons pyramid head is easily the most iconic character in the series and probably one of the most iconic characters of all time because of that companies like konami could feel obligated to include him in the story to hype things up pyramid head could also be a part of the game just because of fan service or maybe it had to do with the silent hill movies him being in the film two years prior probably also had something to do with that decision maybe in the end it was a lack of understanding of the original character or a misinterpretation of silent hill 2 who knows to top it all off pyramid head is virtually non-existent in the game so you can't even really make a lowercase for him being there he's in all of three scenes throughout the entire thing and we don't even fight him he just shows up randomly leaves and is then forgotten about alex weaves through more of the hotel and eventually we get to fight a needler full-on without the assistance of elevator boundaries to help us again i think the needler's design is pretty well done they're grotesque and monstrous terrifying towering blades skulking towards us fighting them isn't as satisfying though the needlers can't be attacked from the front we have to get behind them or beside them to do damage homecoming implements a new dodge system that comes in with its combat changes when targeting an enemy we can dodge and push the stick in a direction to duck under an attack if timed properly we can counter-attack slipping under the monster's advances and catching them off guard the only problem with this is that half the time it either doesn't work properly meaning you dodge in a direction you didn't want to or it's just not enough of a movement to hit the enemy's weak spot you can also dodge roll when not targeting an enemy but it almost never felt worth it to get out of target because it would either take too long and the enemy would attack or the dodge roll wouldn't make you invulnerable from the enemy's attacks i understand what they were going for here but it's just executed so poorly this makes enemy encounters particularly around this section of the game so frustrating and annoying to deal with you can also get cornered by enemies pretty easily making dodging impossible and attacking not an option alex finds the last two memories a postcard for the lakeside amusement park and another for toluca lake we make our way back through the hotel and returning the memories the woman gives us a strange key alex uses this to unlock a door and josh is on the other side alex tries to jump to him but he falls through the ground back to the first floor of the hotel in the hallway to the atrium the room transforms and we're in the other world mayor bartlett is inside and he doesn't want to talk he doesn't really tell us anything of importance at all leave me alone what the hell's happened to shepherds glenn you're the mayor these people are your responsibility now you listen to me you little [ __ ] i did everything i could to protect those people but you can't stop what's already been started what the hell else do you want from me alex shows him the watch he found in the cemetery he tosses the watch to the side and the plants behind him begin to transform it kills mayor bartlett and we have our first boss fight homecoming's boss battles definitely feel like a modern idea of a boss battle for sure most of them have genuine mechanics that require attention and critical thinking sort of the sepulcher requires us to shoot these sacks hanging from the ceiling we can use the bookcases to block his attacks and after the sacks are gone the monster will fall to the ground here we have to attack the tail but staying on our feet is a challenge in and of itself every single time we get hit alex goes to the ground which can result in a loop of us getting up getting hit and falling back down delivering enough attacks in general will eventually take the thing down and alex will defeat it the sepulcher sinks into the ground creating a hole alex falls down and ends up in a prison cell back in shepherd's glen deputy wheeler shows up and says he doesn't know if he can trust alex alex tells him about what's happened and convinces wheeler to let him out of the cell i came to life out of the goddamn tree that's what killed him and that's the truth i swear so you've seen the creatures too we should get moving i'm not sure it's safe here anymore follow me wheeler and alex make their way through the station being chased by schisms a new type of lanky lumbering hammerhead creature wheeler gives us a shotgun which can blast the schisms away alex finds his way out of the station and l is being attacked by another new enemy the siam these resemble the closers from the first game they do quite a bit of damage and knock alex down but are defeated with a few blasts from the shotgun alex rescues l from the overturned car but we have to leave wheeler in the station they head into the sewers to escape the swarm of enemies the big problem with homecoming is a drastic tonal shift i think it does a lot of things competently but its greatest undoing is misunderstanding silent hill as a whole this is a common problem with post-team silent games in the series part of the charm of the original entries in the series was its perspective the games were made by an eastern studio and it was their take on the western horror genre this unique perspective an outsider looking in was what made it so fresh and original homecoming is very much a western studio doing western horror jump scares classic horror caricatures escaping swarms of monsters it's just all very american that's not really what silent hill was about in the first place any western studio can make a game that follows the formula of classic horror films but not many can make one as genre defining as silent hill 2. we have to make our way out of the sewers now we weave through different areas and drain pools all with l following us i just really want to thank double helix for making l indestructible in this area and not having her damage affect my ending we're separated from l while she tries to unlock a gate and were swarmed by three needlers as if one at a time wasn't frustrating enough you're probably thinking it would just be easier to shoot the things but ammo is pretty scarce in this game i ran out entirely once in my playthrough and also ran out again at the final boss also needlers can still block bullets from frontal attacks and getting beside them without dodging and targeting isn't very easy after they're dealt with the game tops it all off with the siam the gate opens but l isn't on the other side just a puddle of blood and her walkie-talkie on the ground we head up the ladder which happens to be in front of the shepherd house but we can't get in wheeler says we need to get to dr fitch to see if he knows what's going on with the town fitch is outside his office a knife in his hand and a trail of blood leading away inside we find a little girl's dresser the key is in the other room guarded by six nurses this is just overkill at this point another absurd change to this game is that looking at memos doesn't freeze enemies this was always a go-to strategy of mine to rush into a room past enemies and try to get some info you can't do that anymore because enemies will attack you mid-reed also the designers weren't competent enough to film cut scenes separately or reset the scenes before triggering a cutscene because if you trigger one with the enemies behind you they'll stay in the scene which is really cool alex goes to open the box but he's transported to the other world we see a bloody burned vision of the room and alex finds a doll on the floor we chase josh through this other world a maze of steel staircases and lava-like pits eventually we find a puzzle of fans we have to stop all of the fans on one side and crawl through them through the corridors we find dr fitch self-harming in a dark so i room let it out every day i can stop the bleeding i don't want your help these wounds cannot heal why did you come to this place i come here to remind myself it's the only place i go where she listens to me alex gives the doll to dr fitch and he begins to bleed the doll transforming in his pool of blood this is the scarlet boss the second boss of the game a lumbering mannequin that actually looks pretty terrifying her design is interesting and i like the idea of cracking the porcelain to reveal blood and muscles underneath fighting the boss however is not so interesting it's actually borderline infuriating with the combat system that we're given dodges don't register you're constantly knocked down over and over forced to try and get hits in when you can eventually destroying scarlet's legs enough will down her and we can start her next phase here she'll jump off the walls onto alex and dodging at the right time will let us pry some porcelain offer a key falls from her body and alex is pulled in by the pool of blood we wake back up in her room and the key is sitting between her broken doll alex remembers seeing the keys symbol in the town hall so we head there using the key on the altar reveals a secret underground passage downstairs we find some ancient texts dictating the responsibility of different roles in the town master of arms the keeper performer of rights and the executor of law all part of some group called the founders alex finds a ceremonial dagger in the wall and this replaces our combat knife we can use this from here on out to unlock doors that have slots in them alex flashes back before this and remembers seeing the same knob on a door in his father's house the labyrinth will spit us back out in the graveyard and heading back to the house we can enter this room to get the full flashback [Applause] dad [Applause] what the hell are you doing you know this place is off limits i don't ever want to see you in here again are we clear i'm sorry yes yes sir inside we can upgrade our shotgun and get the key to the attic heading upstairs to the attic we find a polaroid of alex a shocked face alex finds a secret door and sees a scene of josh being given a family ring by his father as a child okay do you know what this is [Music] this belonged to your grandpa and his father too and now we want you to have it i know it doesn't look like much but this is the most important thing i could ever give to you is it worth a million dollars much more than that this is a symbol of our family's past we face another mind-numbing sliding puzzle to make the shepherd house crest this unlocks a drawer inside is a map of silent hill and a letter from alex's father he says he failed and that the order has returned punishing them for the exodus of their forefathers downstairs alex confronts his mother about silent hill i i don't know what that is stop lying i'm tired of it i know all about silent hill you don't know anything about silent hill alex and his mother are ambushed by men in protective suits as the house turns into the other world we're locked inside of the otherworld home and we have to complete four puzzles to be able to leave each lighting up a symbol on the front door we find three masks around the home these are placed on two corpses each with a note designating which mask is to be placed the front says to hide her pain this face she did wear this is the indifference mask and the other says behind this mask her heart was laid bare this is the frowning mask this is representative of alex's mother pain hidden behind indifference we find three different medals throughout the home that have to be placed on a jacket representing alex's time in the war a riddle requires us to change a clock to a certain time based on a doctor's note on the wall and place a rabbit in one of the windows this is representative of josh using his favorite robbie the rabbit toy the last puzzle has us placing different knives in alex's father's meat room one of the knives is the boogeyman's great knife which is stabbed into the schism's head once these are complete alex can head out of the house after it changes back to the normal version alex heads outside seeing elle in a panic now el i thought you were gone my mom i can't find her anywhere the entire town's gone i think i know where they are i found this i'm not sure what it all means but we need to get the silent hill they phone wheeler and he gets a boat to transport them there do you really think we're gonna find anyone there i took her from my mother's room in the morning laura disappeared i've taken it off since wow look at that hair they're ambushed by the men in protective suits alex falls into the water and ends up on the shores of the town wheeler tells alex over the walkie-talkie that he's stuck in prison alex has to shut off the power by heading into the electricity plant inside we find the same newspaper about the serial killer paul russell douglas i'm not sure why this was in the game twice if it was a mistake or if they just really wanted to get this point across inside the plant we have to actually fight the ambush men they have weapons of their own and they are incredibly annoying because they dodge most attacks you can really cheese them pretty easily though by hitting them with short combos also this is not a terrifying enemy because we know these are just humans there's really nothing terrifying about fighting just another human what's scary about this when we've fought grotesque blade monsters and giant porcelain dolls we have to solve a puzzle by turning off the right valves in the right order to get the power down before we get to the prison though we can head over to the cemetery and solve a short puzzle to get the rifle heading inside the prison we make our way to sell block b to freewheeler we're immediately attacked by a siam and wheeler is a great ai companion because he just destroys everything you put in his path wheeler guides alex through the prison as he opens gates for him eventually alex solves a process of elimination wiring puzzle and accesses a secret tunnel where he finds his mother strapped to a machine mom jesus what did they do alex is that you mom i'm gonna i'm gonna get you down he tries to get her down but she seems to be in pain she begs alex for forgiveness saying that they would only let them choose one finally she wants alex to kill her we get to choose here this is the first of three choices that will affect our ending in the game i chose to kill her giving alex's mother the mercy that she wanted the prison then transforms into the other world and upstairs a cage presents itself switches on each side we have to match the symbols on the dials with the answers to riddles placed in front of them one being a coffin a knight and nothing pulling the switch inside of a hole will raise the cage and alex is allowed to climb down wheeler is downstairs and expresses his condolences for alex's mother wheeler found evidence of the order having captured elle and the two decide to leave judge holloway alex quick you get a loose before they start pumping the gas i'll shut off the valves yeah alex thank god how did you find me we don't have time to talk i've got to get you out of here [Music] what is that where did you get that it's ells l where is she is she okay i don't know i'll find her though i promise wheeler is sucked into the wall and holloway gives a slight smile as she closes the door behind the two the asphyxia is an almost human centipede-like creature it slashes and swipes using its long tail to do damage its tail is also its weak spot and the place that we need to attack we have to dodge attacks just like the last fight and it also shares the detail of being just as frustrating as the last fight after the battle josh shows himself through the window and alex chases after him he heads inside the otherworld church and in the main room we use the dagger to unlock the altar we have to find five different plates to unlock this mechanism the chalice plate is laying on a body and we find a confessional booth upstairs alex hears a man confessing to the mistreatment of his sons i don't blame you for ignoring me father i'm not even sure you can help me i'm lost i'm so deep beyond the reach of my faith and i'm seeking further away we have the option to forgive him just like in silent hill 3. this is the second choice that will affect which ending we receive we get the kneeling man plate from this the candle plate from a statue the tree plate from behind a painting and the sword plate from underneath a stained glass mural these five plates each correspond with one of the following inscriptions vengeance pentenance desire sacrifice and sorrow when the lock is removed alex's father is revealed to be captured behind [Music] i never meant to hurt you son i had to make a choice and now i'm paying for it we all are [Music] after all i've done you still wear my old dog tags that must mean something what are you talking about these are mine i'm a soldier just like you wanted [Music] alex you've been in the hospital i know i was wounded in battle no a mental hospital you've been there ever since the accident no that's not true i'm a soldier i protect people his father reveals that alex was imagining his service in the forces he gives alex the family ring and the boogeyman shows up to slice him in half we head down the stairs and find one of the order members suits which protects us from the steam ahead curtis is working with the order and sees through alex's disguise knocking him out and taking him hostage alex wakes up and judge holloway is there holding him she reveals herself to be the villain of the game and she explains all of her motivations and the backstory of everything you know like a good villain does family is the most important thing alex i would do anything to protect them that's why i sacrificed my daughter what the founders they had good intentions they left the order to start a new life in shepherd's glen where they feared the wrath our god so they made a pact to keep us safe all that was required was a small sacrifice our children once every 50 years the founding families she drills into alex's leg and almost takes his head but her plan backfires alex heads through the lair defeating order soldiers on his way we have to slowly retrieve all of our items as they've been confiscated we find a memo that tells us about a journalist looking into the town of silent hill after douglas cartland exposed the order that's right the same douglas cartland from silent hill 3. we find elle being tortured by curtis and defeat him saving her from imminent death we find lots of different texts throughout the underground detailing the order's philosophies this is a pretty good insight into the cult and i like the lore that we get here even if i don't enjoy some of its changes to the canon eventually we find wheeler knives sunken into his chest this is the final choice that will determine our ending and we have the option of giving him a medkit or not i did alex makes it to the final chamber and we have to solve the final puzzle i actually enjoyed this puzzle not only was it intriguing but it delivered enough interesting lore and context to the world that we are presented it's just a shame that it had to come right before the end of the game there's two rotating locks in the center of the room we have to line these up with the family sigils and placed them where each house was standing when they performed an ancient ritual we know that fitch was on one platform because of his prescription pad being left there we can reveal texts on the walls that show us the oaths each family took aligning the symbols opens up the lock on the final door which we have to place the shepard family logo into in the last room is a mausoleum four tombs one for each family and the names of the individual members on each when we inspect the shepherd's tomb it's revealed that alex was supposed to be sacrificed as a part of the ritual dad never lets us out on the lake not you anyway dad thinks you're a little baby who can't do anything on his own oh yeah why'd he give me this what is that that's dad's ring but he told me not to show you so i guess that makes me cooler let me see it no what a piece of crap it's worth more than a million dollars that's why dad gave it to me [Music] he has a flashback and remembers being on the boat with josh it's revealed that josh and alex had an accident on the boat and josh drowned he's been dead the whole time and his brother's death was alex's fault the mausoleum begins to change into the other world and our final boss crawls from the ceiling i love this design it's horrific terrifying this half mechanical spider half pregnant woman the fight isn't all that interesting though as we just shoot at her until she's dead i guess it's better than dodging and using the axe though when amineon dies josh falls from her stomach or at least his body does alex is allowed to grieve and confront the death of his brother [Music] never meant for this to happen alex climbs out of the underground and reunites with elle before leaving the town finding all of the photos and child's drawings throughout the game unlocks an extra scene after the credits our camera finds josh on his bed and he takes a picture of alex's shocked face possibly setting up a sequel this is just the good ending of silent hill homecoming there are five endings in total the drowning ending can be achieved by killing alex's mother but not forgiving your father in the confessional booth alex wakes up in a bathtub and his father drowns him the boogeyman ending can be achieved by not forgiving alex's father not killing his mother and not saving wheeler throughout the game in this ending alex is strapped to a chair and two boogie men approach him as they turn him into one of their own the hospital ending can be achieved by forgiving your father but not killing your mother alex wakes up in a hospital the whole game a dream wheeler actually a nurse at the sanitarium he's in the ufo ending can be achieved by not forgiving your father and not killing your mother but saving wheeler alex still reunites with l but they both get abducted by aliens and wheeler is left in silent hill there isn't really much info to go on for a cannon ending here multiple costumes can be unlocked one for each ending of the game and also a young alex costume that can be achieved by entering the konami code on the main menu there are two extra items the laser pistol that's achieved from beating the game with the ufo ending and the circular saw which is received after beating the game once there's actually also some unused dialogue in the game files of a young walter sullivan talking to a psychiatrist this one is your mommy also is this one your mommy too that's not my mommy i'm not sure if this was just meant to be an easter egg or if it would have had plot connections overall so what really happened in silent hill homecoming in the year 1853 four families from silent hill all members of the order left the town and formed their own settlement called shepherd's glenn their names were the holloways shepherds fitches and the bartletts leaving the order they made a pact with their deity to sacrifice one of their children every 50 years in payment for this they would be spared the wrath of the deity for another 50 years the shepherds would drown their children offered to the water the holloways would offer their children to the noose by suffocation the bartletts would offer their children to the earth by burying them alive and the fitches would offer their children to the knife by dismemberment while on to luca lake josh falls off a boat while wrestling over a ring with alex joshua dies and drowns and alex leaves town because adam shepard had already chosen alex as his sacrifice the pact with the deity was not fulfilled and the town was subject to the other world margaret holloway began to go back to the order and reform her true faith abducting people from shepherd's glenn alex returns home from his stint in a mental institution after not facing the death of his brother he hitches a ride home with travis grady and returns to shepherd's glen to find it nearly abandoned he spends the game trying to find his brother and watches the other members of the founding families succumb to the other world his mother and father are killed and he faces off against margaret holloway winning the battle he continues to look for his brother and allies himself with deputy wheeler and l holloway he faces off against amnion and finally accepts his brother's death leaving silent hill for good with elle i didn't hate silent hill homecoming nearly as much as i thought i would don't get me wrong i definitely don't love it and it really doesn't feel like that much of a silent hill game it's more of a horror game than it is a silent hill game i think homecoming's biggest crime is that it's just mediocre one of the things that's really hard when judging post-team silent entries in the series is that the bar has already been raised so high at the beginning that anything that even dares to shoot for the middle can look like a total failure in contrast homecoming definitely has its downsides its combat is mostly terrible and the weird jarring difficulty curve at the beginning of the game can be pretty painful its boss battles are mostly tests of patience while you're fuddling with the dodge system the camera and movement system is incredibly awkward and strange to use it especially doesn't feel like a silent hill game with the lack of interesting camera angles the lore and story changes are also very jarring this offshoot of the order seems to have a special deal with the deity the deity itself can apparently project the other world when it wants even though the original nightmare was alessa's projection upon silent hill pyramid head's inclusion feels unnecessary and apparently he's not special to james but a distinct entity that can create new ones infinitely spawning other world pyramid heads this game removes a lot of what is special in the series and takes what was an interesting psychological journey and turns it into a mediocre horror film the plot is also for the most part aimless alex is looking for josh for about 70 percent of the game before we even really get any interesting information or developments the story is also trying really hard to recreate the success that silent hill 2 had with its psychological roots it tries to recapture the success of that huge reveal at the end of silent hill 2 but this game's reveal doesn't hit as hard one of the best things about silent hill 2 that this game gets wrong is how we feel about james after the end of the game he becomes completely flawed in our eyes and you're torn on his actions you can totally make the reasonable argument that he's a terrible person and the writers weren't afraid to make you hate the main character at the end of things homecoming tries to recreate this but alex isn't a bad guy and didn't do much wrong the whole thing was an accident it wasn't on purpose so we don't get that same feeling here i can see how they thought that silent hill 2 was good because they revealed the main character to be a murderer but that wasn't what made it good it was contextual there were so many other factors that this game doesn't take into account on the other hand the environments are interesting and the game looks pretty good for the most part the designs of the enemies feel genuinely inspired and unique it feels like time effort and care went into the design it's kind of sad to see the game fail overall though because you can tell the people that made the game cared about the series but multiple factors whether it was a general misunderstanding of the original games appeals or unrealistic expectation from konami themselves the game just doesn't work out critics of the game focused on its predictability and praised its environments konami would eventually go back to climax the developers of silent hill origins for probably the most interesting installment in the series but we'll talk about that next time bye dad

Channel: YourFavoriteSon

Views: 181,051

Keywords: Silent Hill Homecoming, silent hill homecoming walkthrough, silent hill homecoming gameplay, silent hill, silent hill gameplay, silent hill homecoming video essay, silent hill video essay, silent hill walkthrough, silent hill ost, silent hill homecoming ost, silent hill homecoming cutscenes, silent hill homecoming retrospective, silent hill retrospective, silent hill 2, silent hill 3, silent hill 4, silent hill origins, silent hill 2 gameplay

Id: tsdUYJzNNCQ

Length: 60min 53sec (3653 seconds)

Published: Sun May 15 2022