Silent Hill Homecoming (2008)

Genre: Survival Horror | Players: 1 | Developer: Double Helix Games

Silent Hill, whoever came up with the name is ok in my book; the title always sends chills down my ass crack. Homecoming was not developed by Team Silent but by Double Helix, and I think they did a pretty good job with handling the game. It certainly had the Silent Hill feel to it but at the same time it didn't.

The game stars Alex Sheperd, a soldier, coming back to his lovely home in Shepherd's Glen. We hereby crown Alex the first protagonist with combat experience, but how hard is it to swing a steel pipe or shoot a gun, right?

Upon arriving things aren't really what they seem to be. It’s pretty much deserted. He discovers that his younger brother, Josh, has gone missing. So we now have something to look for!  Oh, and other people in the village have gone missing but who cares, Josh is what Alex is really after.

The puzzles are very simplistic at first but get a bit tedious later on when you pretty much have to put the right item in the right spot, and in the right location.
Pyramid Head, or Boogeyman as he is called in this game, makes an appearance, looking a lot like how he looked in the Silent Hill movie. Silent Hill Homecoming takes more from the movie as far as look, and it isn't necessarily a bad thing in my opinion. I thought the change to the dark or rust world animation was pretty cool.

The controls in this game are far better (but not the best) than in previous instalments. I have been known to accidentally use first aids because I was trying to back out of the menu.
Changing weapons can be done quickly by pressing right or left on the D-pad; it helps a lot when you have a couple of enemies in sight that you need to clear out.

Homecoming is neither the best nor the worst in the series for me, but everything works. If you are picky with "lore" this might not be the game you are looking for.

Hey, this is Neg popping in to relate the game-breaking glitch, if for some reason you aren't already aware of it. Join me below the cut, so you can avoid it entirely.

Buyer's Guide:
You can find the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions for about $15-$20, maybe even less. PC is going to cost you a bit more, ranging in the $20-$40 mark but if you have a Steam account you'll probably see it on sale for dirt cheap. Oh my friend, you sweet summer child. You had no idea what the world (and corporate entities) would do. When you're done laughing, reader, click here.

3½ warm welcomes out of 5

Nutted by ASH


There's a tile-puzzle late in the game that can completely ruin your playthrough. It'll stop you dead. It's so close to the end that it's particularly infuriating. However, it's easy to avoid, if you know about it.

Once you beat the third boss, DO NOT SAVE, until you've completed said tile-puzzle. You'll be traveling by foot to a new building, after that boss. Once you've opened up the paths in that new location, you'll start collecting tiles. There's a save point in there that you DO NOT want to use. You won't be using it at all. Ever. After you solve the puzzle, you're safe. I.e., you can use the save point in the next area after the puzzle. That one is safe.

The reason this glitch is problematic is because the developers WEREN'T lazy. They could have coded the puzzle to accept five tiles. The success condition could have been to simply check if five items have been inserted. No, they went the extra mile and coded it such that you need five specific tiles, all different from one another. When you save with the tiles in your inventory, they can change upon reloading the game. You might still have five different ones, but you might have two of the same tile. Or, even five of the same! If it happens to even one of your tiles, you can't move on. Your file is ruined.