Some gamers will perhaps already have made up their mind about Homecoming, even before experiencing the hospital that forms the bold opening of this sixth entry in the Silent Hill series. The crux of their problem will lie not with the four long years that have passed since the last ‘proper’ Silent Hill game (2004’s The Room), but the fact that this is the first time that Team Silent, disregarding PSP’s Origins, have not been involved with a Silent Hill console title. Perhaps it was part four’s mixed reception that led them to forgo development, but as with any franchise that becomes synonymous with a certain visionary or team since birth, a sense of trepidation upon their absence is inevitable.

As mentioned above, Homecoming starts in brilliant fashion: the first sounds you hear are those of warfare, the first thing you see the perspective of protagonist Alex Shepherd as he is wheeled into hospital wounded. It’s the closest that Silent Hill has yet come to the frightening disorientation of Jacob’s Ladder, a film that was apparently a strong influence on Team Silent for the previous games. This sensible appropriation of source, coupled with regular composer Akira Yamaoka’s superb music and a neat early crossover with the lead from Origins, proves that developers Double Helix are aware of the series’ heritage and familiar trademarks. This reverence can of course be something of a double-edged sword, the respect shown to the franchise here preventing any real surprises in terms of gameplay or game structure.

Combat is one area that does appear to have taken a subtle shift. Although the end result is hardly Cliff Bleszinski-meets-Silent Hill (perish the thought), there is still a noticeable increase in the ease with which familiar ghouls can be dispatched, a greater feeling of power in the hands of the player (as Alex is an off-duty soldier this could go down as a clever detail on the part of the developers). This change in the combat controls is balanced however by some genuinely frustrating moments when either the camera or the almost pitch-black environment conspires to disrupt your play. Thankfully though the emphasis throughout the game is still largely on exploration, backtracking and the slow accumulation of each narrative puzzle piece. Shepherd’s Glen, Alex’s hometown, is convincingly eerie and distinctive in its variety of locales to make travel between one area and another instinctive rather than an exercise in map checking.

The fact that this is the debut Silent Hill game for the current generation is barely discernible; those looking for a glistening Resident Evil 5-esque HD polish will be disappointed. Homecoming’s strengths in this area are in the little details: the grainy, scratched look to the visuals, one map drawn in a childlike scrawl, an abandoned children’s park. Homecoming may well use a slightly updated version of the PlayStation 2 game engine (the variable quality of the facial animations suggests as much), but this presentation is sufficient for the story to be told, and keeps the sense of continuity between the previous games in the series. Yamaoka’s soundtrack is arguably the highlight of this package. Played with the lights off it’s not the excessive darkness that unnerves (at times Homecoming is very, very dark, whilst the fog can be very, very thick), but the stabs of noise or distant cries of children.

One potential problem is that, though Homecoming has a wonderful atmosphere and plays at a steady pace, it does stick a little too closely to the Silent Hill formula. The story hinges on the idea that Alex is remarkably unperturbed by the condition of his hometown when he first arrives, though considering that the developers also took inspiration from the Silent Hill movie this absence of logic isn’t particularly surprising. Like the rest of the game the narrative is overall unsurprising, though there are some standout moments (a cameo from everyone’s favourite pyramid head-shaped videogame character not least among them), and having said all that at least we’re not pondering how Double Helix – who were viewed with suspicion when first announced as developers – have ruined a once great franchise.

Homecoming is an assured and welcome entry into the series that will be appreciated by fans of survival horror, though to gamers unfamiliar with the ways of Silent Hill, it may come across as slightly anachronistic in the face of such efficiently tooled thrill-rides as Dead Space. For a game so obsessed with its own mythology, the fact that Homecoming still exists in its own little world is strangely apt.

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