Silent Hill: The Short Message shadow dropped on Jan. 31, featuring a new story, protagonist, and visuals that have players questioning whether it’s connected to 2014 horror mystery title P.T., an interactive teaser for Silent Hills.
Is Silent Hill: The Short Message connected to P.T.?
Although there are similarities between Silent Hill: The Short Message and P.T., the two games aren’t connected.
Silent Hill: The Short Message is set in a crumbling apartment building known for being the place where people go to end their lives. From the clues inside the building, it seems like this story takes place in the town of Kettenstadt, and the apartment block features tight corridors, posters and graffiti on the walls, and the only areas you can see are illuminated by the torchlight from your mobile phone.
What’s unique about this title is not only the storyline, which revolves around Anita, who receives messages from her friend Maya telling her to meet her inside the building, but it also has this glitch effect, almost like she’s experiencing a distorted or corrupted memory. While they’re not related, this is similar to P.T in a way.
P.T. was released in 2014 as an interactive teaser for Silent Hills, which was later canceled, and as such, P.T. was removed from the PlayStation store. However, P.T. is seen as one of the greatest horror games despite its short run time. In this title, the player wakes up in an abandoned building, walking through hallways that loop and redecorate. All the while, they encounter ghosts and otherworldly creatures and learn of murders and suicides. Like in the newly-released The Short Messages game, there are even graphic distortions and player reboots across P.T. and its gameplay.
The two stories are very similar in that both protagonists wake up in an abandoned building where they search for clues and encounter otherworldly creatures. While the two share a psychological distortion aspect and graphical similarities regarding the limited field of view, tight corridors, and the third-person perspective, they are unconnected.
Although it would have been pretty epic if Silent Hill: The Short Message was connected to P.T., it just seems like a way to tide us over while we wait for the Silent Hill 2 remake.
