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Those who enter the dreary, fog-covered streets ofSilent Hillare doomed to come out forever changed, if they ever come out at all. Konami returns to the iconic horror franchise withSilent Hill: The Short Message.
It’s both an invitation for new players to experience Silent Hill for the first time and an invitation for players familiar with the series to return to the world again. But even within itsshort and self-contained story, there are questions to be answered. And, much like the game warns you in multiple instances, there are heavy themes around suicide and abuse.
Additionally, as is expected, there will be spoilers ahead for the full story of Silent Hill: The Short Message.
The Story Of Silent Hill: The Short Message
Chapter One
The protagonist,Anita, suddenly wakes up in a strange location, with only a phone with her. It serves two purposes; it acts as a flashlight Anita uses to explore, and it is a way for her to receive text messages from her two friends.One of her friends, Maya, had invited her out to the Villa in the first place.
The Villais an abandoned apartment building inKettenstadt, Germany. It was first going to be a brand-new property for the town, until COVID hit and development came to a halt. Since then,the Villa has become infamous in town as a place where people go to commit suicide.
As Anita makes her way through the building, she receives texts from Maya and her other friend Amelie. She stumbles upon some of Maya’s artworks in different rooms of the abandoned building, andstresses about trying to be as popular online as Maya was.
Anita eventually opens a doorway that revealsa monstrous creature with cherry blossoms blooming all over it, and it begins to chase her through wire hallways. She eventually is able to escape it, and gets a call from Amelie, who reminds Anita thatMaya has died.
Maya jumped off the roof of the Villa several months before, and Anita is confused as to how she even forgot in the first place. After reaching the roof of the Villa, Anita finds Maya’s final art piece. Depressed from online bullying and always trying to be as good as Maya,Anita decides to jump off the roof, too, to be just like Maya.
Chapter Two
However, Anita’s end is not the end, andshe wakes up again in the same place she started before.She gets a text from Maya, saying shewon’t be able to leave until she ‘finds it.’
Going through the corridors and rooms of the Villa, things have certainly changed. Small items have moved, new writings are on the walls, creepy dolls have moved, and most of all, new pathways have opened up.So Anita explores again, finding different notes, seeing more of Maya’s artworks and sketches, and learning more about the town.
Anita remembers how Maya was bullied in different ways, but how she always had Amelie as a friend. Unfortunately, Anita felt ignored by Maya. After going through a twisted memory of her school, she findsa note in her locker.
Thenote was written from Maya to Amelie, asking for help during a trying time and joking about running away together. Anita, both because of jealousy and a fear of being left alone, took the note before Amelie could read it. She also thenconfronted Maya, lashing out at her and accusing her of trying to steal Amelie.
Maya soon dies by suicide after this, andAnita feels responsible.
Anita encounters the cherry blossom monster again, and is again able to escape it. Ending up on the roof one more time,Anita calls Amelie to confess to her guilt, and jumps off the roof.
Chapter Three
Guess what, Anita wakes up in the same place she began in Chapter One. She explores an even more deteriorated Villa, and ends up inan area that resembles her childhood apartment.
As Anita loops through the apartment several times, she recalls how her mother was distraught over losing her husband. Journal entries show that her mother tried to get Anita and her younger brother to accept the mother’s new boyfriend. Annoyed with her children,Anita’s mother began locking them in the closet whenever her boyfriend came over.
This abuse culminated inAnita’s younger brother dying, and her mother trying to hide him in the freezer the next day.Anita was able to escape to a neighbor, who called the police, and Anita was taken by the equivalent child protective services.
After escaping another harrowing chase by the cherry blossom monster, Anita discovers thatMaya was planning to create an artwork depicting Anita together with Amelie. She realized Maya wasn’t ignoring her.
When Anita finds herself on the roof, things finally click in place.She appreciates the friendship she had with Amelie and Maya.After learning her lessons, Anita seems to have finallyescaped from the looming fog of her purgatory.The sun rises on a new day.
The Ending, Explained
Throughout the story of The Short Message, the past is revealed out of order. Messages and journal entries from the three friends help fill in the picture of what really happened.
Maya was an Internet-famous graffiti artist who went by the nameC.B., for Cherry Blossom.She struggled with various problems, such as online bullying. Ultimately, she did go to the Villa to commit suicide. There is no absolute confirmation of her reason for doing so, but it can be assumed that it wasdue to an accumulation of issues.
Without any intervention,cycles of abuse can just continue.Anita herself wonders if she is cursed because of her traumatic upbringing, and sees that in the way she lashed out at Maya.
It’s possible that, burdened by guilt, Anita went to the Villa to commit suicide, but she got trapped in the Silent Hill fog that had latched onto the place.Anita’s guilt over her possible involvement in Maya’s death manifested in the cherry blossom monster, which looks like a twisted form of Maya in her white sweatshirt. Through her repeated loops in the Villa, she was able to finally break through the fog and return to reality.
In the final chase with the cherry blossom monster, Anita is able to interact withpositive memories and uplifting statements from her friends.It is alsothe kind gesture from Amelie at the end, inviting Anita out to go shopping and talk, that helps break Anita out of the fog.
In aPlayStation blog, producer Motoi Okamoto talks about how the team wanted to makea modern Silent Hill game that addresses contemporary problems.Social media can be a double-edged sword, andsmall comments can build on each other to really weigh down on someone. The Short Message is about:
“Characters who are genuinely suffering and lost, where even one more minor setback can wind up pushing them even deeper into a spiral of anguish. But, in the same way, even the smallest kindness can be the thing that pulls them back from the brink.”
There is alsoconfirmation that Anita really did escape from the Villa, as a social media post in the credits points toAmelie finally going to college, and having help from her friend Anita. Hope is what people need to continue on, and evensmall kindnesses can have a huge impact on someone.
