How Post Trauma Compares to Silent Hill

Summary

Post Trauma, inspired by Silent Hill, brings a fresh take to retro horror with a tight gameplay experience.
The game features an ordinary protagonist exploring eerie settings, and offers puzzles, boss battles, and multiple endings in a roughly 6-7 hour runtime.
Post Trauma creatively combines nostalgic elements with modern techniques, making it a satisfying addition to the indie retro horror genre and a worthwhile experience for Silent Hill fans.

Post Trauma, from developer Red Soul Games and published by Raw Fury, is a recently released indie survival horror game that currently has a Very Positive score on Steam. After shuffling its release window around from late 2024 and into Spring of this year, the title then found itself caught off guard by The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered being shadow dropped on April 22, the same day it moved its final launch to.

While it may not have the recognition of Bethesda's powerhouse fantasy franchise, Post Trauma is a tight and well-designed psychological horror experience that unabashedly pulls from the genre's past in its presentations, particularly Silent Hill. And while this is apparent in much of its vision and story elements, Post Trauma also carries the torch forward to contribute another excellent entry in the thriving indie retro horror sector.

Due to its release coinciding with Oblivion Remastered, Post Trauma is now being "re-released" on June 23, with giveaways and streams set to happen.

How Does Silent Hill 2's Remake Compare To The Original?

While the original was a fantastic, memorable experience, the remake of Silent Hill 2 takes it to a whole new level. It's adapted for a modern audience through the complete visual upgrade and abundance of accessibility options that cater to a wider audience of horror enthusiasts.

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Comparing Post Trauma to Silent Hill

Post Trauma Wears its Silent Hill Inspirations Loudly and Proudly

The most recent entry in the IP, Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2 Remake, took clear cues from Capcom's work on its modern Resident Evil ones. Post Trauma reaches further back into the past, invoking the PS2 era in its feel and gameplay. Red Soul marketed it as "a new world of horror that pays homage to the greats," and this is an apt description.

Post Trauma's protagonist, middle-aged train conductor Roman, is easily recognizable as a similar everyman that Silent Hill titles often feature as main characters. Awakening in a warped version of his station much like the Otherworld, Roman finds himself wandering through its eerie corridors where disturbing creatures have appeared. Played mostly from a classic third-person fixed camera perspective, Post Trauma also makes great use of modern graphic, lighting, and sound techniques to create a nostalgic experience that doesn't feel overly dated or derivative.

Post Trauma Feels Like a Slice of a Larger Silent Hill Story

Like in many Silent Hill games, Roman begins with a standard melee weapon and gradually collects a smaller array of arms as he makes his way through the train station and a few other familiar psychological horror settings. Post Trauma's variety of puzzles is also a major focus, with fans having to solve multiple deviously intricate and sometimes head-scratching (though never insurmountable) ones throughout. Many of these resemble Silent Hill's disturbing occult-themed locks and other bizarre barriers to progression.

Other mysterious figures crop to assist or taunt Roman as he delves deeper into his surreal ordeal, and there are set-piece boss battles also reminiscent of some of Silent Hill' s that cap off the horror after navigating through portions of unnerving maze-like areas. One notable feature is that certain sections are played entirely from a first-person view, switching things up and keeping the tension fresh between story beats.

With a runtime of around 6 to 7 hours, Post Trauma feels like part of a larger narrative that could have lasted a bit longer, although there are alternate endings available. The shorter length and sometimes lower production values are understandable, though, given the studio's size and independent nature. Post Trauma has done its homework well, however, studying Silent Hill's formula while including some of its own original touches and sensibilities that make it much more than a copy of what has come before. It ends up playing like a smaller, self-contained Silent Hill entry from a bygone time. And with the major changes to the franchise that upcoming entries like Silent Hill f promise to make, Post Trauma is holding down the fort by providing a satisfying and well-crafted old-school SH- like experience.