The Silent Witness Review (PC)

The Silent Witness’ oppressive influence on the world is deafeningly bittersweet—cathartically competent, but as equally peppered with loose threads and jigsaw pieces that tamper with its composition. To say that this is an original illustration just wouldn’t be true, as it does feature aspects of several different VHS horror titles—a glimmer of Backrooms, a slither of Slender: The Eight Pages, and a lashing of Blair Witch, to be precise. There are a lot of those same ingredients in this recipe, yet I can’t bring myself to complain about it, for conceptually, it’s still an winning formula that touts a high level of interest across all four corners of the industry, both on consoles and PC.

As we’ve still got some ways to go before The Silent Witness takes ahold of its complete blueprint, there’s still a lot here that we can’t judge. However, there is a slither of content knocking about—an introductory tape that lifts the veil of several of its core themes and mechanics. And so, rather than simply parking it whilst it actively chooses to iron out its remaining creases, we thought we would take a stab in the dark and explore that opening chapter in further detail. Is it a tape worth watching? Let’s find out.

The Deeper You Go

I mentioned Slender: The Eight Pages for a reason, and that reason was, similar to the cult classic, story-wise, The Silent Witness requires its users to locate important documents in a wooded region. Unlike The Eight Pages, however, it doesn’t involve a pounding drum, nor does it curate sketchbook scribbles for you to find. Instead, the game tasks you with plunging deep into the underbelly of a decrepit world—a place in which a disturbing story has escalated into a frantic quest to unravel the mystery surrounding a brutal murder. As a detective in this rather sadistic saga, the job is as transparent as they come: gather the evidence, and retreat back through the forest to a safe port of call.

The initial sequence doesn’t go much beyond the first few steps of the fact-finding process, with the opening chapter allowing you the opportunity to get a feel for the mechanics, world design, and some of the lore. As for what lurks behind this veil is another story—one that, frustratingly, won’t shed any more details until the final version arrives later this year. For what it does currently have, though, there’s enough here to whet your appetite for what’s to come in the future — and that’s a great start, albeit a tedious one.

The Looming Shadow

Gameplay-wise, The Silent Witness doesn’t deviate much from what you might’ve seen in other walking simulators with rooted horror components. In most cases, you’ll either have to explore some nook or cranny to locate documents—evidence that, from what I gathered, will play a much larger part in the grand scheme of things—and roll with whatever punches the world throws at you, be it a drastic change in the atmosphere of a watchful gaze of a looming shadow. You’ll find all of that here, encased within an old-fashioned VHS style tape recording. Again, nothing particularly original, but passable.

For a natural-born horror, The Silent Witness does at least manage to hit the nail on the head with its pacing and world building. With a couple of solid jump scares and some genuinely intense moments to unpack over a relatively short glimpse into its saga, it’s sure to give you enough of a taste of what’s to come a little later on down the line. And it plays rather well, too, with only a few minor issues keeping it from flourishing as a structurally sound horror.

As it’s a demo, a few loose screws are to be expected here, more so when it comes to indie VHS-like projects that often prefer to bathe in the odd bit of jank to capture that half-polished “retro” aesthetic. Could it be better? A hundred percent, yes. But, where there’s smoke there’s fire, and to give credit where it’s due, I think that there’s enough kindling here for those flames to be fanned in future patches. Here’s hoping, then, that the developers stick with it long enough to give it that little extra pizzazz. I won’t hold my breath — but there’s potential.

Verdict

The Silent Witness’ slice of VHS horror ought to feel like a familiar testing ground for those who’ve taken that particular route in the past. And if you do happen to hail from a similar taste of psychological horror and Slender-like scavenger hunts, then the truth here is that you won’t find anything majorly different. There are several well-orchestrated AI-driven jump scares and atmospheric interferences that give it that little extra oomph, I’ll admit. But, given that we’ve only a single cassette out of an entire box set to formally critique, it’s still relatively difficult to both describe and summarize it in its entirety. There’s definitely potential there, though, for us to return to it to weave a more concise tapestry in the future. And I’m all for doing just that — which counts for a lot.

I’d be lying if I said that the PSX-inspired graphical design isn’t sheepish. Given the sheer amount of ilk in the horror sphere that foster the janky visuals and VHS tapes for foundations, you could argue that it’s something of a needle in a haystack—a complacent attempt to remove the shackles of a weighty idea that has been squeezed and ridiculed for years. That said, with the global success that has sprouted from such titles, it’s also fair to say that there is something of an ironclad formula here, and one that doesn’t need altering. Is it original? Absolutely not, no. Yet it just works. It knows what it wants to convey, and it acts on its aspirations by removing the smoke and mirrors from a deceitful composition to create exactly what it wants: a simple, inspired found footage horror.