Yay, kindred hearts on this forum! I loved Homecoming, although I wish the devs had spent more time on terrifying and symbolic monster design. They were obviously capable, with the schism (scary as hell and represents the parents feeling torn? pls yes) and the bosses. Silent Hill is known for unique and creative monsters and I felt like the creativity was lacking. It makes me a little sad. ;~; I didn't mind the less-stiff combat, and I love your theory! The running was still stiff, which I'm totally okay with, it makes the game that much scarier. I think they made it combat intensive because they thought the fans would like it more, though. Some did, some didn't. I totally repect that some people didn't like all the combat but... I dunno, I thought the way it brough Silent Hill 1, 3, and 4's theme of the cult's powers and 2's theme of the town creating a personal nightmare to make you face your guilt was perfect, I loved the theme of the seemingly-perfect family (and, let's be honest, there is a clear theme of childhood emotional abuse), and OH MY GOODNESS the Otherworld Shepherd House was literally PERFECT. *cries forever because perfect bby Alex gets no love* But everyone has their own preferences, I know some people who don't like 3's story. I guess I don't get why everyone rags on Homecoming, it seems to be rather... extreme? Maybe excessive? Or too many people hate it and it seems a bit unbalanced, like they hate it just because everyone else does? Or they dislike things things that no one complained about in the first four ganes? And then people say that Downpour was this big improvement, which I must admit, I don't understand. Gameplay-wise, they were rather similar with combat intensive moments, and I found the story to be meh. I dunno. Sorry for the sudden off-topic rant. Can maybe someone who didn't like Homecoming explain?