I've done three Silent Realms so far and I decided right away on the first one that they are freaking glorious. And they are absolutely scary. I am literally playing Resident Evil 2 alongside Skyward Sword, and the Silent Realm, for me at least, is easily as scary. Not as many disturbing or mature themes, but in terms of atmosphere and presentation... and just how
tense everything becomes, it's an approximate amount of fear if a very different type.
I've failed once on the Faron Woods and Eldin Volcano Silent Realms before completing them, and beat the Lanayru Desert one first try, so they're not crushingly hard. Hard or not, they are alarming and freaky, in all the right ways. Absolutely exciting, and I've been anticipating these things as much as dungeons since the first one in Faron Woods, which I can honestly say I didn't expect even with my positive pre-release opinion of the Silent Realm. I think Eldin Volcano's got my favorite Silent Realm so far. I loved how the lava looks (that is, normal) in the Silent Realm, I loved the depressing, eerie music, and I liked the layout. Very cool.
It's also kinda sweet that I was right in my initial assumption that the Silent Realms wouldn't be seriously related to the plot.
I mean they definitely have a reason for being there, but it's not really plot heavy, as opposed to a light plot device. The game could have easily existed without them (though thank god it doesn't).
Oh my god. Did anyone see those flying things with the scythe-like appendages? Those things scare the heck out of me. I guess they give chase when you run to higher elevations. It's odd, because I never knew they existed. I guess I never paid much attention to them. Heh heh...
I
think those are called Sky Guardians. I haven't memorized names yet. They're scary as hell. Not as quick as the Earth Guardians, but they are still dangerous, and on the Eldin Volcano Silent Realm they are especially numerous and especially dangerous. They attack you no matter where you are, though, and they're able to pursue you anywhere, and do so endlessly. They might be able to lose sight of you, but I'm not sure.
Too bad there weren't more Silent Realm occasions in the game...
Yeah, as awesome as the existing ones are, I would have wanted more, but I guess they didn't want to go overboard. They should have had an
optional Silent Realm for every major map area, like the Sealed Grounds or Lanayru Mine.