Imagine a calm, relaxing little town, away from the noise and the pollution of the big city… perfect for a weekend getaway. Spend a relaxing evening at the Toluca Lake, grab a couple of drinks at Heaven’s Night or visit the Historical Society. Meet strange new people, visit alternate dimensions, solve interesting puzzles and did we mention the monsters?

Welcome to Silent Hill…

Unarguably the pinnacle of survival horror, the Silent Hill series has been continuously scaring and captivating gamers since the release of the original Silent Hill in 1999. The fifth installment is set to release just a few days from now and so we decided to take a look back at the franchise before we brave the twisted little foggy town again.

Released in 1999 by Konami/Team Silent, Silent Hill took survival horror fans by surprise. Contrary to most horror games Silent Hill did not rely too much on shock value, jump scares or ultra-violence but instead used atmosphere and mood to create tension. The game followed the story of Harry Mason and his adopted daughter Cheryl. On their way to a vacation at Silent Hill, an unfortunate accident leaves Harry unconscious. Upon waking up, Harry finds himself alone with his daughter nowhere to be found. The town is covered in thick fog and something does not seem right. Following a glimpse of a girl, who could be Cheryl, Harry goes in deeper into Silent Hill only to find out that the town is far from a place to spend a vacation at. There are strange monsters lurking everywhere. Harry has to fight for his life and unravel the mystery behind the strange events in order to find Cheryl who just might be the key to everything.

Like most survival horror games, the game featured a third person view with fixed camera angles in many of the locations. Most of the outdoor areas were covered in dense fog while indoor areas were always shrouded in darkness making it difficult to track the twisted creatures lurking around. And although Harry could find various weapons, both melee and ranged, combat was intentionally clunky, which added to the tension and most of the time it was better to just outrun the monsters than fight them. Puzzles played an important part and were vital for progress. The gameplay was tailored to make it a suspenseful and tense affair. The other games in the series followed the same basic pattern.

In my restless dreams, I see that town… Silent Hill

Silent Hill 2 (2001) took a more psychological approach compared to its predecessor. While the original dealt with the occult and demons the sequel had a far more personal and emotional storyline. James Sunderland arrives at Silent Hill with hope of finding his wife Mary after receiving a letter from her stating that she is waiting for him at their “special place” in Silent Hill… the catch… Mary has died three years ago. What follows is a deeply psychological ordeal that James has to go through in order to know the truth behind the strange letter, while constantly being pursued by strange monsters including a mysterious being that resembles an executioner with a metallic Pyramid shaped thing on its head… the iconic Pyramid Head. Along the way he meets Maria, a doppelganger of his dead wife and several others who like him seem to have been ‘summoned’ to Silent Hill for various other reasons, before reaching the game’s shocking and heartbreaking climax. Silent Hill 2, in my opinion, has one of the best (if not the best) stories ever written for a game. It’s hard to believe that a story like this could be told in a video game, a story that touches moral issues which not many games would dare to. It’s disturbing, scary, tragic, touching and beautiful at the same time. Nothing less than a work of art. And they say video games cannot be considered as art…

I’m going to Silent Hill…

2003 saw the release of the third installment of the series. While following the same template as the first two games and featuring updated graphics, Silent Hill 3 introduced a new protagonist, a normal teenager with an attitude named Heather. After waking up from a strange nightmare, Heather finds herself at a local mall only to find out that her nightmare is far from over. After a shocking and tragic incident, she must visit everyone’s favorite foggy town to set things right. Unlike the second installment, Silent Hill 3’s plot ties directly into the original game. While not as captivating as Silent Hill 2, the story had plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing till the end as well as the usual staple of grotesque creatures and alternate dimensions. Overall it was a game every bit as great as its predecessors.

How am I going to get out of here?

Widely regarded by fans as the worst entry in the series, Silent Hill 4: The Room (2004) was a big departure from the previous games. For starters, the game did not even take place in Silent Hill. The gameplay was also more combat oriented than before and featured a rather poorly implemented first person view in certain sections of the game. Most of the trademark elements such as the ever present darkness, the flashlight, radio etc. were also missing from this installment.

You play as Henry Townshend, a regular guy, with a rather uneventful life. One day, he wakes up to find himself being held prisoner in his own apartment. His door chained up and windows tightly shut, his only way out is a weird hole that has mysteriously appeared in his bathroom wall. Needless to say going through the hole isn’t a very good idea and very soon Henry is off on a nightmarish adventure involving alternate dimensions, ghosts, monsters and a serial killer who will not stop at anything to get to Henry. All the while Henry’s room itself becomes a character in the game.

Despite the changes in the gameplay and alienating most of the fan base, Silent Hill 4 had a pretty strong storyline, which has always been a trademark of the series. Silent Hill 4 might not be the best entry in the series but it’s still a damn good survival horror game.

Let me burn…

2007’s Silent Hill: Origins brought the series to the PSP. Developed by Climax Studios, it was first title in the series to be released on a handheld. The title proved that you can make a truly scary game for a handheld system. Origins is a prequel to the original game and attempts to explain some of the town’s past events. The game featured Travis Grady, a trucker with a troubled past. One night Travis ends up on the outskirts of Silent Hill following a crash caused by suddenly swerving his truck after a mysterious figure steps in front of his truck. After rescuing a child from a burning house Travis finds himself at the mysterious abandoned town which is just the beginning of his troubles.

The gameplay is closer to the first three games for the most part while introducing some new elements such as the ability to shift to the alternate dimension at will and a more combat oriented model including quicktime button press events and breakable melee weapons.

It’s a solid effort but falls short of the greatness achieved by the first three titles.

Fog, hospitals, nurses, dogs and UFOs?

Although each game in the series tells a different story there are elements common to each game. For example the ever present fog outdoors and the pitch black darkness in most of the indoor areas. The flashlight and the radio, which emits static whenever there are creatures lurking around, have also become a staple of the series. The flashlight illuminating only a few feet ahead of you creates a feeling of tension that’s almost indescribable. In terms of overall atmosphere the games take quite a bit of inspiration from Stephen King stories as well as psychological thrillers such as The Shining and Jacob’s Ladder, the latter also featured demons similar to the ones found in the second game.

Hospitals are a recurring theme in all the games. Each game features at least one large section set in a hospital. Hospitals admittedly are scary places to begin with and the games exploit this fear to a large extent. Medical equipment, gurneys, wheelchairs, bloody hospital beds etc. create an extremely disturbing imagery in most of the environments. Zombie nurses are a common enemy in the first three games.

Speaking of the enemies, Silent Hill has always had a rather unique assortment of monsters. Rather than being in your face scary and intimidating many of them are pathetic, almost pitiful creatures who seem to be in endless pain themselves, for example the “patients” in Silent Hill 2 – writhing humanoids trapped in a straitjacket made from their own flesh or the dogs from the first game which look like someone turned them inside out. The monster designs have been consistently creative and disturbing since the first installment.

However, most of the scares and tension does not come from the monsters but the atmosphere of the games, which sets it apart from most other survival horror games. The games make you feel uncomfortable even when there are no monsters around. There’s a constant underlying feeling of dread that gets under your skin and does not let go until the credits – and if you’re like me, long enough after that. Despite that you still want to keep playing because you want to know more and find out what happens next. Very few games can create an atmosphere that’s both chilling and intriguing at the same time. Team Silent has perfected this element in these games.

Each game’s protagonist is an ordinary everyday person just like you and I, a fact which makes gamers relate to the characters even more. They aren’t highly trained Special Forces members or do not carry high caliber weapons. They’re just normal people caught in abnormal situations. The games are also thematically very mature often touching on topics that video games usually do not. Many of the elements in the games can be interpreted in multiple ways, for example even the design of the monsters in each game are somehow symbolically linked to the main characters’ inner fears or personal demons. The very nature of Silent Hill is also mostly unexplained. Sure there is a backstory about the town’s tragic past but there is definitely more to it, leaving gamers to piece together various clues and make their own theories about why the town is the way it is.

Pretty much all the games feature alternate endings depending on the actions taken by gamers during the game. Team Silent has also often included hidden “joke” endings such as the dog and UFO endings from some of the games, lightening up the heavy nature of the games to a certain extent.

Akira Yamaoka… ‘nuff said!

The music of Silent Hill is a something I could actually write an entire article on. Composed by Akira Yamaoka who is also the Producer and pretty much the mastermind behind the series, the musical scores for each game is nothing short of brilliant. Fusing industrial, electronic and hard rock as well as piano interludes and melodic guitar tunes, the music goes from disturbingly scary to melancholic to relaxing. I can guarantee that some of the games’ themes will be stuck in your head for a long time, especially songs like Theme Of Laura (undoubtedly one of the best tracks ever written for a video game), and Promise from Silent Hill 2, You’re Not Here from Silent Hill 3 and the haunting main theme from the first game.

It’s seriously hard to imagine the series without Akira-san’s music.

Beyond the games…

There have been several spin offs of the series including a comic book series from IDW publishing, a manga and a passably decent live action movie directed by Christophe Gans. A Gameboy version of the first game called Silent Hill: Play Novel (which plays like an interactive “choose you own adventure” book) was released in 2001 and several mobile games are in the works. Needless to say, there’s plenty of Silent Hill goodness beyond the main series.

I’m coming home…

And with that we come to the end of our look back at this brilliant series. However our journey of Silent Hill does not end here. The fifth game in the main series title Silent Hill: Homecoming is set to release next week. Although not developed by Team Silent but by Double Helix games, it’s still looking very promising. The game seems to have retained the style of the first three installments and is looking appropriately creepy and interesting. With Akira Yamaoka still producing and composing the music, Silent Hill: Homecoming, looks all set to become a title worthy of its name.

TRANSLATE

Translate this post into your favorite language. Click on any of the flags below to view the translated version. NOTE: Translations use the AltaVista Babel Fish Translation Service and may not be 100% accurate.

• Maruf Dolani Says:
  Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 09:45 pm GMT +5.5 at 9:45 pm

  Awesome Review…Again…Just what i expected. Is’nt there a vote button? You got my 10 anyway Keep up the good work.
  -Maruf

• Arachnid Says:
  Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 11:17 pm GMT +5.5 at 11:17 pm

  Nice work! Being a big silent hill fan myself, this was a good recap of what was done and a precursor to what’s to come.

  Best game in the series – SH 2 hands down. And of course, the inspiration from King novels and Jacob’s Ladder make the series a MUST for all horror fans. Great stuff!

• Ross Says:
  Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 06:21 pm GMT +5.5 at 6:21 pm

  Gr8 Work!.. Hope silent hill: homecoming lives up to its expectations!