Silent Hill is one of gaming’s most beloved horror franchises, and whilst the franchise has certainly had its ups and downs over the years, the early entries in particular remain firm favourites of horror aficionados. With the franchise having been dormant for a decade (not counting the infamous Hideo Kojima P.T/Silent Hills incident in 2014), the recent announcement of a franchise revival from publisher Konami with a spate of new games, a remake of Silent Hill 2, and a new film adaptation has gotten me in the mood to revisit the most haunted town in America. So, join me as I rewind the clocks to 1999 for the original Silent Hill.
Following a car crash, Harry Mason awakes to find his daughter Cheryl missing and the nearby town of Silent Hill overcome with some kind of evil presence. Fearing for his daughter’s safety, Harry ventures deeper into the town, along the way uncovering a sinister plot of cults and demons which all seems to lead back to Cheryl.
Released for the Sony PlayStation, Silent Hill was far from the first major survival horror title for the system. But whilst the reigning champion of the genre, Resident Evil, was gearing up to release the third entry in its zombie apocalypse series, Silent Hill promised to rely less on jump scares and action and instead put an unsettling and uncomfortable atmosphere front and centre in a way that few other games had ever done before.
In the late 90’s, Silent Hill’s story was ahead of its time. Whilst the search for Heather with its cults was one thing, with plenty of interesting characters to boot, Silent Hill is ultimately a character study about Harry and his faults as a father, husband, and human being. The horror is all derived from his own psyche, its personal to him, and as you begin to realise that over the course of the story what you’re seeing suddenly becomes so much more intimidating.
The branching narrative also encouraged multiple playthroughs, making different choices in the game or exploring different areas would trigger events to unfold in a different way. Some triggers for this weren’t even telegraphed, making for a game that hid so much from players and required cooperation between gamers to uncover the true meaning of everything that happened to the town of Silent Hill.
Following a car crash, Harry Mason awakes to find his daughter Cheryl missing and the nearby town of Silent Hill overcome with some kind of evil presence. Fearing for his daughter’s safety, Harry ventures deeper into the town, along the way uncovering a sinister plot of cults and demons which all seems to lead back to Cheryl.
Released for the Sony PlayStation, Silent Hill was far from the first major survival horror title for the system. But whilst the reigning champion of the genre, Resident Evil, was gearing up to release the third entry in its zombie apocalypse series, Silent Hill promised to rely less on jump scares and action and instead put an unsettling and uncomfortable atmosphere front and centre in a way that few other games had ever done before.
In the late 90’s, Silent Hill’s story was ahead of its time. Whilst the search for Heather with its cults was one thing, with plenty of interesting characters to boot, Silent Hill is ultimately a character study about Harry and his faults as a father, husband, and human being. The horror is all derived from his own psyche, its personal to him, and as you begin to realise that over the course of the story what you’re seeing suddenly becomes so much more intimidating.
The branching narrative also encouraged multiple playthroughs, making different choices in the game or exploring different areas would trigger events to unfold in a different way. Some triggers for this weren’t even telegraphed, making for a game that hid so much from players and required cooperation between gamers to uncover the true meaning of everything that happened to the town of Silent Hill.
The gameplay, even in 1999, was clunky. The infamous ‘tank controls’ that plagued many third person action games of the early 3D era of video games made Silent Hill at times a frustrating game to play. This lack of accuracy makes combat difficult, and base primarily on guess work. But thankfully, aside from a handful of boss battles (I’ll get to those in a moment), you won’t need to rely on your combat skills very often in Silent Hill so long as you’re smart. Your portable radio will indicate you of nearby enemies with a bone chilling static crackle which will usually be followed by some hideously deformed creature skulking out of the fog or darkness towards you. Harry’s rather quick despite his stiff range of movement so outrunning enemies in enclosed spaces is usually the best option, but it’s when you’re in the streets of Silent Hill that enemies tend to be able to outmanoeuvre Harry. The aforementioned boss battles though do require some combat finesse more often than not. None of them are particularly difficult, but they do require some good timing, positioning, and understanding of how the weapons work. Particularly in the late game bosses, one wrong move could spell instant death, and considering moving Harry is like shifting a wardrobe, there will be a bit of trial and error.
Navigating Silent Hill is an entirely different beat though. Silent Hill as a game world is quite large for the time. Near the start of the game, you’ll find a map which Harry will update with useful information about what he’s seen as you explore. Noting down blocked roads and building of interest, meaning you can easily refer back to how to navigate the town without getting lost. One particularly tricky sequence near the end of the game sees all logical understanding of level geometry fly out the window, with even the map failing you here. Whilst it sounds frustrating, I can assure you it’s one of the most effectively scary moments in the game as doors seem to loop on themselves and exiting a room won’t necessarily land you in the same corridor you entered the room from.
Inventory management isn’t anywhere near as fiddly as something like Resident Evil, as Harry can carry every item in the game without any issue. However, using some items can prove to be fiddly work, needing to equip it and potentially combine it with another item in a particular order to reach a desired outcome. This leads into puzzle solving, which can at times prove to be a real headache. A lot of puzzles suffer from the adventure game contrivance of solutions being so obscure that solving them without a guide is worthy of a medal. The piano puzzle in particular is infamous for being borderline impossible without an intricate understanding of the mechanics of poetry, and whilst in 2022 the solution can be easily googled, back in 1999 it was enough to put many gamers off for life.
The final quarter of the game also descends into just running through linear and cliché areas like a sewer and an abandoned theme park fending off endless hordes of monsters. It's not exactly bad, but compared to the amazing opening and strong middle portion it is a little bit of a let down.
What really makes Silent Hill stand out though is the games incredible art direction and music. Whilst Silent Hill certainly isn’t the prettiest game around, for the size and scale of the world the graphics do lend a lot of detail thanks to the fixed camera angles. Similar to Resident Evil, the camera is static or closely follows Harry with no ability to control it. This allows for environments in particular to be highly detailed whilst not placing too much strain on the console hardware. The placement of the camera also allows atmosphere and mood to be controlled really well, for example early in the game you venture into an alleyway that gradually becomes more horrific the deeper you delve. The angles used to travel through the alleyway make it so nerve wracking to keep moving through, giving you the impression of you controlling a horror film rather than playing a game.
The thick fog and impenetrable darkness that surrounds Harry (dependant on if you’re outside or inside) not only allows for the PlayStation to be able to render much larger environments because so little of it is visible at any one time, but it also creates this chilling sense of dread because you can’t see further than a few feet in front of you.
Then of course there’s Akira Yamaoka’s iconic score. Spine chilling is the best way to describe it, enough to make you want to check over your shoulder as your playing to make sure there’s nothing there. Combined with the eerie sound effects and creepy visuals, Silent Hill will invade your dreams and linger in your mind long after you turn the game off.
Silent Hill is 90’s survival horror at its finest. Its sequels would go on to improve almost every aspect of it, and whilst some of its peers may have had better aspects to their gameplay, the clunk controls are something that plagued the majority of games at this time, especially horror titles. The atmosphere it creates and the chilling story it tells are so effective at making you want to brown your trousers that the game weaker aspects are easy to overlook.
Now is the perfect time to revisit Silent Hill, or even check it out for the first time. Though its sequels may often get more attention, the original is still a classic in its own right.
Navigating Silent Hill is an entirely different beat though. Silent Hill as a game world is quite large for the time. Near the start of the game, you’ll find a map which Harry will update with useful information about what he’s seen as you explore. Noting down blocked roads and building of interest, meaning you can easily refer back to how to navigate the town without getting lost. One particularly tricky sequence near the end of the game sees all logical understanding of level geometry fly out the window, with even the map failing you here. Whilst it sounds frustrating, I can assure you it’s one of the most effectively scary moments in the game as doors seem to loop on themselves and exiting a room won’t necessarily land you in the same corridor you entered the room from.
Inventory management isn’t anywhere near as fiddly as something like Resident Evil, as Harry can carry every item in the game without any issue. However, using some items can prove to be fiddly work, needing to equip it and potentially combine it with another item in a particular order to reach a desired outcome. This leads into puzzle solving, which can at times prove to be a real headache. A lot of puzzles suffer from the adventure game contrivance of solutions being so obscure that solving them without a guide is worthy of a medal. The piano puzzle in particular is infamous for being borderline impossible without an intricate understanding of the mechanics of poetry, and whilst in 2022 the solution can be easily googled, back in 1999 it was enough to put many gamers off for life.
The final quarter of the game also descends into just running through linear and cliché areas like a sewer and an abandoned theme park fending off endless hordes of monsters. It's not exactly bad, but compared to the amazing opening and strong middle portion it is a little bit of a let down.
What really makes Silent Hill stand out though is the games incredible art direction and music. Whilst Silent Hill certainly isn’t the prettiest game around, for the size and scale of the world the graphics do lend a lot of detail thanks to the fixed camera angles. Similar to Resident Evil, the camera is static or closely follows Harry with no ability to control it. This allows for environments in particular to be highly detailed whilst not placing too much strain on the console hardware. The placement of the camera also allows atmosphere and mood to be controlled really well, for example early in the game you venture into an alleyway that gradually becomes more horrific the deeper you delve. The angles used to travel through the alleyway make it so nerve wracking to keep moving through, giving you the impression of you controlling a horror film rather than playing a game.
The thick fog and impenetrable darkness that surrounds Harry (dependant on if you’re outside or inside) not only allows for the PlayStation to be able to render much larger environments because so little of it is visible at any one time, but it also creates this chilling sense of dread because you can’t see further than a few feet in front of you.
Then of course there’s Akira Yamaoka’s iconic score. Spine chilling is the best way to describe it, enough to make you want to check over your shoulder as your playing to make sure there’s nothing there. Combined with the eerie sound effects and creepy visuals, Silent Hill will invade your dreams and linger in your mind long after you turn the game off.
Silent Hill is 90’s survival horror at its finest. Its sequels would go on to improve almost every aspect of it, and whilst some of its peers may have had better aspects to their gameplay, the clunk controls are something that plagued the majority of games at this time, especially horror titles. The atmosphere it creates and the chilling story it tells are so effective at making you want to brown your trousers that the game weaker aspects are easy to overlook.
Now is the perfect time to revisit Silent Hill, or even check it out for the first time. Though its sequels may often get more attention, the original is still a classic in its own right.