Coming back to this after playing SH2 first is definitely a time, because no matter what, this game was gonna feel date, despite that, SH1 is still an enjoyable experience. It may not be as scary in terms of enemy design and symbolism, but it makes it up for it in the oppressive atmosphere and sound design. The controls take a bit of getting used to, being a tank control PS1 horror but it really does click fast. It can be a bit obtuse as times but overall I didn't struggle as much as I thought I would. Another solid trip into Silent Hill.

Wow. I mean, I'm kinda blown away by this. For a PS1 game to have this much powerful imagery is kinda mind boggling for me. It gives birth to a dense and emotion packed story about abuse and manipulation, layered under the meticulously crafted setting. It honestly kinda makes me tear up inside, especially with how hopeful this games ending is, in spite of it being in an almost literal hell. Sure, the main combat is serviceable at best, the controls are a little bit clunky, and the bosses can be a bit tedious, but I feel like focusing on those things kinda misses the point. If youre playing silent hill for "the riveting gameplay" you need to play a mario game or something.

-do u guys think dasha actually has played any of the sh games?? or like did online ceramics just cut her a check ?? much to think about idk fuck dasha or whatever I just think she’s aesthetic and vibes you know ?
-also speaking of the online ceramics drop I thought there was a bunch of pretty cute stuff but literally what the fuck do I look like spending that much
-unlike 3 and shattered memories I don’t find this to be all that smart and complex. the peak of the story here in terms of like writing/dialogue is nurse garland saying that all the young ppl disappeared from the town like I think that fits really well for where and what silent hill means geographically. I come from a similar rust belt town and my hs was tiny asf and malls weren’t populated with teens or even younger ppl and on Halloween kids progressively as time passed stopped going door to door. towns like that are receding from view and less people are staying there than previous generations, so what happens when all is left of a town is bureaucratic and oppressive organizations and groups of ppl. think that little exchange between garland and harry works even better considering that 3 serves as a sort of direct follow up to this and everyone Heather comes in contact w is even older than her father. the mall is the first place u visit in game but unlike any other sh game ur not meeting anyone of a like mind to u or even in ur same demographic. being a teenager in towns like that is sad and rlly awful and depressing and specifically 3 nails that vibe and that exchange in this game makes it all the better.
-in the same way shattered memories heightens and expands on 3 I feel like this does too. making it mean more in a grand sense, fleshing out this world and these 2 characters connections to each other.
-sometimes I remember there was supposed to be a silent hill gta style game and my head hurts
-lighting in this game fucking owns, especially the lens flare hitting the camera whenever harry with the light on faces the camera
-I think it’s really funny how genuinely jaw dropping gorgeous and breathtaking those fmvs are and then it cuts to the goofy looking actual graphics, fucking pixelated Minecraft ass looking trees and rusty floors, I love it.
-lisa is genuinely such a cool sad character, nurse bendy ahh. I think it’s rlly impressive that the voice actress was able to do all the lines in an hour and basically wasn’t paid anything esp when considering the fact that her voice work is the only noteworthy acting here
-yamaoka asleep at the mfn wheel, someone wake him up. jokes aside I like the score here it’s good and all the stuff in the final chapters is rlly great but it’s rlly subtle here and I think it being mostly absent in this first sh does kinda detract from the atmosphere at play here and doesn’t make it as eerie as future entries where he would lean further into haunting trip hop and dreampop lullabies where characters are coaxed farther and farther into silent hill by the beautiful music. instead harry is kind of just running around while industrial beats play and it does work, fits the geographical setting rlly well. this is seemingly the only sh that leans full into the whole rust belt dead town whereas future installments are a town on the verge of death but not quite dead yet. the music lulling the characters into a final rest, this one is so like hopeless and bleak and it does make sense that the music reflects that and mostly stays in the background only being present at all for when ur supposed to feel tense and unnerved.
-idk why this isn’t the one being rebooted and instead 2 is. I mean I do get it, 2 is the only truly iconic game in the series, at least in a widespread and mainstream way but damn this one rlly did need the remake. the story here is so vague and abstract which I like enough but it’s kind of presented as these loosely connected vignettes tying everything together and then the ending just happens. characters just show up whenever is convenient and there’s not that much flavor text as there would be later down the line. it does just seem like creating this very real world and environment and atmosphere came first and then everything else after. it’s like genuinely very difficult to play and truly get absorbed into and I do think a remake could smooth lots of things over and make it into a better experience and also ppl wouldn’t be that mad in comp lol.
-so many striking visuals though, the flying demon guy busting in through the window, the ghost version of alessa running through the halls, lisa having blood run down her face and harry shutting her out, the glowing white version of alessa at the final boss battle (a literal ray of light in Harry’s final moments as he begins to accept and understand the version of the truth he’s told) the spiral staircase and all of the dutch angles at the beginning of the game. rlly great stuff and the cutscene direction and environments are so stellar and got as much as they could out of the ugly ahh ps1.
-I also just rlly love the ending(s) and think they enhance what I already love about 3 and shattered memories. that bond that someone has with their absent parent, how ur able to create and craft this legend of who they were and contort the facts to best suit urself and ur needs to kinda deal w the very real experiences of being an orphan or having absent parent(s). like that’s by far my fave thing about shattered memories is cheryl kind of reliving and reshaping the events of this game, it’s all a lie but it’s a lie she needs to tell herself. and can it rlly be a lie to her if she never actually got to know him or what happened in silent hill. the actual in game story here is similarly fractured and fragmented and it’s ultimately up to u to contort and twist it to best suit ur needs to give urself the closure and satisfaction u need. no matter who harry was and no matter what actually happened in silent hill he still tried for heather and I think that’s genuinely really beautiful.

From the offset, this is hands down the most atmospheric and visually immersive game to come out from the PS1 generation. The textures seem blurry by today’s standards but aesthetically they contributed to the uneasy vibe of Silent Hill. Harry is sluggish to control, yet the tank controls feel very purposeful here, adding to the suspense and urgent moment-to-moment tension of strange enemies creeping around the foggy-ridden map to kill you. The only thing helping you to survive is your own heartbeat (controller vibration is a god send here) and subpar combat skills because you’re just a bumbling dad by the end of the day. Making this some of the best interweaving of story and gameplay I’ve experienced in a video game. I also cannot understate how great the sound design is for completing the psychological survival horror being cooked here.

That being said, I could only wish the rest of the game hooked me better as it went along. The puzzles felt the most dated in being a bit too archaic for my liking to solve or feel like a rewarding head-scratcher. Once you have become familiar with the game, the map of Silent Hill loses its initial appeal. The story wasn't too psychologically nerve racking as I'd expected going into this, it instead feels more like the implications of an interesting narrative actually going on. It's a little disappointing because the actual lore and finer written details of the game are actually quite interesting, like the deeper meaning behind the enemies, but the core story it’s built around doesn’t resonate too much with me. The game has 4 endings, and I narrowed down on getting the bad one so maybe upon further playthroughs in the future I’ll have a bigger appreciation for the narrative. As it stands for me, this feels shallow compared to the cool visuals and intriguing gameplay. But I think this establishes a very solid foundation and starting point for the series and I’m very interested in playing the following games to see how it gets refined and improved.

Iconic.
That's the word i am going to use for this game.
You can see just how impressive it is and how seriously it was taken... Silent Hill is a true horror, truly an experience that made me feel scared, paranoid, mad, pleased, emotional and even happy.
Such amazing visuals, the camera angles can be spotted just at the start of the game, as the camera moves everytime you move to a different area or angle, or whatever. But it's not the moving that matters- it's how interesting it looks as we do it, for an example- the staircase angle in the lighthouse. It's THAT impressing that the whole game i was just shocked.
The characters are interesting, most of them are with truly depressing backrounds, but i think that as you get more and more into the game you can just see how in depth this game takes everything, and it's amazing. It truly brings people together to unravel every little bit of the game.
Amazing puzzles- from hard zodiac puzzles to literal connect the small dots puzzles that are pretty lighthearted. I loved every single puzzle there, even the most cryptic ones. They make you think out of the box, see new posibilities, make you think critically towards everything you see and this is what truly made me want to finish the game.
The enemies- meh.... they look cool, especially the bosses, but i was not a fan of how when you go to a new area 40 enemies that need 8 shots to die are jumping you all and cornening you. I felt pretty claustrophobic, but it wasn't so bad for me to dislike the game or feel tired of it. In the contraty- i felt like i want to play more.

This game just totally brings out nostalgia. I can't argue on the fact that everything this game has make me feel sad about what the recent silent hill games are. But... This one is special, and i will appreciate it strongly, everyday.

I played this on the Twitch channel, and a lot of sweet people joined, so make sure you come by and hang out with us for Silent Hill 2!!! :D
https://www.twitch.tv/maryyhill

As its original press advertised, so much more than a Resident Evil clone.
Whilst Resident Evil was a milestone in survival horror, Silent Hill opened a whole new rusty window of opportunities for scary games.
Perhaps there's a little nostalgia for the nuanced PS1 graphics but the look of the game is incredibly distinct, setting the standard for its many sequels. Unlike in Silent Hill 2's many sad, empty spaces, the original game always feels moments away from danger and never feels safe.
The snowy town of thick fog and the pitch black voids with rustic grate flooring, alongside Akira Yamaoka's iconic sound design are key to one of the most oppressive atmospheres in any game ever.
Whilst the monsters are interesting in design, it does feel like they improve in the next few sequels, but I'd choose fighting fleshy pterodactyls over zombies any day.
Silent Hill is one of the most iconic horror franchises in popular gaming culture, although sadly due more to the likes of Pyramid Head and major aspects of the sequels. For this reason, it should be reiterated that the original holds up and is still one of the best games not only in its franchise but of all time.

My impression of Silent Hill is admittingly tempered because I played 2 a couple of months ago, and was blown away by its level of characterization and story telling. Not to say that the original Silent Hill is bad in those respects, but it's much more direct story telling and the occult aspects vs the psychological aspects of Silent Hill 2 got me a little less invested, and the game does show its age at times with the character models and graphics. Still a great horror game to get into though if you're just looking for a classic that doesn't waste your time.

The act of witnessing itself can be a form of relief. To have someone who understands they are seeing horrible actions be performed, or suffering be endured, can itself grant one relief while putting a weight on another's soul.

The heart of Silent Hill is Harry Mason bearing witness to the tragedies that have taken place inside the town. This is made clear when he first awakens from what could either have been a dream, or a nightmare made real, when Cybil leaves him and he can collect his items. Among them stands out a stark red and white notepad, paired with the memorable "Study, dammit!" poster inspired by Stephen King. This is a message to the player, both for them and about Harry's journey, that this is not a journey that will end happily or even be resolved. You are looking in at the depths of humanity's darkness, and that is all you are expected to do.

The game never once encourages the player to seek out hidden items or paths throughout the course of the main narrative. A player can go from the opening car crash, to the ending where they are greeted with the same car crash, having never interacted with the game on a deeper level. At that point, the game for the player is the same as it is for Harry Mason, just a passing dream he viewed almost completely as a bystander, where the player didn't engage with most anything. The ending checks are minimal, but the Bad Ending assumes the worst of the player, assumes them to not have witnessed Lisa's video tape, to not have connected the monsters and their meanings, to have run past the objects of importance.

Both variants of the Bad ending conclude with the player killing Alessa, and while one leaves off on the note of a hazy dream during death, the other concludes with Cybil helping Harry, but the two are unable to move. They are left standing as the nightmare falls apart. Harry was compassionate and helped those the player may feel is deserving, but he never truly confronted the nature of the nightmare, or the actors behind it. The lack of confrontation of Alessa's trauma is again, as if the player never engaged with any of what was happening in the town. He witnessed and engaged as he felt necessary, but he could not empathize, could not fully understand the extent of the pain and suffering burned into the town.

The reason for all of this is because reaching that understanding itself is difficult. Silent Hill's ending system is an ingenious choice, where most first time players will not get anything above a bad end, it's just a fact that most players won't be very inquisitive when Silent Hill asks that of them. The pacing of the game is what is at the heart of this idea, as you inch closer to the climax the sooner you want to be out of there. To be so close to escape is tantalizing, so the player will push forward ignorant of what they might miss, what traumas may be lurking underneath.

The actions required to receive a "Truer" Ending are ones that begin to lower the veil on the nature of the town. You learn of connections between the hospital director with local establishments, you learn of a drug running ring that the inquisitive player can link back to the failed police investigation, you uncover a mysterious red liquid. But, this side quest is only truly started when Harry Mason leaves his journey to help someone else.

While Kaufmann isn't deserving of being saved (and the game agrees on that point), the idea is that Harry saved him. Harry is a witness, and he is empathetic, he is kind. His kindness allows him to see the darkness, to understand the mess going on in this town and truly understand. The end of this side quest being the discovery of the mysterious red liquid is what solidifies this idea. It is a rather blatant reference to Twin Peaks, the most famous inspiration for Silent Hill, and Twin Peaks itself is a series very much about empathy and how we lose that through just consuming these complex and emotional ideas as plain 'entertainment'. To play Silent Hill without consideration for the world outside Harry and his quest is to play Silent Hill by consuming rather than understanding.

The understanding reached is that the supposed antagonist, Alessa, was a good natured girl that suffered. She suffered for seven years of her life, bullied and indoctrinated into a religious cult that used her in ways that are implicated throughout the text. Then, she suffered for another seven years, either in a hospital bed or bound to a wheelchair, with burns that wouldn't heal, wounds that would constantly seep puss and blood, and constantly kept alive while being on the brink of death. But, this suffering doesn't birth a hateful monster, it instead birthed a kind girl. For those first seven years she suffered for her mother, and for the next she suffered for the sake of another 'self', so that Cheryl Mason could have a loving family.

The gut wrenching truth of Silent Hill is in the climax all endings show. Dahlia as the manipulator, and Alessa wheelchair bound, covered in bandages, and not unlike the crucified and mummified corpses strewn throughout the town.

Alessa's pain had been unintentionally shared with the town and Harry, projecting the images deep inside of her. A faux-God emaciated and hung in bathroom stalls or back alleys, children who either attack or just try to quietly run away, nurses and doctors who are controlled by parasites, even things Alessa took interest in become monsters in this waking nightmare. The imagery surrounding all this is equally blunt once this main text is known, the rust being symbolic of Alessa's own bodily state, while the metallic floors bearing a resemblance to a cage or a fence representing her inability to move freely, both before her almost-death and well after it. It's constant suffering that Harry walks through, and it's on the player to truly know this and take this in.

Another constant that comes up is in the usage of boilers throughout the game. The first boiler you interact with opens the door to the nightmare, and in that world it becomes the area of the first boss fight. At the heart of this boiler is a body not unlike ones mentioned before, only this time it is restrained and propped up, as it is burned. Later, the boiler room is blocked off in the hospital, but the ambient sounds let you know that it's there. Many of the ambient noises, like the lowering of the bridge bring to mind an idea of boilers, a truly underlying torment for Alessa. While the nurses and children are most prevalent as enemies, the boiler is ever present due to it representing the ultimate betrayal Alessa faced from her mother.

Alessa's trauma is not the only one faced in the game though. We see how Lisa Garland coped with having to shoulder Alessa's pain, her job having been to change the bandages after they had been ruined with puss and blood, those visceral images taking the toll on her own personal life. Another person can't just enter the life of someone who has been abused, who has suffered abuse, and just change their bandages. It's why Lisa is a tragic character, she was a woman who fell into her own tragedy caring for someone else's. It's this really harsh message, that Lisa ended up manipulated and abused herself while caring for someone in that situation, but Silent Hill is about confronting these disturbing "psychological" ideas.

"Nowhere" is the culmination of all of this pain. Only in Nowhere can you watch Lisa's video tape unaltered, only in Nowhere do you learn that Lisa was suffering. Both she and Alessa were hiding it, and when Harry learns the truth she asks Harry for help that he can't give. Harry pushing Lisa away is probably one of the most heartwrenching moments in the franchise, it is a pure act of one person being unable to comfort another, being completely unable to help. Many players I've spoken to have wished to help Lisa, but they can't. Her words also show that her relationship with Alessa was similar to Harry's with Lisa in that moment, that she is "just like the others", unable to truly help. But, at the very least Harry's actions in the Good Endings allowed him to witness the root of Lisa's suffering, with the uncovering of the drug ring in connection to Kaufmann. Lisa's appearance in the Good Endings, dragging Kaufmann with her, is the only solace Harry's actions could offer her.

That leaves the player with just Alessa and Dahlia. Dahlia the abuser, Alessa the abused. A common theme in Japanese media I've noticed is a distinct idea of lackluster or abusive parents, with father or mother figures typically found outside blood relation, and this idea is a throughline across the Silent Hill series. Harry truly tried for Cheryl, and went through all of this for her, and in the final moments when he fully goes through Alessa's psyche in Nowhere, he comes across a room he has seen before. Nowhere is a place of absolute understanding, the subtext becomes the text here, and as you get closer to the heart of everything, the game pushes you away. The final grunt enemies introduced are invisible versions of the "bully" children, a manifestation of the fact that this childhood abuse doesn't go away. They're first found in a hallway linking to several rooms, a classroom covered in graffiti that consists of targeted attacks on a single person, a bedroom where all the symbolism of the more vaguely connected monsters comes to light, and the room we have seen before. A hospital bed, a chair, and a heart monitor adorn the room, but the thing that stands out is a single picture of a young girl. The first time we see it, the teal narration text tells us the girl's name. This time, the white text of Harry's own internal thoughts tell us the name, an almost forlorn expression given purely through the reuse of text, just in a different colour.

"Alessa"

Harry reaches an understanding and empathy through bearing witness. Through seeing both the abuse and the sources of it, seeing how others have suffered similarly through trying to help, and seeing those who saw fit to ignore or to antagonize, he understands. His final actions in the game, despite knowing that his daughter is gone for good, are to protect this little girl he has never spoken to, from a woman who only wishes to harm her (in a more abstract sense in the Good Endings). The last conversation Dahlia has with Alessa, presumably before enacting the ritual that would leave her body destroyed, is a disturbing. It's dressed up under the ideas of rituals and magic, but in Japan these ideas were scams. The occult boom came with a price, the price of real occultism. Kaufmann is important because he represents the true nature of these groups, a self-interested and abusive figure at the head of it all, glad to use fanatics like Dahlia while they're convenient. That real occultism also came with sexual abuse, and Dahlia's conversation is focused on the "mother's womb." It's a tragic conversation as Alessa's words are pure, of not wanting to go through with any of these 'rituals', of just wanting to be with her mother, but that was never what Dahlia wanted and Dahlia never cared. The final boss arena is an extension of this, it is the same rusted cage look, but underneath are boilers, and the true final boss is a perverted God, its flesh visible and raw, who attacks with fire. There is no subtext here, it has become the pure text, this is the manifestation of an Alessa that spreads her pain, an ugly creature that lashes out at everything, and once Harry defeats it he can't get Cheryl back. He can't save Alessa. His journey was a failure. Everyone died (except maybe Cybli in the very best of endings) and his daughter was lost forever. But, in both Good Endings, Alessa hands him a baby, a second element of herself that is birthed at the end. While the perverted God was someone who could only spread pain, the baby is pure, a new beginning for Alessa. Harry has witnessed, empathized, and understood her pain, had cared for her not knowing of it seven years, and she trusts him. The concluding scenes, depending on the ending you get, either show Harry looking distressed after having escaped, or Harry and Cybil re-enacting the opening shots of the game, of Harry and his wife with a baby Cheryl. These should be taken as a pair rather than separate, Harry's reactions give the game an additional layer, that this isn't a solution, but it is a beginning to one. Abuse and recovering from it is a complex topic for those going through it and those trying to help, often those trying to help aren't mentally prepared and only cause more harm to either the victim of abuse or themselves. Harry can help with Alessa's abuse, but these endings present him with a vague answer to how well he can handle it. He is both distressed, and prepared.

Silent Hill is a very weird game to discuss in its themes. It is densely layered, but it leaves most of its ideas in imagery, Takayoshi Sato's cutscenes lending a lot of pathos to the work, in addition to Keiichiro Toyama's overall direction. Many unique experiences and elements, and ideas of the times in Japan and in the fiction of America bleed into this game, acting as a melting pot to portray complex themes that many don't want to acknowledge, not out of fear but out of discomfort. This is at the heart of psychological horror, to confront the uncomfortable realities. The tragedy of Alessa took place directly in the heart of suburban America, because these tragedies will always exist. I could go for much longer, but rambling is not my strong suit and I've already repeated myself far too often here.

The last idea I want to leave on is that of "Christina's World". A beautiful painting which inspired the Dahlia's house and aspects of Alessa's character in Silent Hill. Christina stares off at her home, in an almost distressing way, and she is completely alone, unable to move. Her world is that home, and the core emotion this painting evokes for me is complete loneliness and inability to move in that loneliness.

Shocklingly ahead of it's time.
There are so many little moments of absolute genius when it comes to conveying horror through gameplay. The hallway that's a slow descent into the nightmare, the elevator with a mysterious 4th floor that wasn't there before, a bathroom that secretly teleports you, etc...

If anything I would say that feeling is a bit undermined by how easy the game can be, with controls that allow more movement than Resident Evil's and a melee option that floors 80% of enemies you end up having so many resources you are never really challenged or put in a tight spot.

And the presentation, just plain beautiful, there is so much texture and detail on every corner, an atmosphere so dense you are simply transported into the game. It also helps how masterful the camera work is, static on the right places to fully capture the scenery and moving to create shots that a lot of horror films wish they could accomplish. Just something great.

Pleb-filter me once, shame on me.
Pleb-filter me twice, shame on me.

I dropped this game a decade ago and I dropped it again today.
I just cannot be assed to play this game
Sorry atmosphere chads.

Sobre el papel, exploración de espacios reales, cotidianos, desfigurándose poco a poco. Una doble realidad siniestra y corrupta accediendo y entremezclándose con la propia. Un pueblo donde los demonios internos de su gente se vuelven físicos, tangibles. Una enfermera atrapada en el hospital donde vivió un suceso traumático. Un alma infantil inocente víctima de la maldad adulta. Un padre desorientado y desesperado capaz entrar al infierno por encontrar a su hija.

La realidad, molestas carreras perseguido por terodáctilos y puzzles que rompen constantemente la atmósfera construida. Un protagonista que no refleja ninguna incomodidad sobre su situación y que se pasea firme, escopeta en mano, vaciando cartuchos en la cara de todo tipo de aberraciones como si fuera su rutina diaria. Un cierre soso y blando, dando respuestas claras y concisas a todas las preguntas que se abrieron por el camino, sin apenas espacio a la interpretación. Una decepción.

I find this game to be an outstanding product, residing in the top bracket of its genre. It's in the running for best game released in 1999 for me.

I find the game to be a mechanical delight. The way your guns become more accurate based on how long you aim and your proximity to enemies, how the running strafe forces you to commit to 2 steps but can be interrupted by interacting with items or opening doors, how different enemies require different strategies based on their varying behaviors and how it's detailed down to their individual perception of sight and sound for aggro. This all adds up to a game with a decently high skill ceiling, and I've done many 10 star runs as the game always seems to be able to be pushed further. The scoring system itself is very finely tuned, and the time limit for 10 stars is perfect at 90 minutes for the amount of kills and optimization required.

I am absolutely the target audience of this game.

I love this game. I get it. I think the setting is so rich and really captures the odd sensation of being in a public place that shouldn't be empty, and I love the way Harry's straight-laced goofy dad personality comes out through his slightly weird line reads. It's interesting to compare this game to Resident Evil, because they're such contemporaries, but Silent Hill feels so much gunkier and grungier, bigger, darker.

There's a sense that you're stumbling through something that cannot be fully illuminated in Silent Hill. What happened to create these creatures? Why is there a big moth trying to kill me? Where is my child? These are the eternal questions.

At first, I was scared to play games like this, but after getting acquainted with this murky, segmented nightmare town, I hate to leave.

It's impossible not to compare this to Resident Evil. This game shines on a narrative level: the plot is more robust and interesting and the environment design leans substantially less heavily on existing horror tropes and ends up legitimately unsettling as a result. The mechanics, on the other hand, are much less revelatory and end up decidedly obnoxious in boss fights that turn the tank controls from an artistic decision to a pure impediment.

The biggest innovation relative to the survival horror progenitor is the wide open city overworld shrouded in the series's iconic fog. This turns the whole dynamic of the game's resource management on its head. No longer do foes exist exclusively on a room-by-room basis, where figuring out how to successfully route around an enemy is as valid a solution as killing it. Silent Hill presents a version of the dungeon crawler's core question: will you take the risk of exploration in exchange for the rewards you may find?

Broadly speaking, if you're decent at the game, killing the foes you encounter in the overworld so you can explore it thoroughly will give you more resources than you spend. On the other hand, if you (like me) try to play this like Resident Evil and conserve your healing items and ammunition by carefully avoiding combat while making your way directly to your next objective, you'll miss not just useful items but a deeper understanding of the plot and indeed the possibility of a good ending.

Silent Hill thus ends up being a very different kind of survival horror. You're certainly still hoarding resources, but you're not running scared in the same way. The game throws frightening beasts at you but it also asks that you learn to face down and overcome them. In doing so, it dilutes the fear somewhat, and I think that's a bit of a shame.

90% of the atmosphere in sound design
90% of the difficulty in shitty controls

"what the hell is going on this town.. it's like some kind of silent.. hill" - harry houdini

"so that's what we are, sum kinda.. survival horror " - cybil houdini

A bit of an interesting one.

I was avoiding this franchise from like leagues away, mostly cuz I don't do horror and I knew that these games will scare me, but already after finishing the first one I don't regret it a bit. Playing with the lights out really gave a whole new level to how absolutely perfect the atmosphere of the game is, just completely intricately paced from beginning to end. The horrors of the town slowly developed and enveloped the entire aesthetic as things never really stopped being intrinsically unsettling and spooky on most fronts. My favorite moments have to be the hospital in terms of art design, but the sewer to the amusement park really takes the cake on the heartpounding rush side of things. The sound design is absolutely excellent too, with the radio sound etched in my mind in a good way, as well as the industrial vibes that bleed through the hospital and dark overworld. Music's pretty swell here too.

It's really a shame then, that when removed from that aesthetical core, the game starts to have its edges dulled. And I do mean removed, the gameplay of juking monsters and """"managing"""" resources wears itself thin by about halfway through, to where all intents and purposes the atmosphere begins to be enveloped by its own form of mediocrity. You do get some neat moments, I quite liked the first boss and I think a few of the actual puzzles here are really interesting to figure out. But generally once you're used to the controls and have gotten through the hospital, you've done everything. There's also not really much here to say in terms of the story, mostly following rather straightforward beats in an incredibly obfuscated way. It does lead to a couple genuinely great moments, but a lot of it is so incredibly background that I don't think it deserves attention.

Real emphasis on how fucked the resource management is though for a second, what is most definitely the one way this game could ramp the hell up out of the tension is so massively overtuned to where you'll never run out of anything unless you realllllly try.

This kind of sums up to an experience that really peaks early and ends with more of a whimper than it really deserves, at least for me. I even went out of my way to dodge more enemies instead of just shooting them, and that still didn't save sections that could've been a lot more crazy to go through. Definitely still ABSOLUTELY worth your time, but with expectations set very low.

Vejo muitos dizerem que o jogo envelheceu mal, eu discordo em partes. Visualmente falando, pra um jogo de ps1 ele envelheceu muito bem, principalmente pela direção de arte, o ótimo uso da câmera, e como eles puderam utilizar das limitações do console pra contribuir com a estética, vale lembrar que com um filtro crt o jogo ganha uma cara nova, não joguem jogos retro sem filtro crt. Mas sim, eu entendo que andar pela cidade é boring, o combate é bem meia boca, os bosses você pode só espamar ataque e ficar se curando, e as coisas necessárias pra pegar o final bom são bem estúpidas, e são por esses motivos que eu não dou nota máxima a esse primeiro jogo. Por que sempre fui fascinado por jogos como Soma, Amnesia ou Outlast 2, que vão além do terror, sendo este apenas uma ferramenta pra contar uma ótima história, percebo agora que muitos desses jogos são frutos de Silent Hill.

Since I liked Signalis so much I wanted to play through the franchise it was heavily inspired by :3

I'm amazed that a game that old with dialogue and voice acting that awkward could scare me this much. The atmosphere in this game really is something else and I felt so uneasy so many times. Oddly enough, no area scared me more than the school (I also took the longest there because of that fact).

It got its fair amount of issues, like the gameplay probably feeling too dated for most people (although I blame the framerate more than the actual gameplay mechanics), voice acting being really rough most of the time and the puzzles can be really cryptic. But despite all of these things I still think this is a must play for sillies like me who love survival horror games :3

It's a very unique game in my opinion and I think you get used to the controls fairly quickly, so go play it! :>

Enjoy your vacation in Silent Hill


My Results Screen

My first actual horror game playthrough, and damn does it hold up well. Silent Hill offers an ominous and devoid experience, paired with incredible ambience and a uniquely chilling atmosphere. The plot, while pretty basic, was delivered quite well with a good balance of gameplay and story elements. The controls which seemed clunky at first, were easily adaptable and served in favor of the gameplay and especially in high tension moments such as multiple enemy encounters and boss fights (While sometimes a bit frustrating, you have to cut the developers some slack, the moveable camera alone was quite impressive). Overall the presentation and execution, especially for an entirely 3D PSX title, are only praise worthy, and I can whole heartedly say that Silent Hill lived up to all of my expectations. Despite some instances of repetitive level design and enemy types/encounters, these pale in comparison to everything else the game has to offer. Very much looking forward to continuing this awesome series.

Even without having experienced much else that the Survival Horror genre has to offer, it's easy to see when looking back what made the original Silent Hill such a special game. Despite how dated it feels from a modern perspective there's so many ways in which it simultaneously feels ahead of its time—from the large open foggy areas that provide neither the comfort of visibility nor the protection of a confined space, to the way the maps update in order to help keep track of where you've been and need to go, and to the more ambiguous and contemplative tone of the story that serves to amplify the nightmarish setting of its atmosphere without giving any kind of B-Movie styled camp for relief. Even some of the more dated aspects of the game play into its strengths, like how the low poly graphics create such grotesque figures and revolting textures. It also opts for free control of the camera in most areas, with the exception being when it takes on a deliberate angle for dramatic effect, and given the openness of many areas and the speed of the enemies trying to get the camera to keep up with them proves to be a challenge, further amplifying the tension of their appearances.
What I think makes this game stand out in my mind so much is the pure effectiveness that is has at setting atmosphere and maintaining a constant sense of anxiety, and much of this comes from how it plays on one's fear of the unknown. There's a big difference between throwing scary monsters at the player to either kill or run away from, and placing them within an inescapable haze so that even fleeing could very well mean running into something more threatening or a dead end. The score for this game, while it has some beautiful tracks, is mostly made up of eerie tracks designed specifically to make you incredibly uncomfortable as you search each new area, and when it's not doing that you're left with silence which often brings its own unnerving effect. I've never felt so conflicted while playing a game in the sense that I had such a strong appreciation for what it was doing and yet I was more than ready for it to finally be over. I think that this unfortunately impacted my enjoyment of some of the exploration and puzzle-solving, since I was a bit too stressed out to want to properly think through solutions.
Combat is also kinda bad yet in some ways this served to make the game's atmosphere even more effective since killing enemies never afforded me much relief. Really my biggest complaints would be that some of the enemy types themselves were pretty annoying to deal with especially when it came to certain things like flying, speed, and grab hitboxes. There are a few bosses too which with the exception of one pretty cool fight that had a couple different solutions for it, are kinda just a point in the game for you to dump all of your stockpiled ammo onto. This almost led to trouble on the final boss for me (though I believe there's a workaround for this) but I'm glad I was still able to take it down the intended way.
Overall I have a lot of respect for this title and it impressed as I finally got a better experience at what this genre is truly capable of. I'd almost say that it's too good at what it does because now I'm gonna have to be careful going into any more games like this now knowing just how anxious they can make me.