Silent Hill is definitely something else. Of course, we all know how much of a unique gem this series is among the rest of the videogame industry. But i would even go as far as to say that Silent Hill is pretty much unique in the entirety of the horror narrative, including cinema, literature, and other media. I would even suggest to those horror fans who are not into videogames that they should make an exception for the Silent Hill series, and if they can’t get to play it, at least they should watch a walkthrough, but they definitely have to experience this in some way.
It is a common thing, when citing games that are somehow considered pioneers in something, to cite them applying a criteria based on technical or gameplay-related aspects, such as “the first survival horror ever” or “the first game done entirely with 3D graphics” and such. I’d like to propose a different criteria, and actually ask about what are some of the first game to heavily borrow inspiration from Twin Peaks. And naturally i’m guessing Silent Hill would play a significant role there, probably not the first, but definitely one of the first to actually cause an impact. Of course, it’s very well known that Team Silent took inspiration from other media besides Twin Peaks (notably, the film Jacob’s Ladder, among others). To me it’s fascinating to think that despite being heavily influence by media coming from western culture, they somehow handled the strictly horror elements in a very japanese manner. That’s at least my impression. But what’s undeniable, is that they definitely wanted to go way deeper than the mere application of typical horror/action tropes. The ambition of Team Silent was more akin to cinema, even literature. And because of that ambition, Silent Hill represents an incredibly solid introduction to the whole saga.
I’m tempted to say that the only problems in SH are related to the gameplay. In this obvious and unavoidable comparison with Resident Evil, one can’t help to notice that Silent Hill’s camera might get confusing at times, that despite having many more movements and mechanics they still get to be pretty clunky at times, that weapons are not as pleasant as they could be, that the concept ends up forcing the look of the game to be quite repetitve at a certain point, that some maze-like areas are a bit frustrating, and that backtracking can get boresome. In more simple words, one can say that Silent Hill isn’t that fun to play as, obviously, Resident Evil is. But still i can’t help but feeling that such criticism wouldn’t be fair at all. Maybe the fact that the gameplay is quite uncomfortable is all part of the nightmare-like mood and the whole concept. Maybe the concept is actually reinforced by a gameplay that isn’t meant to be your average shooter fun, and maybe weapons are not all that fun to use because there shouldn’t actually be fun in killing things, and actually killing is form of survival that only should happen in pretty extreme situations. Probably this seemingly coherence between gameplay and story might be purely accidental, given that maybe developers weren’t purposefuly trying to make the movement kinda janky and the weapons quite tame. But in the end, one has to recognize that both aspects merge just fine, even if some parts are hard to get by, they have to be that way.
Leaving that aside, and even if SH2 and SH3 are pretty much the stars of the show, one can’t deny how much of a game changer SH1 was. It caused a shift not just in Survival Horror, i also think it pretty much created a whole aesthetic that arguably trascended videogames.
It is a common thing, when citing games that are somehow considered pioneers in something, to cite them applying a criteria based on technical or gameplay-related aspects, such as “the first survival horror ever” or “the first game done entirely with 3D graphics” and such. I’d like to propose a different criteria, and actually ask about what are some of the first game to heavily borrow inspiration from Twin Peaks. And naturally i’m guessing Silent Hill would play a significant role there, probably not the first, but definitely one of the first to actually cause an impact. Of course, it’s very well known that Team Silent took inspiration from other media besides Twin Peaks (notably, the film Jacob’s Ladder, among others). To me it’s fascinating to think that despite being heavily influence by media coming from western culture, they somehow handled the strictly horror elements in a very japanese manner. That’s at least my impression. But what’s undeniable, is that they definitely wanted to go way deeper than the mere application of typical horror/action tropes. The ambition of Team Silent was more akin to cinema, even literature. And because of that ambition, Silent Hill represents an incredibly solid introduction to the whole saga.
I’m tempted to say that the only problems in SH are related to the gameplay. In this obvious and unavoidable comparison with Resident Evil, one can’t help to notice that Silent Hill’s camera might get confusing at times, that despite having many more movements and mechanics they still get to be pretty clunky at times, that weapons are not as pleasant as they could be, that the concept ends up forcing the look of the game to be quite repetitve at a certain point, that some maze-like areas are a bit frustrating, and that backtracking can get boresome. In more simple words, one can say that Silent Hill isn’t that fun to play as, obviously, Resident Evil is. But still i can’t help but feeling that such criticism wouldn’t be fair at all. Maybe the fact that the gameplay is quite uncomfortable is all part of the nightmare-like mood and the whole concept. Maybe the concept is actually reinforced by a gameplay that isn’t meant to be your average shooter fun, and maybe weapons are not all that fun to use because there shouldn’t actually be fun in killing things, and actually killing is form of survival that only should happen in pretty extreme situations. Probably this seemingly coherence between gameplay and story might be purely accidental, given that maybe developers weren’t purposefuly trying to make the movement kinda janky and the weapons quite tame. But in the end, one has to recognize that both aspects merge just fine, even if some parts are hard to get by, they have to be that way.
Leaving that aside, and even if SH2 and SH3 are pretty much the stars of the show, one can’t deny how much of a game changer SH1 was. It caused a shift not just in Survival Horror, i also think it pretty much created a whole aesthetic that arguably trascended videogames.