silent hill is a product of its time that remains timeless. it was born from several limitations and quirks of the PS1 age that make this game a one-of-a-kind experience when compared to its excellent sequels.
heavy dithering obfuscates everything in sight. the environment's textures contort themselves against the camera. the fog and pitch black darkness that compensate for the particularly low render distance force the world to slip in and out of a void at all times. awkwardly written and performed dialogue, with LONG pauses between lines that are often delivered monotonously, make each character interaction strangely hypnotic.
that paragraph makes it seem like SH1's surreal horror atmosphere was a fluke, but no, team silent went above and beyond to craft a town that feels eerily mundane yet impossible. when inside, you get environments with loads of detail that seem incredibly familiar, until you realize how nonsensical each level's architecture can get. when outside, you see basically everything that you'd expect a real small town to have (as well as blood, monsters and neverending voids), yet the contrasting vacancy makes this place appear as little more than a prison for harry.
when combined, all of these elements create a silent hill that exists somewhere between reality and limbo, dream and nightmare. over 20 years after its release, there's now a sense of nostalgia attached to the PS1 graphics and some dreamy coziness that i feel during the foggy scenes. but peaceful moments never really last in this game.
the way silent hill does horror is by inducing a false sense of familiarity and comfort into the player, only to pull the rug and flip everything they think they know on its head. there's always a dreadful anticipation for what comes next. that tension is greatly amplified by the horrifically oppressive akira yamaoka soundtrack and sluggish tank controls that betray the player, often forcing them to crash into walls and monsters.
but as opposed to the atmosphere that i've been gushing about for a while, silent hill 1's plot is a letdown. the disturbing and oppressive tone that dominates the experience simply has nothing to do with the goofy, campy cult aspect of the story. all of the endings are also anticlimactic and underwhelming.
ultimately, i'm far more attracted to how the main story is told (environmental storytelling, uncanny dialogue, the unforgettable FMVs) than to what the story actually is. some of the more subtle themes, sub-plots and lisa garland's character are all more interesting to me than the main plot.
even with its occasional shortcomings, the silent hill series is The big staple in the videogame horror genre to me, and it all began here. franchises like resident evil and alone in the dark may have preceded it, but SH1 was the game that showed everyone what kind of experience a horror game could be - and it still holds up.
heavy dithering obfuscates everything in sight. the environment's textures contort themselves against the camera. the fog and pitch black darkness that compensate for the particularly low render distance force the world to slip in and out of a void at all times. awkwardly written and performed dialogue, with LONG pauses between lines that are often delivered monotonously, make each character interaction strangely hypnotic.
that paragraph makes it seem like SH1's surreal horror atmosphere was a fluke, but no, team silent went above and beyond to craft a town that feels eerily mundane yet impossible. when inside, you get environments with loads of detail that seem incredibly familiar, until you realize how nonsensical each level's architecture can get. when outside, you see basically everything that you'd expect a real small town to have (as well as blood, monsters and neverending voids), yet the contrasting vacancy makes this place appear as little more than a prison for harry.
when combined, all of these elements create a silent hill that exists somewhere between reality and limbo, dream and nightmare. over 20 years after its release, there's now a sense of nostalgia attached to the PS1 graphics and some dreamy coziness that i feel during the foggy scenes. but peaceful moments never really last in this game.
the way silent hill does horror is by inducing a false sense of familiarity and comfort into the player, only to pull the rug and flip everything they think they know on its head. there's always a dreadful anticipation for what comes next. that tension is greatly amplified by the horrifically oppressive akira yamaoka soundtrack and sluggish tank controls that betray the player, often forcing them to crash into walls and monsters.
but as opposed to the atmosphere that i've been gushing about for a while, silent hill 1's plot is a letdown. the disturbing and oppressive tone that dominates the experience simply has nothing to do with the goofy, campy cult aspect of the story. all of the endings are also anticlimactic and underwhelming.
ultimately, i'm far more attracted to how the main story is told (environmental storytelling, uncanny dialogue, the unforgettable FMVs) than to what the story actually is. some of the more subtle themes, sub-plots and lisa garland's character are all more interesting to me than the main plot.
even with its occasional shortcomings, the silent hill series is The big staple in the videogame horror genre to me, and it all began here. franchises like resident evil and alone in the dark may have preceded it, but SH1 was the game that showed everyone what kind of experience a horror game could be - and it still holds up.