All the hype and praise this game gets is well deserved. This game's strong point is its atmosphere and environment. The fog, the layout and the sound design create probably the most immersive environment in any game. Exploring the town of Silent Hill is not only fun but also stressful. This game also shows how good use of fixed cameras is much scarier than just relying on jump scares. Aside from the amazing game design, the story and characters are interesting and likable. The only thing I disliked was the horrible voice-acting but the rest of the game more than makes up for that.

Jugué silent hill 2 antes de jugar este juego, y siento que en parte eso afecta a mi opinión de este título, pues mientras jugaba no podía evitar compararlo con su secuela, por lo que esta reseña será altamente subjetiva, siguiendo con esa misma comparativa, pienso que en cuestiones de gameplay y como survival horror es una buena entrega y muy superior a su secuela; sin embargo, en aspectos narrativos me parece que su secuela es muy superior, no me parece malo su enfoque centrado en los misterios del pueblo, de hecho solo por ese aspecto recomendaría jugar esta entrega antes de su secuela, mi principal problema con su narrativa es el cómo las acciones del jugador afectan a la historia y su final, me parece que los métodos para sacar los diferentes finales, son obtusos en el mejor de los casos o directamente absurdos, cosa que termina por hacer que no sea una experiencia tan atrapante como su secuela, sin embargo me sigue pareciendo una buena experiencia, y un juego que merece ser jugado.

"It's being invaded by the Otherworld. By a world of someone's nightmarish delusions come to life..."

I think this dialogue describes perfectly what Silent Hill as a whole is all about. A delusion birthed from trauma, pain, and fear, and in this case, the delusions of Alessa Gillespie, a poor girl that only wanted to live a normal life and be loved by her mother, only to go through a destiny worse than death thanks to her actions and seek of power.

Every location, note, and monster are related to Alessa, from the start you have to seek these objects that have relations to her, like the three keys that you need to open the door, once you reach the school you realize those are the keys of the people that cared about her, like the teacher that knew Alessa was being abused by her mother and worried about her.

Every location is important for her in some way, some bad, some good. Places full of trauma like Midwich Elementary School, a place where she was bullied because of her powers and being part of a cult, this was too much for a child, to the point that now, in this nightmarish delusion, those kids that hurted her are represented as these little monsters with knifes, with her only safe place being a room full of machinery.

All these monsters are representations of her mind as a whole, things that bothered her like kids, the fear of suffering for seven years through the nurses and doctors, her fascination for insects, etc. During the whole game we are going through her trauma, and even after all she went through she still had a good heart in her, enduring those seven years of torture, not only to prevent the devil of being unborn, but also so the other half of her soul, Cheryl, can live a normal life. Even after all that she wanted to prevent even worse things to happen, her plan was to commit suicide after her soul was completed, preventing the birth of the devil.

This is what Silent Hill is all about. Delusion, love, fear, and confronting them. The town is just the excuse for it, the mirror that reflects the wounds inside the human mind, and we, the player, are passengers through this delusion, and just like the characters, we have been brought here for a reason.

What can I say? M A S T E R P I E C E.

The game came out decades ago and the atmosphere is still one of the best I've seen in any video game, the music is just incredible, while in SH 2 it was more atmospheric, over here it feels like it follows you and accommodates to every single moment, every step, making your tension rise as you feel danger coming up, only for it to not appear. Visually is outstanding.

With Silent Hill 1 and 2 you have a dilemma, let's call it a two sided coin, on one side you have a game that is all about exploration, music and enemies with variations depending on what you explore, that being shown through these dried and rotten walls, while on the other you have a more linear and calm game where you go through your own personal hell, where music is there for you but never intrusive. Either way, the coin has to fall on any side, and when it does. it works flawlessly.

The only grip I have with this game is that you can softlock yourself in various parts of the game, but that's about it.

yeah I loved the game, and its funny that Toyama left Team Silent after this game because he thought he busted it, and joined Japan Studios to re-learn how to make a videogame... you cooked with this game LMAO