There's something very wrong with the town of Silent Hill.
From the offset a world covered in endless fog, the only life being those of the inhuman, the subconscious nightmares of a tormented soul.
You, Harry Mason, are trapped in this nightmare. You are just an average man, and you only seek to find your daughter, who went missing after your car crashed on the way into this deserted village.
The unknown creeps upon you with every step you make, harsh static signifying the grotesque have begun the hunt. Can you find your daughter? Will you find her?
The magic of Silent Hill in my personal opinion comes down to the inherent setup. You are playing an average person in way over their head.
Harry is not a Action Superstar, He isn't some magical badass granted the strength of ten men while trying to defend himself from the deadly flesh colored horrors that try to devour him. Harry Mason is a normal, run of the mill family man.
This is shown through many ways, the controls for instance. They are awkward and stilted, Harry turns with the grace of a cafeteria lady placing today's slop on your tray. When you run with him, touching any object in front of him will cause him to bump into it and stagger, which opens him up to be attacked by the enemy.
In any other game, this would be a point of contention but in Silent Hill it is a strength. The awkward nature of the controls is reflective of how awkward it feels to be Harry in this dire and confusing set of circumstances. He is just a regular person trying to find his kid, and in this foggy town, bumping into shit because you can't see it adds to the atmosphere.
The game is also very confusing, which is completely intentional. There will be times where the camera angles change to these very unique, dynamic shots that disorient the player. I think these work to give a sense of anxiety, since now you have to adapt to not being able to see certain things in front of you. Certain puzzles are very obtuse, and while this is a genuine complaint I have with the game, I think it does add to the air of confusion and terror as you begin to feel trapped and isolated in the various locations you visit.
Then there's the voice acting. Many would say it's as awkward and stilted as the controls, and once again I would claim that this is the point. Most characters, especially Harry, speak in a very uncanny, unnatural tone. It gives off this vibe that maybe nobody is what they claim to be, not even the very character we're playing. It makes you question the intentions of every character you encounter, and I think it works to add intensity to the experience.
And to cap it off, the brilliant soundtrack by Akira Yamaoka fits every moment perfectly. From the harsh industrial sounds pushing you where you must go, to the more calm yet sinister tracks, it adds a unique sense of terror to the experience.
Of course I do have a few complaints. Some puzzles are pretty obtuse at points, I think the Zodiac one in particular threw me off because I kept trying to figure out if the pattern was related to the months when it was in fact, an entirely different solution entirely. These aren't so much a problem nowadays since you can look up a hint to the solution if you need it, but I imagine playing the game back in 1999 and doing these might have resulted in some major headscratchings.
Then there's the Boss Fights. They're not good. I accept that they are not the focus of the game and that is completely understandable, but most of them aren't even really a challenge either. It's very much a "shoot them until they die" type of thing, with the only challenge being the boss fight against a corrupted character and that's only because they have a gun.
Want to know my biggest complaint though, and this may sound a bit strange but... the game has too many save points.
Yeah, that is easily my biggest problem with Silent Hill, is that I can over rely on save points and hell, the game even has separate checkpoints where if you die you just start from there. It feels a bit cheap and kind of takes away some of the horror aspect that games like Resident Evil introduced with both limited save points and just limited saves in general.
By the end of Silent Hill I had well over 30 saves, because I am a paranoid fuck, but I still think that limiting that for the player would have made the game even more intense with its horror. Maybe that's what Hard Mode does? I played Normal for this run and while it was challenging, having all those saves kept me from really struggling.
All in all I'm very glad I played this one first, since in truth I don't hear about this game nearly as much as Silent Hill 2, but I've really come to appreciate its vibey horror and just the general aesthetic of such a game.
I look forward to experiencing the horrors of James Sunderland next.
From the offset a world covered in endless fog, the only life being those of the inhuman, the subconscious nightmares of a tormented soul.
You, Harry Mason, are trapped in this nightmare. You are just an average man, and you only seek to find your daughter, who went missing after your car crashed on the way into this deserted village.
The unknown creeps upon you with every step you make, harsh static signifying the grotesque have begun the hunt. Can you find your daughter? Will you find her?
The magic of Silent Hill in my personal opinion comes down to the inherent setup. You are playing an average person in way over their head.
Harry is not a Action Superstar, He isn't some magical badass granted the strength of ten men while trying to defend himself from the deadly flesh colored horrors that try to devour him. Harry Mason is a normal, run of the mill family man.
This is shown through many ways, the controls for instance. They are awkward and stilted, Harry turns with the grace of a cafeteria lady placing today's slop on your tray. When you run with him, touching any object in front of him will cause him to bump into it and stagger, which opens him up to be attacked by the enemy.
In any other game, this would be a point of contention but in Silent Hill it is a strength. The awkward nature of the controls is reflective of how awkward it feels to be Harry in this dire and confusing set of circumstances. He is just a regular person trying to find his kid, and in this foggy town, bumping into shit because you can't see it adds to the atmosphere.
The game is also very confusing, which is completely intentional. There will be times where the camera angles change to these very unique, dynamic shots that disorient the player. I think these work to give a sense of anxiety, since now you have to adapt to not being able to see certain things in front of you. Certain puzzles are very obtuse, and while this is a genuine complaint I have with the game, I think it does add to the air of confusion and terror as you begin to feel trapped and isolated in the various locations you visit.
Then there's the voice acting. Many would say it's as awkward and stilted as the controls, and once again I would claim that this is the point. Most characters, especially Harry, speak in a very uncanny, unnatural tone. It gives off this vibe that maybe nobody is what they claim to be, not even the very character we're playing. It makes you question the intentions of every character you encounter, and I think it works to add intensity to the experience.
And to cap it off, the brilliant soundtrack by Akira Yamaoka fits every moment perfectly. From the harsh industrial sounds pushing you where you must go, to the more calm yet sinister tracks, it adds a unique sense of terror to the experience.
Of course I do have a few complaints. Some puzzles are pretty obtuse at points, I think the Zodiac one in particular threw me off because I kept trying to figure out if the pattern was related to the months when it was in fact, an entirely different solution entirely. These aren't so much a problem nowadays since you can look up a hint to the solution if you need it, but I imagine playing the game back in 1999 and doing these might have resulted in some major headscratchings.
Then there's the Boss Fights. They're not good. I accept that they are not the focus of the game and that is completely understandable, but most of them aren't even really a challenge either. It's very much a "shoot them until they die" type of thing, with the only challenge being the boss fight against a corrupted character and that's only because they have a gun.
Want to know my biggest complaint though, and this may sound a bit strange but... the game has too many save points.
Yeah, that is easily my biggest problem with Silent Hill, is that I can over rely on save points and hell, the game even has separate checkpoints where if you die you just start from there. It feels a bit cheap and kind of takes away some of the horror aspect that games like Resident Evil introduced with both limited save points and just limited saves in general.
By the end of Silent Hill I had well over 30 saves, because I am a paranoid fuck, but I still think that limiting that for the player would have made the game even more intense with its horror. Maybe that's what Hard Mode does? I played Normal for this run and while it was challenging, having all those saves kept me from really struggling.
All in all I'm very glad I played this one first, since in truth I don't hear about this game nearly as much as Silent Hill 2, but I've really come to appreciate its vibey horror and just the general aesthetic of such a game.
I look forward to experiencing the horrors of James Sunderland next.