Silent Hill

PRESS START

An Introduction To Today’s Game

Horror movies don't scare me anymore. I wish they did, because I miss that feeling from childhood when Freddy, Alien and Jaws actually terrified me. But as an adult, I haven't felt genuine fear from a film in years.

Gaming is different, though. When you're the character on screen, when something could be lurking just outside your field of view or creeping up behind you, the fear hits differently. It's more immediate, more personal. Gaming horror feels more effective to me than anything film can offer. I spent two solid years working through Alien: Isolation because that constant sense of being hunted was genuinely overwhelming.

One of the first games to make me feel that way was Silent Hill.

Released in 1999 for the original PlayStation, this game didn't need cutting-edge graphics or high polygon counts to terrify players. Instead, Konami's Team Silent used atmosphere, mystery, and psychological horror to create something that still feels disturbing over twenty-five years later. This is where psychological horror found its voice in gaming.

BEHIND THE PIXELS

Let’s Dive Into The Game

Silent Hill is a third-person survival horror game that drops you into the deserted, monster-infested town of Silent Hill. You’re in Harry Mason’s polygon shoes,  a normal guy who was driving with his young daughter, Cheryl, on a vacation, only to crash and wake up in town with Cheryl missing. 

The game doesn’t take long to establish its central tension: Silent Hill is no ordinary town. It’s perpetually shrouded in fog and ash (like a snowy haze), eerily quiet, and completely isolated. As Harry, you set out to find your daughter, exploring empty streets, a creepy school, a nightmare hospital, and other locales that shift between a foggy “real” version and a hellish “Otherworld” version

The core gameplay involves exploring the town, solving puzzles, and managing combat encounters. Harry can equip melee weapons and firearms, though combat feels clunky. Just like with Resident Evil, we just covered earlier this month, you move Harry around with “tank” controls. Pushing up, moves him forward, no matter where the camera is set up or what direction Harry is facing.

Fights become tense encounters you want to avoid rather than exciting sequences you chase. The camera angles are fixed and sometimes awkward. You never quite know what's lurking just outside your field of view. But combined with the control scheme, and it will take a while to get used to.

What makes Silent Hill stand out technically is how Konami turned the PlayStation's hardware limitations into strengths. The game uses real-time 3D rendering instead of pre-rendered backgrounds, which was groundbreaking at the time.

To handle the console's modest processing power, the team blanketed everything in fog and darkness. Rather than revealing these limitations, the fog becomes the game's most effective tool, obscuring the horizon and creating a suffocating atmosphere that never lets you feel safe.

The sound design deserves special mention. Composer Akira Yamaoka created an industrial, unsettling soundtrack that blurs the line between music and noise. When Yamaoka first presented his compositions to the team, they initially thought the sound was a technical glitch.

His unconventional approach proved perfect for establishing the game's cold, decaying atmosphere. Combined with careful use of silence and ambient sound, the audio is just as important as what you see on screen.

The game features five different endings based on your actions throughout the adventure, plus one hidden joke ending. This structure encourages multiple playthroughs and gives weight to player choices. Boss fights are memorable encounters that feel less about mechanical skill and more about narrative significance. The story unfolds across a relatively short experience, but it uses that time efficiently, delivering psychological twists that still hold up today.

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WHERE TO PLAY

• The original copy or emulation will be your best bet for tracking this down.

• A remake is currently being worked on.

• Original Copies of the Game (All prices in USD)

  • Loose: $135

  • Complete: $235

  • New/Sealed: $420

GAME INFORMATION

Cover Art

RETRO NEWS

Here’s a quick roundup of the latest retro gaming news we’ve dug up.

• Capcom Nearly Scrapped GOG Releases of Classic Resident Evil Games
  The publisher almost abandoned reissuing the PS1 originals, believing the HD remakes already covered them.
  Read more at Time Extension

• NES Homebrew Legend of Poo Panties the Cat Launches Kickstarter
  A whimsical new 8-bit platformer inspired by children’s books mixes platforming, shooting, and quirky mini-games.
  Read more at Retro News

• Mortal Kombat Kollection Devs Tease Long-Lost SNES Build
  Developers remain tight-lipped on whether the unreleased “holy grail” SNES version could finally surface.
  Read more at Time Extension

PREVIOUS POLL RESULTS

What's your favorite console from the 3rd generation, aka the 8 bit era?

• Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) - 66.67%

• Sega Master System - 33.33%

• Atari 7800 - 0%

Reader comments from the poll:

“I was firmly in Nintendo’s embrace! First gaming console the “family” had was a Commodore Vic 20, which was a neat system! The Nintendo was all mine - a Christmas gift, and thus started my love of all things Nintendo! I only knew one person that had a Master System, and while I did like it, the NES was far more popular!” - Shen

GAME OVER

Why You Should Play This

Well, if you love horror and can appreciate retro graphics, this game is basically a masterclass in atmosphere. 

Twenty-plus years later, Silent Hill is still genuinely creepy. In fact, the dated visuals sometimes make it even creepier, your imagination fills in the blanks of those foggy streets and grotesque creatures. It’s a bit like watching a classic old horror movie: sure, the effects aren’t CGI-level, but the craft shines through.

Going back to these older games, nostalgia always plays an important role. Is the game really that good or my memories and feelings clouding how it truly is? This is something I have to balance with every article and game I go back to.

So is Silent Hill perfect? No. The tank controls and awkward camera can frustrate modern players accustomed to responsive controls and over-the-shoulder perspectives. The voice acting is infamous for its wooden delivery and long pauses between dialogue lines, which was more distracting than atmospheric for me during this playthrough. These technical rough edges aren't dealbreakers but rather artifacts of its era that require patience to appreciate.

What Silent Hill accomplishes is remarkable despite these limitations. It proved that horror games didn't need visceral gore or constant action to terrify audiences. Instead, the game's atmosphere, storytelling, and willingness to disturb you psychologically created something that influenced horror gaming for decades. It's not the smoothest experience, but it's a genuinely unsettling journey into darkness that rarely lets go of you. If you can look past the dated presentation, you'll find one of gaming's most effective psychological horror experiences waiting in the fog.

I hope everyone is having a great October so far! Until next week, friends. Thank you again for the continued support!

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AMAZON AFFILIATE LINKS

Silent Hill 2 Remake

Silent Hill - Collector’s Edition Blu-ray

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