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Silent Hill is the title of a
survival horror
video game franchise, produced by
Konami. As of
2003 there are four games available (one only available in Japan), all
of which were released to strong sales and critical acclaim. The
Silent Hill games are distinguished from other games in the same
genre, such as
Resident Evil, in that the focus is far more on character, story,
and atmosphere rather than action and violence. The games' storylines
unfold like that of a
film, and multiple resolutions are possible depending upon what
decisions the player makes during gameplay. Often, the player is left to
wonder whether or not a sequence in the game has actually occured in
reality.
What Is Silent Hill?
Silent Hill is the town in which the story is set. It has become
deserted and cursed, shifting between this world and another populated by
fearsome monsters. The second game in the series also suggests that the
town may be a metaphorical incarnation of a person's troubled psyche, or
perhaps a kind of
purgatory in which a person is judged for past
sins. The protagonist of the game is trapped in the town and can only
escape by resolving a personal issue that has been tormenting him (or
her).
The games' visual design has come in for strong praise, depicting dark,
fog-enshrouded, decaying environments enhanced by chilling (and very
sudden) sound effects.
Many fans and reviewers have referred to the Silent Hill games
as the most frightening ever made.
In
2003 a film based on Silent Hill was announced, with
French director
Christophe Gans (The
Brotherhood of the Wolf) attached.
Silent Hill 1 (1999)
Seven years ago Harry Mason and his wife found a baby by the road and
adopted her as their own, naming her Cheryl. Though the wife soon passed
away from a disease Harry Mason continued to love Cheryl as his own
daughter. At the start of the game we find Harry Mason and Cheryl going to
the town resort of Silent Hill for vacation. Already when they approach
the town strange events takes place. A cop on a motorbike drives past and
only moments later Harry see the bike lying by the side of the road and
the cop is nowhere in sight. Soon afterwards a figure suddenly appears on
the road, Harry turns the car and slides off then road. When he regains
conciousness he discovers that Cheryl is gone and Harry finds himself in
the midst of the evil slowly engulfing Silent Hill, "a world of someone's
nightmarish delusions come to life"
Silent Hill Play Novel
Availabe on Gameboy Advanced but only in Japanese.
Silent Hill 2:
Restless Dreams (2001)
Three years ago James Sunderland's wife Mary passed away from a
terminal disease. James is unable to recover from the loss but one day he
receives a letter from his wife telling him to meet her at their "special
place" in Silent Hill. James, uncertain wether this can truly be his wife
or merely a bad hoax, ventures to the old tourist town and finds a
mist-shrouded hell full of crawling monsters. James persists in his quest
to his one desperate question: "Mary...could you really be in this town?".
But, the insanity has yet to begin.
Silent Hill 3 (2003)
Seventeen years has passed since the first events surrounding the
mysterious darkness in Silent Hill. Heather is just a normal teenage girl
who loves to shop and have a sharp attitude to almost everything, but one
normal Sunday the past catches up with her. Escaping from a stranger who
claims that he is a detective been sent to find her she suddenly finds
herself trapped in another realm, a realm of terror and twisted elusions.
Who is that detecive? And what about that strange woman who talks
gipperish? "They've come to witness the beginning. The rebirth of
paradise, despoiled by mankind" All Heather wants is to go back home to
her father but she is already trapped in the net spawned from Silent Hill.
Silent
Hill 4: The Room (currently due for Fall 2004)
Henry Townshend, living in South Ashfield, a town neighbouring Silent
Hill, one day finds himself mysteriously locked in his own apartment.
After five days of entrapment Henry finds a hole in his bathroom. Nothing
else is known about the game, but one thing is sure. Henry too will become
a prisoner of the dark legacy swept around Silent Hill.
What Is Silent Hill Really?
Silent Hill has a lot of underlying layers of symbolism that many
gamers around the whole has mused over since 1999. Some have dedicated
their time to organize the many theories about the game and what it is
actually about but it really it is all up to interpretation. In the first
game Silent Hill is being slowly devoured by the evilness of
Samael, a
demon from
hell. He is subsequently killed by Harry Mason but Samael's influence
continues as is apparent in the following games. What each protagonist in
all games find is that what they see is by no means of the reality we
experience in our everyday lives. The 'Otherworld' is where the darkness
is spawned and it creeps slowly into every nook and cranny of the town of
Silent Hill. From one moment to another a protagonist will find scenes
completely changed from depressive gray streets to blood-covered cellars
with mutilated bodies strapped upon the walls. It is also clear that what
is seen is different from person to person. A player will slowly discover
in each game that what is seen on the screen is metaphors for sins and
self-loathing in the mind of the protagonists (mostly apparent in Silent
Hill 2). There are many files going into much details about what Silent
Hill really represents (Game
FAQs is a good place to find them), and I suggest that anybody
interest in Silent Hill and it's complex plot reads them.
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