Rating the ten greatest journeys to our particular place

Again in ’99, video video games beat even films in discovering the perfect sort of horror comes from inside our deepest resentments, not simply from neat jumpscares. Workforce Silent is the title of the band of misfits liable for creating Silent Hill. Nonetheless, regardless of continued essential success, Konami determined to tug the plug on Workforce Silent and commenced outsourcing the collection to random firms after the fourth sport. Let’s first have a look at the collection’s predictably unhappy decline, then at its glory days.

10. Silent Hill: Origins

Silent Hill: Origins belongs to a cursed batch of Silent Hill titles made after Konami determined that they didn’t like making Silent Hill video games anymore. If what you like about Silent Hill is its psychological horror, you then gained’t like this one. The largest mind-scare we received out of Origins got here previous to its launch. It was once we realized that Konami outsourced a improvement workforce to create a prequel that “defined” facets of Silent Hill.

Gameplay-wise, Origins matches the mildew of a traditional Silent Hill sport, but it surely commits the unforgivable crime of making an attempt to vary facets of pre-established and beloved lore. That’s particularly offensive for the reason that outsourced newcomers behind this are messing with the work of a distinct workforce, the workforce liable for creating Silent Hill within the first place.
Spoilers: Who would wish to know that the Pink Pyramid Factor, aka the Pyramid Head, aka one of the iconic and significant monsters ever, isn’t the projection of somebody’s excessive psychological trauma however moderately just a few monster created in a lab?

Strengths: It sort of seems to be just like the video games we like, so it really works for gamers who wish to expertise some nostalgia.

Weaknesses: It adjustments the established canon with out no less than including to the gameplay as nicely.

9. Silent Hill: Ebook Of Reminiscences

Gameplay-wise, Ebook Of Reminiscences reveals Silent Hill at its weirdest. As a substitute of the Resident Evil-inspired tank controls we all know the collection for, we get a extra action-oriented isometric shooter. You possibly can make the case that that is much less Silent Hill and extra Lara Croft and the Guardian Of Mild, however no less than the builders cared sufficient to make one thing that match the PlayStation Vita’s extra cellular fashion.
Strengths: It’s an try at one thing contemporary.

Weaknesses: Silent Hill actually doesn’t work as an motion title. Out of all horror video games, that is the one that ought to keep far-off from guns-blazing shenanigans essentially the most.

8. Silent Hill: Homecoming

Homecoming hits the identical beats as Origins, however no less than it isn’t making an attempt to reinvent the wheel by turning it right into a sq.. It’s one more satisfactory try to suit what we like about Silent Hill right into a neat bundle, then promote it to hungry followers.

Strengths: It seems to be like Silent Hill, once more.

Weaknesses: The fog results by some means don’t look pretty much as good as they did even on the PS1. The characters are nearly as unmemorable as “cap protagonist” from Origins. Additionally, you may unintentionally get the UFO ending in your first run, leading to a hilariously complicated conclusion to the story.

7. Silent Hill: Shattered Reminiscences

Not like Origins, a prequel that brings unsolicited adjustments to the collection, Shattered Reminiscences got down to reboot all of it. We truly salute this daring method. It really works much less as a retcon, and extra like a reimagining that may coexist with the unique imaginative and prescient.
Strengths: The builders absolutely revamped the gameplay to suit the Wii distant’s playstyle and it really works, for essentially the most half.

Weaknesses: It feels too fast-paced at instances. It’s by no means as scary or as memorable as the unique sport. It replaces the fog with snow and that’s simply not as cool.

6. Silent Hill: Downpour

Downpour is definitely the perfect post-Workforce Silent sport within the collection. Whereas not precisely nice by itself, it makes use of the energy of its setting to inform a brand new story with out messing with the established world. It additionally provides some neat new gameplay mechanics and some new areas that look good in case your definition of fine is sick and twisted.

Strengths: It tried to counterpoint Silent Hill with grand setpieces and its characters with ethical alternative mechanics. The Resident Evil 4-impressed over-the-shoulder cam works nicely right here.
Weaknesses: The SAW-esque setpieces don’t work with this sport.

5. Silent Hill 4: The Room

Don’t let the title idiot you. The Room wasn’t initially a sequel to Silent Hill 3. Konami developed each video games kind of on the similar time, relegating a a lot smaller workforce to the event of this sport that ended up with the collection’ weight on its shoulders.

Sadly, Silent Hill 4 doesn’t look or play in addition to its “predecessor,” but it surely additionally brings some cool stuff to the desk. The sport incorporates a new story, most likely courtesy of it gestating exterior the franchise womb. It additionally introduces an superior new central mechanic, one which entraps the participant in his haunted condominium. The condominium serves as a hub world gamers will work together with in a first-person perspective to resolve the thriller behind their imprisonment.
Strengths: The brand new 1st-person Hub Room rocks.

Weaknesses: It doesn’t look pretty much as good as SH 3, nor do its areas really feel as impressed. Its gameplay already felt outdated by launch, and it received even worse a number of months later when Resident Evil 4 modified the world of video games.

4. Silent Hill 3

Silent Hill 2 delivered what some needed essentially the most, however not what most needed.
Silent Hill 3 offers followers a direct sequel to the unique sport, one that also manages to keep away from feeling overblown. It invitations gamers to a much less nuanced nightmare than SH2 however makes up for its narrative shortcomings with a whole lot of class. The sport confirmed each the PS2 and Workforce Silent on the peak of their powers by delivering an surprising contender for the title of essentially the most lovely sport ever made.

Strengths: A horror sport has by no means appeared this lovely — sure, though it’s from the PS2 period. The brand new fundamental character could be very likable and it options among the coolest areas within the collection.
Weaknesses: It doesn’t attempt to hit the nerve that the collection struck so nicely within the earlier sequel.

3. Silent Hill

Silent Hill resulted from tasking a bunch of studio misfits to money in on the survival horror craze began by Resident Evil. Nothing about it’s wanting a miracle. Its most iconic factor, the fog that absolutely embraces the city? Merely the builders’ means of hiding sufficient play space to make the sport playable on PS1 {hardware}.
That is the sport that modified all the pieces, all of the whereas swimming in opposition to all kinds of depraved tides. Out of nowhere, jumpscares started giving strategy to temper, ambiance, and deeper horror that didn’t even essentially present up on the display screen.

Strengths: The introduction of 3d environments and accompanying aesthetics, the sound, the thriller, and the ingenuity to show the constraints of the PS1 into the sport’s strengths.
Weaknesses: The controls felt clunky at instances, however one has to marvel if that hadn’t been intentional all alongside.

2. P.T.

Okay, allow us to get a number of issues out of the way in which.

P.T., the playable teaser for the once-upcoming Silent Hills, isn’t a full sport. It’s additionally not made by Workforce Silent, the individuals we’d actually like to see helming the collection. It doesn’t even characteristic a lot gameplay, per se. Nonetheless, this nightmare by the thoughts of Hideo Kojima hit everybody so exhausting in 2014 that it utterly reshaped the horror style.
If Silent Hill owed its existence to the Resident Evil collection, it greater than paid off its debt by instantly inspiring the Resident Evil renaissance we’ve been witnessing ever for the reason that launch of RE 7.

P.T. doesn’t simply take gamers to an endlessly repetitive hall. It reveals gamers how a lot horror it may match into so little and invitations them to think about simply how a lot it might have finished with a complete city.
Strengths: You may by no means discover a extra immersive expertise in horror.

Weaknesses: It’s exhausting to play nowadays and we’ll most likely by no means get any extra of it.

1. Silent Hill 2

Silent Hill 2 surpassed its predecessor as a result of as an alternative of increasing like most sequels do, it appeared inward and took the sport in a extra deeply private route.
Although not a direct sequel, SH2 improves upon all the great seeds that the unique had planted and tells one of the engrossing tales within the historical past of gaming. Additionally, did we point out that these PS2 graphics used to look top-notch again within the day?

Strengths: The uncommon sequel that resists simply making all the pieces greater and bloodier. Silent Hill 2 understood that to surpass SH1, it needed to develop solely when it got here to character improvement. Okay, that’s a lie. The sport additionally seems to be significantly better than the primary one.

Weaknesses: It set too excessive a regular for each different horror story that adopted.

Tiago Manuel

Tiago is a freelancer who used to put in writing about video video games, cults, and online game cults. He now writes for Destructoid in an try to seek out himself on the successful facet when the robotic rebellion comes.

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