A place for those who "Trust the Fungus"

I've been playing the Silent Hill series since its initial release in 1999.

The games usually have some of the best stories in any given medium, they're smart, dark and terrifying. If you're unfamiliar with the Silent Hill series, let me give you a brief rundown of what they're all about...

Silent Hill is an abandoned resort town somewhere in New England, though the exact reason for its abandonment is never explicitly stated, it most likely has something to do with the demonic nature of the land the town is founded upon. Before the 1600s, Native Americans considered the land where Silent Hill is to be a holy place, of a great and terrible power that was too be respected. When the settlers from Europe drove the Indians out in the mid-17th century, something happened years after the town's settlement, which caused an evacuation. The town sat dormant for many years, then a penal colony was built there, and after that, a prison. After that, a mysterious plague wiped everyone in the town out. The town is resettled in the late 1700s and by the end of the 1890s, people start to go missing from the town, their disappearances are never explained. By the 1990s, the town is completely abandoned for one reason or another, and is sectioned off by the government as a 'dangerous area,' and nobody goes in, except to pass through by the way of a single highway outside of the town itself. In 1999, a man named Harry Mason is driving through Silent Hill with his daughter Cheryl, their car crashes and Cheryl disappears into the misty fog that envelopes the town. Harry searches for his daughter in the derelict city, only to find it populated with demons and discovers a dark secret at the center of it all. Two years later, in the wake of 9/11, a man named James Sunderland is drawn to Silent Hill by a letter from his dead wife Mary, they often spent time there when it was a real resort town at the end of the 1980s, James becomes a victim of the town in the sense that he learns that he's drawn there for an all-to-terrible reason, and in the end, he may or may not be consumed by the sinister terror that lurks there. Over the next few years (games) various people are drawn to the town for various reasons, but in the end, it's all based on a verse from the Holy Bible: Numbers 32:23 -- But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.

However, let it be clear, that despite this biblical base, the town does not have good intentions, nor does whatever controls it. The first game was dark, puzzling and deeply satanic. The second game was one of the best pieces of storytelling in any medium ever made, the third and fourth were fairly disappointing, the prequel was just okay, and the latest addition, "Silent Hill Homecoming," was just pathetic, despite having an excellent controls system.

In a few weeks a totally revamped remake of the original 1999 game will be released, under the title "Silent Hill: Shattered Memories."It turns everything about the series on its head and looks like an incredible game, I've already pre-ordered it and am anxiously awaiting all the new scares in the now fogless but snow-covered world of Silent Hill. If you've never played these games, check em' out.

Anybody else enjoy Silent Hill?

Never played any of the games, though I have heard good things about them.

I think I read somewhere that Silent Hill--or at least the film incarnation of it--was based on Centralia, Pennsylvania, where a huge coal-mine fire or some other disaster happened, and now it's a ghost town whose roads are inaccessible.

I know a few guys obsessed with it. They suggested it, but said I didn't have to start with the first. I don't recall which, but it was said the series was only worth playing past a certain point.

It's supposed to be a good series. Has a distinct feeling, a developed backstory and mythos, and great gameplay. Anyone should try it at least once.

Prime Evil wrote:I think I read somewhere that Silent Hill--or at least the film incarnation of it--was based on Centralia, Pennsylvania, where a huge coal-mine fire or some other disaster happened, and now it's a ghost town whose roads are inaccessible.

I live right near Centralia, the movie based the element of the underground fire that still rages on under Centralia into the movie, but the game has nothing to do with the town itself.

I've heard good things about "Downpour" and how it's going to be more of an "open world" or "sandbox" style game in the same vein as "Grand Theft Auto," which is kind of hard to imagine with Silent Hill, but it might work.

CrazieCrazy418 wrote:in previous SH games a lot of doors were either broken or un-open-able crushing any hope for seeing what is hidden behind closed doors. If there is still a way to create wonderful puzzles, even with the open sand box exploration; that would be sweet too. creativity and innovation can go a long way. As long as it is done properly. I have hope in that regard.

I think a lot of games could benefit from the open-world sandbox style, and "Silent Hill" is definitely one of them-- I like the idea of customizable outfits for the character, making decisions that alter the course of the game and whatnot...

You've never played any of the "Silent Hill" games? You can find copies of "Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams" on bus seats... "SH2" is really the best one, story-wise.

I ride the bus to get around, too. But you're from Canada, right? For me, an all-day bus ticket is four dollars-- that's like eight dollars Canadian!


...what were we talking about? Oh right, Silent Hill...

I loved the first game, the second was okay. I played the prequel on psp and was glad i only paid 12.00 for it. I'm looking to get Shattered Memories at some point. I think I'm one of the few people who liked the movie even if the ending was a bit vague at first. The creepy thing is in the movie the town is based on Centralia, PA where there has been a fire burning in the coal mines around and under the city for decades.

Wesr wrote:I loved the first game, the second was okay. I played the prequel on psp and was glad i only paid 12.00 for it. I'm looking to get Shattered Memories at some point. I think I'm one of the few people who liked the movie even if the ending was a bit vague at first. The creepy thing is in the movie the town is based on Centralia, PA where there has been a fire burning in the coal mines around and under the city for decades.

I've been to Centralia, I live right near it. There isn't much there, just a bunch of dead roads and burnt out housing foundations leading down to empty basements. I went at night in the early winter during a snowstorm, and the snow never touched or collected on the ground, as it would melt on contact with it because of the hell beneath. The one thing I did find disturbingly similar to Silent Hill in Centralia, and you can feel free not to believe this, is every now and then you hear slow sirens just like in the movie and games.

I'd like to visit it at some point but I think it's quite a drive from this half of PA though.

Wesr wrote:I'd like to visit it at some point but I think it's quite a drive from this half of PA though.

It's a bit of a drive if you live on the West side or the East side, as it's pretty much in the middle of the state.

That's what i figured, i think it took like 5-6 hours for us to get to State College when I was younger. Still be neat to say you were there and saw it.

Wesr wrote:That's what i figured, i think it took like 5-6 hours for us to get to State College when I was younger. Still be neat to say you were there and saw it.

It's not as great as you think it might be. Really all it is a bunch of dead highways you can walk along that have smoke coming up from the abandoned mines beneath them and some burnt out foundations leading down into what used to be basements of houses. There's about eight people living in the town, yet, all of them are over the age of 80, including the mayor.

There aren't any "no trespassing" signs, but I will warn you to enter at your own risk-- especially at night. I almost fell into one of the mine fires-- then again, it was ten at night in the middle of December and you couldn't see your own hand in front of your face.

But yeah, check it out if you're so inclined, as was I. It's very much the place William Burroughs wrote of in part two of his "Red Night" trilogy: "The Place of Dead Roads," nothing worth remembering-- just scrap metal.

So, I went to go see Silent Hill Revelation the other night, and while I had low expectations with the absence of the first movie's writer, Oscar-winning screenwriter Roger Avary (who started to write the movie but was then thrown in prison for manslaughter) and the subsequent departure of Christopher Gans, I still thought it might be okay.

And it was just... adequate. Just so adequate.

First thing that irked me was the switch of tone from the first film, which was psychological and mysterious horror, without too many jump scares and focusing more on a sense of dread. This movie used jump scares everywhere-- and that's okay sometimes, but in this case, they weren't even startling-- I didn't so much as flinch once. I like to be scared, or at least startled when I'm watching a horror movie. Next, some of the special effects were great, others looked like they came out of a 1995 Macintosh (the mannequin monster springs to mind). The movie borrowed heavily from the plot of the game Silent Hill 3, going so far as to include characters like Douglas Cartland, Vincent and Leonard Wolf and everyone's favorite serial-killing rapist Red Pyramid (aka Pyramid Head). And the locations are all there, too-- Happy Burger at the shopping mall, Lakeside Amusement Park, Brookhaven Asylum and Toluca Lake. But despite having almost everything from the game in the movie, it still falls flat to poor acting, poor direction, poor writing and extremely poor editing.

The best part of the movie is when Oscar-winner Malcolm McDowell makes a cameo appearance as Leonard Wolf, the institutionalized former leader of the Order of Valtiel, and he makes this piece of crap worth the eight dollar ticket to sit and be confused for ninety minutes. Basically, McDowell is seen for a few minutes, says a couple of thoughtful, cool and dark mysterious things and then turns into a hulking monster who is defeating unusually easily. Then the movie goes into overdrive with one-liners like "I don't think so," and "Not today," and "No way, not on my watch," and falls victim to the Resident Evil syndrome by becoming a mindless action movie. I really wanted to like this one, and I'll buy it when it comes out on DVD, but only because I've played all the Silent Hill games and know everything about them.

Either way, it's a flawed movie that's true to its source material but not true to the spirit of its source material. Which is kind of the opposite of the Super Mario Bros. movie, which is true to the spirit of the games while creating something new and fun and interesting from its source material.

So yeah, there you have it. Wait for it to air on HBO and then watch it.

This is before I am reading through the thread.
I played Shattered memories first.
I enjoyed it. I wished it had more scares.
Then I watched Twin perfects videos. I skimmed over some of the details relating to personal plots for the Protagonists
Yet I know the over arching story of the original SH'S.

I want to get physical copies of 1-4. I borrowed the pc versions from the internet and also have the fan converted pc version of SH 1.

So far I have only played 1 and 2
I love and hate 1 and so on with 2. It's not the gameplay.
1 well I haven't been using the gun at all I've been conserving ammo and wow do I have a fair amount of it.
1is RUN RUN RUN the game. 2 is a bit lighter about creatures but is darker. Yet Silent hill is littered with those things.

I got the first part of the puzzle for the school, science lab part.
Then I got mangled by the creatures. I had health but I tried to fight them off. SH1 health is ridiculous. Is there anyway to improve Harrys stamina/health amount?

My problem with 2. Where's the damn flashlight.
I got up the the bar. and the creepy wall looked at the cartographic clue. Went to the apartments and it's dark as all get out in there.
I can't see anything even if my pc monitors Gamma is up.
So does two have a light or do I need to suck it up and man it through.

Oh and I hope someone like retro studios or something picks up Silent Hill.
They've worked with capcom and I think konami in some way. So I'd trust them with the license the most.

I love castlevania, but who ever was in charge of the Silent Hill department (not the developers or staff of the game)
Was a total jerk.

Silent hill 2 is like a women it's not perfect. That's why we love it.
Which ever the way one of the Developers said it.

I wanted to do a blind let's play. But I will once again have to wait for a capture card and physical copies since. Most screen recording softwares take up allot of data.

I'm just worried that there's going to be a third film that completely deviates from the source materials and completely goes into "Resident Evil" territory, giving each new movie a stupid subtitle that in forty years will make people confused about which order to watch the movies in.