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Silent Chillin'

chud_666

chud_666

Oh hi there

I've been replaying various Silent Hills with the ultimate goal of playing, finally, Silent Hill Downpour, which i've stopped and started over the years. It's backwards compatible with Ye olde xb1... so eventually?

FIRST
I replayed SH2. I played BC xb1 on the 360 version of the HD Collection, Original Voices
I didn't notice it looking incredibly shitty as it is known for, but James' catching breath sound effect seemed mechanical and weird. Looking at comparison videos after the fact, I can see the difference, but it didn't detract from my experience playing it.

This game is hard for me to get into for replays. I did all the endings way back in 2001-2002, but any attempts to replay after falter because the apartments are a drag. Like they are cool, but the sequence of events is confusing with lots of samey halls. I made no beefs about following a guide, because the experience of this game is more tone. So not getting stuck here was fun.

Anyway! Hey did you know this game is really good? I had honestly forgot that James had murdered, not euthanized Mary, and was very shocked, again. The moment i was most looking forward to was Angela, because that has stuck in my mind all these years. The dialogue on the stairs, and the repugnant associated boss room. Terrifying, depressing.

I will say that gameplay wise, SH has, and always has, felt poor next to RE. A lot of this is for a feeling. Like nightmare logic of being trapped and lost. It works well, except when it doesn't. SH 2 has a lot more inaccessible doors than 1 and it's very frustrating. I often feel "why is this even here then?" On the plus side, town exploration, although limited from part 1, still a treat. Makes a great feeling, like exploring your neighbourhood at night... no one around, or alive.. paranoia.

MORE TO COME
 
ASandoval

ASandoval

Old Man Gamer
(he/him)
Hey I also replayed the game recently on the fan made Enhanced Edition on PC, which is a really good mod! I wish that they'd add the option for the new voice acting from the HD edition, but I suspect I'm in the minority on that one.

Anyway, yeah this game was never super fun to play and it's even worse now in 2020 but the experience of playing it is just as satisfying and scary as it was back then*. The only thing I think that's held up is that I vast prefer riddles to pushing and fetching puzzles like in RE and some of the later Silent Hills and that aspect, along with the variable difficulty is still as satisfying as ever and I really want more horror and adventure games that follow that mold.

*Admittedly I know SH2 like the back of my hand from how much I played it back in the day, but I imagine a newcomer to it now would feel the same paranoia and anxiety that I've unfortunately become numb to now. Oh to experience a game for the first time again.
 
Mr. Sensible

Mr. Sensible

Pitch and Putt Duffer
Oh hey, here's the thread where I confess my love of the original Silent Hill above any of the sequels. (I was going to complain about SH2 being boring but I decided to be more positive instead.)

Resident Evil 3 was my first survival horror game, and once I'd picked that title clean of content I was primed for more gory fun. But while RE was a goofy B-horror-movie romp with a greater focus on survival than horror, Silent Hill was something very different and deeply unsettling. There are so many good little vignettes of terror in there, and they're all backed by an amazing soundtrack that oscillates between uneasy calm and industrial hell (Akira Yamaoka IS Silent Hill as far as I'm concerned). And strange as it seems, something about the PS1's warping and shuddering graphics only enhances the sense of terror. Plus that opening movie is so Twin Peaks it hurts, and I gotta respect that.


Is SH1 incredibly awkward to play in 2020? Of course it is; but for me personally, its amazing atmosphere outweighs kludgy controls and a nonsensical plot. It's still worth a playthrough, and I wish there were more (legal) options for playing it these days.
 
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