Gotta be 1. I was in my early twenties and in my flat in the dark, very early morning when I first played the demo. It ended when the bat thing chrashed through the cafe window. I was hooked! Great retrospective. Loving the work!!!
Watching Lisa's realization to the idea that she is just a manifestation of Alessa's and losing herself in that mental and physical break down of her reality is F%&KING amazing
It's the best scene in the series, by a mile. Still makes me shiver. The first time I saw it in the nineties, I had to put my controller down and come back to the game later.
I played this game back in 1999 when I was 10-years-old and then again when I was in my 20's. That Lisa cutscene (48:00) has never left my mind. The context of wanting to save her but not being able to, the soothing music despite the grim circumstnaces, the graphics for the time period, the sound of crying afterwards...just amazing.
It’s been over a decade since I last played the first game, but after watching this, I realise that the voice acting isn’t actually as bad as most people claim it is.
I believe that the "bad voice acting " was intended to a certain extent and I also believe that is generally accepted theory ive watched many playthroughs of the first 4 games ( creepy and unsettling games aren't my go to ) but I love watching people play them silent hill is my favorite to watch
Yea the actual delivery by the voice actors was mostly really good, but it's the way their voice takes were edited in, the cadence was off, unusual pauses mid sentence, long pauses between characters talking, it seems deliberate, likely an artistic choice and mostly it really works to help create this overall unusual and dissonant feeling like a disturbed dream but sometimes it comes across as bad editing or for most people who don't think about that kind of technical thing they just see it as bad voice acting, which is a mistaken take on what Team Silent were trying to do
It’s honestly pretty decent, considering it’s completely in english and was developed by a Japanese studio. I would also say the voice actress for Lisa was amazing. There is still that dream-like quality to her lines, but they are really good.
this game's "bad voice acting" is not the same as Resident Evil's bad voice acting. Definitely believe it was an intentional artistic choice. This game is an absolute masterpiece. Despite it's age, it still easily ranks as one of the greatest horror games of all time. In all my life, few things have truly stuck with me the way SH and SH2 have. Burned into my psyche since I was 11 years old. Great video, son. I'm proud of you. There was a HOLE here. It's gone now.
100% agree. Resident evil was done with people who weren't even voice actors and didn't care and were literally just reading lines because they were the first "americans" that could be found Japan at the time of creation. Love and care went into the voice acting for silent Hill. You can here it in their voice and inflections.
The voice acting isn't even bad, they're just actual pauses in between lines of dialog for loading adding to the distracting feel. At best, the voice acting is good. At worst, it's wooden.
I could not agree more and to this day I go back and play silent hill at least every year! Silent Hill2 I have beaten so many times that sometimes I might not replay it for a while? But they are two of my most favorite and beloved games of All time. I beat the Original SH on normal for the first time when I was 14 and got to fight Samael at the end!! I love resident evil as much as anybody, but silent hill to me is the greatest survival horror video game of all time! (i’m including the entire team silent franchise in that statement, but I would say silent hill 2 is my favorite one out of all of them?)
This was only a thing in the second game. And there the voice acting isn't supposed to be "bad" it's supposed to be "off". Angela seems really worried about something. Eddie is hiding something. Maria is too suggestive to make sense in the surroundings, and Laura just straight up doesn't fit the setting at all. All of it is supposed to lend to the loneliness in the game. James is alone, surrounded by weirdos he can't trust, and then finds out he can't even trust himself. SH1 on the other hand is just straight up 90s voice acting and sound editing.
Good work, son. I'm proud of you. That song that plays during Lisa's transformation, and the scene itself, still sends chills down my spine even after all these years.
I played this game within a couple of weeks of its release. Tank controls never occurred to me as being any issue. But I’m assuming those who grew up playing Resident Evil and Silent Hill in the nineties feel the same. Anyway, I was enamored with this game instantly. I grew up loving horror films and books, and Silent Hill was so unique. The music fit so perfectly and the game was so genuinely unnerving and intriguing. Just as with the original Resident Evil trilogy on PlayStation, I never got rid of my copy that I bought back in early 1999. I have major love for this game. Nice video. Subscribed!
I got it very close to release too, but it was my first introduction to horror games, and the only experience I'd had of the genre up to that point had been glancing at odd bits of horror films someone else was watching on TV (that didn't seem very scary or interesting to me). It was quite a thing to fall for, still my favourite game series.
I started with Resident Evil 2, I grew up renting games. But this time I bought it, I had made a few returns at the stores. In the past but now it was more difficult, as returns had become harder to make. So when I played the first level I didn't read the manual. I just died a bunch of times, rage quit and tried to return it.I ended up learning how to play, and after a few days I finally made in to the gun store. So when I got silent hill, I was a pro. Really it was just about enjoying a great story from silent hill.
I didn't grow up with the original RE games and my first introduction to tank controls was in RE1 HD in 2020 and I got used to them so quickly that I can't play the first SH trilogy and first RE games any other way now.
11:19 you can also make Harry do an "about face", a full 180 turn in place by using the L1andR1 buttons at the same time. This is helpful to disengage quickly and run away from monsters. You can also "despawn" monsters in some areas of the school and hospital by entering a room, 180 turn and leave, then re-enter the room to being empty.
I'm divided between two things about wich ending is canon: -Cybil's death is shown with an actual(and quite shocking) cinematic,don't know to give it more weight to her death and putting it at the same level as Lisa's,or to punish you for not being able to save your friend. - Saving Cybil gives us a quite bigger chunk of Harry's backstory about how he found Cheryll and his wife's death,the only reference about Cheryll being adopted is a piece of journal dated the same "day we found Cheryl! *DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNNNNN*" and that's about it. Both of this things make valid both endings...but I preffer the good plus,as this game shows to be very rewarding to players that take the time to explore and do more stuff.
This first game is actually my favorite in the series and doesn't get nearly enough appreciation, seemingly forever stuck in the shadow of its immediate successor. That said, it's great to see such a thorough retrospective of it. I'm not sure why exactly I find SH1 more compelling than SH2. Perhaps it was because SH2's "plot twist" just struck me as the most obvious, Stephen King-esque twist in the world, whereas SH1's focus on the cult had more of an impact on me since IRL cults are endlessly fascinating to me.
Notice how silent hill 1/harry mason are often ignored SH1 wasn't in the HD collection, silent hill 2 got a remake before the first game...even though the SH1 needed the remake much more, harry mason wasn't in the "surprise ending" of silent hill downpour (that ending brought back every other silent hill protagonist), harry was changed to be a woman in the film because the director thought that harry's actions were feminine (??) SH1 is ignored by the silent hill community itself.
I'm so glad that this popped up in my Recommended! Target audience reached. Can't wait to see the rest, and you've done a wonderful job. God I miss Silent Hill games.
Hell yeah this made my Monday man, I absolutely adore the first four Silent Hill games! These games were ingrained in my childhood and a huge factor of why I love horror. It’s one of the examples I think of for good examples of unique storytelling in gaming, and how video games offer a very artistic and unique approach to that medium. I was wondering what the next series was and had a idea after checking in on the last stream, I’m so glad to see you diving into it!
These retroactive perspective videos, lore telling videos, and fans lucky enough to own OG or ANY physical copies of these games are all us fans will ever have from this dead masterpiece. God rest our hopes and dreams of a true return; may P.T. rest in peace next to these.
SH 1,2 and 3 are just masterpieces. The story is so freaking interesting and well written. I really think that the sound design overall in the 3 games are the best ever. Thank you for a very interesting video to chill to, I look forward to the rest of the series! Well done!
It's the magic of Team Silent. 👌 They do so insanely thorough work, when it comes to writing, world building and storytelling. They leave no stone unturned. And everywhere you look, you learn something new. I have been obsessed with SH since 1. 4 was the last actually good game. Didn't like it so much back in the day, but it has grown on me slowly over the years.
wow!! just discovered you last week and been binging your contents. saw this and checked you upload schedule and I was like "This guy's pumping hour long content once a week!!" you deserve more attention seriously!
YES, thank you so much! I am always happy to see people talk about Silent Hill. I am here from notification about SH Origins and I am so happy to be consuming a bunch of SH-related content yet again. Watching new perspectives on my favorite series of all time is something I can never get tired of. It's THAT GOOD. It deserves all the recognition, all the conversation around the series. Such a shame it still is in hands of Konami who doesn't do anything with the property at all except pachinko and DbD DLC... We all know the drill with the series at this point. I'm here to thank you for all these massive retrospectives, especially for Legacy of Kain one, since that's how I found you, conveniently right after finishing Defiance and looking for something more. Once again, THANK YOU SO MUCH. I'm sure all of the videos will be absolutely amazing to go through, and I shall gladly binge all the content starting from 1 to Origins which is the latest one from the SH retrospectives atm. Can't wait to hear your take on Homecoming (lol) and Downpour the most. Will you review movies as well, or just the games? (If that question is answered in videos, I apologized, haven't watched yet) Anyway, thanks a lot once again. I'm so happy to spend another night in this town, even if by proxy.
My God are you killing these! I just finished your fable full retrospective the other day and here we are again! I absolutely respect the work ethic! Please keep this up and let me know how to support you, son! Well done! Edit: just finished listening to this at work. Your break down on the occult influences and seeing how the production of the game is a wonderfully informative take on this. I’d argue this is the definitive way to view such things as you take each angle and how they play off each other. I can’t wait to see what other games you decide to cover!
Just discovered the channel thanks to the algorithms whims and you are easily one of the best video game reviewers out there. You truly are winning son
The reason that Cybil dying is the Canon ending is that Cheryl still has the aglaophotis that Harry finds inside of the amulet and uses to release Cybil from her demonic influence in Silent Hill 3. Had Harry used it to save Cybil, Cheryl wouldn't have it later, and thus he must've not saved her. That's how I've always understood it.
Harry could very well aquire the stuff himself. Aglaophotis does in fact exist in the real world. Also Cybil must survive for Harry to reveal more canonical details about his relationship with Cheryl.
Yo , can’t get enough of hearing your break down on what set the tone for the silent hill genre ! It’s like a bedtime story ! Lisa’s anthem was the perfect background for your analysis
I've never gotten to play these games and always wanted to. This is the perfect opportunity to experience them with my favourite son! Loved this video, so excited to continue.
I already went bonkers when I watched your Fable videos, because hell yeah, Fable. But now the next series is Silent Hill? You really are my favorite son. :')
You're putting out so much high quality content in so little time, I'm very impressed, Son! But be sure you don't burn yourself out and take breaks when needed.
It's actually mind blowing to think it's been 24 years since I played this as a 13 something year old and it's still pretty vivid in my mind. Still one of the only horror franchise to ever actually give me a fear feeling.
Thanks for going into the real world demonalgy the game uses usually retrospectives go into the main plot or lore so its neat to learn something different.
I love your channel which i discovered since the Legacy of Kain retrospective. never played 'em before that but the way you approach this stuff is mesmerizing. Also your channel's name and thematic of father/son triggers some weirds daddy issues on me, but oh well. Keep it up son.
Love your content as always, especially as a fan of Silent Hill for the last twenty years and having studied the game, I find your analysis absolutely on point and it made me want to replay the game again and re- analyse everything I would disagree on your comment about games today that would not dare to let the player look for answers and plot for themselves, as the Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Elden Ring series are a nice example of games that specifically do not give you straight answers plotwise, but I understand your point of view since the majority of games today are falling in the handheld category
Honestly, I don't know how many times I've played this game entirely already, but I just learned about the actual story behind the first game thanks to your video. Many thanks, love you and the great work on your content
The first time I played Silent Hill was one night, with my parents gone. I was a child and supposed to long have been sleeping. I didn't last long, it was far too scary, but it was enough to inspire recurring nightmares until I was around 18. Luckily, I started to see gameplays and story theories of the game that haunted my dreams, and started to appreciate the story behind the horror. Now they are very dear games to me, although I have never been able to finish them, except Shattered Memories.
This channel has so much potential there are so many games from cult classics masterpieces and shit that's so bad it's good I'd love to hear your take on.
Gobsmacked to find this channel- I've seen so many Silent Hill/2 retrospectives but I'll always watch another. Seeing you have a Fable one as well? Subscribed, whatta guy.
Only thing better than finding a new content creator that I vibe with is the ability to binge their past content in quick succession. Always great to get a new take on the facts and truths of a title as well as opinion on a game itself. You make us all ... VERY proud.
One UA-camr made a deep dive to confirm whether Team Silent was a thing. There is absolutely no mention of entity called "Team Silent" in Japanese internet. The team that was working on Silent Hill was an ad hoc made from people from Development team 7. Team Silent is made up by English speakers to simplify the absolute clusterfuck that was Konami production process.
I love these videos! Your Fable retrospective made me go back and play them and while I have never played the Silent Hill series at all, I could easily see doing the same here! Just excellent work!
You’ve earned my subscription man, i listened to all your Silent Hill videos while working and appreciate your honest non-snobby opinions on the series. Can’t wait to see your take on SH2R soon.
I was just listening to Winter Morning when I saw this video on my feed, and that intro music hit, and boy that felt weird. Can't wait to watch the entire video! Good job, son! That's why you are my favourite!
Awesome video, great insights and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest! As for the dialogue and why it's stilted the way it is, it's because of the way they accessed the audio files for dialogue in the game. It was an individual load for each distinct line of dialogue, so that's why the spacing in between each chunk is a bit long since PS1 load times weren't very quick. Although I still do think to some extent the dream like feeling was intentional, it was mostly the result of this technical limitation at least for the delivery/cadence of the lines 😂
Gotta admit that I have never for a second been interested in a silent Hill game, they were gone before I started playing horror games. You, my son have changed this. I'm gonna give it a whirl.
I discovered your channel when you started your Fable series and, I'm not quite sure why you refer to your viewers as dad but, I like it. It makes me think of my baby talking to me from the future about some of my favorite games from when I was a kid. I hope one day we will be able to have real conversations like this too. Thanks son!
-Air screamer design actually take inspiration from ptero buzzard from "the mist" another pterodactyl type creature in fog. -grey children shows alessa bullied as a kid but it also it symbolize that Harry and jodie never has a kid. -key of lion,woodman and scarecrow is reference to wizard of oz -plate of hatter,queen,cat and turtle is a reference to Alice in the wonderland -lisa didn't transform into a monster early because she is taking PTV which is made out of white Claudia.
Can't believe I still have the original PS1 game (its scratched up and doesnt have the official case but still works!) I used to watch my parents play this in the very early 00s and it freaked me tf out. Now that I've inherited the game from them i love the story and the memories
Other than narrowing down which keys to press on the puano puzzle, theres actually a hint in the Poems title. Tale of Birds Without a Voice hints to use keys that don't ring or make sound (ie, don't "have a voice.")
I remember playing the cover disc demo over and over again until I actually got my hands on the game. One of the all time best, and I go back to it every two or three years. A classic.
Now your speaking my language, Son. I had a physical copy of this years ago, spent 40$ for the disc....it was stolen from me tho I'd say SH2 and SH 4 The Room
Silent Hill is just timeless. I've known about this game for years but only decided to play it for the first time in 2021 and even though I'm only 2 years older than this game, I still had an amazing time with it. Every location I visited, every information I gathered was fascinating for me and even though the graphics has aged, it hasn't bothered me too much because the gameplay itself was still very enjoyable. I replayed it half a year ago and probably I will replay it annually just like SH2 and SH3 because the first trilogy is just awesome.
Your vids keep getting recommended to me and I'm glad I took the time to sit down and watch. Proud of you, son. Can't wait to binge the rest and see what other stories you have to share.
Man, I love the 4 original Silent Hill games so much, and you are making them justice. Thank you! Also, that scene with Lisa is my favorite moment in the franchise. Everything about that scene is so great, so well made, the music, the visuals, the movement, everything. I love it.
I remember when I first experienced Silent Hill, I was a kid and deemed too young to play a my step father, who ended up being awful, picked it up and my mother ended up loving the entire series. In retrospect there's probably a lot to talk about there lol. Amazing video, thanks for the walk down memory lane! The ufo endings are so weird, I didn't remember those
Where it all began... It is remarkable how much the team could do with the little time and resources they had. Not a single person knew thy were about to create a masterpiece and the beginning of an unforgettable and highly influential epic saga. Imagine thinking that over 20 years later, people will still be begging and be excited for any news of a new Silent Hill game. And as for this video, it is another amazing and detailed work by a true artist and fan. I have no doubt that anyone who worked on the game that saw this would be proud of your incredible effort. So, so good. P.S. A funny story I had with this game (also mentioned in this great video): much later after finishing this game, I found someone that also played it and we talked about it. They asked me a question that was so confusing: "which ending did you like best?". What the heck are you talking about? Things only have one ending. It's called 'THE end'. They said there were multiple endings, so I immediately asked them to stop talking to avoid spoilers. I just asked 'how' do you get multiple endings? They said try different things in the game. I was ecstatic to return to the game immediately and play it more to see the other endings. It was like Christmas and I had bonus content given to me by the gaming gods. No internet back then or access to guides (which I didn't even know existed back then), it was trial and error and getting the same endings over and over but I kept doing random things. Luckily, the friend told me I didn't have to kill the police lady, which it never occurred to me to through the bottle at her instead of just turning the fight into a Western and just shoot like mad. This made me wonder what other games I had that had more than one ending. I found out that the first Ace Combat had it and so I played that multiple times as well. Good times. And another fantastic video, friend. I know I am repeating myself, but SH is near and dear to me and I am so happy I found such a masterpiece video made of such a masterpiece of a game. Your videos about the SH franchise are honestly the best entertainment videos I ever saw on youtube ever. Konami should send you a thank you trophy or something. Very seldom you'll see videos this dedicated and well done. Amazing work and it brought back all the emotions I had playing the games so long ago. I was even reminded how doubtful and still scared I was that that little ring holding the chain won't work against that monster. I vividly remember walking away and expecting to die horribly any second but it worked! This particular section is shown here in the video: 51:00.
This gives me hope for resident evil in the future, son. Keep up the great work, you've been doing amazing but don't forget to take some time to relax!
35:55 Fun fact, the larvae never comes out of the ground, nor burrows back inside through the fencing so you can sort of use it as a safe space during the fight and use it to your tactical advantage.
It’s always weird when you hear about some of the most iconic games of all time essentially being a result of the corporate heads losing faith and letting the people working in the projects to just do whatever
Found you through your Max Payne Retrospective and I enjoyed it so much im gonna go through the rest of them. Im proud of you son, im just sorry I couldnt have been around for you sooner :'(
My personal theory: The events of the first game have little to do with the power of the town. Alessa is subconsciously projecting her nightmare onto the town with her immense powers whilst in a comatose state. That's why Harry says its like a dream or "someone's nightmarish delusions come to life". Only after the events of the first game did the town's powers "learn" how to manifest the delusions of certain people. P.S. I'm still a believer that the boiler explosion was a cover up story. Now hear me out before you begin rolling your eyes (xD), let's pretend that Harry never stated that Dahlia intentionally burned Alessa via a letter in SH3 and that SH1 is the only Silent Hill game that was ever made. Pay attention to what Dahlia says from 55:12. She says that the God was nourished by Alessa's perpetual nightmare, one that she is in specifically because she is barely being kept alive after being nearly burnt to death. She needed to burn Alessa in order to bring Alessa to the brink of death and to "nourish" the God with the nightmare produced by a comatose Alessa. Now, pay attention to what Lisa says at the 1:01:37 mark. Lisa is holding the truth from Harry. She says that she heard that Dahlia's kid died in the fire, but she knows that isn't true because she was the one tasked with looking after a barely alive, terribly burned Alessa in the hospital basement. Note that the fire article also mentions that Alessa's charred remains were found after the burning. Lastly, the fire article itself mentions that the boiler malfunction was only "believed" to be the source of the fire, not that it was proven.
Thank you for confirming what I heard in the video. I had always thought that Dhalia had burned Alessa on purpose. I didn’t realize that claim was solely from SH3. Very interesting on whether it was always a cover story, or if it might have been cannonicly an accident until the newer games retconned it.
What's your favorite Silent Hill Game? 👻
Unpopular opinion: shattered memories
SH1 and 2
Gotta be 1. I was in my early twenties and in my flat in the dark, very early morning when I first played the demo. It ended when the bat thing chrashed through the cafe window. I was hooked! Great retrospective. Loving the work!!!
The one where your locked in your apartment I can’t remember the name
SH 2 for sure, will always have a special place in my heart.
Watching Lisa's realization to the idea that she is just a manifestation of Alessa's and losing herself in that mental and physical break down of her reality is F%&KING amazing
Also its like alyssa showed her kindness by hiding from her what she was
It's the best scene in the series, by a mile. Still makes me shiver. The first time I saw it in the nineties, I had to put my controller down and come back to the game later.
Especially for a game from the 90s. Most other games would have made that moment forgettable with too much dialog and blaring music
@@themeangene Que the screeching, rising violins and jump scares. I swear I can't play horror games anymore. I've been spoiled by these games
Excellently executed scene all around.
There's something about the Silent Hill series that no matter how many hour long essays I listen to about them it just doesn't get old.
I played this game back in 1999 when I was 10-years-old and then again when I was in my 20's. That Lisa cutscene (48:00) has never left my mind. The context of wanting to save her but not being able to, the soothing music despite the grim circumstnaces, the graphics for the time period, the sound of crying afterwards...just amazing.
even now it moves me still
I rented this back when it came out and was both too stupid and too chickenshit to make it past the school lol
@@elsieoneill6181your not alone till this day I still can’t finish it 😂
That sato guy deserves more recognition. He seemed to work insanely hard.
He left Konami & works at Nintendo of all places. Lol
Asian work ethic
Just a slightly above average career-focused Japanese man. Japanese vidya work culture, and work culture there in general, is mental.
It’s been over a decade since I last played the first game, but after watching this, I realise that the voice acting isn’t actually as bad as most people claim it is.
I believe that the "bad voice acting " was intended to a certain extent and I also believe that is generally accepted theory ive watched many playthroughs of the first 4 games ( creepy and unsettling games aren't my go to ) but I love watching people play them silent hill is my favorite to watch
Silent Hill voice acting was fine. It was awkward and it had that Twin Peaks vibe. It was not bad at all like in the first Resident Evil.
It's quite decent for a game from 1999. There are much worse ones from the same era.
Yea the actual delivery by the voice actors was mostly really good, but it's the way their voice takes were edited in, the cadence was off, unusual pauses mid sentence, long pauses between characters talking, it seems deliberate, likely an artistic choice and mostly it really works to help create this overall unusual and dissonant feeling like a disturbed dream but sometimes it comes across as bad editing or for most people who don't think about that kind of technical thing they just see it as bad voice acting, which is a mistaken take on what Team Silent were trying to do
It’s honestly pretty decent, considering it’s completely in english and was developed by a Japanese studio.
I would also say the voice actress for Lisa was amazing. There is still that dream-like quality to her lines, but they are really good.
56:49
"The music in this part is amazing."
*REEEEEERRRRRRRRRREERRRRR*
this game's "bad voice acting" is not the same as Resident Evil's bad voice acting. Definitely believe it was an intentional artistic choice. This game is an absolute masterpiece. Despite it's age, it still easily ranks as one of the greatest horror games of all time. In all my life, few things have truly stuck with me the way SH and SH2 have. Burned into my psyche since I was 11 years old.
Great video, son. I'm proud of you.
There was a HOLE here. It's gone now.
100% agree. Resident evil was done with people who weren't even voice actors and didn't care and were literally just reading lines because they were the first "americans" that could be found Japan at the time of creation. Love and care went into the voice acting for silent Hill. You can here it in their voice and inflections.
Actual copium
The voice acting isn't even bad, they're just actual pauses in between lines of dialog for loading adding to the distracting feel. At best, the voice acting is good. At worst, it's wooden.
I could not agree more and to this day I go back and play silent hill at least every year!
Silent Hill2 I have beaten so many times that sometimes I might not replay it for a while?
But they are two of my most favorite and beloved games of All time. I beat the Original SH on normal for the first time when I was 14 and got to fight Samael at the end!!
I love resident evil as much as anybody, but silent hill to me is the greatest survival horror video game of all time!
(i’m including the entire team silent franchise in that statement, but I would say silent hill 2 is my favorite one out of all of them?)
This was only a thing in the second game. And there the voice acting isn't supposed to be "bad" it's supposed to be "off". Angela seems really worried about something. Eddie is hiding something. Maria is too suggestive to make sense in the surroundings, and Laura just straight up doesn't fit the setting at all. All of it is supposed to lend to the loneliness in the game. James is alone, surrounded by weirdos he can't trust, and then finds out he can't even trust himself.
SH1 on the other hand is just straight up 90s voice acting and sound editing.
Good work, son. I'm proud of you.
That song that plays during Lisa's transformation, and the scene itself, still sends chills down my spine even after all these years.
Coming to this off your full Fable retrospective, you're really grinding em out! Keep up the good work my son
Thanks Dad!
I played this game within a couple of weeks of its release. Tank controls never occurred to me as being any issue. But I’m assuming those who grew up playing Resident Evil and Silent Hill in the nineties feel the same. Anyway, I was enamored with this game instantly. I grew up loving horror films and books, and Silent Hill was so unique. The music fit so perfectly and the game was so genuinely unnerving and intriguing. Just as with the original Resident Evil trilogy on PlayStation, I never got rid of my copy that I bought back in early 1999. I have major love for this game.
Nice video. Subscribed!
I got it very close to release too, but it was my first introduction to horror games, and the only experience I'd had of the genre up to that point had been glancing at odd bits of horror films someone else was watching on TV (that didn't seem very scary or interesting to me). It was quite a thing to fall for, still my favourite game series.
I started with Resident Evil 2, I grew up renting games. But this time I bought it, I had made a few returns at the stores. In the past but now it was more difficult, as returns had become harder to make. So when I played the first level I didn't read the manual. I just died a bunch of times, rage quit and tried to return it.I ended up learning how to play, and after a few days I finally made in to the gun store. So when I got silent hill, I was a pro. Really it was just about enjoying a great story from silent hill.
I didn't grow up with the original RE games and my first introduction to tank controls was in RE1 HD in 2020 and I got used to them so quickly that I can't play the first SH trilogy and first RE games any other way now.
11:19 you can also make Harry do an "about face", a full 180 turn in place by using the L1andR1 buttons at the same time. This is helpful to disengage quickly and run away from monsters. You can also "despawn" monsters in some areas of the school and hospital by entering a room, 180 turn and leave, then re-enter the room to being empty.
Team silent deserve to be in the hall of fame
This
I'm divided between two things about wich ending is canon:
-Cybil's death is shown with an actual(and quite shocking) cinematic,don't know to give it more weight to her death and putting it at the same level as Lisa's,or to punish you for not being able to save your friend.
- Saving Cybil gives us a quite bigger chunk of Harry's backstory about how he found Cheryll and his wife's death,the only reference about Cheryll being adopted is a piece of journal dated the same "day we found Cheryl! *DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNNNNN*" and that's about it.
Both of this things make valid both endings...but I preffer the good plus,as this game shows to be very rewarding to players that take the time to explore and do more stuff.
Plus, Hiroyuki Owaku has said on multiple occasions that it is the canon ending.
Aw son really you covered my fav games? 3 is my favorite. I've been here since legacy of Kain dropped and I'm so proud of you. Keep going!
As I sit down to work on some hobby stuff this afternoon, I shall thoroughly enjoy this, my son.
So proud. If only your mother was here to see it.
This first game is actually my favorite in the series and doesn't get nearly enough appreciation, seemingly forever stuck in the shadow of its immediate successor. That said, it's great to see such a thorough retrospective of it. I'm not sure why exactly I find SH1 more compelling than SH2. Perhaps it was because SH2's "plot twist" just struck me as the most obvious, Stephen King-esque twist in the world, whereas SH1's focus on the cult had more of an impact on me since IRL cults are endlessly fascinating to me.
Same goes for SH3. They both get overshadowed by 2
Agree 💯
Notice how silent hill 1/harry mason are often ignored
SH1 wasn't in the HD collection, silent hill 2 got a remake before the first game...even though the SH1 needed the remake much more, harry mason wasn't in the "surprise ending" of silent hill downpour (that ending brought back every other silent hill protagonist), harry was changed to be a woman in the film because the director thought that harry's actions were feminine (??)
SH1 is ignored by the silent hill community itself.
I'm so glad that this popped up in my Recommended! Target audience reached. Can't wait to see the rest, and you've done a wonderful job.
God I miss Silent Hill games.
And now you are covering one of my most favourite horror game franchises. So proud of you, my son.
Hell yeah this made my Monday man, I absolutely adore the first four Silent Hill games! These games were ingrained in my childhood and a huge factor of why I love horror. It’s one of the examples I think of for good examples of unique storytelling in gaming, and how video games offer a very artistic and unique approach to that medium. I was wondering what the next series was and had a idea after checking in on the last stream, I’m so glad to see you diving into it!
A solid story behind a game is better than hyped up graphics to me
Hey Son! Your essays are excellent and keep getting better. Would love to hear your take on some of the later titles.
Keep doing your thing!
These retroactive perspective videos, lore telling videos, and fans lucky enough to own OG or ANY physical copies of these games are all us fans will ever have from this dead masterpiece. God rest our hopes and dreams of a true return; may P.T. rest in peace next to these.
Remake will be released next year
SH 1,2 and 3 are just masterpieces. The story is so freaking interesting and well written. I really think that the sound design overall in the 3 games are the best ever.
Thank you for a very interesting video to chill to, I look forward to the rest of the series!
Well done!
Silent Hill 4 was good too in its own way.
4 is probably my second favorite. It's so very underrated.
It's the magic of Team Silent. 👌 They do so insanely thorough work, when it comes to writing, world building and storytelling. They leave no stone unturned. And everywhere you look, you learn something new. I have been obsessed with SH since 1. 4 was the last actually good game. Didn't like it so much back in the day, but it has grown on me slowly over the years.
Hey Son, Dad here. Congrats on your work but remember to not crunch on your essays. Take your time and have fun!
wow!! just discovered you last week and been binging your contents. saw this and checked you upload schedule and I was like "This guy's pumping hour long content once a week!!" you deserve more attention seriously!
We'll get there Dad
YES, thank you so much! I am always happy to see people talk about Silent Hill. I am here from notification about SH Origins and I am so happy to be consuming a bunch of SH-related content yet again. Watching new perspectives on my favorite series of all time is something I can never get tired of. It's THAT GOOD. It deserves all the recognition, all the conversation around the series. Such a shame it still is in hands of Konami who doesn't do anything with the property at all except pachinko and DbD DLC...
We all know the drill with the series at this point. I'm here to thank you for all these massive retrospectives, especially for Legacy of Kain one, since that's how I found you, conveniently right after finishing Defiance and looking for something more.
Once again, THANK YOU SO MUCH. I'm sure all of the videos will be absolutely amazing to go through, and I shall gladly binge all the content starting from 1 to Origins which is the latest one from the SH retrospectives atm. Can't wait to hear your take on Homecoming (lol) and Downpour the most. Will you review movies as well, or just the games? (If that question is answered in videos, I apologized, haven't watched yet)
Anyway, thanks a lot once again. I'm so happy to spend another night in this town, even if by proxy.
My God are you killing these! I just finished your fable full retrospective the other day and here we are again! I absolutely respect the work ethic! Please keep this up and let me know how to support you, son! Well done!
Edit: just finished listening to this at work. Your break down on the occult influences and seeing how the production of the game is a wonderfully informative take on this. I’d argue this is the definitive way to view such things as you take each angle and how they play off each other. I can’t wait to see what other games you decide to cover!
Just discovered the channel thanks to the algorithms whims and you are easily one of the best video game reviewers out there. You truly are winning son
Thanks Dad, and welcome!
The reason that Cybil dying is the Canon ending is that Cheryl still has the aglaophotis that Harry finds inside of the amulet and uses to release Cybil from her demonic influence in Silent Hill 3. Had Harry used it to save Cybil, Cheryl wouldn't have it later, and thus he must've not saved her. That's how I've always understood it.
Harry could very well aquire the stuff himself. Aglaophotis does in fact exist in the real world. Also Cybil must survive for Harry to reveal more canonical details about his relationship with Cheryl.
I find easier for Harry to aquire more aglaophitis than learning how to make a pill out of juice
@@nexusshark reveal details about his relationship with Cheryl to whom exactly?
@@TheAdarkerglow To Cybil and by extention the audience/players.
Kaufmann directly says there's more of Aglophitis and in Silent Hill 3, it is said to exist around the world but is simply rare.
Decades later, 'The time is neigh!' is still my favorite grammar error in a video game. 😂
Akira Yamaoka is a master of sampling. He used existing samples from music banks and created one of the most recognizable music ever
OH BOY my favorite son is gonna talk about the best horror franchise!!
glad i found your channel by sheer coincidence
looking forward for more retrospectives/reviews!
Thanks son!
You're welcome Dad!
Yo , can’t get enough of hearing your break down on what set the tone for the silent hill genre ! It’s like a bedtime story ! Lisa’s anthem was the perfect background for your analysis
I've never gotten to play these games and always wanted to. This is the perfect opportunity to experience them with my favourite son! Loved this video, so excited to continue.
This is the greatest daddy kink of all time. I'm proud of you son. Jokes aside really nice video, worth the watch.
I already went bonkers when I watched your Fable videos, because hell yeah, Fable. But now the next series is Silent Hill? You really are my favorite son. :')
You're putting out so much high quality content in so little time, I'm very impressed, Son! But be sure you don't burn yourself out and take breaks when needed.
Oh heck yeah, Im excited for this series! Thanks another great video son! 👍🏻
You're welcome Dad!
It's actually mind blowing to think it's been 24 years since I played this as a 13 something year old and it's still pretty vivid in my mind. Still one of the only horror franchise to ever actually give me a fear feeling.
Thanks for going into the real world demonalgy the game uses usually retrospectives go into the main plot or lore so its neat to learn something different.
I love your channel which i discovered since the Legacy of Kain retrospective. never played 'em before that but the way you approach this stuff is mesmerizing. Also your channel's name and thematic of father/son triggers some weirds daddy issues on me, but oh well. Keep it up son.
I watched God knows how many videos like this and never get tired of it I can't stop loving silent Hill
Love your content as always, especially as a fan of Silent Hill for the last twenty years and having studied the game, I find your analysis absolutely on point and it made me want to replay the game again and re- analyse everything
I would disagree on your comment about games today that would not dare to let the player look for answers and plot for themselves, as the Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Elden Ring series are a nice example of games that specifically do not give you straight answers plotwise, but I understand your point of view since the majority of games today are falling in the handheld category
Discovered ur channel this week, and ur already becoming one of my favorite content creators. Such a good video
Didn’t think I wanted a silent hill video from you but I’m glad you made one
Honestly, I don't know how many times I've played this game entirely already, but I just learned about the actual story behind the first game thanks to your video. Many thanks, love you and the great work on your content
The first time I played Silent Hill was one night, with my parents gone. I was a child and supposed to long have been sleeping. I didn't last long, it was far too scary, but it was enough to inspire recurring nightmares until I was around 18. Luckily, I started to see gameplays and story theories of the game that haunted my dreams, and started to appreciate the story behind the horror. Now they are very dear games to me, although I have never been able to finish them, except Shattered Memories.
This channel has so much potential there are so many games from cult classics masterpieces and shit that's so bad it's good I'd love to hear your take on.
Good job son! Time for a Like. Proud of your hard work and dedication
Gobsmacked to find this channel- I've seen so many Silent Hill/2 retrospectives but I'll always watch another. Seeing you have a Fable one as well? Subscribed, whatta guy.
Only thing better than finding a new content creator that I vibe with is the ability to binge their past content in quick succession. Always great to get a new take on the facts and truths of a title as well as opinion on a game itself. You make us all ... VERY proud.
Like clockwork. The Fable videos were incredibly done. I’m glad your new release schedule is working out. Can’t wait to see the rest of these
Son, I'm going to watch all of your history and retrospective videos from here on. It's some amazing content.
You're doing fantastic work here, my boy. I'm so proud of you, son.
Thanks Dad
One UA-camr made a deep dive to confirm whether Team Silent was a thing. There is absolutely no mention of entity called "Team Silent" in Japanese internet. The team that was working on Silent Hill was an ad hoc made from people from Development team 7. Team Silent is made up by English speakers to simplify the absolute clusterfuck that was Konami production process.
This channel is a masterpiece, seriously what a great video ,wish all the success in the world !
I love these videos! Your Fable retrospective made me go back and play them and while I have never played the Silent Hill series at all, I could easily see doing the same here! Just excellent work!
You’ve earned my subscription man, i listened to all your Silent Hill videos while working and appreciate your honest non-snobby opinions on the series. Can’t wait to see your take on SH2R soon.
I was just listening to Winter Morning when I saw this video on my feed, and that intro music hit, and boy that felt weird. Can't wait to watch the entire video! Good job, son! That's why you are my favourite!
Thanks Dad!
Silent Hill
the greatest trilogy of all time
what a great video brother, keep it up, earned a sub
Awesome video, great insights and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest!
As for the dialogue and why it's stilted the way it is, it's because of the way they accessed the audio files for dialogue in the game. It was an individual load for each distinct line of dialogue, so that's why the spacing in between each chunk is a bit long since PS1 load times weren't very quick. Although I still do think to some extent the dream like feeling was intentional, it was mostly the result of this technical limitation at least for the delivery/cadence of the lines 😂
Your pace and quality is unprecedented. How do you keep pumping these out?! However you do, keep it up! I love your videos
Gotta admit that I have never for a second been interested in a silent Hill game, they were gone before I started playing horror games. You, my son have changed this. I'm gonna give it a whirl.
I discovered your channel when you started your Fable series and, I'm not quite sure why you refer to your viewers as dad but, I like it. It makes me think of my baby talking to me from the future about some of my favorite games from when I was a kid. I hope one day we will be able to have real conversations like this too. Thanks son!
Maybe I am from the future Dad
Son, it's always a good day when a new video of yours come out.
Your grind is impressive and unmatched my boy!
I've been waiting and i knew you'd make me proud son!
This was a fantastic combination of summary and discussion. and the weaving of music, cut-scenes, and more was perfect. Keep up the great work, son!
-Air screamer design actually take inspiration from ptero buzzard from "the mist" another pterodactyl type creature in fog.
-grey children shows alessa bullied as a kid but it also it symbolize that Harry and jodie never has a kid.
-key of lion,woodman and scarecrow is reference to wizard of oz
-plate of hatter,queen,cat and turtle is a reference to Alice in the wonderland
-lisa didn't transform into a monster early because she is taking PTV which is made out of white Claudia.
Can't believe I still have the original PS1 game (its scratched up and doesnt have the official case but still works!) I used to watch my parents play this in the very early 00s and it freaked me tf out. Now that I've inherited the game from them i love the story and the memories
Real proud of you boy.
Thanks Dad
That's our son!
Please do sh2! This video was awesome and I always love seeing a new person experience/explain SH !
Omg… Akira Yamaoka in muh video essays. Ive been blessed to see him live, its so good 🫣🫣🫣
Son you are killing the game. I feel like the fable one just came out. Excellent stuff man
Every video of this quality deserves as many comments as possible! Good work, son.
Other than narrowing down which keys to press on the puano puzzle, theres actually a hint in the Poems title. Tale of Birds Without a Voice hints to use keys that don't ring or make sound (ie, don't "have a voice.")
This is why you are my favourite son!
Good job young fella.
Be careful mate, I think someone's calling you at 9:17 lol
Great retrospect, son. cant wait for the rest of the series
I remember playing the cover disc demo over and over again until I actually got my hands on the game. One of the all time best, and I go back to it every two or three years. A classic.
My Son: "Games don't really do this anymore, it would be such a big risk to hide the story from the average player"
Me: Laughs in Elden Ring
Laughs in dark tower.
@@atomic747laughs just to laugh.
Your output is insane, Son.
Now your speaking my language, Son.
I had a physical copy of this years ago, spent 40$ for the disc....it was stolen from me tho
I'd say SH2 and SH 4 The Room
Luckily I still have the 1st 4 SH games.
what a great review enjoyed watching this till the end. if I may you can do Fatal frame series it's good I promise, 👌
Silent Hill is just timeless. I've known about this game for years but only decided to play it for the first time in 2021 and even though I'm only 2 years older than this game, I still had an amazing time with it. Every location I visited, every information I gathered was fascinating for me and even though the graphics has aged, it hasn't bothered me too much because the gameplay itself was still very enjoyable. I replayed it half a year ago and probably I will replay it annually just like SH2 and SH3 because the first trilogy is just awesome.
Your vids keep getting recommended to me and I'm glad I took the time to sit down and watch.
Proud of you, son. Can't wait to binge the rest and see what other stories you have to share.
Man, I love the 4 original Silent Hill games so much, and you are making them justice. Thank you!
Also, that scene with Lisa is my favorite moment in the franchise. Everything about that scene is so great, so well made, the music, the visuals, the movement, everything. I love it.
This is a really good retrospective. Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts with us Son ❤️
Great stuff Son, your videos are great! You make me so proud of you.
Great video, son. Can’t wait for the one of Silent Hill 4.
I remember when I first experienced Silent Hill, I was a kid and deemed too young to play a my step father, who ended up being awful, picked it up and my mother ended up loving the entire series. In retrospect there's probably a lot to talk about there lol. Amazing video, thanks for the walk down memory lane! The ufo endings are so weird, I didn't remember those
Where it all began...
It is remarkable how much the team could do with the little time and resources they had. Not a single person knew thy were about to create a masterpiece and the beginning of an unforgettable and highly influential epic saga. Imagine thinking that over 20 years later, people will still be begging and be excited for any news of a new Silent Hill game.
And as for this video, it is another amazing and detailed work by a true artist and fan. I have no doubt that anyone who worked on the game that saw this would be proud of your incredible effort. So, so good.
P.S. A funny story I had with this game (also mentioned in this great video): much later after finishing this game, I found someone that also played it and we talked about it. They asked me a question that was so confusing: "which ending did you like best?". What the heck are you talking about? Things only have one ending. It's called 'THE end'. They said there were multiple endings, so I immediately asked them to stop talking to avoid spoilers. I just asked 'how' do you get multiple endings? They said try different things in the game. I was ecstatic to return to the game immediately and play it more to see the other endings. It was like Christmas and I had bonus content given to me by the gaming gods.
No internet back then or access to guides (which I didn't even know existed back then), it was trial and error and getting the same endings over and over but I kept doing random things.
Luckily, the friend told me I didn't have to kill the police lady, which it never occurred to me to through the bottle at her instead of just turning the fight into a Western and just shoot like mad.
This made me wonder what other games I had that had more than one ending. I found out that the first Ace Combat had it and so I played that multiple times as well.
Good times. And another fantastic video, friend. I know I am repeating myself, but SH is near and dear to me and I am so happy I found such a masterpiece video made of such a masterpiece of a game. Your videos about the SH franchise are honestly the best entertainment videos I ever saw on youtube ever. Konami should send you a thank you trophy or something. Very seldom you'll see videos this dedicated and well done. Amazing work and it brought back all the emotions I had playing the games so long ago. I was even reminded how doubtful and still scared I was that that little ring holding the chain won't work against that monster. I vividly remember walking away and expecting to die horribly any second but it worked! This particular section is shown here in the video: 51:00.
Loving these silent hill videos, there’s a bunch but your voice and pacing work really well together
This gives me hope for resident evil in the future, son. Keep up the great work, you've been doing amazing but don't forget to take some time to relax!
Yet another binge kinda weekend. Cant wait to watch this
35:55 Fun fact, the larvae never comes out of the ground, nor burrows back inside through the fencing so you can sort of use it as a safe space during the fight and use it to your tactical advantage.
It’s always weird when you hear about some of the most iconic games of all time essentially being a result of the corporate heads losing faith and letting the people working in the projects to just do whatever
Demon's Souls comes to mind
Funny that letting creatives do their thing works
Found you through your Max Payne Retrospective and I enjoyed it so much im gonna go through the rest of them.
Im proud of you son, im just sorry I couldnt have been around for you sooner :'(
My personal theory: The events of the first game have little to do with the power of the town. Alessa is subconsciously projecting her nightmare onto the town with her immense powers whilst in a comatose state. That's why Harry says its like a dream or "someone's nightmarish delusions come to life". Only after the events of the first game did the town's powers "learn" how to manifest the delusions of certain people.
P.S. I'm still a believer that the boiler explosion was a cover up story. Now hear me out before you begin rolling your eyes (xD), let's pretend that Harry never stated that Dahlia intentionally burned Alessa via a letter in SH3 and that SH1 is the only Silent Hill game that was ever made. Pay attention to what Dahlia says from 55:12. She says that the God was nourished by Alessa's perpetual nightmare, one that she is in specifically because she is barely being kept alive after being nearly burnt to death. She needed to burn Alessa in order to bring Alessa to the brink of death and to "nourish" the God with the nightmare produced by a comatose Alessa.
Now, pay attention to what Lisa says at the 1:01:37 mark. Lisa is holding the truth from Harry. She says that she heard that Dahlia's kid died in the fire, but she knows that isn't true because she was the one tasked with looking after a barely alive, terribly burned Alessa in the hospital basement. Note that the fire article also mentions that Alessa's charred remains were found after the burning.
Lastly, the fire article itself mentions that the boiler malfunction was only "believed" to be the source of the fire, not that it was proven.
Thank you for confirming what I heard in the video. I had always thought that Dhalia had burned Alessa on purpose. I didn’t realize that claim was solely from SH3.
Very interesting on whether it was always a cover story, or if it might have been cannonicly an accident until the newer games retconned it.