@@SpunkyMcGoo Joseph is a fucking brainlet who can't grasp storytelling that refuses to spoonfeed him and instead goes for a more abstract aproach. He doesn't have what It takes to properly critique Silent Hill
Honestly, to this day if I watch the clip of Lisa transforming, I start tearing up. It's such a beautifully depicted, beautifully scored scene that perfectly captures the shock, the sick feeling in your stomach, and heartache of losing this sweet, innocent character that you've come to care about to the twisted evil of the town. Watching Harry push her away and then have to keep her barred/trapped in that room is devastating-- especially hearing her helpless, muffled cries behind the door. You just want someone to hold her and tell her it will be alright, but you know that once she fully becomes like the other nurses, she will become a danger to Harry and it's so sad! Regardless of the graphics at the time, you could tell it killed Harry to keep Lisa detained in that room, mostly thanks to the performance from Michael G (Harry's VA) when he says "Lisa...". It's clearly hurting him to be doing this to someone he's come to care about, and you can hear the guilt in his voice.
Kinda disapointing how he kinda overlooks the best intro to any horror game ever. Going down that alley way is simply masterful, the way it slowly gets darker, the way scenery gets more decrepit and disturbing, how the alleyway gets narrower and narrower. Games don't do that anymore...
TBH I hated it. I reloaded several times before dying, thinking that I have missed a weapon or something, only after that I said "fuck it" and let them kill me. Like what game does this? What game requires you to die to progress the story
Silent Hill is one of my favorite game Series second only to Metal Gear Solid. My favorite game in the series is Silent Hill 3. You can imagine how frustrating it is to have both your favorite video game franchises owned by Konami.
@AJ The only Metal Gear Solid games that I actually thought we're bad are Metal Gear Solid 4 and 5. I would highly disagree that 3 was unnecessary because it recontextualizes the entire series by offering a new Perspective on the main antagonist of the first games. And even though you could say that this one is unnecessary I even love Peace Walker because of its charm and charisma especially in regards to the characters. I think it's very interesting how Kojima originally wanted to call the game Metal Gear Solid 5 Peace Walker but his team convinced him otherwise because it was only going to be released on the PSP. He has stated that for him Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker is Metal Gear Solid 5 which is why I think he called the phantom pain Metal Gear Solid V. But I always feel uncomfortable throwing around words like unnecessary because if you think about it any game past the first Metal Gear Solid was unnecessary. Initially Kojima only continued on with the series because the fans wanted it.
It's nice to see a Slent Hill video that's not an analysis on its themes or trying to find a full answer to the story, just straight out game things. Great job!
@KuruSeed lmao right? there are so many youtube videos like this and i find it frustrating every time- who wants to watch a beat-by-beat telling of an entire experience with little else added? All power to you if you do, this is a well made video, but i don't understand it.
In modern times its a bit rough around the edges, but back in 2000 it had my friends and I glued to the tv set trying to get through the game. We would take turns, keep notes, and just try not to die. We beat it about 3 times over the course of a few weekends and finally got the good ending on the final try, albeit we had to use a guide to find out exactly what we needed to do. Still good times and its still one of my favorite games.
I’m 23 and beat it about a week ago, first time playing and I was glued to my PsP Go. First time in what I can remember actually pulling out a notebook to write down the puzzles. Great game. I think it holds up exceedingly well. Same as Metal Gear Solid.
A think I love about this game is how it rewards you for being curious and exploring your surroundings,reading notes and picking every object you find,you end the game without knowingwhat the hell happened with Kauffman and killing Cybill,and you will get tje worst ending possible,explore and try stuff with objects you got earlier,and you will get both the best ending and a bunch of lore about the game.
16:50 Having checked out a few more of SH's inspirations recently, I'm given the impression that the long pauses between character's statements is a direct lift from Twin Peaks.
The ending, just the blurred fog of the background with the sound of Harry's footsteps and the crackle of the radio, was just perfect. That soundbyte and blurred visual really do comprise its essence as what is indeed one of the best Horror games out there. Plus... it made me terribly nostalgic. Damn me for selling my PS2, and damn Sony for not bringing back retrocompatibility.
I had Silent Hill on my PS3's hard drive for ages before I decided to give the HD Collection a try... and then I tweeted about how botched that remaster set was and about my desire to instead play it on the PS2. A fan on Twitter found copies of Silent Hill 2 and 3 locally and offered to buy them and ship them to me, which they did, graciously including a copy of the Silent Hill 3 strategy guide they happened to find at the same store. This donation prompted me to finally play Silent Hill 1, since I now wanted to treat the entire series as a UA-cam project, and I found myself falling in love with the series in a big way after that. Silent Hill 3 is by far my favorite. 2 has a brilliant artistic bent as a psychological horror story and 1 is great for its time, but 2 also falls short on general gameplay I feel and 1 has an endgame post-hospital that feels thrown together and rushed, which really felt unsatisfying after the brilliance of the school and hospital areas. Silent Hill 3 by contrast has a really well-written protagonist and is, from back to front, a well-realized gameplay experience to go with its horror atmosphere and story. It also had a melee parrying mechanic that was so good for that style of play that Resident Evil 7 straight-up ripped it off. Also you get a katana and a giant spiked maul as weapons during the normal course of play and the game treats this as utterly ordinary. That's just great. Anyway. Yeah. I love this series. I still haven't played through 4, Homecoming, or Downpour yet, not to the end at any rate. I have my feelings on all three, but in my mind, the first three games are an amazing set of horror gaming experiences and all should be treated as classics. The later sequels, well... they're interesting in that there's a lot to talk about, whatever your opinions on them. - Lewis
The later Silent Hill games are good in their own ways. The only truly bad one is Shattered Memories. Hell, Downpour is probably the last truly good breath of fresh air not just for Silent Hill but for traditional survival horror in general. As for RE7, eh, it was an okay, run of the mill, gritty, modern-y style survival horror game, but it just wasn't a good Resident Evil game. But yes, as much as I like SH2, there were a number of things SH1 & SH3 did better.
Oscar Álvarez Yeah, I really don't understand the blind hate from fans or the ambivalence from the mainstream gaming media. Well, I kinda sorta do for the latter since they've never really understood the survival horror genre and think it should be given all these changes for accessibility reasons (even though survival horror cannot appeal to everybody but anyway). Downpour isn't perfect, but none of the Silent HIll games are. Each one has its own flaws. Some more than others. It has some tech issues (not as bad as people overblow them to be but still). The creature design could be much better. The story, while still very engaging, is a bit derivative. But it's still a good Silent Hill game and a good survival horror game that fans that didn't give a chance because 'waah no Team Silent' and mainstream gaming media didn't give a chance because they don't care about traditional survival horror games and never have.
These games look virtually unplayable in 2018. I wish this weren't the case. As I would love to experience them as others experienced them upon their release. But they look extremely dated.
They're only unplayable if you're one of those 'gotta have the newest and shiniest new system and game that's always being released!' more casual type of consumers. For those like us, the game plays just fine. It's not 'dated'. If anything, it's very refreshing going back and playing a more traditional survival horror game like Silent Hill because we don't get traditional survival horror games anymore. Only generic 'horror' shooters like RE4-6, gritty, modern first person horror games like Outlast, multiplayer stuff like Dead by Daylight, or craft system/open world-ish stuff like 7 Days to Day or Dying Light. Besides, if you want to play a truly unplayable survival horror game from the PS1 era with legitimately bad controls, go play Evil Dead: Hail to the King. You'll come back with a greater appreciation for how much better something like Silent Hill is.
Oscar Álvarez Yeah, SH4 has its issues, but I still enjoyed it. The room concept was brilliant and the game had the most ambition of any Silent Hill game in the series if you ask me. Didn't quite utilize the room pitch to its fullest potential, but I still enjoy going back through and replaying it. And yeah, Shattered Memories stripped away so many critical things about Silent Hill from a gameplay and presentation standpoint. And the big twist at the end was just meh.
There's a lot of stunning cinematography in Silent Hill's visuals across the first 4 titles, but I think my favorite shot in the whole series is the Good+ ending of Harry and Cybil running out of the otherworld, the camera stops following them and they disappear into the fog. Fade to credits. Especially with that music, absolutely masterful.
To this day SH 1-3 still unnerve me, I remember playing SH1 in a friends house when I was a kid and having nightmares for days afterwards and I played SH 2 and 3 when I was a teenager and still found it very frightening. The atmosphere, music and monsters all blend together to have you on edge, I honestly think its an accomplishment in the horror genre and Im pretty sad this franchise had more bad games than good.
I just recently discovered the silent hill series on my own back in 2013 when I bought Silent Hill HD Collection after work one day and I played SH2 and fell in love hours later. A few days later I dug up my old PS2 and was hunting on Amazon and my local retro game shops for any Silent Hill games and I played SH2 on the OG Xbox, then a few weeks later I experienced Silent Hill for the first time and fell deeper in love, then I waited till Christmas and I received a complete mint copy of Silent Hill 4: The Room for the PS2 from my parents who were buying their 22 year old son a PlayStation 2 game for Christmas and thankfully not judging him for being a loser and just being grateful that their son was cheap to shop for, and then a week or two later after falling deeper in love because I'm one of those SH guys that actually really enjoys The Room I then experienced the psychedelic surreal survival horror of Silent Hill 3 with Gamefly for a week or so. I played all these Silent Games while I was 22 to 23 and each one scared the sheet out of me and had me jumping and throwing the controller more than once. Also Silent Hill 2 has made me cry buckets of tears due to the endings and the way Mary reads her full letter to James. These games are timeless and they seem to scare people ranging from age 12 to 37 and the older you get it seems the games scare you for different reasons or the fear sticks with you on a deeper level long after the console is turned off.
@@alexsieckmann6659 as good as a game Silent hill 4 is the controls killed the game for me and all these he remaster and not a single control rebutton oof
yes! i really love it when developers think to include the small details you mentioned about harry. i've seen modern games that don't include that level of detail. i understand when people say that sh is dated, but imo it has aged well and contributed much to the making of later horror games.
A lot of so called fans just want remasters these days. It's all fine and dandy, but not every game needs a remaster, because classics like Silent Hill 1 were done with a lot of care and some imagination in order to make a very good survival horror game. I bought this game on PSN store for PS3 and I find this game pretty scary even till this day. It has a good story and using supernatural and phsyocological elements to throw off the player are very niceley done. Another thing I never noticed,is when you have a very low heatlh, your controller vibrates, but it sounds like a human heartbeat. That is a very nice attention to detail, which I didn't experiance from playing the emulated version of the game. By remastering a game like Silent Hill 1, it would ruin the whole experiance and the passion and care Team Silent gave to this game.
I understand what you're saying, but at the same time, I think if done right, it could benefit from a remake, as long as they make characters like Dahlia look gringey enough. The rather generic monsters in the PS1 game are mostly only scary because of the fog/darkness/disorienting camera/lack of seeing them, but enemies in the future games are legit creepy as hell, like the giant baby-faced enemies that point at you in Silent Hill 4. The midgets are mainly only creepy because they sound like school kids, but imagine if they made them LOOK like the kids from the Grudge or something too. I'm not sure, but I think they could make the game even more disorienting than before...look at RE1 Remake. That game added so many confusing puzzles. If it could work for PS2 era, it could work for PS4 era. I honestly am a little disappointed in remakes lately, like RE2R and RE3R, they both cut a lot of things, and kinda change characters a bit too much since they have a much more established universe. They're not even fixed camera anymore and often cut most of the music/enemies. It's not that they can't be great and even more terrifying...just look at PT or Allison Road (both cancelled?)
I don’t know if the comment about it not having the same passion has aged very well in light of games like the RE2 remake, which many consider to be the equal or superior to the original version in every way. It would just take people who are actually passionate about the ‘art’ in a game to do a remake justice, but unfortunately those people aren’t Konami
I hadn’t played a single silent hill game up until a few months ago, and even without nostalgia goggles, this game was amazing. The intro always gives me goosebumps. Harry’s constant confusion makes it seem like he’s in purgatory, and the scene where he is unconscious in the car makes it a theory that sounds believable. A lost soul in purgatory, desperately clinging to his loved ones as a sea of darkness surrounds him. Such a powerful game underneath the surface
That makes no sense. Being a survival horror franchise, which it very clearly is, does not in any way diminish its psychological style of horror in the least.
I remember being so scared of the first game, that I took break every 15 minute of the game. I HAD to find out what is going on in that town... but I was terrified of it. THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE DROVE ME FORWARD!!! One side note, I really liked the map system of this game. I wish other games would copy that. Actually having Farcry 2 map-system where your character holds the map in his hands when you check it and combine with this, where your character makes markings to the map would be a dream come true... er... well atleast a thing I'd like to see. :D
Exact same here, I played it on Bleem as I didn't have a PS1 back then. I usually played it at night, when I would go outside for smoke breaks every little sound made me jump! Terrifying game! Best of the series if you ask me. SH1 and SH3 were my favorites!
This was one of the first two survival horror games I played in 2000 and Jesus was I ever petrified! R.E had jump scares and this was just unlike anything, especially with the lights off!
Loved this, Silent Hill 2 please? Maybe more Silent Hill after that too? Lol, I can only imagine how long it takes to make these videos, so I know its a big ask. Review the great games and explain why the crappy ones were crappy? I know its a long shot that we will ever get a good silent hill again, but having a blue print would be a good gesture to show where Homecoming- Downpour went wrong. Having a talented reviewer like you to tell it how it is may bring fresh discussion and attention to the Silent Hill games
Praise the Sun I've watched them all, but they have such a "its my way or the high way" approach, Im sure they scare off fans. And Id like to see brits viewpoint
Man, this is one of the series I absolutely missed the boat on. I have Silent Hill 1 through 3 now but needed an excuse to actually sit down and play them. This video might have just done the trick. We'll see what goes into the PlayStation after work tonight.
I am surprised that I was even able to finish Silent Hill despite playing it for the first time (I just played this for the first time this month so yaaay). I played SH 1 in my phone using ePSXe. So glad someone here on UA-cam recommended me ePSXe and Silent Hill (I still haven't finished Silent Hill: Origins tho since I decided to finish SH1 first)
OMG, how easy those puzzles are through older eyes!! "Gold in an old man's palm" Alchemy, chemistry room! The birds thing is still ridiculous though...
The dead series of quality to never be seen anywhere else. Truly, the american King horror story, yet told by weird japanese people of Team Silent. You literally cannot replicate any of this today.
Just finished this masterpiece of a game today, on october 31st 2022, played it through Duckstation and man, this game can be beatifully enhanced with that emulator, running it a higher resolution gets rid of jagged edges, you can correct the texture and geometry warp and through overclocking the emulation you can run this at 30 frames per second without suffering so many slowdowns like the PS1 could, the only issue I ran into was the first cutscene when meeting Dahlia, there's a certain setting that must be turned off, or else the colors will bug horribly and I had to return a save to fix it. Other than that, absolutely recommended it, the artstry that made this game stand out in 1999 still holds up, every enviroment is detailed and its amazing to think that they managed to pull of such a large city at the time, plus this games atmosphere with Akira Yamaoka's soundtrack is a required experience for any horror fans, this is unique, there's nothing like it on the PS1.
Commentary #666 here! ^^ Great analysis, man. So rare people make videos deep video analysis about SH1, normally is all about SH2, a great game too yes, but forget the reasons to be. Silent Hill 1 never was perfect, but takes the limitations of the hardware, inovative and obscure soundtrack and a take on supernatural side of storytelling, making one of the best games in that era.
Even at worst times, your videos generally make me smile and take me out of the real world for a bit, it would be great if we saw more creators like ya thumbs up :)
Before I even watch the video: Game with impeccable atmosphere that brings out a true sensation of horror. At least for its time (if you can't live with the old graphics). Almost wish they'd remaster it, if I wasn't more scared of them fucking it up like the SH2 remaster than I was of it being forgotten.
The point of Lisa is she's this lost, seemingly innocent girl in this hellish world, she's meant to play one the player's empathy, I know I always wished I could of saved her.
While I agree the intro sets the tone, I wouldn't agree that it does it accurately, though not that it's a bad thing. When I saw the opening movie the first time I played this game, I honestly didn't know what to make of it. I had heard the game was supposed to be scary, but the intro movie didn't make it seem so. It seemed more of a mystery game, with a 70's type vibe. While that seemed kind of cool, I preferred the horror game I had heard so much of. Boy did I literally have no idea what I was getting into. After the end of the first encounter with Alternate Silent Hill, getting mauled by the demon children, and finished the cutscene with Cybil, I sat there for like 10 minutes to take everything in. This was literally only 20 minutes into the game, and I already had had my mind blown and was honestly left thoroughly shaken. To this day, no other game has ever come close to the feelings I got first playing this game. This is especially true after finishing the first school puzzle and finding the Metatron Seal for the first time. The music that begins playing right after is absolute terror in musical form. Not Silent Hill 2, 3, or any other horror game that I can think of has scared me to the point of pondering whether to turn the game off for the night.
I must say, this vid was dripping atmosphere, specially since I watched it at the dead of the night. Mood was quite enhanced. Still, thanks man. You rock.
Really excited to get a video on Silent Hill. I would have liked to hear you talk a little more about some of the surreal elements incorporated into the game, like the bathroom in the school that makes you teleport between Floor One and Two, or the extra floor appearing in the elevator of the hospital. Those were the details that really stuck with me after the game. I agree with you on the story. I played the game for the first time 4-5 years ago without having played any other Silent Hill first and it was very difficult to piece together what was going on, to the point where I stopped caring about the story towards the end of the game. I felt too detached from everything that was happening. Atmosphere was great right to the end, but in such a surreal story, I think there needed to be something tangible at its centre to keep the player more invested in the outcome.
When I played this as a kid, I had this nightmare in which I was playing this and got so uncomfortable that I turned the console off, but the game was still on. I plugged the console and the TV, but the game was still on. It still gives me chills to imagine something like that in a videogame, that you cant escape from it. I love how this game plays with your mind, that teleporting bathroom in the school, the fourth floor in the hospital, waking up in the hospital after getting out. I love when games do this, acknowledging their video gane status, Kojina is pretty good doing this too, psycho mantis, the end, etc. Imagine what he could have done in Silent Hills.
@mechlbgum Not familiar with that game (Sierra adventure games) but I guess thanks for maybe correcting me. But I'm pretty sure Resident Evil did take it most of its perspective cues from the first Alone in the Dark if I'm not mistaken. That was the first primitive 3D horror game wasn't it?
People don't talk about Alone In The Dark enough. I remember playing it when it came out in '92 and being blown away. It was hugely influential on every horror game that came after it. It took adventure games then gave them the mechanics to be something better. You're moving stuff, you're fighting stuff, you're searching for stuff, you're running from stuff. It just made a better experience.
I tried to play alone in the dark in the late 90s and found it to be unplayable even then, it's aged horribly and is only talked about in high regard by people who are trying to sound trendy and non mainstream, meanwhile most of us acknowledge that Resident Evil and silent hill put survival horror on the map
@@redplanet667 It's held in high regard by people who played it when it came out and understand the impact it had on other games - namely Resident Evil. Resident Evil took Alone in Dark's gameplay blueprint and built on it. Giving due credit to AitD doesn't diminish RE and SH - they're all important to the evolution of the genre.
can't call it "best", but it's probably has the most complicated multiple ending system for sure. the endings are totally depends on how you approach the game. like if you read every single document and letters or even listened that conversation in that corridor (just before the final area) the endings can totally change. and the most frustrating part is that, the game doesn't tells you or even gives you a hint about these stuff at all. so if you are playing this game for the first time, and don't have any idea about these stuff, then you might get stumbled into the bad ending in your first playthrough. In resulting a unsatisfying playthrough 🤔
@Svetoslav Nikolov do you remember what cutscene you got after you beat the final boss? because there are actually two types of bad ending, if I'm not mistaken. 1) the Dream ending, you get if you didn't saved anyone and also killed that angel in the end, you'll see Harry laying dead inside his car which has been damaged. 2) the Escape ending (it's more like a modest ending between good and bad) you'll get if you didn't saved anyone but saved Cheryl, in the final cutscene Harry would be running around silent hill to find a escape with the baby. I actually got the modest ending in my first playthrough, I didn't knew about that whole Cafe location, and I accidentally also killed Cybil too Lol
Semi-irrelevant question: Am I the only one who thought the Grey Children were saying "Oh papa!" when attacking, thinking their dads came to rescue them without realizing that they are holding knives and that hugging their father like that isn't the best idea?
Wait that's confusing. 1- Weren't most enemies given English names in the Book of Memories and weren't really named before that? (At least in English) 2- Wasn't Mumbler/Claw Finger the name for the monsters that replace Grey Children in the European and the Japanese release?
I always loved that Low-Poly model and low-res pixely texture in games. Prolly just me being a 90's kid, but I love those old Nintendo 64 and PS1 graphics.
i always remember at the school i encountered the zombie kids with knives but it was only in the demo in europe, the full release had them changed for something less horrifying which has always grinded my gears!
14:33 You don't just become more desensitized to them, you become annoyed by them also. But it's always a feeling of tense apprehension when you enter an area and hear them and the radio. 14:57 BROTHER YOU SAID IT. The one word I could use to best describe the experience of Silent Hill 2 (my first game in the series) was "OPPRESSIVE". To your senses and imagination, immersing yourself in the world and hearing and seeing and absorbing everything gets to be rough for your digestion, even if you have a constitution as strong as mine And there's a few places where the soundtrack truly makes you feel uncomfortable, like the track for the Report Area, and the bubbling rooms of "Nowhere". I think the Otherworld Hospital and the Elementary School are the most disconcerting places, and I might say the hospital is the scariest. Quite a few places made me jerk with startles without even jumpscares like i am a poosay or a pooftur. Yeah, the sewers were my least favorite thing in the game, but i think having everything post-mall strown with "enemy lines" from the streets of Silent Hill in the Otherworld, to the sewer, to the amusement park, make the world feel more expansive and diverse
God I miss this series. Used to be my obsession. The first game had alot of room for improvement but it was a good starting place. 3 though was a near perfect game to me
I really appreciate this video. Silent hill 1 is my favorite survival horror game on the ps1. And I feel that the first game is open for interpretation when it stands on its own and there is so much to analyze if you dig deep enough
I really love your videos man, I started watching on a random search for Devil May Cry videos then I found your videos on the retrospective of devil may cry. Eventually, I ended up watching your Resident Evil videos, I really loved your videos on the original trilogy. I really can't wait for the Code: Veronica video. :D
I never played any of the Silent Hill games because I was too much of a crybaby for horror games and I finally got around to playing Silent Hill 1. I'm amazed by how well you were able to put yourself in the place of a player that has absolutely no information other than that given by the game itself (I never wanted to get the story spoiled either), even when you know a lot more from the other games, guides, fans, friends, interviews, etc. I was kinda put off by things like the dialog delays, the sudden drug side story with the long, packed exposition segment and also when finding out, after finishing the game, the way to save Cybil or that you can find Kauffman again. I think either I didn't get some bits of info because of one or two places I missed, or I wasn't sure how to piece them all together. So that got me a bit frustrated. On the other hand, even though the game might be somewhat dated, there sure were some delicious chills running through my spine and arms every now and then. I loved that. That first nurse standing in front of me after going through the door, as well as the soundtrack after leaving the hospital... Nice, scary stuff. So thanks for letting me know that I didn't just miss some important story stuff for being stupid or whatever. Now, moving on to experience what people have experienced for years with the next games
Aww hell yeah Brit. You must've read my mind, since I've been watching the hell out of Silent Hill analysis videos. Any chance you will be doing the second one too? It's definitely my favourite installment. Time to watch the video. :)
Fantastic video. Well done. I agree with most of your points, the exception being the issues you raised about combat/item management. One of the things I found off putting about Resi (other than the horrific controls) was getting to a point where you had no ammo and had to restart or load an earlier save; it’s as if you were somehow expected to know you’d be in that predicament in advance. In Silent Hill, that was never a concern and even if you did somehow manage to use all your ammo, there were melee weapons that were actually useful. I just feel Resi tried to be too clever for its own good at times at the expense of making a game that was fun to play. I also know I’m in an extreme minority in thinking this. Regarding the endings, I think you were “supposed” to get the bad ending at first because, as you point out, there’s no way you’d know about the extra side quests on first play. I suspect this was done to encourage replay value and it worked.
I couldn't agree with you more on pretty much EVERY point made here! That's rare. A very good, agreeable review..and, an honest assessment. For once, someone else got the EXACT same things out of this game. That too, is rare. Even the minor problems addressed, I have to agree with. As far as the PS 1 goes, this was the MOST played game that I played on the system. Don't get me wrong. I loved the R.E. series too - as far as the horror franchises went. I just seemed to be more intrigued by this game, so I was very happy that it's timing was right with the PS 2 right on it's heels. I didn't have to wait very long for S.H. 2..which is STILL my absolute favorite of the series. As mentioned here, everything from the puzzles to item management, things were simplified and maybe that's one reason that I gravitated to it a little more than R.E. I still play both series to this day..and, I still feel the same towards both series. I have always been more of a S.H. kinda guy because of it's subject matter. It just seemed to be a little more feasible than a zombie apocalypse. Like I said, I like those too though. R.E. has always been more action oriented, while S.H. is more psychological. At the time of it's release, it was the first game that really got inside my head and twisted my thoughts! There were countless nights where I'd be thinking about the game and HAVE to get up outta bed and go play it at 3 a.m. No other game before that made me do that. It wasn't until Fatal Frame 2 came out for PS 2 that, that kind of thing started happening again. F.F. was also very psychological and F.F. 2 was the first game that made me feel something no other game had done before or has since actually..genuine fear! I literally did NOT want to see what was around that next corner! It was that disturbing to me - but, I loved it! F.F. 2 remains my alltime favorite game of all! As for S.H. 1 here, this review has brought back some awesome memories! I had forgotten about some of this stuff like the clock tower and the colored blocks puzzle. The ONLY thing I think I could disagree with is NOT giving it a new paint job on today's hardware. I see your points as to why not..but, if Capcom tried it successfully with R.E., then, why not at least try it with S.H. 1? At least try out a beta run for a select group of fans to see if people will like it. As long as they didn't take away from the general aesthetics of the game and kept it intact, a P.S. 4 might just do it some justice. I can only imagine what this SAME environment and sound could look and feel like cleaned up. I guess that the voice acting would have to be redone too though and that's where the problems start up. Once that changes, the whole feel.will begin to. Also, Konami wouldn't be bold enough to bring Team Silent back together to oversee it.and without them, someone else would botch their awesome creation. So, again I have to agree on that too. Maybe you're right. It's better not to ruin a good thing if it's already a great game! Leave it in it's historic state. A great review and I liked what was said here. Good vid to add to my 'gaming' playlist.Great work!
Thank you for a great video and that great review/editorial (I'm not sure what you call it). I can tell that you put a lot of thought into the words you chose to describe the nuance of this game. You were fair in your criticism and praise. I love this game (and franchise) and you helped me to solidify ideas that were previously intangible to me. Thank you and great job!
Ultracrepidarian Probably wouldve been nothing like Team Silents games. Wouldve probably been good, but idk why people were hyping it like a return to silent hill. Theres nothing similar between Silent Hill and PT
Iirc Kojima never worked on a Silent Hill game. People were hyped because MGS obviously, but we don't know how he approaches horror games. It could or couldn't have been a worthy Silent Hill game, no one knows.
Some bits felt really Silent Hill to me. The sink fetus, the way the bugs were, the fridge that was chained up. Lisa having an actual face is a no no for SH1-4 though. Other than that it was just a tad more gore-y. Also good to remember that PT wasn't a demo. It was a "Playable Teaser". Kojima pretty much said that the actual game would not be in First Person and that the story we saw wouldn't really connect to the actual plot of the game. PT was just made to feel like an indie FPS horror title that reveals the existence of this other game called Silent Hills. So who knows how the final game would have turned out.
I will never forget the first time I played this game, it was something so different for me then, I was instantly gripped and I felt so freaked out. haha.
jus getting something off my chest. i go out of my way to find video game analysis videos narrated by british people. It gives everything this david attenborough vibe that pacifies my restless american brain cells. solid video, king.
Holy shit, was the audio in the cutscene with Lisa always like that? I'm sitting in a dark room with my headphones on and I thought someone was knocking on the wall near me, spooky
You know, hearing your analysis has really made me appreciate this game even more. 2 is still my favorite but I cannot deny the original is a masterpiece and probably the best of the series.
Something you did not mention about the hospital is that you are entering the 4th floor of the hospital and as this is a Japanese game that is significant as 4 in japan has a similar connotation as the west has with the number 13 because in Japanese shi is the word for both 4 and death
I don't know if I can sit through a Silent Hill analysis that's under 3 hours long.
then you don't care enough about the material
i t s a j o k e
@@aaron75fy r/woooosh
really though its hard to find good analyses of SH
Joe recently started his first playthrough of it, maybe we can get a 6 hour vid on it from him!
@@SpunkyMcGoo Joseph is a fucking brainlet who can't grasp storytelling that refuses to spoonfeed him and instead goes for a more abstract aproach. He doesn't have what It takes to properly critique Silent Hill
"The shots of main protagonist Harry Mason with his daughter driving" - That explains the car crash.
I thought his daughter was Cheryl...
lol techincaly tats true since alessa caused the crash andc alessa would be half of chrel
@Mr. J "Help your uncle, Jack, off his horse" vs "Help your uncle Jack off his horse"
@@LuisRodriguez-kz7nt you funny fucker
Females gotta learn to drive fr
Meeting Lisa was such a relief to meet someone so innocent in the town like yourself and losing her was actually devastating
I hated the part where Harry pushed her away
@@DutchGuyMike me too
Honestly, to this day if I watch the clip of Lisa transforming, I start tearing up. It's such a beautifully depicted, beautifully scored scene that perfectly captures the shock, the sick feeling in your stomach, and heartache of losing this sweet, innocent character that you've come to care about to the twisted evil of the town. Watching Harry push her away and then have to keep her barred/trapped in that room is devastating-- especially hearing her helpless, muffled cries behind the door. You just want someone to hold her and tell her it will be alright, but you know that once she fully becomes like the other nurses, she will become a danger to Harry and it's so sad! Regardless of the graphics at the time, you could tell it killed Harry to keep Lisa detained in that room, mostly thanks to the performance from Michael G (Harry's VA) when he says "Lisa...". It's clearly hurting him to be doing this to someone he's come to care about, and you can hear the guilt in his voice.
She wasnt innocent
Kinda disapointing how he kinda overlooks the best intro to any horror game ever. Going down that alley way is simply masterful, the way it slowly gets darker, the way scenery gets more decrepit and disturbing, how the alleyway gets narrower and narrower.
Games don't do that anymore...
4:38 wdym?
TBH I hated it. I reloaded several times before dying, thinking that I have missed a weapon or something, only after that I said "fuck it" and let them kill me. Like what game does this? What game requires you to die to progress the story
Steel Bear
Bloodborne does...well i guess not technically but but it is the intended outcome with the first monster to die.
@@steelbear2063 Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain is the only other game I know of that does this.
@@steelbear2063 A lot of games do that actually.
Silent Hill is one of my favorite game Series second only to Metal Gear Solid. My favorite game in the series is Silent Hill 3. You can imagine how frustrating it is to have both your favorite video game franchises owned by Konami.
Silent Hill 2 and MGS3 are my favorite games of all time. Still #FucKonami
MGS is trash
@@whodatninja439 Excellent choices.
@@557deadpool Well you're just a lovely soul aren't you?
@AJ The only Metal Gear Solid games that I actually thought we're bad are Metal Gear Solid 4 and 5. I would highly disagree that 3 was unnecessary because it recontextualizes the entire series by offering a new Perspective on the main antagonist of the first games. And even though you could say that this one is unnecessary I even love Peace Walker because of its charm and charisma especially in regards to the characters. I think it's very interesting how Kojima originally wanted to call the game Metal Gear Solid 5 Peace Walker but his team convinced him otherwise because it was only going to be released on the PSP. He has stated that for him Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker is Metal Gear Solid 5 which is why I think he called the phantom pain Metal Gear Solid V. But I always feel uncomfortable throwing around words like unnecessary because if you think about it any game past the first Metal Gear Solid was unnecessary. Initially Kojima only continued on with the series because the fans wanted it.
It's nice to see a Slent Hill video that's not an analysis on its themes or trying to find a full answer to the story, just straight out game things. Great job!
this wasn't an analysis like at all
@beef business there’s nothing wrong with talking about the story though
@KuruSeed lmao right? there are so many youtube videos like this and i find it frustrating every time- who wants to watch a beat-by-beat telling of an entire experience with little else added?
All power to you if you do, this is a well made video, but i don't understand it.
In 1999 no one was skipping that intro! It was some of the best visuals of the day.
the moment with lisa and her diary at the end was amazing and really sold me on this game
In modern times its a bit rough around the edges, but back in 2000 it had my friends and I glued to the tv set trying to get through the game. We would take turns, keep notes, and just try not to die. We beat it about 3 times over the course of a few weekends and finally got the good ending on the final try, albeit we had to use a guide to find out exactly what we needed to do. Still good times and its still one of my favorite games.
I’m 23 and beat it about a week ago, first time playing and I was glued to my PsP Go. First time in what I can remember actually pulling out a notebook to write down the puzzles. Great game. I think it holds up exceedingly well. Same as Metal Gear Solid.
I always found The Boiler Room Boss to be intimidating as hell.
Lurch gets pretty tough on hard mode
My play through of SH1 sucked big time. I forgot the shotgun and I managed to miss the hospital vial despite spamming interact on everything
Holy shit! Didn't even dare to dream of this one.
A think I love about this game is how it rewards you for being curious and exploring your surroundings,reading notes and picking every object you find,you end the game without knowingwhat the hell happened with Kauffman and killing Cybill,and you will get tje worst ending possible,explore and try stuff with objects you got earlier,and you will get both the best ending and a bunch of lore about the game.
A thing*
16:50 Having checked out a few more of SH's inspirations recently, I'm given the impression that the long pauses between character's statements is a direct lift from Twin Peaks.
The ending, just the blurred fog of the background with the sound of Harry's footsteps and the crackle of the radio, was just perfect. That soundbyte and blurred visual really do comprise its essence as what is indeed one of the best Horror games out there. Plus... it made me terribly nostalgic. Damn me for selling my PS2, and damn Sony for not bringing back retrocompatibility.
I had Silent Hill on my PS3's hard drive for ages before I decided to give the HD Collection a try... and then I tweeted about how botched that remaster set was and about my desire to instead play it on the PS2. A fan on Twitter found copies of Silent Hill 2 and 3 locally and offered to buy them and ship them to me, which they did, graciously including a copy of the Silent Hill 3 strategy guide they happened to find at the same store. This donation prompted me to finally play Silent Hill 1, since I now wanted to treat the entire series as a UA-cam project, and I found myself falling in love with the series in a big way after that.
Silent Hill 3 is by far my favorite. 2 has a brilliant artistic bent as a psychological horror story and 1 is great for its time, but 2 also falls short on general gameplay I feel and 1 has an endgame post-hospital that feels thrown together and rushed, which really felt unsatisfying after the brilliance of the school and hospital areas. Silent Hill 3 by contrast has a really well-written protagonist and is, from back to front, a well-realized gameplay experience to go with its horror atmosphere and story. It also had a melee parrying mechanic that was so good for that style of play that Resident Evil 7 straight-up ripped it off.
Also you get a katana and a giant spiked maul as weapons during the normal course of play and the game treats this as utterly ordinary. That's just great.
Anyway. Yeah. I love this series. I still haven't played through 4, Homecoming, or Downpour yet, not to the end at any rate. I have my feelings on all three, but in my mind, the first three games are an amazing set of horror gaming experiences and all should be treated as classics. The later sequels, well... they're interesting in that there's a lot to talk about, whatever your opinions on them.
- Lewis
The later Silent Hill games are good in their own ways. The only truly bad one is Shattered Memories. Hell, Downpour is probably the last truly good breath of fresh air not just for Silent Hill but for traditional survival horror in general.
As for RE7, eh, it was an okay, run of the mill, gritty, modern-y style survival horror game, but it just wasn't a good Resident Evil game.
But yes, as much as I like SH2, there were a number of things SH1 & SH3 did better.
Oscar Álvarez Yeah, I really don't understand the blind hate from fans or the ambivalence from the mainstream gaming media. Well, I kinda sorta do for the latter since they've never really understood the survival horror genre and think it should be given all these changes for accessibility reasons (even though survival horror cannot appeal to everybody but anyway).
Downpour isn't perfect, but none of the Silent HIll games are. Each one has its own flaws. Some more than others. It has some tech issues (not as bad as people overblow them to be but still). The creature design could be much better. The story, while still very engaging, is a bit derivative. But it's still a good Silent Hill game and a good survival horror game that fans that didn't give a chance because 'waah no Team Silent' and mainstream gaming media didn't give a chance because they don't care about traditional survival horror games and never have.
These games look virtually unplayable in 2018. I wish this weren't the case. As I would love to experience them as others experienced them upon their release. But they look extremely dated.
They're only unplayable if you're one of those 'gotta have the newest and shiniest new system and game that's always being released!' more casual type of consumers. For those like us, the game plays just fine. It's not 'dated'. If anything, it's very refreshing going back and playing a more traditional survival horror game like Silent Hill because we don't get traditional survival horror games anymore. Only generic 'horror' shooters like RE4-6, gritty, modern first person horror games like Outlast, multiplayer stuff like Dead by Daylight, or craft system/open world-ish stuff like 7 Days to Day or Dying Light.
Besides, if you want to play a truly unplayable survival horror game from the PS1 era with legitimately bad controls, go play Evil Dead: Hail to the King. You'll come back with a greater appreciation for how much better something like Silent Hill is.
Oscar Álvarez Yeah, SH4 has its issues, but I still enjoyed it. The room concept was brilliant and the game had the most ambition of any Silent Hill game in the series if you ask me. Didn't quite utilize the room pitch to its fullest potential, but I still enjoy going back through and replaying it.
And yeah, Shattered Memories stripped away so many critical things about Silent Hill from a gameplay and presentation standpoint. And the big twist at the end was just meh.
There's a lot of stunning cinematography in Silent Hill's visuals across the first 4 titles, but I think my favorite shot in the whole series is the Good+ ending of Harry and Cybil running out of the otherworld, the camera stops following them and they disappear into the fog. Fade to credits.
Especially with that music, absolutely masterful.
To this day SH 1-3 still unnerve me, I remember playing SH1 in a friends house when I was a kid and having nightmares for days afterwards and I played SH 2 and 3 when I was a teenager and still found it very frightening.
The atmosphere, music and monsters all blend together to have you on edge, I honestly think its an accomplishment in the horror genre and Im pretty sad this franchise had more bad games than good.
100% agree.
I would personally include SH4 in there too.
I just recently discovered the silent hill series on my own back in 2013 when I bought Silent Hill HD Collection after work one day and I played SH2 and fell in love hours later. A few days later I dug up my old PS2 and was hunting on Amazon and my local retro game shops for any Silent Hill games and I played SH2 on the OG Xbox, then a few weeks later I experienced Silent Hill for the first time and fell deeper in love, then I waited till Christmas and I received a complete mint copy of Silent Hill 4: The Room for the PS2 from my parents who were buying their 22 year old son a PlayStation 2 game for Christmas and thankfully not judging him for being a loser and just being grateful that their son was cheap to shop for, and then a week or two later after falling deeper in love because I'm one of those SH guys that actually really enjoys The Room I then experienced the psychedelic surreal survival horror of Silent Hill 3 with Gamefly for a week or so. I played all these Silent Games while I was 22 to 23 and each one scared the sheet out of me and had me jumping and throwing the controller more than once. Also Silent Hill 2 has made me cry buckets of tears due to the endings and the way Mary reads her full letter to James. These games are timeless and they seem to scare people ranging from age 12 to 37 and the older you get it seems the games scare you for different reasons or the fear sticks with you on a deeper level long after the console is turned off.
@@alexsieckmann6659 as good as a game Silent hill 4 is the controls killed the game for me and all these he remaster and not a single control rebutton oof
If the gameplay was better and had some improved writing for the MC it would definitely be right behind SH2 I think. As is its a step below 1-3 sadly.
yes! i really love it when developers think to include the small details you mentioned about harry. i've seen modern games that don't include that level of detail. i understand when people say that sh is dated, but imo it has aged well and contributed much to the making of later horror games.
A lot of so called fans just want remasters these days. It's all fine and dandy, but not every game needs a remaster, because classics like Silent Hill 1 were done with a lot of care and some imagination in order to make a very good survival horror game. I bought this game on PSN store for PS3 and I find this game pretty scary even till this day. It has a good story and using supernatural and phsyocological elements to throw off the player are very niceley done. Another thing I never noticed,is when you have a very low heatlh, your controller vibrates, but it sounds like a human heartbeat. That is a very nice attention to detail, which I didn't experiance from playing the emulated version of the game. By remastering a game like Silent Hill 1, it would ruin the whole experiance and the passion and care Team Silent gave to this game.
I understand what you're saying, but at the same time, I think if done right, it could benefit from a remake, as long as they make characters like Dahlia look gringey enough. The rather generic monsters in the PS1 game are mostly only scary because of the fog/darkness/disorienting camera/lack of seeing them, but enemies in the future games are legit creepy as hell, like the giant baby-faced enemies that point at you in Silent Hill 4. The midgets are mainly only creepy because they sound like school kids, but imagine if they made them LOOK like the kids from the Grudge or something too. I'm not sure, but I think they could make the game even more disorienting than before...look at RE1 Remake. That game added so many confusing puzzles. If it could work for PS2 era, it could work for PS4 era.
I honestly am a little disappointed in remakes lately, like RE2R and RE3R, they both cut a lot of things, and kinda change characters a bit too much since they have a much more established universe. They're not even fixed camera anymore and often cut most of the music/enemies. It's not that they can't be great and even more terrifying...just look at PT or Allison Road (both cancelled?)
@@Goblin_Hands U know well they wont put the same passion and they will use real ppl's faces and that will ruin it. Come on.
I don’t know if the comment about it not having the same passion has aged very well in light of games like the RE2 remake, which many consider to be the equal or superior to the original version in every way. It would just take people who are actually passionate about the ‘art’ in a game to do a remake justice, but unfortunately those people aren’t Konami
Remasters often suck...sometimes you need an actual remake. But still, stuff gets redone one way or another, been that way since the dawn of time.
Remaster is just HD bruh
Damn a Brit video without the word "Legendary" used even once? Am I on bizarro world?
This time he replaced it with "obtuse"
Plot twist: He's an American with a bad accent.
Should have released this at halloween.
No but for real dawg, I'm excited to watch!
Alpha Volta dontcha know, tgb lives in a perpetual state of Halloween.
"Being used by her mother for some sort of impregnation ritual."
That's just one of those sentences man... O_o
I hadn’t played a single silent hill game up until a few months ago, and even without nostalgia goggles, this game was amazing. The intro always gives me goosebumps. Harry’s constant confusion makes it seem like he’s in purgatory, and the scene where he is unconscious in the car makes it a theory that sounds believable. A lost soul in purgatory, desperately clinging to his loved ones as a sea of darkness surrounds him. Such a powerful game underneath the surface
I still think the cutscene with lisa when not tomorrow starts playing is one the most powerful scenes in gaming
To be fair, SH is not a survival horror, but a phychological terror.
Also, you forgot to mention how much relieving it is to be on the normal school again, in the daylight after killing the first boss.
I prefer to call it a character horror game.
It's just a horror game with really good horror.
The sewers are horribly frightening :(
That makes no sense. Being a survival horror franchise, which it very clearly is, does not in any way diminish its psychological style of horror in the least.
this vids a breath of fresh air with all the pseudo-psycologist echoing themes of the series....just some good ol gameplay breakdowns
love your thumbnail for this vid
I remember being so scared of the first game, that I took break every 15 minute of the game. I HAD to find out what is going on in that town... but I was terrified of it. THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE DROVE ME FORWARD!!!
One side note, I really liked the map system of this game. I wish other games would copy that. Actually having Farcry 2 map-system where your character holds the map in his hands when you check it and combine with this, where your character makes markings to the map would be a dream come true... er... well atleast a thing I'd like to see. :D
Exact same here, I played it on Bleem as I didn't have a PS1 back then. I usually played it at night, when I would go outside for smoke breaks every little sound made me jump! Terrifying game! Best of the series if you ask me. SH1 and SH3 were my favorites!
This was one of the first two survival horror games I played in 2000 and Jesus was I ever petrified! R.E had jump scares and this was just unlike anything, especially with the lights off!
Loved this, Silent Hill 2 please? Maybe more Silent Hill after that too? Lol, I can only imagine how long it takes to make these videos, so I know its a big ask. Review the great games and explain why the crappy ones were crappy? I know its a long shot that we will ever get a good silent hill again, but having a blue print would be a good gesture to show where Homecoming- Downpour went wrong. Having a talented reviewer like you to tell it how it is may bring fresh discussion and attention to the Silent Hill games
Praise the Sun
I've watched them all, but they have such a "its my way or the high way" approach, Im sure they scare off fans. And Id like to see brits viewpoint
Hello ladies and gentlemen.
Hello turbo, where you been the last 7 months.
helooooo
Only Irishmen with a silky voice are allowed to say that.
Hello
This is the 6th in a series of 3 reviews based on the silent hill series
Man, this is one of the series I absolutely missed the boat on. I have Silent Hill 1 through 3 now but needed an excuse to actually sit down and play them. This video might have just done the trick. We'll see what goes into the PlayStation after work tonight.
I am surprised that I was even able to finish Silent Hill despite playing it for the first time (I just played this for the first time this month so yaaay). I played SH 1 in my phone using ePSXe. So glad someone here on UA-cam recommended me ePSXe and Silent Hill (I still haven't finished Silent Hill: Origins tho since I decided to finish SH1 first)
OMG, how easy those puzzles are through older eyes!! "Gold in an old man's palm" Alchemy, chemistry room!
The birds thing is still ridiculous though...
The dead series of quality to never be seen anywhere else. Truly, the american King horror story, yet told by weird japanese people of Team Silent.
You literally cannot replicate any of this today.
*Sits down with lunch* Thanks Brit, just in time.
Just finished this masterpiece of a game today, on october 31st 2022, played it through Duckstation and man, this game can be beatifully enhanced with that emulator, running it a higher resolution gets rid of jagged edges, you can correct the texture and geometry warp and through overclocking the emulation you can run this at 30 frames per second without suffering so many slowdowns like the PS1 could, the only issue I ran into was the first cutscene when meeting Dahlia, there's a certain setting that must be turned off, or else the colors will bug horribly and I had to return a save to fix it.
Other than that, absolutely recommended it, the artstry that made this game stand out in 1999 still holds up, every enviroment is detailed and its amazing to think that they managed to pull of such a large city at the time, plus this games atmosphere with Akira Yamaoka's soundtrack is a required experience for any horror fans, this is unique, there's nothing like it on the PS1.
Commentary #666 here! ^^
Great analysis, man. So rare people make videos deep video analysis about SH1, normally is all about SH2, a great game too yes, but forget the reasons to be. Silent Hill 1 never was perfect, but takes the limitations of the hardware, inovative and obscure soundtrack and a take on supernatural side of storytelling, making one of the best games in that era.
Even at worst times, your videos generally make me smile and take me out of the real world for a bit, it would be great if we saw more creators like ya
thumbs up :)
"10 minute chunk of jam on the side of your toast" is such a good simile
Woah, great channel. From Pennsylvania, USA. Thanks for the gaming analysis Brit! Perfect for Halloween time!!!
Before I even watch the video: Game with impeccable atmosphere that brings out a true sensation of horror. At least for its time (if you can't live with the old graphics).
Almost wish they'd remaster it, if I wasn't more scared of them fucking it up like the SH2 remaster than I was of it being forgotten.
The point of Lisa is she's this lost, seemingly innocent girl in this hellish world, she's meant to play one the player's empathy, I know I always wished I could of saved her.
Glad to see Matthewmatosis uploading more frequently.
Claire Deming that’s what I thought. Especially since I forgot about matthewmatosis voice.
Man Brit its a real pleasure to see you tackle this series. Can't wait for the rest of this its gonna be amazing.
After eighteen years... this game still gives me shivers.
This is excellent! I love to listen for SH analysis videos
okay but i'm just so happy you knew about the boiler explosion memo.
While I agree the intro sets the tone, I wouldn't agree that it does it accurately, though not that it's a bad thing. When I saw the opening movie the first time I played this game, I honestly didn't know what to make of it.
I had heard the game was supposed to be scary, but the intro movie didn't make it seem so. It seemed more of a mystery game, with a 70's type vibe. While that seemed kind of cool, I preferred the horror game I had heard so much of.
Boy did I literally have no idea what I was getting into.
After the end of the first encounter with Alternate Silent Hill, getting mauled by the demon children, and finished the cutscene with Cybil, I sat there for like 10 minutes to take everything in. This was literally only 20 minutes into the game, and I already had had my mind blown and was honestly left thoroughly shaken.
To this day, no other game has ever come close to the feelings I got first playing this game. This is especially true after finishing the first school puzzle and finding the Metatron Seal for the first time. The music that begins playing right after is absolute terror in musical form. Not Silent Hill 2, 3, or any other horror game that I can think of has scared me to the point of pondering whether to turn the game off for the night.
Great video! I wish you would have touched on the worst ending, but enjoyed reflecting back on this amazing game.
you uploaded right after I completed Silent Hill for the first time
now thats what I call good timing
I must say, this vid was dripping atmosphere, specially since I watched it at the dead of the night. Mood was quite enhanced. Still, thanks man. You rock.
Really excited to get a video on Silent Hill. I would have liked to hear you talk a little more about some of the surreal elements incorporated into the game, like the bathroom in the school that makes you teleport between Floor One and Two, or the extra floor appearing in the elevator of the hospital. Those were the details that really stuck with me after the game.
I agree with you on the story. I played the game for the first time 4-5 years ago without having played any other Silent Hill first and it was very difficult to piece together what was going on, to the point where I stopped caring about the story towards the end of the game. I felt too detached from everything that was happening. Atmosphere was great right to the end, but in such a surreal story, I think there needed to be something tangible at its centre to keep the player more invested in the outcome.
When I played this as a kid, I had this nightmare in which I was playing this and got so uncomfortable that I turned the console off, but the game was still on. I plugged the console and the TV, but the game was still on. It still gives me chills to imagine something like that in a videogame, that you cant escape from it.
I love how this game plays with your mind, that teleporting bathroom in the school, the fourth floor in the hospital, waking up in the hospital after getting out. I love when games do this, acknowledging their video gane status, Kojina is pretty good doing this too, psycho mantis, the end, etc. Imagine what he could have done in Silent Hills.
What about covering the predecessor's to most of the early ps1 survival horror games, Alone in the Dark?
@mechlbgum Not familiar with that game (Sierra adventure games) but I guess thanks for maybe correcting me. But I'm pretty sure Resident Evil did take it most of its perspective cues from the first Alone in the Dark if I'm not mistaken. That was the first primitive 3D horror game wasn't it?
@Tricky Cheat I skimmed through some of the comments without noticing earlier, sorry about that. But thanks for pointing that out.
People don't talk about Alone In The Dark enough. I remember playing it when it came out in '92 and being blown away. It was hugely influential on every horror game that came after it. It took adventure games then gave them the mechanics to be something better. You're moving stuff, you're fighting stuff, you're searching for stuff, you're running from stuff. It just made a better experience.
I tried to play alone in the dark in the late 90s and found it to be unplayable even then, it's aged horribly and is only talked about in high regard by people who are trying to sound trendy and non mainstream, meanwhile most of us acknowledge that Resident Evil and silent hill put survival horror on the map
@@redplanet667 It's held in high regard by people who played it when it came out and understand the impact it had on other games - namely Resident Evil. Resident Evil took Alone in Dark's gameplay blueprint and built on it. Giving due credit to AitD doesn't diminish RE and SH - they're all important to the evolution of the genre.
The way the endings work was probably the weakest part about this game. Silent hill 2 had the best multiple ending system by far though
Its based on how nice you are and like health and bullets right ?
can't call it "best", but it's probably has the most complicated multiple ending system for sure. the endings are totally depends on how you approach the game. like if you read every single document and letters or even listened that conversation in that corridor (just before the final area) the endings can totally change. and the most frustrating part is that, the game doesn't tells you or even gives you a hint about these stuff at all. so if you are playing this game for the first time, and don't have any idea about these stuff, then you might get stumbled into the bad ending in your first playthrough. In resulting a unsatisfying playthrough 🤔
@Svetoslav Nikolov do you remember what cutscene you got after you beat the final boss? because there are actually two types of bad ending, if I'm not mistaken. 1) the Dream ending, you get if you didn't saved anyone and also killed that angel in the end, you'll see Harry laying dead inside his car which has been damaged. 2) the Escape ending (it's more like a modest ending between good and bad) you'll get if you didn't saved anyone but saved Cheryl, in the final cutscene Harry would be running around silent hill to find a escape with the baby. I actually got the modest ending in my first playthrough, I didn't knew about that whole Cafe location, and I accidentally also killed Cybil too Lol
What really scared me on this game was its movie was on television at the same day i exchanged the game with one of my classmates..
SEVEN DAYS.
please noo!! xD
I think the piano puzzle was the first of its kind. Like what the resident evil "window dog" did for jump scares, you never forget your first.
Semi-irrelevant question: Am I the only one who thought the Grey Children were saying "Oh papa!" when attacking, thinking their dads came to rescue them without realizing that they are holding knives and that hugging their father like that isn't the best idea?
Wait that's confusing.
1- Weren't most enemies given English names in the Book of Memories and weren't really named before that? (At least in English)
2- Wasn't Mumbler/Claw Finger the name for the monsters that replace Grey Children in the European and the Japanese release?
I always loved that Low-Poly model and low-res pixely texture in games. Prolly just me being a 90's kid, but I love those old Nintendo 64 and PS1 graphics.
Finally ! My favorite series covered by the Brit Man. Thanks a lot for the vid !
i always remember at the school i encountered the zombie kids with knives but it was only in the demo in europe, the full release had them changed for something less horrifying which has always grinded my gears!
Make sure to collect the Mysterious Liquid in the hospital and put it in that empty bottle you have, to save Sybil
4:38 "Allowing the camera to move around however it pleases" is an understatement. :P
the ending was crazy man... you can fuse babies if you join a cult... didnt know that.
I remeber the Lisa cutscene years ago and thinking. whaaat Tf is going on here... creeped TF out and loving every second of it!
14:33
You don't just become more desensitized to them, you become annoyed by them also. But it's always a feeling of tense apprehension when you enter an area and hear them and the radio.
14:57
BROTHER YOU SAID IT. The one word I could use to best describe the experience of Silent Hill 2 (my first game in the series) was "OPPRESSIVE". To your senses and imagination, immersing yourself in the world and hearing and seeing and absorbing everything gets to be rough for your digestion, even if you have a constitution as strong as mine
And there's a few places where the soundtrack truly makes you feel uncomfortable, like the track for the Report Area, and the bubbling rooms of "Nowhere". I think the Otherworld Hospital and the Elementary School are the most disconcerting places, and I might say the hospital is the scariest. Quite a few places made me jerk with startles without even jumpscares like i am a poosay or a pooftur.
Yeah, the sewers were my least favorite thing in the game, but i think having everything post-mall strown with "enemy lines" from the streets of Silent Hill in the Otherworld, to the sewer, to the amusement park, make the world feel more expansive and diverse
Thanks man, this is one of my all time favorite games, and I really enjoyed this analysis
God I miss this series. Used to be my obsession. The first game had alot of room for improvement but it was a good starting place. 3 though was a near perfect game to me
I really appreciate this video. Silent hill 1 is my favorite survival horror game on the ps1. And I feel that the first game is open for interpretation when it stands on its own and there is so much to analyze if you dig deep enough
Oh shit, a limited inventory in SH would have been a major pain in the straight ass.
The fourth floor is brilliant if you play the game in Japanese, 4 can be read as "shi", which is also how "death" is read.
4 is like the Japanese 13
on top of that, hospitals in Japan also don't often have a fourth floor at all for that exact reason.
I really love your videos man, I started watching on a random search for Devil May Cry videos then I found your videos on the retrospective of devil may cry. Eventually, I ended up watching your Resident Evil videos, I really loved your videos on the original trilogy. I really can't wait for the Code: Veronica video. :D
I never played any of the Silent Hill games because I was too much of a crybaby for horror games and I finally got around to playing Silent Hill 1. I'm amazed by how well you were able to put yourself in the place of a player that has absolutely no information other than that given by the game itself (I never wanted to get the story spoiled either), even when you know a lot more from the other games, guides, fans, friends, interviews, etc. I was kinda put off by things like the dialog delays, the sudden drug side story with the long, packed exposition segment and also when finding out, after finishing the game, the way to save Cybil or that you can find Kauffman again. I think either I didn't get some bits of info because of one or two places I missed, or I wasn't sure how to piece them all together. So that got me a bit frustrated. On the other hand, even though the game might be somewhat dated, there sure were some delicious chills running through my spine and arms every now and then. I loved that. That first nurse standing in front of me after going through the door, as well as the soundtrack after leaving the hospital... Nice, scary stuff. So thanks for letting me know that I didn't just miss some important story stuff for being stupid or whatever. Now, moving on to experience what people have experienced for years with the next games
This video doesnt mentions the radio. A simple but great idea that is constantly remember that we are not alone.
Aww hell yeah Brit. You must've read my mind, since I've been watching the hell out of Silent Hill analysis videos.
Any chance you will be doing the second one too? It's definitely my favourite installment.
Time to watch the video. :)
Fantastic video. Well done.
I agree with most of your points, the exception being the issues you raised about combat/item management. One of the things I found off putting about Resi (other than the horrific controls) was getting to a point where you had no ammo and had to restart or load an earlier save; it’s as if you were somehow expected to know you’d be in that predicament in advance. In Silent Hill, that was never a concern and even if you did somehow manage to use all your ammo, there were melee weapons that were actually useful. I just feel Resi tried to be too clever for its own good at times at the expense of making a game that was fun to play. I also know I’m in an extreme minority in thinking this.
Regarding the endings, I think you were “supposed” to get the bad ending at first because, as you point out, there’s no way you’d know about the extra side quests on first play. I suspect this was done to encourage replay value and it worked.
All I ever wanted to see in my UA-cam feed today.
I love the sh series way to much. Amazing video! Keep up the great work!
Can’t wait for silent hill shattered memories analysis video.
I really wish I could watch this but I’m playing through it right now and don’t want spoilers
Don't watch it. Do yourself a favor and don't spoil this great game.
When you beat the game
SPOILERS
there's credits
Shogus 00 in my restless dreams I see that town silent hill...
Man, this game. Scared the crap out of me and still has quite an unsettling atmosphere. Just amazing.
Could you make videos on the other 3 games? I've never played the games and after watching this video I really want to.
I couldn't agree with you more on pretty much EVERY point made here! That's rare. A very good, agreeable review..and, an honest assessment. For once, someone else got the EXACT same things out of this game. That too, is rare. Even the minor problems addressed, I have to agree with. As far as the PS 1 goes, this was the MOST played game that I played on the system. Don't get me wrong. I loved the R.E. series too - as far as the horror franchises went. I just seemed to be more intrigued by this game, so I was very happy that it's timing was right with the PS 2 right on it's heels. I didn't have to wait very long for S.H. 2..which is STILL my absolute favorite of the series. As mentioned here, everything from the puzzles to item management, things were simplified and maybe that's one reason that I gravitated to it a little more than R.E. I still play both series to this day..and, I still feel the same towards both series. I have always been more of a S.H. kinda guy because of it's subject matter. It just seemed to be a little more feasible than a zombie apocalypse. Like I said, I like those too though. R.E. has always been more action oriented, while S.H. is more psychological. At the time of it's release, it was the first game that really got inside my head and twisted my thoughts! There were countless nights where I'd be thinking about the game and HAVE to get up outta bed and go play it at 3 a.m. No other game before that made me do that. It wasn't until Fatal Frame 2 came out for PS 2 that, that kind of thing started happening again. F.F. was also very psychological and F.F. 2 was the first game that made me feel something no other game had done before or has since actually..genuine fear! I literally did NOT want to see what was around that next corner! It was that disturbing to me - but, I loved it! F.F. 2 remains my alltime favorite game of all! As for S.H. 1 here, this review has brought back some awesome memories! I had forgotten about some of this stuff like the clock tower and the colored blocks puzzle. The ONLY thing I think I could disagree with is NOT giving it a new paint job on today's hardware. I see your points as to why not..but, if Capcom tried it successfully with R.E., then, why not at least try it with S.H. 1? At least try out a beta run for a select group of fans to see if people will like it. As long as they didn't take away from the general aesthetics of the game and kept it intact, a P.S. 4 might just do it some justice. I can only imagine what this SAME environment and sound could look and feel like cleaned up. I guess that the voice acting would have to be redone too though and that's where the problems start up. Once that changes, the whole feel.will begin to. Also, Konami wouldn't be bold enough to bring Team Silent back together to oversee it.and without them, someone else would botch their awesome creation. So, again I have to agree on that too. Maybe you're right. It's better not to ruin a good thing if it's already a great game! Leave it in it's historic state. A great review and I liked what was said here. Good vid to add to my 'gaming' playlist.Great work!
Thank you for a great video and that great review/editorial (I'm not sure what you call it). I can tell that you put a lot of thought into the words you chose to describe the nuance of this game. You were fair in your criticism and praise. I love this game (and franchise) and you helped me to solidify ideas that were previously intangible to me. Thank you and great job!
This is more of a summary than an analysis but still very entertaining to watch regardless
I experience real, tangible pain thinking about and wishing for the existence of Kojima's take on this series.
Could you imagine what Kojima had in mind for Silent Hills?
Ultracrepidarian the demo is one of the best in the genre I can’t even fathom what a full game could have been like
Ultracrepidarian
Probably wouldve been nothing like Team Silents games. Wouldve probably been good, but idk why people were hyping it like a return to silent hill. Theres nothing similar between Silent Hill and PT
Lawson Whitford yeah I never expected it to be like that it was more like this could be the best horror game ever, not survival horror of course
Iirc Kojima never worked on a Silent Hill game. People were hyped because MGS obviously, but we don't know how he approaches horror games. It could or couldn't have been a worthy Silent Hill game, no one knows.
Some bits felt really Silent Hill to me. The sink fetus, the way the bugs were, the fridge that was chained up. Lisa having an actual face is a no no for SH1-4 though. Other than that it was just a tad more gore-y.
Also good to remember that PT wasn't a demo. It was a "Playable Teaser". Kojima pretty much said that the actual game would not be in First Person and that the story we saw wouldn't really connect to the actual plot of the game. PT was just made to feel like an indie FPS horror title that reveals the existence of this other game called Silent Hills. So who knows how the final game would have turned out.
Please keep on calling Resident Evil "Resi"
My favorite game series of all time. Great video. 👌
This was a really good video, keep up the good work.
I will never forget the first time I played this game, it was something so different for me then, I was instantly gripped and I felt so freaked out. haha.
There’s no one piece of music that reminds me of RE but the music style of Silent Hill is everlasting in my memory.
jus getting something off my chest. i go out of my way to find video game analysis videos narrated by british people. It gives everything this david attenborough vibe that pacifies my restless american brain cells. solid video, king.
Haunted houses and horror movies dont scare me in the slightest but damn if I can last more that an hour playing Silent Hill at night.
Holy shit, was the audio in the cutscene with Lisa always like that? I'm sitting in a dark room with my headphones on and I thought someone was knocking on the wall near me, spooky
You know, hearing your analysis has really made me appreciate this game even more. 2 is still my favorite but I cannot deny the original is a masterpiece and probably the best of the series.
Wouldn't mind seeing you look back at the other 3 main sh titles after seeing your pt video today!
Something you did not mention about the hospital is that you are entering the 4th floor of the hospital and as this is a Japanese game that is significant as 4 in japan has a similar connotation as the west has with the number 13 because in Japanese shi is the word for both 4 and death
Yes you're back😁 I enjoy your videos dude 👍🏽