I was a tween, my dad played this game (hired from blockbuster) and as a whole family we sat down and watched and cheered him on, helped with puzzles and got absolutely creeped out. I remember at some point having to go to bed stumped on a puzzle , dad woke me up at 4am to show me the outcome of the solved puzzle and the end of the game. We returned the game after the weekend with bleary eyes and to this day I as a mid thirties person still chat to my early sixties dad about this game and we still always talk about it with reverence. This and Abe’s oddesy another one of those classics.
I'm so happy you got memories like that be thankfull for it, i can only describe never feeling safe and suffering as an upbringing. Reading stuff like this brings me a bit of hope towards the good parts of people
Exactly, it gives an uncanny vibe and I love it. Was disappointed with the remake when they tried too much to make the voice acting scary and serious it didn't have that dream-like atmosphere
Fun fact: The animator for Silent Hill, Takayoshi Sato, lived in the developing room for pretty much the entire production period, since he was the most skilled at creating the 3D animations. For over two years, this guy lived at his cubicle, designing and animating every cutscene in the game. This was not only his job, but also his way of standing up against the Konami executives, who didn’t want to give him credit for his work. The more you know, eh?
@@Chasmodius Konami wasn’t going to give him any credit for his work on the game. Since that was the case, he took on the entirety of the game’s animation job. I think I read somewhere that the whole reason he took the job was because he made a bet with the executives, which was if he got the animations done, then he must receive credit for the game - if not, they could fire him.
I think the uncanny voice acting adds to the dream-like, unnatural sense of the town. It really gives the feeling that something's off and it's affecting those trapped within it. TotallyPointlessTV brings this up in his Silent Hill 2 video and I can kind of believe it. At the same time, it could just be really bad directing for the vocals that happened to be a happy little accident with the atmosphere.
In addition to Silent Hill as a place just plain being incredibly disorienting, the game was riffing on Twin Peaks, so it was 100% deliberate. You got it right.
I played this on release and I thought the same thing. I figured it was a mix of trying to unnerve me and also kind of a way to poke fun at the quality of voice acting of the Resident Evil series which it was competing against.
Agreed it's why I wished the original director of this game could've got a crack into making a sequel to this but these companies value money more than fans feelings and connections to the e game's that last a lifetime and it's why he hasn't been brung back onboard to the series to this day and that sucks on so many levels I'd do anything to have him do another one of these especially back in the early 00s
The scene he used as an example seemed perfectly decent to me. Good even. Especially for the time. Like it sounded better than average symphony of the night.
Here's an odd historical funfact: for the final god-demon boss, if you run out of ammo, it instantly dies. The devs knew it was unreachable with melee and they didn't want to spawn ammo in an lose immersion. So if you fire off all but a few shots before the fight, it's a cakewalk.
One time I got to the end and had no ammo and it didn't die. Well more specifically I didn't have enough health or healing items to physically fight the boss so, knowing this fact, I wasted all my ammo. But when I got to the boss the fight would just go as normal and I'd die. To be fair I was on an emulator so that could've been the issue but other than that idk why it wouldn't work.
If you’re playing the game the way you’re meant to play it, then by the time you get to the final boss fight you have plenty of ammo for your rifle, shotgun and pistol to be able to take him down easy- I always used the pistol and shotgun ever so sparingly throughout the main game and then when I got to Samael, save every round for the rifle and take him down in like 4 to 7 shots!!
@@cymric4984emulator issues or the fact of you not entering with any ammo at all night have messed it up. It might need you running out of your ammo as a trigger… without you having any to begin with it may have messed that up
Stephen King's definition of terror: "the feeling you get when you realise all of the furniture in your house has been replaced with an exact replica".
@@juancruzciacci1262 It's referring to the uneasy feeling you get when you know something isn't quite right, but you don't know why. It's a psychological horror; a deep-seated uneasiness that stems from the fear of the unknown. Imagine coming to this realisation right now, in your own home. The sofa, the pictures on the wall, the coffee table - they all look the same, but for whatever reason, you know they are not. Who swapped them? Why did they swap them? WHEN did they swap them? Are they still in the house?
That Lisa scene turning bloody... the way she creepily stumbles towards you... literally the scariest most masterfully animated few seconds of all time.
That scene was what i remembered the most about this game when i was little and watched by big bro play the game. it terrified me then and rewatching it today still gives me chills. the music doesnt help either lol.
I'mm be real here. Love Josh's reviews, but a lot of the time he shits on the voice acting saying it's terrible when it ain't even on that level. Then he compares other game's voice acting of the times to warrant it being branded "terrible" and still, it wasn't even that bad.
You do have the option to turn off the flashlight. When walking in the dark with the flashlight off and walking slowly without making sounds, the monsters can't see you and you can safely pass by them. I used that technique when going out of the mall because I had no ammunition and it works great. Of course it's scary as hell too...
Thank God, another human being actually using this technique! I'm surprised how rarely this possibility gets mentioned. I personally used it a lot to conserve ammo or stealthkill monster children in the school one by one so they wouldn't pile up on me. Of course, you won't get a 10-star rank this way, since it's too time consuming. Still, it's a shame that no subsequent Silent Hill game gives you this option
@@shamrayforever I didn't know that time affects your ranking. FIrst time I used it was after the eclipse door, when going to school, I was left with no ammo just when I had to enter the school and there were those two dogs guarding the door... I just walked slowly between them and safe, scared but safe... Of course, in next plays, I discovered more ammo so I didn't have to be stealthing there again but I always did it after the mall to save ammo for the next giant moth confrontation...
If speedrunning had taught me anything, it's that no matter the circumstances, regular enemies can be safely ignored. Just run by them, you're faster than they are.
@@shamrayforever SH2 and 3 make enemies less aggressive if you have the flashlight off. I don't know if you can sneak on all of them to kill them one by one, but the flashlight having some impact is still there.
I find it hilarious this video is in 4k. With UA-cam's compression, that means that just 1 minute of this video is almost as big as the entirety of Silent Hill 1! Honestly, when you think about how large a resolution 4k is, that's some pretty decent compression.
Yeah, he really missed the mark on that one. The crappy voice acting was a deliberate choice; these characters are supposed to be very much weirded out, not just by what's happening around them but also by their pasts and experiences. Harry: Suffering mild concussion; looking desperately for daughter; freaked out by strange happenings in town; recovering from wife's death. Diagnosis: Yeah, he's gonna sound more than a little strange. Lisa: Former (possibly current) drug addict; traumatized by taking care of Alessa; actually not even a real person. Diagnosis: Definitely supposed to sound weird. Kaufmann: Drug pusher; cult leader; sociopath who is actually aware of what's happening all along; attempting to orchestrate a plan to backstab his former partners in crime. Diagnosis: Should sound as creepy and off-kilter as they come. I could go on but yeah, the 'bad' voice acting was an definitely intentional direction.
The jelly bean key thing really makes sense and is actually a nice touch. Its when you realise that unlike most other games you're not in YOUR nightmare trying to conquer your fears, you're in someone elses nightmare, Alessa's, and the monster designs and locations all start to tell the story of a child thats been bullied, abused and is frightened.
It is true. The town has mystical powers that draw upon the lightness or darkness of others, and Alessa held more than enough darkness for the town to plunge into her nightmare and manifest it. This game is rife with symbolism at every angle and is absolutely genius. Also, if one is capable of empathizing, makes the player think about what could have happened to an innocent little girl.
its literally explained almost in those exact words at 57:38. and it still does not explain why there is a key in jelly beans. is a child afraid of jelly beans? or are jelly beans the opposite, super positiv and thats why the key is in there as a safe spot?
I've never played the Silent Hill games, but I have an incredible morbid fascination with the franchise. I just like hearing people's thoughts on this absurdly ahead of its time horror game.
It's been so ahead of it's time that nothing of today is able to match it. Tends to end up in jumpscare fests or walking simulators with a haunted house experiences. It's rare to have games that that give even more than a single fuck. Sound-Designers at least keep trying. But it's rare to have something be actually terrifying just cause it's there.
i love the lore much more what was later elaborated on like the town being the actual power not alessa the town being a scp like ocurence that manifests peoples mind warping reality but people like alessa with a level of psychic powwr force their own mind on others
I’ve always wondered if that was the intention. Like here, this is basically your decompression from this horror world. This was basically a play, everybody’s fine afterwords. Have a good night’s sleep!
@@whoareyoutoaccuseme6588 i feel like it lacks pain. games only have visual and audio. when harry mason get stabbed i wanted to feel the pain of a stab. when he gets shot i wanted to feel the pain of a bullet. that way i could be scared and feel like its real and i can get hurt and kill3d. audio and visual is not enough
This reminds me of a movie that came out in the 1950's that was deemed soo scary that the ending credits showed the cast stepping out one by one and being introduced and smiling and waving. That was the only way they would let the movie get a screening. The movie is The Bad Seed. I qoute it at least once a week👀
I will never forget hearing about this game. I was all about Resident Evil and RE2 when they came out, and while talking to an employee at a game store they told me that there was an upcoming game that was said to make RE fans "piss their pants". Needless to say, that game was Silent Hill. I bought it day-one, and was tense from start to finish, terrified at multiple points (the child crying in the school bathroom *shudder*). Almost 25 years on and I have not played another scary as intended thanks to what this game did to me.
Good to see you cross over to the right side. It’s like comparing a ‘95 Honda Civic to a Roles Royce. Resident Evil is just jump scares and lame ass zombies.
I played it 5 years ago on a emulator, and it still managed to spook me out. I think the voiceacting does add to the game, the way everyone talks like they just woke up from anesthesia add to the surreal world.
Exactly ! It's like in David Lynch movies - it makes it feel like it's a dream. Quite literally surreal. But not too unreal so that you, the player, have constant doubts.
The intro movie didn’t look “pretty good” for ‘99. It was excellent for the time, especially for a PS1 game. Still one of the best intro movies of the time and for quite a while afterwards. It showcases the mystery and atmosphere of the game perfectly.
@@BreakOutOfYourTrance Oddworlds cutscene is great don't get me wrong but it's not the very best. We have several great cutscenes on the PSX. Tekken 3, FF8, FF9, PE2 just to name a few.
I watched a Let's Play of this game when I was like... 12? I don't know what it is about it, but the concept of a new elevator button just quietly appearing has really stuck in my mind, and has been a recurring feature of my nightmares ever since. Peak horror.
I completely played this game when I was about 10 years old, and I remember that in that same scene when the 4th button appears, I got a chill down my spine and it must have been 5 minutes until I decided to go to that new 4th floor.
I've heard somewhere that the voice acting is the way it is because the developers wanted it to be that way. Stilted and awkward, with this uncomfortable sense of the unknown when talking to other people. This voice acting created various strange feelings during dialogues, like something is really off, reminding the player that they were still in an outlandish place with barely any signs of normal life left nearby. I think that's why I personally found the voice acting to be so good. In fact, this strange way of voice acting was so good that it was utilized again in Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 because of how off-putting it was to the player to see such odd interactions between characters. It helped keep the atmosphere of Silent Hill intact, which is the atmosphere of a bizarre, seemingly empty town full of unresolved mysteries and fates of people that were left behind long ago. It's not normal, and the people from the outside who come across Silent Hill or it's similar counterparts acknowledge that through their awkward, stilted speech and behavior, like the place itself is leaving it's mark on the people that come into contact with it.
This would actually also explain why Dahlia has the more ''normal'' and not awkward voice because to her, all of this is not strange and it's actually exactly what she wants!
@@pixeljauntvr7774 I’d say it’s probably because they hadn’t perfected the voice direction yet when they did the first game. By the time they did the second game, they already knew what techniques to use from the first game and what to improve.
Or a Japanese company didn't know how to give voice direction for English speakers, or just tried to cheap out. 🤷♂️ Arguably the simplest explanation.
100% agree, the stilted and somewhat stiff voice acting makes the characters come off as confused and uncertain. They're just normal people in a frightening, surreal environment, it wouldn't make sense for them to speak smoothly and composed or be spouting badass one liners.
Agreed. It's ignorant when people complain about the voice-acting in these games. SH1 isn't great, but video game voice acting was quite new at that time. However, especially with SH2, the voice-acting has been criticized as being horrible, but, actually, the voice-acting is really good considering the mentality of each of the characters. People who complain about the voice-acting simply just don't understand the town of Silent Hill and the screwed up individuals which it attracts.
@@derrickowen8162 When you get the positive ending with Mary Reading her letter to James the voice acting Seems totally fine, i totally think that the voice actors got told to be a little off with their dialog
I haven't played or watch anyone play this game, but the clip he showed personally felt awkward to me. Not the voice acting itself, but the lines probably could have been reworded better. But that's just my thoughts, completely respect your thoughts too
@@butwhytho4858 sadly it wasn't intentional that's been confirmed, the writers were Japanese and had no dedicated English translation team so the voice acting (which is English in Japan too) is extremely stilted due to the actors. 1. Having somewhat poor direction. 2. A poorly translated script. But I gotta agree like Resident Evil 1-3 the cheesy voice acting really does add to the atmosphere.
@@MrPikaGammer It absolutely was intentional. Harry Inaba is a fantastic voice director. He knew what he was doing and spoke English just fine. The voice acting is stilted and strange because that was the intention. It's to create a sense of surrealism and it works perfectly.
I've heard different stories about the weird voice acting for this game. One I heard was it was intentional, another I heard was that there was a cultural divide between the voice actors and the director, where the director chose vocal takes that sounded 'cool' to them from a Japanese perspective, but didn't necessarily sound good to English speakers.
Silent Hill 1 and 3 with the Harry and Heather Mason saga was done perfectly, and it’s my favorite story of the franchise. They were very creepy, disturbing and full of Twin Peakish type of mystery that kept you wanting to keep moving through Silent Hill and discovering it’s darkest secrets through damned residents or cult members. I just love Silent Hill 1 and 3’s story the most.
I was watching Twin Peaks: The Return lastnight episode 3 when Cooper is winning all the mega jackpots in the casino, a Konami screen shows for just a couple seconds on the slot machine. I never noticed it before and was confirmation for me that David Lynch recognizes Silent Hill as an amazing fucking video game
@@jennyfinn2447 Oh yeah, Mr Lynch was just letting team Silent know that he sees them, and was probably flattered that someone was inspired by his work from overseas. I love that part in Twin Peaks the return (Season 3) where Agent Cooper was now a man named Dougie in that Casino and since that was the good half of Agent Cooper’s soul, he was blessed with incredible luck where nothing could go wrong for him, he was like a fish out of water too and didn’t speak much, but when he played the slot machine, and seen a older man near him win at his slot machine, he said “Heeeellllloooooo!!!😆 as the coins were flooding his hand. Agent Cooper or should I say Dougie, then played his slot machine and kept winning and getting flooded with coins, and every time he won and coins would come out, he would say “Heeeeelllllloooooooo!!!😐” very robotic and acting like it made him happy just like the old man near him. I love that part so much it cracks me up every time lol 😂😂. It’s the little things like that in the Twin Peaks series that I love, all those small moments where characters are doing random things that don’t fit the main plot.
@@jerrym1218 I think I consider him more Cooper than Dougie, the only part of him that's Dougie's is his shoes. Dougie being manufactured, it makes since that the good Coop isn't fully there because it would upset the balance with both doppelgangers in the world. As soon as he gets his shoes back near the end of the season, I know we about to have Cooper back to himself. I love Twin Peaks! Not many people in my area atleast even know what it is
@@jennyfinn2447 Yup 👍🏼. Cooper was a very good character, he was more good than someone evil, I will say though, he did a great job playing his part as Mr. C too, the dark side where Bob went in. I miss Twin Peaks so much, but at the same time, I’m glad that it had a ending that really didn’t answer any questions because that’s the beauty and mystery of life in our universe.
I absolutely love the voice acting in Silent Hill. It's so dreamy and disconnected, which blends with and amplifies the atmosphere exceptionally. It is intentional
Yes! i dont know if its intentional or not, but i like it that way, the tone of the game is there and the voice acting feel surreal, like you said, as if in a dream, it give you this unconfortable feeling mixed with calm... and certain charm. Personally i feel that a group of profesional actors like these knew what they were doing for sure.
@@smart.but.stupid No, it is not. Your research is nothing more than a handful of youtubers and articles that make that claim without evidence, sometimes ONLY as speculation, as a way to further circlejerk the older SH games. If you're not convinced, why don't you try to find proof by linking that claim being made by the actual developers?
Back in PS1 era, I love how everyone calls the nightmare world "Nightmare" without any official guide or social media to talk about. We all called it "Nightmare" by instinct like everyone else in the world and that was awesome.
I think the eventual "you're the hunter not the hunted" end game-y parts of survival horror games is just as important. It's like a catharsis to kick butt after yours has been kicked for the whole game.
@@nintendojunky12 Yeah but the thing people point to is how its not really linear. Its not like you slowly get stronger and more capable, you get huge boosts either at the very end or new game plus.
I remember playing this game after Resident Evil 2, and thinking "Konami just sweept the floor with Capcom". I never felt scared with RE2, but Silent Hill creeped the hell out of me 23 years ago, and still scares me to this day. I was working in the afternoons at that time, and used to come home about 11 pm; so, in case it was not creepy enough, I played it alone, in my silent house at night. It was a whole experience.
This game changed my mind on horror, I remember playing my PS1 and going into school the next day, my friends would ask me about the lore because they were too terrified to play it themselves. SH is responsible for me loving horror games.
I was only 11 in '99 and was too terrified out of my mind to go past the beginning alley scene. I needed someone else with me and lights on. Now at almost 35, I greatly appreciate the genius behind its design.
tbh i always thought the voice acting was bad on purpose to show there is just something off with it, like the people talking are never entirely there. It for sure had that effect on me when i played it. I never perceived it as bad but just strange and weird like so many things in this town are.
When Silent Hill was made voice-acting in games was generally lackluster. It might have been one of those "happy accidents" in that stilted voices and blunt, witless dialogue help build atmosphere of alien and unknown.
Around the 22-minute mark, when you really showed the ambience of the game after explaining it's charm, I had to stop the video. I have to play this. Thank you Josh.
I honestly like the off beat dialogue. It adds to the eeriness of the whole experience imo. I remember sitting in a pitch black room as my cousin played for the first time and being shell shocked. Didn’t sleep for a week!
Every monster in this game has something to do with Alessas fears or interests; the Airscreamers are from a book she used to read about dinosaurs, greychildren are schoolmates who bullied her, the bosses from fairytales or her interest in butterflies... the jellybeans thing is dumb but she loved to eat them, thats why there is a key in that bag...
I wouldn't say it's "dumb" anymore than children are dumb; their brains are just still in the process of developing and candy still seems special and comforting when you're that young. But yeah, that's one of the things I loved slowly realizing while playing this game; how Alessa's psychology affected this place. The more you read about her, the more the nightmares make sense. Silent Hill is probably part of what got me so interested in psychology.
One shout out this game never gets is how well it *nails* the _feeling_ of the blood.. a small thing, maybe; but has a big psychological impact.. the colour, the transparency, the way it darkens as it layers on top of itself on the floor, the contrast of the fresh blood from you or enemies with the crusty, congealed mess on the walls and floors.. _incredibly_ effective compare to the "Hammer House of Horror" blood in Resi for example
Man this game is something else, I played it for the first time during the pandemic with raining pouring outside and it just hits different, its sends such an eerie emotion, puddles of blood with corpses, the fog, the mystery, the sound design. I was completely hooked from the start, fucking phenomenal.
Exactly how I felt back in 1999 or whenever it was released. I've never had a game suck me in and involve me like that since. Even silent hill 2, which is better in everyway didn't have the same effect on me as this one
I think anyone who has ever had to help out a friend or a loved one in a dissociative episode can appreciate the odd voice acting. Someone in that state sounds very similar. Numb, tired,unsure while oddly not caring. It’s extremely uneasy & unsettling. I think it fits this game , the world, and the plot extremely well.
It also reminds me of myself when I was in my worst depressive episodes. Just talking was hard. A physical exercise. Forget trying to convey emotion. Its why I have a soft spot for the acting
@@elvingearmasterirma7241 I believe that is what they were going for, too. It definitely was in 2. If you hear the VAs in other stuff they’re “good” in it, so in this game it’s not because they’re bad actors.
The tone was good, the direction was just a little too flat. The sweetspot was like, just missed and that just kinda kills the vibe. It's not "Stop! Don't Open That Door!" Or anything like that mind you, but it does need a little more crazy
It's where most of the suspenseful horror comes from in the series, you're imagination fills in that gap in what horror's could be lurking in the fog and darkness, that broken radio mechanic was pure horror genius
Fun little fact. The number 4 in Japan can be pronounced two ways, “yon” or “shi”. The “shi” also means death in Japanese so almost nobody uses “shi” when saying 4. In Japan the number 4 is like the number 13 in North America, an unlucky number and will be omitted from hospitals and hotels (not all of them but quite a few). When the 4th floor appears In the elevator on Silent Hill it’s like the 13th floor appearing in North America, Bad stuff is about to happen.
@@NoStoryNoWorry it's not just that 4 is "unlucky" in Japanese the same way 13 might be in the West. The word for four and death are the same, they're both prounced "shi" . 四 = 4，死 = death It is exactly the same in Chinese but it is prononced "si"
Thanks for sharing that! So that means the suddenly appearing 4th floor button isn't just spooky because it wasn't there a second ago, but because going to the 4th floor is like an omen of death, kind of like a clock striking thirteen. Neat.
One little easter egg in this, at 19:25 the names of the teachers in that file are the 3 main members of the band Sonic Youth. The devs must have been fans :)
I am much more fascinated with the maps in Silent Hill games than I should be. It's just an absolutely tiny little detail but so immersive to actually have the map be a map that they physically draw on. I don't know why but it just makes it so much more immersive
I used to work in a school as tech support, then in the same school as a night cleaner/janitor. Now I know why I found the the same school in the dark unsettling. Fucking Silent Hill.
Lol, same man, i don't know what's called in English, but i worked as a security guy closing buildings and offices, and fkn hell shit is so creepy, sometimes there are so many creepy noises. One building was the fucking worst i shit myself so many times, it was designed that it will play noises or music when you use the staircase, and since i had to control every floor i had to hear the noises in this building, full of creepy artworks and statues, i quit the job because after 5th time i couldn't live with the stress arriving at this building 😂
I was a security guard in a big fancy performance art gallery. During the day it's full with people and performances, not scary at all. But during the night, it's this giant empty building and you are just waiting to round a corner to see something awful when doing your hourly rounds of the place. It didn't help that I was addicted to vicodin and weed at the time, adding to my paranoid state. That, and being a security guard at a corn packing plant out in the middle of nowhere were always scary.
Never got into the whole SH and RE games but always wondered about the lore and why people love those games so much, and now I see why... Even though I will never play them just because its not my kinda game but the gameplay and lore itself(at least for this episode) is enough for me to be like that's a solid game right there.
This is a problem with the internet though. People like you will never touch a game but get your ENTIRE opinion based on a youtuber or streamer. Not a good way to function in general.
@@jonathansoko1085 that's literally why reviews exist, to help us make decisions. It would be unreasonable to try out EVERY single game. Keep your elitist mentality in check, there are several ways to enjoy content. Why else would full playthrough channels be thriving?
There is actually a technique to kill the last boss without being hit and is just run around him in circles, and stop to shoot her when she stop his lighting attack and repeat, Or... Before enter that place, be sure to not have ANY kind of ammunition of any type, and your guns totally empty, since you can't attack the boss with melee weapons, the game kill her automatically
@@MelAncholynus if im not wrong, you fight against the boss normally until you spend that bullet, then you have to wait until the game "get it" and the boss kill himself
Hahaha, had to post this coz its too perfect xD watching the part with the cat and youtube decides its time for a Whiskas cat food advert right between you letting the cat out and the sound of it dying, it lines up so perfectly i cant breathe from laughing.
I feel like every line of dialogue was recorded seperately of the entire conversation. Hence it all not fitting together and sounding "terrible". However, it does give off a certain feeling that things are not right, and that you're not certain if it's a dream. I think that is what they were going for. That feeling of a dream is in every aspect of the game, and the dialogue and music gave me that same "off" feeling.
You probably right about the seperatly recorded lines. My guess would be it was easier for the PSX to load. But it really adds to the creepy feeling. Just as fog and darkness was used to hide the barely existent drawdistance. It's brilliant how they used the system's shortcomings to the game's advantage.
The director asked the voice actors to leave a 1 second delay in between dialogue. It kept the voice actors from having a natural flow. It's explained here. ua-cam.com/video/b28ZOweNNvc/v-deo.html
@@NordWinter87 no, having the lines recorderd seperatly would not make it easier to loud.....That was one of the Advantages of a CD based system, being good at loading consecutive data. Nor would it even make sense to record lines seperatly if that was the case....You DO realize audioediting exists? and existed even back then? if they needed the dialogue to be seperate clips they would have simply cut it into the bits they need... This was either bad voice directing, or 100% intentional In this case it was the later, but given the time period it could have been booth(i remember one game where the devs picked voice actor purely on appereance without actualy understanding english themself)
I haven't finished the video so I'm sure you'll mention it at some point, but I want to share: The original Silent Hill borrowed very heavily from the 1990 movie "Jacob's Ladder." The initial scene with the lighter and the wheelchair is heavily reminiscent of protagonist Jacob being wheeled on a gurney through a hallway which becomes increasingly more nightmarish the farther he goes in. This includes familiar elements like a child's bicycle, old dilapidated building, inexplicable light changes, chainlink ceilings with deformed people crawling across, humanoid shapes with rapid head movement and more. In general, the game borrow's the movie's "dream-like" quality, where scenes start out normal and then smoothly, gradually transition into creeping horror as the situation becomes more confusing and surreal. Of at least the numbered sequels, the original is in my opinion easily the best due predominantly to the way it's structured. It works in discrete sequences, as Harry starts out in seemingly normal environments which slowly deteriorate into more and more horrifying, twisted versions of themselves before he's returned to nominal reality for a breath of air. Repeat. The first couple confuse the player. The next few are the truly unsettling ones, however, as the player begins to recognise when things are about to go bad. A hitherto non-existent fourth floor button appearing in an elevator which did not have that before is a clear indication that things are about to get really bad. In a previous comment, I criticised Amnesia for requiring me to WANT to be scared in order for its scares to be effective. Silent Hill requires no such cooperation from me. Is presentation and gameplay mechanics do all of the work.
"Limitation breeds creativity" is a great point of yours. This is true of one of my favorite classics, majora's mask, where the one year dev time caused the creation of such a weird, unique, and unforgettable game that truly stands out from other entries.
Same problem in Hollywood, too.. why bother coming up with a creative, truly innovative way to shoot a live action set piece for your movie, be it miniatures, matt paintings etc; when you could just make the whole thing on a computer? Computer Technology *forces* creative bankruptcy
@@unbearifiedbear1885 i dont see how thats a problem, being able to use CGI lets you make better looking scenes, on a bigger scale, for less money and less time
Silent Hill was the first horror games to legitimately unnerve me. I was a major horror fan growing up thanks to my upbringing with parents heavily invested into the genre. So when stuff like Splatterhouse and later Resident Evil came around, I ate them up and loved them. But they never felt "Scary", just horror themed action games really. Resident Evil had the atmosphere at times, but it never actually left me unsettled. Silent Hill came around and as gaming magazines were a big thing back then, I had been reading about it before it came to the US for a while. And was salivating to play it. PSM (The unofficial US Playstation mag, and a favorite of mine) had a big walkthrough of the game across a few issues. I remember reading some of that walkthrough before I could even afford to play the game. Finally I saved up enough money to buy a copy of the game and I knew I was in for something special - and special it was. No game had ever made me feel the way this one had at that time. Left unnerved and just absolutely absorbed in it's world and lore. Then came the School section of the game. That really did it for me. See, I lived around the block from an old elementary school (Used in the early 1900s, Robert Wadlow attended there.) that had been turned into a glass blowing factory. It was known to be notoriously haunted. (Even featured later on an episode of Ghost Hunters.) My dad had worked for the company that owned that place for a long time, and even after the factory shut down, he was in charge of handling it's alarm. See, the alarm would get triggered at least once a week by something or another. And my dad would have to get up in the AM to go and meet the police there to turn off the alarm and check the place out with them. He had made a thing of showing people around the building at night, especially around Halloween since he had the keys and the alarm code. So all of my friends had all been taken on personal tours of the place. We all knew it well, and it was very creepy. And the school from Silent Hill resembled this school down the street from me a whole, whole lot. So the terror of that area in particular really struck me hard. I recall taking my best friend up there on night as my dad had to go and do something. And we were both talking about how the school in the game creepily resembled that place in reality. My dad overheard us and wanted to see the school in the game out of curiosity. We showed him later and he got a kick out of it, and agreed that there were plenty of similarities. So that part in particular will always stand out for me as one of my favorite legitimately frightening areas in a video game due to those memories. What a fantastic game Silent Hill is.
Turning off the flashlight is actually very useful, enemies notice you far less when it's off. You can avoid most enemies that way, really good when running through corridors where you don't need to interact with items.
I find the shift in power in horror games good . It feels good to go from running from an enemy to being able to pummel them . It also allows you to properly explore the world than running scared to the exit .
100% agreed generally. The issue in Silent Hill is that it happens too fast. You should feel powerful right before the climax or during it, so that way you get to relieve all the built up tension as things close out. In Silent Hill you get endgame powerful about a third of the way in.
@@Narzick We had that one to! Yeah classic. For us it was SH1, Alien Trilogy which I still play today. Abes Oddesy and this really weird cube game that we had on a demo disc. I.Q.: Intelligent Qube ! It was called. Dad loved that one
@@RetroTekGuyAU For us it was SH1, Resident Evil, Dino Crisis, Dead in the Water, and some demolition derby game we would play for ages until.we got the modchip, and then we had every game burned to disk 😂
I love the emphasis you put on how vital it is to have a map. I actually missed the map my first time going through the hospital, which made that whole section even more of a nightmare than it already was.
I miss exactly stuff like that. No constant hand holding and therefore letting you f up. And sill being able to beat the game with just more effort. Man I miss that.
Hospital isn't that bad to navigate through. On my first playthrough I didn't find the map for the city area that you explore at night after leaving sewers. Now that was a pain in the ass.
I have always found what happened to Lisa to be the saddest thing ever. An unsettling visage of her bleeding profusely, but sad seeing how desperate she sounded. At least she (Or at least the projection of Lisa) got to drag the drug kingpin straight to Hell.
Lisa is my favourite character from the game, such a dramatic story and a gorgeous breath of fresh air from the disturbing world surrounding the player. Stands out but not in a too in the face way, but it definitely has a strong effect. The whole game is a masterpiece anyway, I could point out everything that I love about it only by talking for hours lol
Silent Hill, the location in the game not the game, I always thought would make an interesting TV Show, where each season would focus on a different person's nightmares and the town manifesting them. Love the game series, love the stories and lore (even if I don't love playing them) and just adore the music
A miniseries of vignettes - individual, self contained stories in the universe I can't tell you how many projects I've wanted to see go in that direction... the new "Alien" series a prime example
Yeah Silent Hill is one of those game series that has a great concept, and one you don't see often, but for various reasons the execution falls short to many people. I grew up playing Resident Evil and I, like many people at the time I think, thought the games wre very similar so it was only worth it to play one one series, I started High School the same year RE1 or maybe the director's cut came out in 96. So yeah a series like Fargo or Twilight zone/Outer Limits would work perfectly provided someone who showed understanding of and willingness to follow the core concept of the game series, which was one of the problems with the movies; it watered down that core concept and made it into a standard haunted town.
I don't know, I really never liked that idea mainly just because Silent Hill 2 was meant to be a departure and every fan of the series knew that at the time. Plus no one has ever done it as good as Silent Hill 2.
@@kalelvigil1510 While I agree that it may not be as good as SH2, I don't think that means it couldn't be attempted! Maybe something will even happen by accident, who knows.
I think one of my favorite effects in this game is the way the empty houses look. The power's off, so there's no sound or artificial light. What light there is seems to be spilling through windows to the outside, and the fog seems to be seeping into the room thanks to the lighting effect. It gives off a cold, dead feeling when you're in the house on Levin street or K. Gordon's place. It's that feeling you get when you're all alone and you feel like someone's watching you. It's authentically creepy as hell, and I love it.
@@Demonskunk the room, homecoming, origins, book of memories, shattered memories and downpour. Of those the room feels much more firmly set in a B-horror tone than a stephen king one so it feels like an actionized spin-off, homecoming is absolute americanized garbage which is a waste of the dev's time (iirc there was an earlier version which was far more promising but the suits stepped in), origins is an absolute fanfiction and of middling quality at that which is only worth playing if you want more silent hill and have consumed everything else even remotely good and are willing to divorce it from the actual canon to prevent it from ruining the other games, book of memories should be forgotten with whoever insisted it be developed like that strung up and spat on, shattered memories is like an original silent hill's atmosphere polished but excised of any horror and downpour is what you would describe as a 5/10 silent hill. So of all the games after 3 you have, like, 3 that are any worth playing and of those only one really scratches that silent hill itch (shattered memories). So yes, you are correct but only if one were to have knowledge of the series beforehand. Or is willing to take the word of someone online.
It's funny, I've barely thought about SH for the last 20 years, but watching this made me realise how much this game fucked me up as a kid, especially the scene where Lisa starts pouring blood out of everywhere. And also SH is the reason WW2-style air raid sirens basically give me panic attacks
Silent Hill was way ahead of it's time in sound design, like you can hear the influence it's had in so many games. It's just gorgeous, just the kind of horror that keeps on creeping up the dread with not many jump scares (and when they happen it's all the more effective). My favorite of the series is still Silent Hill 2, but this was my first true love in horror. I never found Resident Evil games particularly scary but this game, probably shouldn't have played it at the age I did :D
SH2 is overrated while the first game is underrated imo. Though I love the trilogy almost evenly, I always found it rather annoying how people tend to underestimate 1
@@Walamonga1313 I guess the relationship and sickness aspects hits people harder tha losing your kid to a cult which is done more often in horror. Way more often. But then the first Silent Hill is an homage to western horror in total. Also if I recall correctly Japan was out of the cult phase at that time, too.
@@Walamonga1313 That's a hot take. SH2 isn't overrated at all. SH1 is definitely underrated, but the journey of SH2's characters, the Jungian monsters, and the heavy themes of personal trauma compelled it leagues ahead of its predecessor, and with damn good reason. Couple that with its actual gameplay elements and reactive storytelling, and you've got a great case for GOAT for Horror. And not to knock SH1, but the story is rather haphazard and random. Yes, the lore and history of the game's world is deep and horrifying, but what actually happens in the presence of your character goes against it. Hell, even unlocking the Good endings is a frustratingly obtuse process that doesn't actually make sense to your character's journey. What's the functional difference between finding the red vial and not? He takes it from your hand rather than his own hiding place 2 feet away, but somehow in one ending he doesn't have this vial available, as if his trip there was entirely focused on the player's discovery of it. This and other issues bring down SH1 overall, but no moreso than many other beloved horror classics. I fucking adore SH1. It's still nowhere near as good as 2. Oh, and if anyone wants to play the trilogy (which I highly recommend), stay very far away from the "HD Collection". It somehow looks worse than the original releases, introduces literally dozens of bugs large and small, and made the baffling decision to completely re-record many voice lines, and not even the ones you think.
No mention of the creepy siren blaring in the background as the world shifts into the otherworld? Thanks to Silent Hill, everytime I hear a siren in real life I get creeped out. Also, you can avoid the final boss's lightning bolts you just need to run at an angle.
Well the Siren they use is a specific kind and creepy so the sirens you hear regularly aren't even close to that sound. They use like nuclear bunker claxons lol
A gif of Lisa as she began to transform into a monster is single handedly what got me into Silent Hill in the first place. Though there was no audio/music and the gif only got as far as her winking as the blood dripped into her eye, it was so visually haunting/pretty/sad that I needed to learn more.
Earlier in the video it is mentioned how the game references different works of madness. The Flauros item you get in the church at 32:00 is a reference to an ancient grimoire known as the Lemegeton, which holds record of magic that King Solomon was allegedly able to use to summon and control 72 demons. Flauros was the name of one of those demons.
@@tadhg3 I found out through playing Fate/Grand Order, which is chock full of references to various myths, legends and the like. The main antagonist of the first arc of the story is King Solomon, or rather his corpse possessed by the collective mind of the 72 demons he was said to be able to control. I asked a family friend about the concept because he's looked into things like this before and he told me about something called The Lesser Keys of Solomon, which as it turns out is another name for the Lemegeton. There's no actual proof that Solomon was actually responsible for the writing of this grimoire, but all the same it is attributed to him. Flauros in particular is one of the demons specifically named in Fate/Grand Order, and I've seen references to it in other works as well, such as the anime Iron Blooded Orphans, which names some of its mechs after demons named in the Lemegeton, and even specifically mentioned that there used to be 72 of these mechs in the show's history.
i have been in an abandoned mental asylum. i live on long island in ny and theirs the kings park mental asylum thats closed down and its absolutely horrifying to go through and an incredible experience. you can really feel the pain stored in those buildings. you just feel it all around you. i never really believed in spirits an all that but after having gone through there a couple of times i can say for sure that while their may not be ghosts, residual feelings in certain places certainly is real. the amount of suffering that occured in those buildings was so powerful that you can really feel it as youre walking around. Since its so scary too youre extra sensitive to things and maybe it is just your mind playing tricks on you. But for me the feeling of walking through those buildings chilled me to my core. And this game gave me a very similar feeling when i was kid. and THAT is what makes this game an amazing classic for me. They really did a fantastic job of making you feel the insanity, and fear as you explore the world an progress further into the insanity that is Silent Hill.
Back in the days, I had a demo CD of SH1. I remember it creeping me out so much, I couldn't continue it. I'm not easily REALLY creeped out. SH1 might be one of very few games that actually managed that. I was always interested in the game, but couldn't even watch let's plays of it for several years, as it scared me that much. I tried watching the movie twice, but both times had to shut it off, as I couldn't handle the tension it created in me. Somewhere in my 20s I then could finally watch a let's play completely. And have since then watched let's plays of it multiple times. But honestly, I never understood the story. Your story wrap up was the first that made the story somewhat clear to me. It's still extremely twisted, but I finally understood what it's all about. Your analysis is great. I like how you cover every single aspect. SH1 will always have a special place in my heart. It's an absolute gem. One of the best games, ever created. Fun side story: when I moved into my current house, a few weeks in, it was late evening and I sat on my couch, when suddenly the exact SH siren began to go off outside. All the color dropped out of my face, I cramped up and held my breath. It was so surreal and scared the living crap out of me. Only later I found out that there is a fire station near by and they use this siren as their alarm when they drive out. So I hear it every now and then, up till today. And every time it takes my breath. I simply can't get used to it 😅
I remember giving the demo to my older sister as a kid and she gathered up all her friends and they played it. They couldn't finish it though (too scary and difficult) and they had to get kid me to come do it for them, lol. Every Saturday morning at 12.00 they would sound an alarm like that too and likewise it scared me every time. Terrific game that did exactly what a horror game is supposed to. Scare the hell out of your soul.
53:55 - 54:19 one of my favourite cutscenes of all time and the music is just incredible I can never watch it just once when it's played in a video lol
Want to say I really appreciate how you present the game, how you show so many side details and give the viewer an impression of how free the player feels to move around and explore the town than in SH2, where it is almost literally a single closed path forward between each of the game's buildings. A lot of people do not convey that at all when talking about this game.
Ah, the piano puzzle. I remember calling my Nan to see if she could work it out. Because she had a piano and she didn’t know. To this day, I’m so bloody proud to say that I worked it out, myself. Although, I generally suck as puzzles, in game. I remember being friends with a Chinese kid from school, and he had a cousin that recently moved to U.K. from China and he was stuck on the piano puzzle, too and was really shocked and happy when I showed him how to do it.
On my run back in the day, I never found a map, stumbled around in panic, then killed Cybil and it broke my heart so hard that I stopped playing. Then, SH2 broke it at least two more times. No other games could impact my emotions like that. Also, Josh's deep understanding of horror pleases me greatly.
I literally played it a week ago for the first time and the same thing happened to me. I never found the resort map and found out you needed to pick up some random bottle from the hospital kitchen and fill it with some liquid in another room to sabe Cybil. WHO IN THE HELL FIGURED THAT OUT ON THEIR FIRST PLAYTHROUGH? and you couldn't go back either.
@@Maggerama You had to explore every damn corner in this game since items didn't shine like in resident evil. So I ended up missing a lot of stuff like the doctor in the resort. Also those monkey fucks can go drown themselves. I literally stumbled around in the otherworld resort for 30 minutes before I found out that the boat has another exit.... I've never felt dumber in my life.
@@illusion8457 I know, right! The whole feeling dumb thing especially. To run around like a headless chicken while being tackled by monkeys, thinking "where did I go wrong?" while getting pecked by every pterodactile in in barely see-through vicinity is one hell of an embarrassing experience. But hell, it's only more memorable this way!
the 'bonus' hospital floor is the thing I remember most clearly about this game over 20 years later I was actively getting turned around and going back and forth between the first three floors repeatedly and hadn't noticed the 4th floor. when I finally realized it was there, it freaked me out so bad I had to stop playing for a while
the number 4 in Japanese can be pronounced as "shi" which has the same pronunciation as the word "death". this can also be applied for 7 " *shi* chi" and even 9 "ku" which sounds like the word for pain/agony. As a result, these numbers have alternative spellings and pronunciations.
That was my first experience with the game. My sister rented it and when I came by she was just about to reach the hospital. The 4th floor appearing out of nowhere followed by the nightmare hospital and those nurses.....it frightened 10 year old me
Love your review of the game. I wanted to point out one detail left out that I always thought was extremely clever. The warning siren that became iconic in the series. It's an amazing touch to have it signify the transition from real to nightmare. These sirens signify danger in the real world. Simultaneously vague and specific in nature. Vague in that they can't tell you what the danger is. Just that it's coming and you need to prepare right now. Specific in the sort of danger it will be. Catastrophic, unavoidable and beyond human reason. Earthquakes, tsunami, tornadoes, landslides or enemy bombings. Forces that can't be dealt with, only escaped from. Lovecraftian things that care not for mortal lives and will sweep the land clean no matter what you do. The siren is iconic in this series because it's telling you something horrible is coming. Though it won't tell you just what it is or what you need to do. It's an unnerving and universally understandable sound we've almost all heard before. We know what it means and we all get the same feeling when we hear it. For the life of me I can't think of a more effective sound they could have used. It was brilliant.
@@johnnmusic Even better than that - and I might be misremembering as i haven't played this game for over 20 years, but the siren that transitions from nightmare world back to real world was a single sustained high note, which during WW2 (in the UK at least) signalled the 'all clear', i.e. it was safe to leave the bomb shelters
It's a firefighter siren. Alessa was burned in a fire when the boiler in the house exploded. She probably remembers hearing it and subconsciously manifests it.
Played this somewhere in 2020 while I was recovering from dental surgery I love this game and while some people say it aged for being a PS1 game, it feels timeless and satisfying to to bask in. Can't wait to dive into SH2
masterpiece of a game. back then i thought resident evil was the pinnacle of survival horror untill i got to play silent hill 1. now over two decades later i wouldnt mind a remake with modern graphics. even resident evil 1 got a remake before its sequel
I feel like Harrys determination in this game, including his run style, is entirely motivated by the need to rush to the bathroom with a severe bout of diarrhea.
That locker room got me in so much trouble.... I screamed at that cat and woke parents up as I was playing at night when I wasn’t allowed up with all the lights off. Terrifying
11:36 This is what sold me on Silent Hill 2 when I first tried it as a PS Magazine demo back in 2001 ..I was wandering around not having a clue what I was supposed to do, then I noticed the map changing - SOLD!
I was creeped out by this game a long time ago. When I decide to play it again I get the same feelings. It's a masterpiece ! I love Silent Hill so much :) Such a classic.
The School is genuinely terrifying if you play on Hard. On Hard all the enemies respawn every time you exit a room. Also enemies have a smaller proximity to aggro on you with the light turned off, but you can't look at the map with the light off, so The School becomes you sprinting through the dark trying not to run into desks or get attacked while taking brief glimpses at your map to try to plan your next route.
The pause between opening the map and returning back to the game actually helpedwith immersing myself more thanhindering it. After all, in real life you don't immediately a map out from thin air when you want to look at it. It's also just as fast as other moments of shifting from a menu or scene to another, and wasn't so slow as to annoy me, but rather play into the slow, contemplative nature of exploring the town.
When this game came out, my cousin rented this (because that's what you did back then) and with my brother, decided to play it until 4 in the morning. In the dark. With surround sound. Apparently, it was at this point in time that my cat decided to do his nocturnal rounds of the house, jumping up onto the kitchen counter... and knocking a pan onto the floor. Cue two grown men nearly peeing themselves in fright.
So much nostalgia lol As a kid in the 90's, this game absolutely fucking terrified me to my core lol I had played Resident Evil to death. But the oppressive and psychological horror of this game was so ahead of its time in my opinion. This was the first horror game i ever played in my life where i was afraid to take a step forward, essentially lol Nearly every modern horror game is building on the principles of Silent Hill 1.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game on the ps1 with more richly detailed environments than Silent Hill. Truly impressive art direction that still holds up.
I was waiting for some comments for Lisa's "death" scene. Honestly the first time I saw it I was in shock, although I already suspected that Lisa was dead, the way they rub it in your face with that brilliant cinematography, while her blood is running and with a beautiful but melancholic song that fits perfectly, is just a masterpiece. Without a doubt one of my favorite moments of the whole SH saga. And And about the voices they don't really bother me, I think they fit very well for the kind of atmosphere the game wants to introduce you in the beginning, feeling lost in a familiar but unknown place while everything gets stranger and creepier, just the way harry feels. But in SH2 james voice ugh really sucks, it's like a listening exercise for english subject.
I’ve always felt Lisa is the most well crafted character in the series, as well as being my personal favorite. Her “death” and diary were heart wrenching for me. Even with hints of her not technically being “real”, I felt dependent on her. Another person with no idea of what was going on, just wanting someone else to be with her and be calm. Then it all crashes and you finally read the diary. Just perfect
Silent Hill is the first game I saw that made me say "Wow" upon seeing it's pre-rendered story sequences...for the time the graphics in those sequences was completely beyond anything else I'd seen. To this day Lisa's 'death' remains one of my favorite cinematic sequences from a video game.
9:20 is only me that thinks the Voice Acting is actually good ? it is unnatural but in a positive sense, like it's a dream kind of way, it adds up to the atmosphere for me.
To me it came of as Harry i Being an obviously introverted and stoic everyman who is quietly determined in his one goal. The delivery for everyone else wasn't bad like the video says, it's just the loading between voice lines that makes it awkward and stilted sounding.
Yeah it kinda sounds like it's made weird on purpose, for me it adds to the feeling of uneasiness in the game because it gives the impression that everyone just woke up from anesthesia. Weird but I kinda like it.
That's the majority consensus of fans of the game. Some people just have this obsession with "quality" where everything sounds the same, with good-enough execution so everything feels "believable." It's Silent Hill, baby. We get weird here.
In silent hill 2 they were specifically instructed to speak that way. To come across distant in there own world dream like. Creates an unnatural feeling with each of the characters like there's something wrong. It's intentional. Not that people know it for some reason.
@Itoki Norishiba Was able to play it and while I really liked the gameplay, I hated the story, how over the top (for PE), and their explanations as to why things were. Really felt that Square slapped the face of the first two games when they made 3rd Birthday.
I watched a playthrough of this game when I was young and I remember there were times where I got to school early and things were empty and dark it felt so much more creepy cause of it. Not to mention the feeling of fearing what was beyond the fog when I was going to walk my dog out in the country side alone. As scary as it was for me though it was great, I love that feeling of horror.
I have fond memories of playing this in High school with my best friend. We were both extremely creeped out by the nightmare realm, and coming into the room with the blue phones, my friend playfully joked "They're gonna call youuuuuu!" The phone ringing as I touched the door and us both violently jumping in unison is a core memory I'll treasure forever.
To me, one of the most iconic thing about old horror games are the sound of the footsteps. They somehow sounds so jarring and somehow makes it very uncomfortable to listen to. I don't exactly know why, but they somehow do.
I find his critique of the sewer section to be absolutely hilarious because none of his points against it are really incorrect. The enemies aren't particularly dangerous or intimidating in comparison to how much power you've accumulated. The environment is...well it's a sewer. A basic municipal location. It's the definition of mundane. The sewers are a far and away the most terrifying area in the game. There's a few unique aspects that the sewers introduce that get used in bits in pieces in other parts of the game. The radio doesn't work, so enemies are detected by the sounds they make, chirping from the roaches and loud, distinct clicks from the sewer creatures. For ambience, all sounds are given an echo effect that communicates another unique aspect of the sewers...their size. Up to this point, locations that aren't the overworld town itself are buildings with halls and rooms. Relatively tight spaces with clear loading screens between them. Rooms with enemies would kick off the radio and in some cases, the games soundtrack, but once a room was cleared, everything would calm down and the room would stay cleared for the most part. In the sewers, there's no individual halls are tight spaces _to_ clear. There's _very_ few transition doors between the entrance and exit, so there's never a sense that any part of it is 'cleaned' and therefore 'safe'. This sense of unease is exacerbated by the level's trump card. The sewer music is the most terrifying music in a game whose soundtrack is famous for how terrifying it is. There's an ambient thrum that plays throughout the entirety of the level that dynamically adjusts as you progress. At first, it's simply unsettling, with a thrum that promises more to come and after a key point of progression is reached, it ramps up and introduces this incredibly spine-chilling... _groan_ if there's an active enemy in pursuit of you. What follows is a mad dash to the exit not because the game's thrown a pile of enemies on you all at once. I mean, it _does_ but they're easily avoided and well within your ability to kill if you wanna waste the ammo. No, the mad dash is so you can get to the exit as quickly as possible and end that terrifying music! Oh and the thing about the last boss? There being no strat other than tank the hits. That's also wrong. Running in a wide circle around the arena before the attack goes off will have it miss you entirely. The moment you hear the crackle, that's your cue to bolt. It doesn't make the fight any better mind you. If you have the resources, absolutely just tank the hit and keep shooting, but he was pretty emphatic that there's no alternatives and there are.
Well, to be fair, I also dislike the sewers the most. They are repetitive, there isn't much to do and those drowners-like monsters are annoying. When I play SH, it's always the level I look up to the least.
Meh. I did not find the sewers scary. I found the otherworld hospital very scary. Hospitals may be cliche in horror, but they are already an unsettling environment, and pressing that newly-appeared fourth floor button to be met with the rusty, industrial aesthetic of the otherworld is horrifying.
I was a tween, my dad played this game (hired from blockbuster) and as a whole family we sat down and watched and cheered him on, helped with puzzles and got absolutely creeped out. I remember at some point having to go to bed stumped on a puzzle , dad woke me up at 4am to show me the outcome of the solved puzzle and the end of the game. We returned the game after the weekend with bleary eyes and to this day I as a mid thirties person still chat to my early sixties dad about this game and we still always talk about it with reverence. This and Abe’s oddesy another one of those classics.
awesome ! I used to play it by myself around 15yo and had to deactivate the music, it creeped me out a whole lot
@@luisb9862 lmao the same. The most scary part of this game was the music, to me
I'm so happy you got memories like that be thankfull for it, i can only describe never feeling safe and suffering as an upbringing. Reading stuff like this brings me a bit of hope towards the good parts of people
What an epic story. Your dad is cool.
What ending did he get first time?
I always found the dialogue and character interactions to be very dream-like. They say things that sort of make sense but are not necessarily normal.
Exactly, it gives an uncanny vibe and I love it. Was disappointed with the remake when they tried too much to make the voice acting scary and serious it didn't have that dream-like atmosphere
True. Technically it is a dream. Its sorta all in the characters head. Remember Restless Dreams?
Thank you, that’s why I always loved it.
Which remake?
I think the voices were in the original Japanese version as well, which also explains the somewhat ponderous delivery.
Fun fact: The animator for Silent Hill, Takayoshi Sato, lived in the developing room for pretty much the entire production period, since he was the most skilled at creating the 3D animations. For over two years, this guy lived at his cubicle, designing and animating every cutscene in the game. This was not only his job, but also his way of standing up against the Konami executives, who didn’t want to give him credit for his work.
The more you know, eh?
Damn, maybe this what inspired the idea of SH4 ?
Konami really was ass from the beginning, wasn't it
@@WandaThePanda
Japanese businesses in general run like this.
It's one of the saddest things about the place.
Sorry, how is that "standing up against the Konami executives?"
@@Chasmodius Konami wasn’t going to give him any credit for his work on the game. Since that was the case, he took on the entirety of the game’s animation job. I think I read somewhere that the whole reason he took the job was because he made a bet with the executives, which was if he got the animations done, then he must receive credit for the game - if not, they could fire him.
I think the uncanny voice acting adds to the dream-like, unnatural sense of the town. It really gives the feeling that something's off and it's affecting those trapped within it. TotallyPointlessTV brings this up in his Silent Hill 2 video and I can kind of believe it. At the same time, it could just be really bad directing for the vocals that happened to be a happy little accident with the atmosphere.
Agree 100%
In addition to Silent Hill as a place just plain being incredibly disorienting, the game was riffing on Twin Peaks, so it was 100% deliberate. You got it right.
Think they might’ve fumbled this with the new one coming out too
I played this on release and I thought the same thing. I figured it was a mix of trying to unnerve me and also kind of a way to poke fun at the quality of voice acting of the Resident Evil series which it was competing against.
Yeah it's got a big David Lynch feel
I love the voice acting because its so dream-like and not normal. It adds another layer of terror to the game for me
It has very Lynchian dialogue which I'm not sure if it was intentional, but it certainly explains why it works.
Agreed it's why I wished the original director of this game could've got a crack into making a sequel to this but these companies value money more than fans feelings and connections to the e game's that last a lifetime and it's why he hasn't been brung back onboard to the series to this day and that sucks on so many levels I'd do anything to have him do another one of these especially back in the early 00s
The scene he used as an example seemed perfectly decent to me. Good even.
Especially for the time. Like it sounded better than average symphony of the night.
@@DSan-kl2yc yeah this guy's tweaking. the voice acting is pretty good
SAME it’s perfect for silent hill. It wouldn’t be the same with over the top marvel type voice acting like some modern games have
Here's an odd historical funfact: for the final god-demon boss, if you run out of ammo, it instantly dies. The devs knew it was unreachable with melee and they didn't want to spawn ammo in an lose immersion. So if you fire off all but a few shots before the fight, it's a cakewalk.
Yes but you get a lower score
One time I got to the end and had no ammo and it didn't die. Well more specifically I didn't have enough health or healing items to physically fight the boss so, knowing this fact, I wasted all my ammo. But when I got to the boss the fight would just go as normal and I'd die. To be fair I was on an emulator so that could've been the issue but other than that idk why it wouldn't work.
@@cymric4984 probably emulator issues
If you’re playing the game the way you’re meant to play it, then by the time you get to the final boss fight you have plenty of ammo for your rifle, shotgun and pistol to be able to take him down easy-
I always used the pistol and shotgun ever so sparingly throughout the main game and then when I got to Samael, save every round for the rifle and take him down in like 4 to 7 shots!!
@@cymric4984emulator issues or the fact of you not entering with any ammo at all night have messed it up. It might need you running out of your ammo as a trigger… without you having any to begin with it may have messed that up
Stephen King's definition of terror: "the feeling you get when you realise all of the furniture in your house has been replaced with an exact replica".
I'm a bit stupid... what does it mean?
@@juancruzciacci1262 It's referring to the uneasy feeling you get when you know something isn't quite right, but you don't know why. It's a psychological horror; a deep-seated uneasiness that stems from the fear of the unknown.
Imagine coming to this realisation right now, in your own home. The sofa, the pictures on the wall, the coffee table - they all look the same, but for whatever reason, you know they are not.
Who swapped them? Why did they swap them? WHEN did they swap them?
Are they still in the house?
@@Toasty_93 Is this my house?
@@Toasty_93 that reminded me Perfect Blue.
@@dalazo I want a house...!
That Lisa scene turning bloody... the way she creepily stumbles towards you... literally the scariest most masterfully animated few seconds of all time.
That scene was what i remembered the most about this game when i was little and watched by big bro play the game. it terrified me then and rewatching it today still gives me chills. the music doesnt help either lol.
Poor Lisa
I think the voice acting is superb, it adds to the "this is not right" feeling, like they are a bit numb and tired
Was just about to say this, it makes the game feel like a dream (or a nightmare) which is believe is exactly what they were intending.
Yeah i agree, it's jank and disconnected but the entire game world is jank and disconnected so it's great imo
Yeah the voice acting bring backs so much memory playing this game as a child.
@@jaybrooks3741 exactly, I love the first silent hill because of this, it made me feel I was in a nightmare and still give me some chills today
I'mm be real here. Love Josh's reviews, but a lot of the time he shits on the voice acting saying it's terrible when it ain't even on that level. Then he compares other game's voice acting of the times to warrant it being branded "terrible" and still, it wasn't even that bad.
You do have the option to turn off the flashlight. When walking in the dark with the flashlight off and walking slowly without making sounds, the monsters can't see you and you can safely pass by them. I used that technique when going out of the mall because I had no ammunition and it works great. Of course it's scary as hell too...
Thank God, another human being actually using this technique! I'm surprised how rarely this possibility gets mentioned. I personally used it a lot to conserve ammo or stealthkill monster children in the school one by one so they wouldn't pile up on me. Of course, you won't get a 10-star rank this way, since it's too time consuming. Still, it's a shame that no subsequent Silent Hill game gives you this option
@@shamrayforever I didn't know that time affects your ranking.
FIrst time I used it was after the eclipse door, when going to school, I was left with no ammo just when I had to enter the school and there were those two dogs guarding the door... I just walked slowly between them and safe, scared but safe... Of course, in next plays, I discovered more ammo so I didn't have to be stealthing there again but I always did it after the mall to save ammo for the next giant moth confrontation...
Did that trick work only the monsters in the school
If speedrunning had taught me anything, it's that no matter the circumstances, regular enemies can be safely ignored.
Just run by them, you're faster than they are.
@@shamrayforever SH2 and 3 make enemies less aggressive if you have the flashlight off. I don't know if you can sneak on all of them to kill them one by one, but the flashlight having some impact is still there.
I find it hilarious this video is in 4k. With UA-cam's compression, that means that just 1 minute of this video is almost as big as the entirety of Silent Hill 1! Honestly, when you think about how large a resolution 4k is, that's some pretty decent compression.
Yup
The voice acting is perfect, I think it totally works. That section gives me Twin Peaks vibes.
This is also why Silent Hill 2 HD version sucked. Because the voice acting was too proffesional and it took away this whole uncanny feeling of SH2.
Yeah, he really missed the mark on that one. The crappy voice acting was a deliberate choice; these characters are supposed to be very much weirded out, not just by what's happening around them but also by their pasts and experiences.
Harry: Suffering mild concussion; looking desperately for daughter; freaked out by strange happenings in town; recovering from wife's death. Diagnosis: Yeah, he's gonna sound more than a little strange.
Lisa: Former (possibly current) drug addict; traumatized by taking care of Alessa; actually not even a real person. Diagnosis: Definitely supposed to sound weird.
Kaufmann: Drug pusher; cult leader; sociopath who is actually aware of what's happening all along; attempting to orchestrate a plan to backstab his former partners in crime. Diagnosis: Should sound as creepy and off-kilter as they come.
I could go on but yeah, the 'bad' voice acting was an definitely intentional direction.
This is the kind of stuff retrospectives are more likely to be ignorant of.
Far better than voice acting in SH4 lol
Twin Peaks served as an inspiration to the entire series.
The jelly bean key thing really makes sense and is actually a nice touch. Its when you realise that unlike most other games you're not in YOUR nightmare trying to conquer your fears, you're in someone elses nightmare, Alessa's, and the monster designs and locations all start to tell the story of a child thats been bullied, abused and is frightened.
> you're not in YOUR nightmare trying to conquer your fears, you're in someone elses nightmare
I've never thought of it like that. I like it.
what about make the same speed run in Firts person mode?
ua-cam.com/video/2okS1tOHksg/v-deo.html
It is true. The town has mystical powers that draw upon the lightness or darkness of others, and Alessa held more than enough darkness for the town to plunge into her nightmare and manifest it. This game is rife with symbolism at every angle and is absolutely genius. Also, if one is capable of empathizing, makes the player think about what could have happened to an innocent little girl.
I had just opened a bag of jelly beans and got super freaked out
its literally explained almost in those exact words at 57:38.
and it still does not explain why there is a key in jelly beans. is a child afraid of jelly beans? or are jelly beans the opposite, super positiv and thats why the key is in there as a safe spot?
I've never played the Silent Hill games, but I have an incredible morbid fascination with the franchise. I just like hearing people's thoughts on this absurdly ahead of its time horror game.
Same. I'm a big wuss when it comes to horror and survival games, but i enjoy watching other people play.
It's been so ahead of it's time that nothing of today is able to match it. Tends to end up in jumpscare fests or walking simulators with a haunted house experiences. It's rare to have games that that give even more than a single fuck. Sound-Designers at least keep trying. But it's rare to have something be actually terrifying just cause it's there.
i love the lore much more what was later elaborated on like the town being the actual power not alessa the town being a scp like ocurence that manifests peoples mind warping reality but people like alessa with a level of psychic powwr force their own mind on others
I bet you've watched max derrat's videos on it.
Same, I know from trying other games that the tank controls would sadly piss me off too much to get the full enjoyment out of the game.
in all honesty, the 'bloopers' on the final credits helped me sleep better after finishing the game.
I’ve always wondered if that was the intention. Like here, this is basically your decompression from this horror world. This was basically a play, everybody’s fine afterwords. Have a good night’s sleep!
Especially after you get the worse ending. The bloopers are a cute way to cheer you up after.
@@whoareyoutoaccuseme6588 i feel like it lacks pain. games only have visual and audio. when harry mason get stabbed i wanted to feel the pain of a stab. when he gets shot i wanted to feel the pain of a bullet. that way i could be scared and feel like its real and i can get hurt and kill3d. audio and visual is not enough
@@flowrepins6663 Guess you should just wait for the future where virtual reality's a thing.
This reminds me of a movie that came out in the 1950's that was deemed soo scary that the ending credits showed the cast stepping out one by one and being introduced and smiling and waving. That was the only way they would let the movie get a screening.
The movie is The Bad Seed. I qoute it at least once a week👀
I will never forget hearing about this game. I was all about Resident Evil and RE2 when they came out, and while talking to an employee at a game store they told me that there was an upcoming game that was said to make RE fans "piss their pants". Needless to say, that game was Silent Hill. I bought it day-one, and was tense from start to finish, terrified at multiple points (the child crying in the school bathroom *shudder*). Almost 25 years on and I have not played another scary as intended thanks to what this game did to me.
Good to see you cross over to the right side. It’s like comparing a ‘95 Honda Civic to a Roles Royce. Resident Evil is just jump scares and lame ass zombies.
@@BuckScrotumn nah
give respect, without Resident Evil 1/2 we wouldn't've had silent hill@@BuckScrotumn
@@BuckScrotumn AMEN BROTHA
@@BuckScrotumn
I was to scared to play Silent hill 1 when I was a kid.
RESIDENT EVIL ORGINS REMAKE '
Same horror level as this SILENT HILL.
I played it 5 years ago on a emulator, and it still managed to spook me out. I think the voiceacting does add to the game, the way everyone talks like they just woke up from anesthesia add to the surreal world.
Exactly ! It's like in David Lynch movies - it makes it feel like it's a dream. Quite literally surreal. But not too unreal so that you, the player, have constant doubts.
I would love to play this on a emulator but I don't know which is the best emulator and where even to get the game.
@@jodiepalmer2404 I think I downloaded it including the emulator from somewhere. It worked out of the box
Twin Peaks
@@toprak3479 Some damn good coffee.
"There are demonic forces... but there are also a lot of drugs."
Best thing I've ever heard.
Count me in!
lol
what about make the same speed run in Firts person mode?
ua-cam.com/video/2okS1tOHksg/v-deo.html
drugs are not demonic then?
Sounds like Max Payne.
The intro movie didn’t look “pretty good” for ‘99. It was excellent for the time, especially for a PS1 game. Still one of the best intro movies of the time and for quite a while afterwards. It showcases the mystery and atmosphere of the game perfectly.
Nothing beats Oddworld's cutscenes on PSX, and that came out in '97!
@@BreakOutOfYourTrance Oddworlds cutscene is great don't get me wrong but it's not the very best. We have several great cutscenes on the PSX. Tekken 3, FF8, FF9, PE2 just to name a few.
I watched a Let's Play of this game when I was like... 12? I don't know what it is about it, but the concept of a new elevator button just quietly appearing has really stuck in my mind, and has been a recurring feature of my nightmares ever since. Peak horror.
I completely played this game when I was about 10 years old, and I remember that in that same scene when the 4th button appears, I got a chill down my spine and it must have been 5 minutes until I decided to go to that new 4th floor.
I've heard somewhere that the voice acting is the way it is because the developers wanted it to be that way. Stilted and awkward, with this uncomfortable sense of the unknown when talking to other people. This voice acting created various strange feelings during dialogues, like something is really off, reminding the player that they were still in an outlandish place with barely any signs of normal life left nearby.
I think that's why I personally found the voice acting to be so good. In fact, this strange way of voice acting was so good that it was utilized again in Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 because of how off-putting it was to the player to see such odd interactions between characters. It helped keep the atmosphere of Silent Hill intact, which is the atmosphere of a bizarre, seemingly empty town full of unresolved mysteries and fates of people that were left behind long ago.
It's not normal, and the people from the outside who come across Silent Hill or it's similar counterparts acknowledge that through their awkward, stilted speech and behavior, like the place itself is leaving it's mark on the people that come into contact with it.
This would actually also explain why Dahlia has the more ''normal'' and not awkward voice because to her, all of this is not strange and it's actually exactly what she wants!
makes me think of dark souls too
Not sure if I buy that solely because the acting in Silent Hill 2 was significantly better while keeping that over worldly feel to it.
@@pixeljauntvr7774 I’d say it’s probably because they hadn’t perfected the voice direction yet when they did the first game. By the time they did the second game, they already knew what techniques to use from the first game and what to improve.
Or a Japanese company didn't know how to give voice direction for English speakers, or just tried to cheap out. 🤷♂️
Arguably the simplest explanation.
The voice acting in the silent Hill games are precious and should not be touched, for me it fits the game so Well
100% agree, the stilted and somewhat stiff voice acting makes the characters come off as confused and uncertain. They're just normal people in a frightening, surreal environment, it wouldn't make sense for them to speak smoothly and composed or be spouting badass one liners.
Agreed. It's ignorant when people complain about the voice-acting in these games. SH1 isn't great, but video game voice acting was quite new at that time. However, especially with SH2, the voice-acting has been criticized as being horrible, but, actually, the voice-acting is really good considering the mentality of each of the characters. People who complain about the voice-acting simply just don't understand the town of Silent Hill and the screwed up individuals which it attracts.
@@derrickowen8162 When you get the positive ending with Mary Reading her letter to James the voice acting Seems totally fine, i totally think that the voice actors got told to be a little off with their dialog
I haven't played or watch anyone play this game, but the clip he showed personally felt awkward to me. Not the voice acting itself, but the lines probably could have been reworded better. But that's just my thoughts, completely respect your thoughts too
@@arty_mc_artist Considering how old the game is, it makes sense that the dialogue itself hasn't aged the greatest. Probably sounded better in 1999.
I adore the voice acting, it adds so much character to the game and makes everything feel just that much more "off" and uncanny.
Like a fever dream?
I agree. I assumed it was on purpose.
@@butwhytho4858 sadly it wasn't intentional that's been confirmed, the writers were Japanese and had no dedicated English translation team so the voice acting (which is English in Japan too) is extremely stilted due to the actors.
1. Having somewhat poor direction.
2. A poorly translated script.
But I gotta agree like Resident Evil 1-3 the cheesy voice acting really does add to the atmosphere.
@@MrPikaGammer It absolutely was intentional. Harry Inaba is a fantastic voice director. He knew what he was doing and spoke English just fine. The voice acting is stilted and strange because that was the intention. It's to create a sense of surrealism and it works perfectly.
I've heard different stories about the weird voice acting for this game. One I heard was it was intentional, another I heard was that there was a cultural divide between the voice actors and the director, where the director chose vocal takes that sounded 'cool' to them from a Japanese perspective, but didn't necessarily sound good to English speakers.
Silent Hill 1 and 3 with the Harry and Heather Mason saga was done perfectly, and it’s my favorite story of the franchise.
They were very creepy, disturbing and full of Twin Peakish type of mystery that kept you wanting to keep moving through Silent Hill and discovering it’s darkest secrets through damned residents or cult members.
I just love Silent Hill 1 and 3’s story the most.
I was watching Twin Peaks: The Return lastnight episode 3 when Cooper is winning all the mega jackpots in the casino, a Konami screen shows for just a couple seconds on the slot machine. I never noticed it before and was confirmation for me that David Lynch recognizes Silent Hill as an amazing fucking video game
@@jennyfinn2447 Oh yeah, Mr Lynch was just letting team Silent know that he sees them, and was probably flattered that someone was inspired by his work from overseas.
I love that part in Twin Peaks the return (Season 3) where Agent Cooper was now a man named Dougie in that Casino and since that was the good half of Agent Cooper’s soul, he was blessed with incredible luck where nothing could go wrong for him, he was like a fish out of water too and didn’t speak much, but when he played the slot machine, and seen a older man near him win at his slot machine, he said “Heeeellllloooooo!!!😆 as the coins were flooding his hand.
Agent Cooper or should I say Dougie, then played his slot machine and kept winning and getting flooded with coins, and every time he won and coins would come out, he would say “Heeeeelllllloooooooo!!!😐” very robotic and acting like it made him happy just like the old man near him.
I love that part so much it cracks me up every time lol 😂😂.
It’s the little things like that in the Twin Peaks series that I love, all those small moments where characters are doing random things that don’t fit the main plot.
@@jerrym1218 I think I consider him more Cooper than Dougie, the only part of him that's Dougie's is his shoes. Dougie being manufactured, it makes since that the good Coop isn't fully there because it would upset the balance with both doppelgangers in the world. As soon as he gets his shoes back near the end of the season, I know we about to have Cooper back to himself. I love Twin Peaks! Not many people in my area atleast even know what it is
@@jennyfinn2447 Yup 👍🏼.
Cooper was a very good character, he was more good than someone evil, I will say though, he did a great job playing his part as Mr. C too, the dark side where Bob went in.
I miss Twin Peaks so much, but at the same time, I’m glad that it had a ending that really didn’t answer any questions because that’s the beauty and mystery of life in our universe.
I absolutely love the voice acting in Silent Hill. It's so dreamy and disconnected, which blends with and amplifies the atmosphere exceptionally. It is intentional
It's not intentional, jesus
Yes! i dont know if its intentional or not, but i like it that way, the tone of the game is there and the voice acting feel surreal, like you said, as if in a dream, it give you this unconfortable feeling mixed with calm... and certain charm. Personally i feel that a group of profesional actors like these knew what they were doing for sure.
@@GabryyLG it indeed is, make some research gringo.
@@smart.but.stupid No, it is not. Your research is nothing more than a handful of youtubers and articles that make that claim without evidence, sometimes ONLY as speculation, as a way to further circlejerk the older SH games. If you're not convinced, why don't you try to find proof by linking that claim being made by the actual developers?
@@GabryyLG same goes for you. Very clever to turn this around on me while I don't see YOU coming up with proofs in the first place.
Back in PS1 era, I love how everyone calls the nightmare world "Nightmare" without any official guide or social media to talk about.
We all called it "Nightmare" by instinct like everyone else in the world and that was awesome.
I called it Violent Hill
My friends and I, possibly being less imaginative than everyone else, called it "Shitty World." as in "Oh no, we're back in shitty world."
@@DigitalProphet Hehehe, Shitty World. "Oh fuck. Not Shitty World again. The monsters here *suck.* And they are *everywhere!* "
@@jmporkbob that's clever
I figured it came from the game -Nightmare- creatures? Another survival horror game from a few years before
I think the eventual "you're the hunter not the hunted" end game-y parts of survival horror games is just as important. It's like a catharsis to kick butt after yours has been kicked for the whole game.
Basically every linear game is slowly building an arsenal and going from pathetic weakling to ultimate badass
@@nintendojunky12 Yeah but the thing people point to is how its not really linear. Its not like you slowly get stronger and more capable, you get huge boosts either at the very end or new game plus.
I remember playing this game after Resident Evil 2, and thinking "Konami just sweept the floor with Capcom". I never felt scared with RE2, but Silent Hill creeped the hell out of me 23 years ago, and still scares me to this day. I was working in the afternoons at that time, and used to come home about 11 pm; so, in case it was not creepy enough, I played it alone, in my silent house at night. It was a whole experience.
This game changed my mind on horror, I remember playing my PS1 and going into school the next day, my friends would ask me about the lore because they were too terrified to play it themselves. SH is responsible for me loving horror games.
I was only 11 in '99 and was too terrified out of my mind to go past the beginning alley scene. I needed someone else with me and lights on. Now at almost 35, I greatly appreciate the genius behind its design.
tbh i always thought the voice acting was bad on purpose to show there is just something off with it, like the people talking are never entirely there.
It for sure had that effect on me when i played it. I never perceived it as bad but just strange and weird like so many things in this town are.
yes I agree. I didnt think it ws bad at all lol
same here
adds to the surreal, dreamlike tone ... makes me think of David Lynch films
When Silent Hill was made voice-acting in games was generally lackluster. It might have been one of those "happy accidents" in that stilted voices and blunt, witless dialogue help build atmosphere of alien and unknown.
In first playthrough yeah but In second playthrough those weird laughter made by creeper creep me out.
Around the 22-minute mark, when you really showed the ambience of the game after explaining it's charm, I had to stop the video. I have to play this. Thank you Josh.
I honestly like the off beat dialogue. It adds to the eeriness of the whole experience imo. I remember sitting in a pitch black room as my cousin played for the first time and being shell shocked. Didn’t sleep for a week!
Every monster in this game has something to do with Alessas fears or interests; the Airscreamers are from a book she used to read about dinosaurs, greychildren are schoolmates who bullied her, the bosses from fairytales or her interest in butterflies... the jellybeans thing is dumb but she loved to eat them, thats why there is a key in that bag...
I wouldn't say it's "dumb" anymore than children are dumb; their brains are just still in the process of developing and candy still seems special and comforting when you're that young. But yeah, that's one of the things I loved slowly realizing while playing this game; how Alessa's psychology affected this place. The more you read about her, the more the nightmares make sense. Silent Hill is probably part of what got me so interested in psychology.
The real puzzle of that jelly bean bag for me has been to figure out how are there 39 flavors!
One shout out this game never gets is how well it *nails* the _feeling_ of the blood.. a small thing, maybe; but has a big psychological impact.. the colour, the transparency, the way it darkens as it layers on top of itself on the floor, the contrast of the fresh blood from you or enemies with the crusty, congealed mess on the walls and floors.. _incredibly_ effective
compare to the "Hammer House of Horror" blood in Resi for example
Man this game is something else, I played it for the first time during the pandemic with raining pouring outside and it just hits different, its sends such an eerie emotion, puddles of blood with corpses, the fog, the mystery, the sound design. I was completely hooked from the start, fucking phenomenal.
Exactly how I felt back in 1999 or whenever it was released. I've never had a game suck me in and involve me like that since. Even silent hill 2, which is better in everyway didn't have the same effect on me as this one
Where did you find Silent Hill 1?
@@TwoFuzzyButts there is PC port
@@Krzemieniewski1 ah cool thank you I'll have to find it.
@@TwoFuzzyButts only 2, 3 and 4 of the Team Silent games have PC ports, SH1 can be emulated fairly easily to compensate
I think anyone who has ever had to help out a friend or a loved one in a dissociative episode can appreciate the odd voice acting.
Someone in that state sounds very similar. Numb, tired,unsure while oddly not caring. It’s extremely uneasy & unsettling. I think it fits this game , the world, and the plot extremely well.
It also reminds me of myself when I was in my worst depressive episodes. Just talking was hard. A physical exercise. Forget trying to convey emotion.
Its why I have a soft spot for the acting
@@elvingearmasterirma7241 I believe that is what they were going for, too. It definitely was in 2. If you hear the VAs in other stuff they’re “good” in it, so in this game it’s not because they’re bad actors.
🤔
The tone was good, the direction was just a little too flat. The sweetspot was like, just missed and that just kinda kills the vibe. It's not "Stop! Don't Open That Door!" Or anything like that mind you, but it does need a little more crazy
The sound design in this game... Every single sound effect is somehow terrifying on its own!
Akira Yamaoka was sound designer of first four Silent Hill-games and head honcho of The Room as well. He is true master of his craft.
@@vksasdgaming9472 why in the seven hells did he make the burping dudes though o.O
It's where most of the suspenseful horror comes from in the series, you're imagination fills in that gap in what horror's could be lurking in the fog and darkness, that broken radio mechanic was pure horror genius
Even the menu sounds are fittingly eerie.
@@Sylvine perhaps a perfect troll. Akira took Silent Hill to the level of terrifying more than any other aspect of the game imho
Fun little fact. The number 4 in Japan can be pronounced two ways, “yon” or “shi”. The “shi” also means death in Japanese so almost nobody uses “shi” when saying 4. In Japan the number 4 is like the number 13 in North America, an unlucky number and will be omitted from hospitals and hotels (not all of them but quite a few). When the 4th floor appears In the elevator on Silent Hill it’s like the 13th floor appearing in North America, Bad stuff is about to happen.
Did not know that fun little fact! Now something that seemed like nothing but random has a very specific parallel.
@@NoStoryNoWorry it's not just that 4 is "unlucky" in Japanese the same way 13 might be in the West. The word for four and death are the same, they're both prounced "shi" . 四 = 4，死 = death
It is exactly the same in Chinese but it is prononced "si"
Know what's weird? 1+3 = 4
Thanks for sharing that! So that means the suddenly appearing 4th floor button isn't just spooky because it wasn't there a second ago, but because going to the 4th floor is like an omen of death, kind of like a clock striking thirteen. Neat.
One little easter egg in this, at 19:25 the names of the teachers in that file are the 3 main members of the band Sonic Youth. The devs must have been fans :)
I just commented this lol
holy shit. love that!
Lol just did the same as Daniel 😄
So does the 1997 Portishead album, on the window of the coffee at the beginning, and in front of the Antique shop, on a wall.
The game is packed with references. All the streets are named after famous sci-fi/horror authors.
I am much more fascinated with the maps in Silent Hill games than I should be. It's just an absolutely tiny little detail but so immersive to actually have the map be a map that they physically draw on. I don't know why but it just makes it so much more immersive
I used to work in a school as tech support, then in the same school as a night cleaner/janitor. Now I know why I found the the same school in the dark unsettling. Fucking Silent Hill.
Tech support and a janitor? 👍
I quit job as a night janitor in my school after one night. Just couldn't do it.
I’d never want to be in a normally crowded building when it’s dark and nobody is in there
Lol, same man, i don't know what's called in English, but i worked as a security guy closing buildings and offices, and fkn hell shit is so creepy, sometimes there are so many creepy noises.
One building was the fucking worst i shit myself so many times, it was designed that it will play noises or music when you use the staircase, and since i had to control every floor i had to hear the noises in this building, full of creepy artworks and statues, i quit the job because after 5th time i couldn't live with the stress arriving at this building 😂
I was a security guard in a big fancy performance art gallery. During the day it's full with people and performances, not scary at all. But during the night, it's this giant empty building and you are just waiting to round a corner to see something awful when doing your hourly rounds of the place. It didn't help that I was addicted to vicodin and weed at the time, adding to my paranoid state. That, and being a security guard at a corn packing plant out in the middle of nowhere were always scary.
Never got into the whole SH and RE games but always wondered about the lore and why people love those games so much, and now I see why... Even though I will never play them just because its not my kinda game but the gameplay and lore itself(at least for this episode) is enough for me to be like that's a solid game right there.
This is a problem with the internet though. People like you will never touch a game but get your ENTIRE opinion based on a youtuber or streamer. Not a good way to function in general.
@@jonathansoko1085 that's literally why reviews exist, to help us make decisions. It would be unreasonable to try out EVERY single game. Keep your elitist mentality in check, there are several ways to enjoy content. Why else would full playthrough channels be thriving?
Its a good reason why Josh created the new channel. Its a great way to experience nostalgia or something new.
SH changed 13yo me forever!
imagine not being a sheep and doing things yourself
There is actually a technique to kill the last boss without being hit and is just run around him in circles, and stop to shoot her when she stop his lighting attack and repeat, Or... Before enter that place, be sure to not have ANY kind of ammunition of any type, and your guns totally empty, since you can't attack the boss with melee weapons, the game kill her automatically
There are also metal pipes in the are that absorb (most of) the boss' attack power - they work as grounding basically
Yeah, I remember running around that boss to evade the lightning attacks. A lot of running around in that game.
So... pretty much like in terraria? Run in circles and shot when you can?
So what happens if you enter with only one handgun bullet?
@@MelAncholynus if im not wrong, you fight against the boss normally until you spend that bullet, then you have to wait until the game "get it" and the boss kill himself
Hahaha, had to post this coz its too perfect xD watching the part with the cat and youtube decides its time for a Whiskas cat food advert right between you letting the cat out and the sound of it dying, it lines up so perfectly i cant breathe from laughing.
I feel like every line of dialogue was recorded seperately of the entire conversation. Hence it all not fitting together and sounding "terrible". However, it does give off a certain feeling that things are not right, and that you're not certain if it's a dream. I think that is what they were going for. That feeling of a dream is in every aspect of the game, and the dialogue and music gave me that same "off" feeling.
You probably right about the seperatly recorded lines. My guess would be it was easier for the PSX to load. But it really adds to the creepy feeling. Just as fog and darkness was used to hide the barely existent drawdistance. It's brilliant how they used the system's shortcomings to the game's advantage.
The director asked the voice actors to leave a 1 second delay in between dialogue. It kept the voice actors from having a natural flow. It's explained here. ua-cam.com/video/b28ZOweNNvc/v-deo.html
@@NordWinter87 no, having the lines recorderd seperatly would not make it easier to loud.....That was one of the Advantages of a CD based system, being good at loading consecutive data.
Nor would it even make sense to record lines seperatly if that was the case....You DO realize audioediting exists? and existed even back then? if they needed the dialogue to be seperate clips they would have simply cut it into the bits they need...
This was either bad voice directing, or 100% intentional
In this case it was the later, but given the time period it could have been booth(i remember one game where the devs picked voice actor purely on appereance without actualy understanding english themself)
I haven't finished the video so I'm sure you'll mention it at some point, but I want to share: The original Silent Hill borrowed very heavily from the 1990 movie "Jacob's Ladder." The initial scene with the lighter and the wheelchair is heavily reminiscent of protagonist Jacob being wheeled on a gurney through a hallway which becomes increasingly more nightmarish the farther he goes in. This includes familiar elements like a child's bicycle, old dilapidated building, inexplicable light changes, chainlink ceilings with deformed people crawling across, humanoid shapes with rapid head movement and more. In general, the game borrow's the movie's "dream-like" quality, where scenes start out normal and then smoothly, gradually transition into creeping horror as the situation becomes more confusing and surreal.
Of at least the numbered sequels, the original is in my opinion easily the best due predominantly to the way it's structured. It works in discrete sequences, as Harry starts out in seemingly normal environments which slowly deteriorate into more and more horrifying, twisted versions of themselves before he's returned to nominal reality for a breath of air. Repeat. The first couple confuse the player. The next few are the truly unsettling ones, however, as the player begins to recognise when things are about to go bad. A hitherto non-existent fourth floor button appearing in an elevator which did not have that before is a clear indication that things are about to get really bad.
In a previous comment, I criticised Amnesia for requiring me to WANT to be scared in order for its scares to be effective. Silent Hill requires no such cooperation from me. Is presentation and gameplay mechanics do all of the work.
Even though that's the official belief, I feel lots of twin peaks vibes
"Limitation breeds creativity" is a great point of yours. This is true of one of my favorite classics, majora's mask, where the one year dev time caused the creation of such a weird, unique, and unforgettable game that truly stands out from other entries.
Same problem in Hollywood, too.. why bother coming up with a creative, truly innovative way to shoot a live action set piece for your movie, be it miniatures, matt paintings etc; when you could just make the whole thing on a computer?
Computer Technology *forces* creative bankruptcy
@@unbearifiedbear1885 true
@@unbearifiedbear1885 i dont see how thats a problem, being able to use CGI lets you make better looking scenes, on a bigger scale, for less money and less time
For real. There were parts of that game that scared the hell out of me. Most underrated in the franchise
Silent Hill was the first horror games to legitimately unnerve me. I was a major horror fan growing up thanks to my upbringing with parents heavily invested into the genre. So when stuff like Splatterhouse and later Resident Evil came around, I ate them up and loved them. But they never felt "Scary", just horror themed action games really. Resident Evil had the atmosphere at times, but it never actually left me unsettled. Silent Hill came around and as gaming magazines were a big thing back then, I had been reading about it before it came to the US for a while. And was salivating to play it. PSM (The unofficial US Playstation mag, and a favorite of mine) had a big walkthrough of the game across a few issues. I remember reading some of that walkthrough before I could even afford to play the game. Finally I saved up enough money to buy a copy of the game and I knew I was in for something special - and special it was. No game had ever made me feel the way this one had at that time. Left unnerved and just absolutely absorbed in it's world and lore.
Then came the School section of the game. That really did it for me. See, I lived around the block from an old elementary school (Used in the early 1900s, Robert Wadlow attended there.) that had been turned into a glass blowing factory. It was known to be notoriously haunted. (Even featured later on an episode of Ghost Hunters.) My dad had worked for the company that owned that place for a long time, and even after the factory shut down, he was in charge of handling it's alarm. See, the alarm would get triggered at least once a week by something or another. And my dad would have to get up in the AM to go and meet the police there to turn off the alarm and check the place out with them. He had made a thing of showing people around the building at night, especially around Halloween since he had the keys and the alarm code. So all of my friends had all been taken on personal tours of the place. We all knew it well, and it was very creepy. And the school from Silent Hill resembled this school down the street from me a whole, whole lot. So the terror of that area in particular really struck me hard. I recall taking my best friend up there on night as my dad had to go and do something. And we were both talking about how the school in the game creepily resembled that place in reality. My dad overheard us and wanted to see the school in the game out of curiosity. We showed him later and he got a kick out of it, and agreed that there were plenty of similarities.
So that part in particular will always stand out for me as one of my favorite legitimately frightening areas in a video game due to those memories. What a fantastic game Silent Hill is.
Turning off the flashlight is actually very useful, enemies notice you far less when it's off. You can avoid most enemies that way, really good when running through corridors where you don't need to interact with items.
Fun Fact: The kids with knives in the School can be killed with just one hit with the pipe from behind and with the flashlight turned off.
B-bu-b-b-but that’s scawy 😢😢😢
Fr tho it’s really useful on the way to the lighthouse
I find the shift in power in horror games good . It feels good to go from running from an enemy to being able to pummel them . It also allows you to properly explore the world than running scared to the exit .
100% agreed generally. The issue in Silent Hill is that it happens too fast. You should feel powerful right before the climax or during it, so that way you get to relieve all the built up tension as things close out. In Silent Hill you get endgame powerful about a third of the way in.
@@MidlifeCrisisJoeit should’ve been that the hammer was an endgame weapon
Silent Hill 1 was my dads favourite PS1 game, We'd play it all the time in the very early 2000's
Same dude, and Dino Crisis hahah
@@Narzick We had that one to! Yeah classic. For us it was SH1, Alien Trilogy which I still play today. Abes Oddesy and this really weird cube game that we had on a demo disc. I.Q.: Intelligent Qube
! It was called. Dad loved that one
@@Narzick haha . true . I loved dino crisis and sh 1
@@RetroTekGuyAU For us it was SH1, Resident Evil, Dino Crisis, Dead in the Water, and some demolition derby game we would play for ages until.we got the modchip, and then we had every game burned to disk 😂
@@Narzick Destruction Derby was wicked man!!
I forgot about that bloopers ending, that is hilarious. Just gives you more depth on how artistic the creators are for this game.
I love the emphasis you put on how vital it is to have a map. I actually missed the map my first time going through the hospital, which made that whole section even more of a nightmare than it already was.
I miss exactly stuff like that. No constant hand holding and therefore letting you f up. And sill being able to beat the game with just more effort. Man I miss that.
Hospital isn't that bad to navigate through. On my first playthrough I didn't find the map for the city area that you explore at night after leaving sewers. Now that was a pain in the ass.
I have always found what happened to Lisa to be the saddest thing ever. An unsettling visage of her bleeding profusely, but sad seeing how desperate she sounded.
At least she (Or at least the projection of Lisa) got to drag the drug kingpin straight to Hell.
Lisa is my favourite character from the game, such a dramatic story and a gorgeous breath of fresh air from the disturbing world surrounding the player.
Stands out but not in a too in the face way, but it definitely has a strong effect.
The whole game is a masterpiece anyway, I could point out everything that I love about it only by talking for hours lol
That cg cutscene was so intense. Always leaves me speechless
Silent Hill, the location in the game not the game, I always thought would make an interesting TV Show, where each season would focus on a different person's nightmares and the town manifesting them.
Love the game series, love the stories and lore (even if I don't love playing them) and just adore the music
A miniseries of vignettes - individual, self contained stories in the universe
I can't tell you how many projects I've wanted to see go in that direction... the new "Alien" series a prime example
Yeah Silent Hill is one of those game series that has a great concept, and one you don't see often, but for various reasons the execution falls short to many people. I grew up playing Resident Evil and I, like many people at the time I think, thought the games wre very similar so it was only worth it to play one one series, I started High School the same year RE1 or maybe the director's cut came out in 96. So yeah a series like Fargo or Twilight zone/Outer Limits would work perfectly provided someone who showed understanding of and willingness to follow the core concept of the game series, which was one of the problems with the movies; it watered down that core concept and made it into a standard haunted town.
It would definitely make for a good season in American Horror Story.
I don't know, I really never liked that idea mainly just because Silent Hill 2 was meant to be a departure and every fan of the series knew that at the time. Plus no one has ever done it as good as Silent Hill 2.
@@kalelvigil1510 While I agree that it may not be as good as SH2, I don't think that means it couldn't be attempted! Maybe something will even happen by accident, who knows.
I think one of my favorite effects in this game is the way the empty houses look. The power's off, so there's no sound or artificial light. What light there is seems to be spilling through windows to the outside, and the fog seems to be seeping into the room thanks to the lighting effect. It gives off a cold, dead feeling when you're in the house on Levin street or K. Gordon's place. It's that feeling you get when you're all alone and you feel like someone's watching you. It's authentically creepy as hell, and I love it.
The game spawned a thousand nightmares.
Probably around the mil mark
@@tree4318 no it hit the Mill after Shadman got involved… :)
which is why ill never play it.
There aren't THAT many games post SH3
@@Demonskunk the room, homecoming, origins, book of memories, shattered memories and downpour. Of those the room feels much more firmly set in a B-horror tone than a stephen king one so it feels like an actionized spin-off, homecoming is absolute americanized garbage which is a waste of the dev's time (iirc there was an earlier version which was far more promising but the suits stepped in), origins is an absolute fanfiction and of middling quality at that which is only worth playing if you want more silent hill and have consumed everything else even remotely good and are willing to divorce it from the actual canon to prevent it from ruining the other games, book of memories should be forgotten with whoever insisted it be developed like that strung up and spat on, shattered memories is like an original silent hill's atmosphere polished but excised of any horror and downpour is what you would describe as a 5/10 silent hill.
So of all the games after 3 you have, like, 3 that are any worth playing and of those only one really scratches that silent hill itch (shattered memories). So yes, you are correct but only if one were to have knowledge of the series beforehand. Or is willing to take the word of someone online.
This game is still frightening to this day. I can’t play this game alone, it’s really that good and effective to the human mind.
It's honestly my favorite because of how haunting it is even to this day. None of the sequels captured the same fear and dread of this game for me
@@benamisai-kham5892 you are 100% correct. Nothing like this one.
It's funny, I've barely thought about SH for the last 20 years, but watching this made me realise how much this game fucked me up as a kid, especially the scene where Lisa starts pouring blood out of everywhere. And also SH is the reason WW2-style air raid sirens basically give me panic attacks
what about make the same speed run in Firts person mode?
ua-cam.com/video/2okS1tOHksg/v-deo.html
Silent hill was one of my favorite games for the PS2 year
Silent Hill was way ahead of it's time in sound design, like you can hear the influence it's had in so many games. It's just gorgeous, just the kind of horror that keeps on creeping up the dread with not many jump scares (and when they happen it's all the more effective). My favorite of the series is still Silent Hill 2, but this was my first true love in horror. I never found Resident Evil games particularly scary but this game, probably shouldn't have played it at the age I did :D
SH2 is overrated while the first game is underrated imo. Though I love the trilogy almost evenly, I always found it rather annoying how people tend to underestimate 1
@@Walamonga1313 so true.
@@Walamonga1313 I guess the relationship and sickness aspects hits people harder tha losing your kid to a cult which is done more often in horror. Way more often. But then the first Silent Hill is an homage to western horror in total. Also if I recall correctly Japan was out of the cult phase at that time, too.
@@Walamonga1313 That's a hot take.
SH2 isn't overrated at all. SH1 is definitely underrated, but the journey of SH2's characters, the Jungian monsters, and the heavy themes of personal trauma compelled it leagues ahead of its predecessor, and with damn good reason. Couple that with its actual gameplay elements and reactive storytelling, and you've got a great case for GOAT for Horror.
And not to knock SH1, but the story is rather haphazard and random. Yes, the lore and history of the game's world is deep and horrifying, but what actually happens in the presence of your character goes against it. Hell, even unlocking the Good endings is a frustratingly obtuse process that doesn't actually make sense to your character's journey. What's the functional difference between finding the red vial and not? He takes it from your hand rather than his own hiding place 2 feet away, but somehow in one ending he doesn't have this vial available, as if his trip there was entirely focused on the player's discovery of it. This and other issues bring down SH1 overall, but no moreso than many other beloved horror classics.
I fucking adore SH1. It's still nowhere near as good as 2.
Oh, and if anyone wants to play the trilogy (which I highly recommend), stay very far away from the "HD Collection". It somehow looks worse than the original releases, introduces literally dozens of bugs large and small, and made the baffling decision to completely re-record many voice lines, and not even the ones you think.
Silent Hill itself is like an improved version of Alone in the dark.
No mention of the creepy siren blaring in the background as the world shifts into the otherworld? Thanks to Silent Hill, everytime I hear a siren in real life I get creeped out. Also, you can avoid the final boss's lightning bolts you just need to run at an angle.
Well the Siren they use is a specific kind and creepy so the sirens you hear regularly aren't even close to that sound. They use like nuclear bunker claxons lol
"A tale of birds without a voice" is my favourite riddle in a videogame to this day.
And I played Silent Hill on release back in the day.
A gif of Lisa as she began to transform into a monster is single handedly what got me into Silent Hill in the first place.
Though there was no audio/music and the gif only got as far as her winking as the blood dripped into her eye, it was so visually haunting/pretty/sad that I needed to learn more.
Earlier in the video it is mentioned how the game references different works of madness. The Flauros item you get in the church at 32:00 is a reference to an ancient grimoire known as the Lemegeton, which holds record of magic that King Solomon was allegedly able to use to summon and control 72 demons. Flauros was the name of one of those demons.
Goetia : Gotta catch em'' all.
This is the most important comment to this video
Why is the number 72 important? Isnt that the number of virgins you get promised if you're a martyr?
How did you figure this out? Brilliant !
@@tadhg3 I found out through playing Fate/Grand Order, which is chock full of references to various myths, legends and the like. The main antagonist of the first arc of the story is King Solomon, or rather his corpse possessed by the collective mind of the 72 demons he was said to be able to control. I asked a family friend about the concept because he's looked into things like this before and he told me about something called The Lesser Keys of Solomon, which as it turns out is another name for the Lemegeton. There's no actual proof that Solomon was actually responsible for the writing of this grimoire, but all the same it is attributed to him.
Flauros in particular is one of the demons specifically named in Fate/Grand Order, and I've seen references to it in other works as well, such as the anime Iron Blooded Orphans, which names some of its mechs after demons named in the Lemegeton, and even specifically mentioned that there used to be 72 of these mechs in the show's history.
i have been in an abandoned mental asylum. i live on long island in ny and theirs the kings park mental asylum thats closed down and its absolutely horrifying to go through and an incredible experience. you can really feel the pain stored in those buildings. you just feel it all around you. i never really believed in spirits an all that but after having gone through there a couple of times i can say for sure that while their may not be ghosts, residual feelings in certain places certainly is real. the amount of suffering that occured in those buildings was so powerful that you can really feel it as youre walking around. Since its so scary too youre extra sensitive to things and maybe it is just your mind playing tricks on you. But for me the feeling of walking through those buildings chilled me to my core. And this game gave me a very similar feeling when i was kid. and THAT is what makes this game an amazing classic for me. They really did a fantastic job of making you feel the insanity, and fear as you explore the world an progress further into the insanity that is Silent Hill.
Back in the days, I had a demo CD of SH1. I remember it creeping me out so much, I couldn't continue it. I'm not easily REALLY creeped out. SH1 might be one of very few games that actually managed that.
I was always interested in the game, but couldn't even watch let's plays of it for several years, as it scared me that much.
I tried watching the movie twice, but both times had to shut it off, as I couldn't handle the tension it created in me.
Somewhere in my 20s I then could finally watch a let's play completely. And have since then watched let's plays of it multiple times. But honestly, I never understood the story.
Your story wrap up was the first that made the story somewhat clear to me. It's still extremely twisted, but I finally understood what it's all about.
Your analysis is great. I like how you cover every single aspect.
SH1 will always have a special place in my heart. It's an absolute gem. One of the best games, ever created.
Fun side story: when I moved into my current house, a few weeks in, it was late evening and I sat on my couch, when suddenly the exact SH siren began to go off outside. All the color dropped out of my face, I cramped up and held my breath. It was so surreal and scared the living crap out of me.
Only later I found out that there is a fire station near by and they use this siren as their alarm when they drive out.
So I hear it every now and then, up till today. And every time it takes my breath. I simply can't get used to it 😅
I remember giving the demo to my older sister as a kid and she gathered up all her friends and they played it.
They couldn't finish it though (too scary and difficult) and they had to get kid me to come do it for them, lol.
Every Saturday morning at 12.00 they would sound an alarm like that too and likewise it scared me every time.
Terrific game that did exactly what a horror game is supposed to.
Scare the hell out of your soul.
100% same for me
I feel like I'm starting to have a panic attack when I hear air raid sirens, all because of this game
53:55 - 54:19 one of my favourite cutscenes of all time and the music is just incredible I can never watch it just once when it's played in a video lol
Want to say I really appreciate how you present the game, how you show so many side details and give the viewer an impression of how free the player feels to move around and explore the town than in SH2, where it is almost literally a single closed path forward between each of the game's buildings. A lot of people do not convey that at all when talking about this game.
Ah, the piano puzzle. I remember calling my Nan to see if she could work it out. Because she had a piano and she didn’t know. To this day, I’m so bloody proud to say that I worked it out, myself. Although, I generally suck as puzzles, in game. I remember being friends with a Chinese kid from school, and he had a cousin that recently moved to U.K. from China and he was stuck on the piano puzzle, too and was really shocked and happy when I showed him how to do it.
On my run back in the day, I never found a map, stumbled around in panic, then killed Cybil and it broke my heart so hard that I stopped playing. Then, SH2 broke it at least two more times. No other games could impact my emotions like that. Also, Josh's deep understanding of horror pleases me greatly.
I literally played it a week ago for the first time and the same thing happened to me. I never found the resort map and found out you needed to pick up some random bottle from the hospital kitchen and fill it with some liquid in another room to sabe Cybil. WHO IN THE HELL FIGURED THAT OUT ON THEIR FIRST PLAYTHROUGH? and you couldn't go back either.
@@illusion8457 At last, someone who understands my pain!
@@Maggerama You had to explore every damn corner in this game since items didn't shine like in resident evil. So I ended up missing a lot of stuff like the doctor in the resort. Also those monkey fucks can go drown themselves. I literally stumbled around in the otherworld resort for 30 minutes before I found out that the boat has another exit.... I've never felt dumber in my life.
@@illusion8457 I know, right! The whole feeling dumb thing especially. To run around like a headless chicken while being tackled by monkeys, thinking "where did I go wrong?" while getting pecked by every pterodactile in in barely see-through vicinity is one hell of an embarrassing experience. But hell, it's only more memorable this way!
the 'bonus' hospital floor is the thing I remember most clearly about this game over 20 years later
I was actively getting turned around and going back and forth between the first three floors repeatedly and hadn't noticed the 4th floor. when I finally realized it was there, it freaked me out so bad I had to stop playing for a while
I seem to remember suddenly wanting to spend another hour or two running in circles when I noticed the 4th floor
the number 4 in Japanese can be pronounced as "shi" which has the same pronunciation as the word "death".
this can also be applied for 7 " *shi* chi" and even 9 "ku" which sounds like the word for pain/agony. As a result, these numbers have alternative spellings and pronunciations.
That was my first experience with the game. My sister rented it and when I came by she was just about to reach the hospital. The 4th floor appearing out of nowhere followed by the nightmare hospital and those nurses.....it frightened 10 year old me
The sirens going off right before the world changes always gave me goosebumps!
I played SH1 when i was 12, i'm 34 now and the intro music still gives me chills
Love your review of the game.
I wanted to point out one detail left out that I always thought was extremely clever. The warning siren that became iconic in the series. It's an amazing touch to have it signify the transition from real to nightmare. These sirens signify danger in the real world. Simultaneously vague and specific in nature. Vague in that they can't tell you what the danger is. Just that it's coming and you need to prepare right now. Specific in the sort of danger it will be. Catastrophic, unavoidable and beyond human reason. Earthquakes, tsunami, tornadoes, landslides or enemy bombings. Forces that can't be dealt with, only escaped from. Lovecraftian things that care not for mortal lives and will sweep the land clean no matter what you do.
The siren is iconic in this series because it's telling you something horrible is coming. Though it won't tell you just what it is or what you need to do. It's an unnerving and universally understandable sound we've almost all heard before. We know what it means and we all get the same feeling when we hear it.
For the life of me I can't think of a more effective sound they could have used. It was brilliant.
I wanted to add that I think it’s also clever that the same siren also signals the transition from nightmare back to the real world
@@johnnmusic Even better than that - and I might be misremembering as i haven't played this game for over 20 years, but the siren that transitions from nightmare world back to real world was a single sustained high note, which during WW2 (in the UK at least) signalled the 'all clear', i.e. it was safe to leave the bomb shelters
@@ejayman that sounds like exactly what the game designers would do...the easter eggs are what make these games iconic
It's a firefighter siren. Alessa was burned in a fire when the boiler in the house exploded. She probably remembers hearing it and subconsciously manifests it.
22 years ago this game touched me in ways no game should ever touch a child.
bad touch! bad touch!
I could say the same about my uncle
@@nathanio103 rip bro
what about make the same speed run in Firts person mode?
ua-cam.com/video/2okS1tOHksg/v-deo.html
i feel you . this game etched my soul in my childhood days that still affect me up til tonight..
Played this somewhere in 2020 while I was recovering from dental surgery
I love this game and while some people say it aged for being a PS1 game, it feels timeless and satisfying to to bask in. Can't wait to dive into SH2
Did you dive into silent hill 2?!? Preferabbly on PC with the enhanced mod, but any way is best! :)
@@smokagaming played it shortly after making this comment, with an original PS2 copy running on a backwards compatible PS3
masterpiece of a game. back then i thought resident evil was the pinnacle of survival horror untill i got to play silent hill 1. now over two decades later i wouldnt mind a remake with modern graphics. even resident evil 1 got a remake before its sequel
I feel like Harrys determination in this game, including his run style, is entirely motivated by the need to rush to the bathroom with a severe bout of diarrhea.
now that's real terror
That explains the look of the other world and why most of bathrooms are locked
I can still hear the echoing clip clop sounds of his running
what about make the same speed run in Firts person mode?
ua-cam.com/video/2okS1tOHksg/v-deo.html
I ran a mile in 4 minutes and 57 seconds bc I didn’t want to shit myself. 3rd in state for the mile rune
"you can´t win here you can only escape" sounds like life...
Except there is no escape from life, except death.
I CAN'T WAKE UP
That locker room got me in so much trouble.... I screamed at that cat and woke parents up as I was playing at night when I wasn’t allowed up with all the lights off. Terrifying
this is one of my favorite games from that era, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! 😄
11:36 This is what sold me on Silent Hill 2 when I first tried it as a PS Magazine demo back in 2001 ..I was wandering around not having a clue what I was supposed to do, then I noticed the map changing - SOLD!
Gotta love how modern Resident Evil does the same
I wonder if Silent Hill 2 remake will keep this system
I was creeped out by this game a long time ago. When I decide to play it again I get the same feelings. It's a masterpiece ! I love Silent Hill so much :) Such a classic.
I love how replaying it still has this strong feeling to it. Silent Hill 2 is the best in the series, but Silent Hill 1 is my favorite.
Josh: 'A flashlight you will never EVER turn off."
I felt that.
But imagine if it needed batteries.
The School is genuinely terrifying if you play on Hard. On Hard all the enemies respawn every time you exit a room. Also enemies have a smaller proximity to aggro on you with the light turned off, but you can't look at the map with the light off, so The School becomes you sprinting through the dark trying not to run into desks or get attacked while taking brief glimpses at your map to try to plan your next route.
This sounds like freakishly good design
Im way to pussy to play this on hard lmaooooo
The pause between opening the map and returning back to the game actually helpedwith immersing myself more thanhindering it. After all, in real life you don't immediately a map out from thin air when you want to look at it. It's also just as fast as other moments of shifting from a menu or scene to another, and wasn't so slow as to annoy me, but rather play into the slow, contemplative nature of exploring the town.
When this game came out, my cousin rented this (because that's what you did back then) and with my brother, decided to play it until 4 in the morning. In the dark. With surround sound.
Apparently, it was at this point in time that my cat decided to do his nocturnal rounds of the house, jumping up onto the kitchen counter... and knocking a pan onto the floor.
Cue two grown men nearly peeing themselves in fright.
So much nostalgia lol As a kid in the 90's, this game absolutely fucking terrified me to my core lol I had played Resident Evil to death. But the oppressive and psychological horror of this game was so ahead of its time in my opinion. This was the first horror game i ever played in my life where i was afraid to take a step forward, essentially lol Nearly every modern horror game is building on the principles of Silent Hill 1.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game on the ps1 with more richly detailed environments than Silent Hill. Truly impressive art direction that still holds up.
I was waiting for some comments for Lisa's "death" scene. Honestly the first time I saw it I was in shock, although I already suspected that Lisa was dead, the way they rub it in your face with that brilliant cinematography, while her blood is running and with a beautiful but melancholic song that fits perfectly, is just a masterpiece. Without a doubt one of my favorite moments of the whole SH saga.
And And about the voices they don't really bother me, I think they fit very well for the kind of atmosphere the game wants to introduce you in the beginning, feeling lost in a familiar but unknown place while everything gets stranger and creepier, just the way harry feels. But in SH2 james voice ugh really sucks, it's like a listening exercise for english subject.
I’ve always felt Lisa is the most well crafted character in the series, as well as being my personal favorite. Her “death” and diary were heart wrenching for me. Even with hints of her not technically being “real”, I felt dependent on her. Another person with no idea of what was going on, just wanting someone else to be with her and be calm. Then it all crashes and you finally read the diary. Just perfect
James got the best SH story but he's the flattest protagonist of the franchise.
Lisa's death was the first time I ever cried in a video game. Full on sobbing.. I'll never forget how intense and sad that scene was
Exactly my thoughts 💯
@@rodrigoogaz3860 Nah. That would be Henry from SH4: The Room. Henry has a personality of a rock.
The acting direction is actually quite fitting for a dreamlike and uncanny atmosphere.
Silent Hill is the first game I saw that made me say "Wow" upon seeing it's pre-rendered story sequences...for the time the graphics in those sequences was completely beyond anything else I'd seen. To this day Lisa's 'death' remains one of my favorite cinematic sequences from a video game.
You don't have to shoot Cybil until she drops the gun, you can use the Agleophotis on her right when the battle starts.
9:20 is only me that thinks the Voice Acting is actually good ? it is unnatural but in a positive sense, like it's a dream kind of way, it adds up to the atmosphere for me.
To me it came of as Harry i
Being an obviously introverted and stoic everyman who is quietly determined in his one goal. The delivery for everyone else wasn't bad like the video says, it's just the loading between voice lines that makes it awkward and stilted sounding.
It definitely sounds bad to me, it's like reading the line with a straight face, and add no emotion or expression, at all
Yeah it kinda sounds like it's made weird on purpose, for me it adds to the feeling of uneasiness in the game because it gives the impression that everyone just woke up from anesthesia. Weird but I kinda like it.
That's the majority consensus of fans of the game. Some people just have this obsession with "quality" where everything sounds the same, with good-enough execution so everything feels "believable." It's Silent Hill, baby. We get weird here.
In silent hill 2 they were specifically instructed to speak that way. To come across distant in there own world dream like. Creates an unnatural feeling with each of the characters like there's something wrong. It's intentional. Not that people know it for some reason.
I'd love to see you do Parasite Eve. Remember enjoying that game back in the olden times.
+1 to this!
PE 1 and 2 were amazing games IMO.
Such a shame they only made two PE games. It was one of my favorite games from the ps1 era.
@@SplodeyJesus Yes correct only two games!
That and Vagrant Story
@Itoki Norishiba Was able to play it and while I really liked the gameplay, I hated the story, how over the top (for PE), and their explanations as to why things were. Really felt that Square slapped the face of the first two games when they made 3rd Birthday.
I watched a playthrough of this game when I was young and I remember there were times where I got to school early and things were empty and dark it felt so much more creepy cause of it. Not to mention the feeling of fearing what was beyond the fog when I was going to walk my dog out in the country side alone. As scary as it was for me though it was great, I love that feeling of horror.
I have fond memories of playing this in High school with my best friend. We were both extremely creeped out by the nightmare realm, and coming into the room with the blue phones, my friend playfully joked "They're gonna call youuuuuu!"
The phone ringing as I touched the door and us both violently jumping in unison is a core memory I'll treasure forever.
Josh this was fantastic. Keep it up, please. It takes all of us over 30s back to easier times.
Fantastic commentary and analysis.
To me, one of the most iconic thing about old horror games are the sound of the footsteps. They somehow sounds so jarring and somehow makes it very uncomfortable to listen to. I don't exactly know why, but they somehow do.
I find his critique of the sewer section to be absolutely hilarious because none of his points against it are really incorrect. The enemies aren't particularly dangerous or intimidating in comparison to how much power you've accumulated. The environment is...well it's a sewer. A basic municipal location. It's the definition of mundane.
The sewers are a far and away the most terrifying area in the game.
There's a few unique aspects that the sewers introduce that get used in bits in pieces in other parts of the game. The radio doesn't work, so enemies are detected by the sounds they make, chirping from the roaches and loud, distinct clicks from the sewer creatures. For ambience, all sounds are given an echo effect that communicates another unique aspect of the sewers...their size. Up to this point, locations that aren't the overworld town itself are buildings with halls and rooms. Relatively tight spaces with clear loading screens between them. Rooms with enemies would kick off the radio and in some cases, the games soundtrack, but once a room was cleared, everything would calm down and the room would stay cleared for the most part. In the sewers, there's no individual halls are tight spaces _to_ clear. There's _very_ few transition doors between the entrance and exit, so there's never a sense that any part of it is 'cleaned' and therefore 'safe'. This sense of unease is exacerbated by the level's trump card.
The sewer music is the most terrifying music in a game whose soundtrack is famous for how terrifying it is. There's an ambient thrum that plays throughout the entirety of the level that dynamically adjusts as you progress. At first, it's simply unsettling, with a thrum that promises more to come and after a key point of progression is reached, it ramps up and introduces this incredibly spine-chilling... _groan_ if there's an active enemy in pursuit of you. What follows is a mad dash to the exit not because the game's thrown a pile of enemies on you all at once. I mean, it _does_ but they're easily avoided and well within your ability to kill if you wanna waste the ammo. No, the mad dash is so you can get to the exit as quickly as possible and end that terrifying music!
Oh and the thing about the last boss? There being no strat other than tank the hits. That's also wrong. Running in a wide circle around the arena before the attack goes off will have it miss you entirely. The moment you hear the crackle, that's your cue to bolt. It doesn't make the fight any better mind you. If you have the resources, absolutely just tank the hit and keep shooting, but he was pretty emphatic that there's no alternatives and there are.
Well, to be fair, I also dislike the sewers the most. They are repetitive, there isn't much to do and those drowners-like monsters are annoying. When I play SH, it's always the level I look up to the least.
Meh. I did not find the sewers scary. I found the otherworld hospital very scary. Hospitals may be cliche in horror, but they are already an unsettling environment, and pressing that newly-appeared fourth floor button to be met with the rusty, industrial aesthetic of the otherworld is horrifying.
You probably have not played on hard difficulty, it is not that easy as you say. And dificulty adds one more level of horror to the game.
dude the voice acting is perfect, i love it so much