Much has been made of Silent Hill: Homecoming; some view it's release with joy and excitement, ready, willing and eager to re-enter the town that is home to the lost and the damned, whilst others look upon it with equal parts scorn and hesitation. They fear that the new gameplay style will destroy the series that they know and love, and feel great angst over the fact that it has been developed by an American team.
For those of you who don't know, Silent Hill debuted in early 1999 on the Sony Playstation and was meant to be Konami's answer to Capcom's wildly popular Resident Evil; a series which at the time was already on it's third installment. The creators saw what was done in Resident Evil, took note, and decided that they wanted to go an entirely different route. Gone were the Zombies, military garbs, and sci-fi atmosphere and in came something brand new. Team Silent, the name of the developing team of the first four entries of the series, wanted to create something based more in the realm of myth, philosophy, the occult, and psychology; they wanted to create something that wouldn't just cause you to jump, but would fill you with a true sense of dread. So, they took a rather basic concept, man looks for daughter in a ghost town, a heavy dose of atmosphere, at the time the most ever attempted in a game, and a rather unique little concept, plunge the player into pitch-black and give them a simple flash-light to show the way. They topped this off with some of the most bizzare creature designs one had ever seen in a game, rivaling Splatterhouse in all it's 16-bit glory!
From the moment the player stepped onto the snowy, foggy streets of Silent Hill with Harry, the protagonist, they were transported into another world. They wondered along with Harry what was going on here? They would lead Harry up the street, chasing after the faint figure of what both believed was his daughter, Cheryl. As they rounded the corner they stepped into a twisting alley littered with unidentifiable cadavers; they would wonder along with Harry what exactly it was that they were staring at. As they moved deeper into the alley, the light disappeared from the world and the player became trapped in the dark nightmare of a stranger; a stranger who who was, themself, locked in a state of pain, agony.
One may notice that there is a flaw in the thinking of many of the fans that immedietly push away Silent Hill: Homecoming (or five, if you prefer). They will often say that the Americans can't make the game in any way original because it's just beyond their capacity; Americans couldn't make Silent Hill, only the Japanese can. They forget that a good deal of American sources were the inspiration for the series and it's world. Jacob's Ladder was the prime inspiration for the series and it's concept of a character lost in an alternate reality. Then you have the works of Stephen King (particularly the novel Desperation) and H.P. Lovecraft (the stories of ancient cults and gods affecting the current world) which impated many parts of the story and it's development over the course of the now five games. Let us not forget that the scenes involving Lisa in the first game feel directly ripped out of Twin Peaks. So, on that note I must say that fears about the game for that reason are rather irrational.
As per the gameplay, well, I don't see anything which seems to rip one out of the world of Silent Hill.
Anyway, I really just want to say that the series is in my opinion the greatest example of effective storytelling in all of gaming. That's right Metal Gear Solid, fuck you and your wierd super soldier, ninja, monkey, vampire clones who have issues. No series has been able to maintain a story that is more fun to talk about than even playing the game; it is quite unique in it's own right. The countless layers that can be peeled away and examined in the game's story are absolutely daunting. Any fan of the series remembers the first time that you read a plot analysis for one of the games or stepped into a forum and read the long trails of discussions that people were having about the setting, the characters, the signifigance of certain notes found in the game, and the meaning of objects located in the misty world and how they changed in the other world. Yet, the most fascinating aspect of the game's and the aforementioned analysis of them was the monsters. Why did these creatures, or ghosts as I prefer, take on the forms that they did? What kind of torment, trauma, or illness did the characters bring in to the town to feed the spirits? These are the kinds of questions one finds themselves asking when playing these games. Certainly, other games have caught up with Silent Hill in regards to depth of story, Bioshock, Assasin's Creed, Condemned, and Mass Effect all come to mind, but none of them can quite compare with with the misty, empty streets of that northeastern resort town (another Stephen King influence).
Combing back over the series, I can't think of any of the five games that I truly disliked, and I would say that that's because each game really said something about life. Harry's quest to find the daughter who never knew that she was adopted and was really the manifestation of a tortured soul trying to escape her world of pain, James's journey to search for his dead wife and his epiphany in regards to the true nature of her death, Heather's mission of vengeance and her acceptance of who she really is, Henry's scramble for an escape from his lonely existence in his apartment, and Travis's hunt for the flauros and the lost pieces of his memory all tell amazing stories than can transcend even the worst voice-acting (as the first entry of the series can attest to). These tales are all personal on a certain level, and the supporting characters also bear great depth and purpose which fleshes out the universe more. Then you have what each of the games say thematically. Silent Hill one and three discuss the nature of vengeance, the dark side of faith, and the importance of love. Wheras, Silent Hill two touches upon what murder does to the perpetrators, how powerful a drug denial is, and whether any of us can find forgiveness for our sins, while four demonstrated the dual nature of altruism, what the loneliness of modern life does to an individual, and the power and resonance of a single act of kindness and how it can save the world. Lastly, you have Origins which shows us that we need to let go of our trauma, that doing the right thing can lead us down a dificult and treacherous road but that it must be done, and that all of us are damaged in some way or another.
So, I come to the end of this little piece, and I express my admiration for the entire series of Silent Hill. Whether it be it's atmosphere, it's haunting music, or it's simply amazing storytelling the series has always been top notch in my opinion and truly deserves to be considered the king of horror games.
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