Silent Hill – Mailvaltar

After having a tremendously enjoyable time with Silent Hill 2 and especially Silent Hill f my horror-game marathon has slowed down somewhat in recent weeks.

One reason for that is that I’m playing ArcheAge again right now (and would still recommend anyone who loves or loved this game to give the ArcheRage server a shot). More importantly though, I’m not having as good of a time playing the Resident Evil 4 remake as I’d hoped I would.

I played the original on the Wii way back when, so I obviously knew going in that it’s more like a third person shooter with zombies (kind of) than an actual horror game. Still, I’m more than a bit disappointed, given that I’d remembered it pretty fondly.

The problem isn’t the action in and of itself – there’s just too damn much of it!

I’m at the beginning of chapter 5 right now (of which there are sixteen), and my statistics tell me that I have already defeated almost two hundred enemies total. Now, if the combat was really enjoyable that wouldn’t be such a bad thing – only it isn’t in my opinion.

What bugs me the most about it is that enemies spawn out of thin air all the fricking time (which makes being stealthy completely pointless, too), and when they do you’re almost always completely surrounded right away. Neither the game’s controls nor your arsenal of weapons are suited very well for fighting against a whole mob though, so there’s really not much fun to be had there. Again, in my opinion.

I will try and play it all the way through eventually, but more often than not when I sit down in the evening right now I’ll decide that I’d rather be doing something else.

But let’s not be too negative and just talk about Silent Hill 2 instead, yeah?

I don’t even wanna know what happened here…

Despite the first Silent Hill being one of my all-time favourite games, and most fans seeming to agree on its successor being the series’ best entry, I’d never even tried to play it until a couple of years ago for some reason or other. I then stumbled upon the HD Collection for PS4, containing part 2 and 3 with (allegedly) updated graphics. Unfortunately that version still looks and, more importantly, plays like a dinosaur of a game though, so I gave up after two or three hours.

Without a suitable alternative I kept on waiting for a true remaster, which eventually saw the light of day in 2024, and now I’ve finally played it.

So is it better than its predecessor? I’m not sure. I mean, c’mon, I have to compare an experience from last November with my memories of playing a game fricking 26 years ago… It’s damn good though, I can tell you that much!

Once again we’re playing ‘just some dude’, meaning no weapons, no combat expertise…hell, in the beginning we don’t even have a flashlight.

Obviously this contributes a lot to the feeling of dread and helplessness that the series is known for. Add to that the low visibility, eerie ambient noises and ominous score, and you’re on the edge of your seat right away.

The story is pretty dark, and it took quite some time until I even had a clue about what’s going on, both of which also being par for the course in this franchise. I think I liked the first game’s story a bit more overall, but I’ll have to wait for its remake (it’s in the works, yay!) to confirm or disprove that.

I got an ending that I was satisfied with right away, so I haven’t played a New Game Plus yet. I’m pretty sure I will at some point though – gotta try out that chainsaw!

The remaster looks and sounds really good, and it fortunately has done away with most of the original’s clunkiness.

I’m especially glad about the changes to the camera. Don’t get me wrong, I do think that the fixed angles added a lot to the suspense back then, but they were clearly a pain in the ass during fights, particularly in narrow hallways and such. They’ve still used them when appropriate, like in the scene shown above, but most of the time we can freely move the camera around like in any modern third person game. I feel we got the best of both worlds here.

The overall game design does show its age, especially in terms of pacing. During the first hour or so almost nothing happens, and it takes even longer until we get to see the otherworld for the first time.

Other than that I don’t have much to gripe about though. It’s an awesome game, and in this modernized version it can easily hold a candle to current titles.

So if Silent Hill f is an S tier (which, to me, it is) this one’s a very solid A. Can’t wait for the next (i.e. first) one!

I realized something about myself: I like columns.

Akropolis — No, not these. Well, these too, but this ain’t about them

I’m talking about topic categories. My first one was Stay awhile and listen which is about music I like and other musical subjects, then came Memorable Moments where I recount great gaming adventures I had.

Now here’s another one: Greatest Games Of All Time.

This is where I’d like to talk about games that, for me, rank among the best ever made, and what exactly it is that makes them so great.

Here goes.

Reading about the Resident Evil 2 remake, which even Angry Joe really digs (NSFW) and which I’m definitely going to buy as soon as I’ve got the time to play it, made me reminisce about the various horror games I’ve played over time. The greatest of them all, and indeed one of the best games I’ve played period, is Silent Hill.

It is easily the most scary piece of entertainment I’ve ever consumed. For a game that had to make do with PSone graphics and mostly refrained from utilizing jump scares this is all the more impressive. How did they do it?

One important factor for me is the despair and helplessness the game makes you feel right from the start without actually rendering you totally helpless as a player. I mean, sure, you don’t have any weapons at the beginning, but the first monsters you encounter you can run away from easily, and you find your first weapon, a club or somesuch, relatively soon.

For comparison, The Evil Within, a game that many, myself included, had hoped might bring Silent Hill’s spirit back, pits you against enemies you can neither fight nor escape from all the time. Either you get the sneaking part just right, or you die. To me that was much more aggravating than exciting.

Instead of invincible opponents Silent Hill mostly uses its very unique atmosphere to scare you.

Firstly, the town is pretty huge and you’re wandering around all alone (most of the time anyway). Due to the ubiquitous fog you can’t see very far, so you often have to rely on your hearing to identify threats.

SilentHill1 — You don’t actually see much, but your imagination runs amok constantly

The sounds most monsters make send chills down your spine, as does the crackling and squeaking radio alerting you of their presence. Even scarier than that is Akira Yamaoka’s ingenious soundtrack though. Much of it is more soundscape than music, and it’s fucking terrifying. Seriously, just listen to this and imagine playing the game alone in a dark room to that.

Whenever you think it can’t get any worse the game cranks up the horror to 11 by shifting over to the Otherworld, some kind of hellish parallel dimension.

SilentHill2 — Not much left to the imagination here

When that happens the ‘music’ also goes all in. If this doesn’t freak you out I don’t know what would. I firmly believe that the game would only be half as great if it didn’t have that soundtrack.

It’s been about 20 years since I played the game, so I don’t remember many details about the story. I do remember that I didn’t get the ‘good’ ending though (if there even is such a thing) and that I was pretty disturbed and sad. It’s definitely not your standard demons invade our dimension, shit happens story, that’s for sure.

Despite all of this I’m afraid that Silent Hill isn’t a game I can wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who hasn’t played it yet. Much time has passed since it was made and gamers’ habits and expectations have changed a lot since then. I had to realize this myself when I started to play Silent Hill 2 for the first time about three years ago. Most fans agree that it’s even greater than the first one, but for some reason I’d never gotten around to playing it before. I gave up only a couple of hours in. I just couldn’t get over the sluggish controls, the stubborn camera, the backtracking and, yes, the blocky graphics anymore.

Now that they’re finished with Resi 2 I really hope Konami will do an equally great remake of Silent Hill. I think no other game deserves it as much. And, Konami, why not also do part 2 while you’re at it?