Silent Hill
Silent Hill may be the most admired Japanese survival horror video game franchise in the history of video games! Since 1999, Konami has created three numbered sequels, three non-numbered sequels, a prequel, and three spin-offs.
Each game allows you to play as a character visiting Silent Hill. Silent Hill was once a regular town, but it’s now a place full of monsters and spirits that will make the average person go insane. Nobody knows for sure what happened to Silent Hill. Some say it’s because Silent Hill was built on a place that was sacred to the natives. What is clear is that it’s no longer a resort town. Each game has its own goal and reason for visiting Silent Hill. Go through town figuring out the reason and get one of many different endings.
The various endings aren’t the only reason for playing Silent Hill multiple times. In addition to action difficulty levels, most Silent Hill games have a riddle difficulty level. The puzzles and riddles set throughout the game will change depending on the riddle difficulty level.
The gameplay was pretty old school just like Resident Evil. There were many melee weapons and several firearms, but ammo was scarce and the targeting system was terrible. Unlike Resident Evil, you could carry as much as you could find. It was a little less survival and more horror.
Other unique items could be found after completing the game in certain ways or solving unusual mysteries. The Silent Hill series definitely had as much humor as it did terror.
Most fans of the series say Silent Hill 1-3 were the best games in the franchise, though many still enjoyed Silent Hill 4. After the fourth entry, the original team had nothing to do with the spin-offs and additional sequels, and the later games were met with positive to average critical reviews.
In addition to the video games, several comics, novels, and two live-action films were made. The two films were loosely based off the first and third video games — and when I say loosely I mean very loosely.
As most know, a new video game called “Silent Hills” was planned for PlayStation 4. It was to star Norman Reedus and be directed by Guillermo Del Toro. News was flying everywhere once the secret was revealed after solving the mysteries behind a free PS4 demo titled “P.T.” Many said it was the scariest game (or demo) they’ve ever played. Unfortunately, earlier this year Konami said the game was canceled and they wanted to focus on mobile games. Needless to say, many were upset with that announcement. This was probably the biggest mistake in the history of gaming in my life time, right next to Nintendo and Sony’s breakup on the Nintendo PlayStation.
Again, these are just a handful of great Japanese horror video games out there. They’re among the most popular horror games from Japan that have spread across the world, and they’re regarded as some of the best by gamers. Are you a fan of any of these franchises? Do you think another game or series should have made it into this article? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.