Was it Good? - Silent Hill 1

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Everyone knows Silent Hill 2 is good but, how did it all start?

Join me as we go back to the very first Silent Hill and help Harry Mason find his daughter.

We journey through the thick fog, the scary school and the creepy hospital and fight off rabid dogs, zombie kids and posessed nurses as we uncover the truth about Dhalia, Alessa and the birthing of a dark god.

Silent Hill 1 is a horror survival game for the PlayStation 1 released in 1999.

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[iwazhere]

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.

[nerium.nerium]

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.

[Himax]

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.

[zlinkplays]

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?

[joshinaround]

I love the voice acting because its so dream-like and not normal. It adds another layer of terror to the game for me

[matiasd.]

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...

[Toasty_]

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".

[NMGardening]

That Lisa scene turning bloody... the way she creepily stumbles towards you... literally the scariest most masterfully animated few seconds of all time.

[Nicholaus]

"There are demonic forces... but there are also a lot of drugs."

Best thing I've ever heard.

[psicogames]

I think the voice acting is superb, it adds to the "this is not right" feeling, like they are a bit numb and tired

[tgr]

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.

[ImperiousMax]

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.

[Xbob]

I find it hilarious this video is in 4k. With Youtube'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.

[vicious]

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.

[slartybartfast]

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.

[johnnytrash]

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.

[IrishTechnicalThinker]

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.

[TheCivildecay]

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.

[alexthering]

in all honesty, the 'bloopers' on the final credits helped me sleep better after finishing the game.

[godofspacetime]

The voice acting is perfect, I think it totally works. That section gives me Twin Peaks vibes.