• We've completed one of the biggest updates to our forums in years and have pushed the update live! New forum structure that's all inclusive, prefix system categorizes topics per game title. More thread options such as articles, questions, deep dives, etc. Read more in the pinned thread!

OT Games Silent Hill

One of the best survival horror franchises of all time has been shat on by Konami over the last several years. It is not likely to return any year soon, if at all.

With that said, what's your favourite moments in the series with the foggiest town in gaming history? How long have you been a fan?

I played the first one back in 2002 and then shortly after that, the others. I don't like the next-gen ones at all, as in the PS3 ones. They're just awful. The HD collection plain sucks too. What a disgrace to the term 'HD' as a whole.

And Book of Memories is horrible too. Uh!

My favourite is probably 3. It has terrific atmosphere, and for a 2003 game, the graphics are so eye catching. Heather is also one of the very best female heroines, although she's very quirky when she is talking.

 
Silent Hill used to be my 2nd fave series, but has been kicked down to 4 or 5 because of there being bad sequels, and then no sequels since they chose to cancel the last one they announced. Now my fave series is The Last of Us, then Resident Evil, then likely The Evil Within and if Days Gone should become a franchise, then yeah, that too.
 

Yama

Owner
1996...
I absolutely adore Silent Hill 3, it’s what got me into the series. It’s kind of funny, when young I avoided the series at first because marketing wrote it as a Resident Evil “killer” or everything that Resident Evil isn’t. As a huge fan of RE it made me not want to play it. I played pretty much all horror games in the PSX/2 era, so eventually caved. I started on 3 when it released and then worked my way back and fell in love with the series. That was definitely the sweet spot though, it never quite hit that stride again.

Too bad the PC version never released on Steam or something, because it was a great port unlike the HD Collection. Is there a fan made PC updater? If not I’m sure PCSX2 at 4K wide hacked will suffice just fine.
 

Yama

Owner
1996...
I have all the old ones on the PS2. I used to have a Xbox 360 and I replaced those copies were the PS3 versions. I rarely play PC games.
Yeah I still have all of my older collections. Some of those horror games on PS2 are quite rare now too. Not the easiest to hook up and play though, PC seems to be the solution to that usually nowadays.
 
Did anybody ever complete Homecoming? God, that game sucks. Not the story so much. The story isn't bad at all. But the gameplay sucks. It's like dodge, strike with a crappy axe or knife, dodge, roll, strike, and the bosses are unrelenting. I'm always out of just about every resource by the time I get out of the sewers and fight this giant doll, called Scarlet. Even aiming with a gun sucks, and it's not recommended you waste bullets on the basic enemies, as you really never find much bullets at all. One boss has like multiple leg things that you have to repeatedly shoot and strike. Uh!

Downpour has this annoying glitch where if you walk around a corner, it constantly freezes for a few seconds. Again, the story was pretty decent with the female cop hunting Murphy and Murphy having to make decisions, but the gameplay was kind of boring overall. It was just you mostly picking up objects to batter the monsters with, and they were as boring and annoying as hell. They didn't even really have any of the classic monsters in the game anyway. Like, where were the nurses? Every other game had nurses, and this game did not feature any of them. Nor the various types of dogs. At least, I don't remember fighting any dogs. There was just these banshees that stunned you and caused other banshees to appear and this was just so nippy. The only boss battle was when you were in the prison, near the end.

The series really went bad after Konami asked Team Silent to move along.
 

Yama

Owner
1996...
Yeah, I remember low key kind of liking the mechanics because it was resemblant of David from Outbreak. Knife and knife dodge. But the depth wasn’t really there so it wore off after time. Out of all the non Team Silent games I’d day it probably was the best? Or maybe Shattered Memories? None came even close though.
 
Yeah really enjoyed this series but to me it peaked with the first. The marketing was everywhere as the next RE so I was very intrigued and got it as soon as it released. SH1 is still the most scared I have ever been playing a game. It’s a totally different fear level than RE. The best moment of the series is for me is still that intro when Harry is running through the alley and it slowly becomes the hell version and then you see bodies strung up and little children with knives come out and murder you. It set the stage for everything, I was already unnerved but that was nothing compared to the insane shit that game pulled. The school with the monster in the boiler room. The hospital with magical 4th floor button in the elevator that totally wasn’t there before. It’s a masterpiece.

I don’t care what anyone says SH2 is a boring slog in comparison. So much empty walking, bad pacing, boring locations, and no hell version. No amount of story can make up for it.

SH3 is the next best, fantastic locations, the best puzzles in the series. The twist that you are Harry’s daughter was incredible.

SH4 is a mess but it has its moments. Loved the first person segments, super creepy. Homecoming was average, didn’t do anything great or poor. I have yet to play downpour. And I HATE Shattered Memories, take the best SH game and make it a terrible QTE fest that has nothing to do with the genre it came from.
 
I absolutely adore Silent Hill 3, it’s what got me into the series. It’s kind of funny, when young I avoided the series at first because marketing wrote it as a Resident Evil “killer” or everything that Resident Evil isn’t. As a huge fan of RE it made me not want to play it. I played pretty much all horror games in the PSX/2 era, so eventually caved. I started on 3 when it released and then worked my way back and fell in love with the series. That was definitely the sweet spot though, it never quite hit that stride again.

Too bad the PC version never released on Steam or something, because it was a great port unlike the HD Collection. Is there a fan made PC updater? If not I’m sure PCSX2 at 4K wide hacked will suffice just fine.
Funnily enough, I also stayed away from the series for longest time because of that exact same reason. I wanted nothing to do with it after hearing that it was the rival to RE and (to some friends) even better than it. I eventually caved when they put the first game on the PSN store for PS3 and bought it on sale. Fell in love and eventually played the rest of the series. My favorite is probably a tie between 1 or 3, its hard for me to choose. 2 I don't hold in high regard as most people, some of those level designs are an absolute slog. I think the apartments in that game keep me from ever wanting to go back to play it.

It's a damn shame Silent Hills got cancelled and Konami is an empty shell nowadays. PT was something special and the most scared I've ever been in a video game. If the whole game ended up having the scare factor of PT, I'm not sure I would of been able to finish it if it ever saw the light of day. Not many games I can say that about anymore.
 
I would love nothing more than for this series to somehow return back to its former glory, but knowing how awful Konami is these days I'd say I have a much bigger chance of becoming a big movie star! :p
 
Unorthodox opinion: SH4 is my favorite in the series. It might be partially because it was my first, but it's the game that genuinely creeps me out the most. The first person sections were ahead of their time, the camera was framed in just the right way in cutscenes, and the visuals, music, and overall subject matter really makes my skin crawl. It completely deserves to be grouped with the original trilogy, imo.
I love the other originals too of course (SH3 is probably right after 4 for me, due to the superb visuals).

While the sequels after Team Silent left all fell short, I still really liked Homecoming and Downpour, and Shattered Memories is pretty good too. I haven't played Origins yet, and Book of Memories does not interest me.
The monster designs and music for Homecoming were about on par with classic SH, imho, besides the unimaginative knockoffs (Nurse, Pyramid Head, Swarm). Downpour enemy designs were severely lacking though.
 
To this day I still feel this is the greatest survival horror game of all time.
September 24, 2001
The birth of a masterpiece.
 

Attachments

  • E5A1C96A-7DCE-4F72-ACFA-14C482BE8471.jpeg
    E5A1C96A-7DCE-4F72-ACFA-14C482BE8471.jpeg
    57.4 KB · Views: 1
  • AB5ECFC2-52BC-4670-8B76-E35EC34E2F4E.jpeg
    AB5ECFC2-52BC-4670-8B76-E35EC34E2F4E.jpeg
    86.7 KB · Views: 1
I've always liked the third one. I love the mall section of the game. I wish the series had more scenes like that, as the others were mostly set in dark and rusty places. If they ever do a sequel, it would be interesting if you had a Nemesis type enemy that followed you around, but not Pyramid Head. Even one of the producers felt he was overused.

Hearing all this news that Konami is keen to focus on console gaming again has me both intrigued and worried, considering the last several entries were nowhere as great as the first four made by Team Silent. But at this point, I feel so starved that I would take at least something that is somewhat mediocre, as long as it is not too terrible.
 
I am concerned that they will reboot the franchise. It is not necessary. The reason being that only 1 and 3 were really sequels. The others just had vague references, and were otherwise barely connected. But due to the fact that we've not had a sequel since 2012, and because remakes are very much in demand with other franchises, don't be surprised if Konami decides that a reboot should occur. Personally, I would rather have a new entry that is still taken place with all the rest of the series.
 
Top Bottom