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The Foggy Logs #2 – Silent Hill 1 – 7 hours in and not bad at all!

Previously on Foggy Logs…
My recent play through of Silent Hill 2 HD gave me the urge to revisit the whole series again with emphasis on lore, mythology and characters. My original play through of the games, many, many years ago, left me feeling somewhat luke-warm towards the franchise due to my introduction to survival horror being the excellent Resident Evil series – RE1, RE2, RE3:Nemesis and Code Veronica. I don’t count the recent RE games because they are somewhat of a departure from the classic RE games. RE 4 is great and all, but it’s a different game. As are RE 5 and RE 6. I would argue that RE: Revelations is somewhat of a throwback, reimagining of RE1 and the mansion, but I’m just sticking with the old school games for now. Actually I shouldn’t be comparing Silent Hill and Resident Evil, although a recent play through of Silent Hill 1 on PSOne reminded me of a lot of similarities to RE games, but I digress. This is all about Silent Hill.

One of the issues I brought up previously was the issue about whether or not Silent Hill 1 has aged so much that it might be too frustrating to play. I mentioned something about casualization of games, which makes death and ‘game over’ a thing of the past. While I did struggle for a bit in the beginning of playing SH1, tanky controls and all, I have managed to come up with a few useful strategies to make things easier. Run! Run! Run! As with any survival horror game the best strategy is usually run, dodge, evade, conserve ammo, good cardio, etc. I haven’t really died that many times, since I tend to be a cautious gamer when playing most games anyway.

I’ve made significant progress into the game and Im near completion. I’ve been picking at it here and there trying to explore all the corners of the map as I go along. I have to say that outdated graphics and all, I think the game still holds up pretty well. Not as well as Silent Hill 2 or newer games, but it’s still a solid adventure game with an interesting story, and a story with a premise that created many sequels- for better or worse. I like seeing some of the more recognizable elements of the series established here, like the fog, dark world, metal grated streets, rust and blood walls, nasty brown tint to the buildings, creepy sound design—it’s all there! It’s a really great little history tour of the series origins.

Alas, what else can I write about this or any of the games that hasn’t already been written on the Internet? Not much. The lore and mythology have been discussed to death and even two movies have been made. It is interesting how Silent Hill 1 and Silent Hill 2 are completely different though, and both great games. I feel like Silent Hill 1 basically ended its story and didn’t really need a sequel. Silent Hill 2 was a good standalone story as well.

I’m at the end of the SH1 game at the moment, so maybe I will review it and SH2 when I’m done before moving on to SH3.

Community Questions
Do you usually go back and play older games instead of new releases? Do you like the survival horror genre? Which is your favorite horror series?