Around the time that I came across Eric-Jon Waugh's review of Silent Hill 4: The Room, a friend gave me a Konami preview disc that included a demo for the game. My friend's recommendation and the review convinced me to try it. I found it utterly captivating and immediately ordered a copy of the full game. Over the next month or so, I tracked down the first three games in the series and played them through as well.

I had previously paid little attention to the Silent Hill games. I had assumed that they were similar to Resident Evil, which didn't interest me. Another friend had shown me the first few minutes of Silent Hill 2 a few years earlier, but at the time I didn't think I'd really be interested in playing a horror-themed video game.





Although they are horror games, I don't like like the Silent Hill games because they are scary or violent. The main draw for me is the surreal, compelling world, the subtlety, and the way that these games effectively create a dreamlike atmosphere.

"What scares you, and what kind of things do you want to use to scare players?"

"It's kind of hard to say, but it's not sudden surprise, like when someone jumps out behind you or something like that. It's more of a crawling kind of fear that grows on you. Like when you see a new character that you haven't seen, or when you see an unusual object or something that might have some intention. Something that you're not sure might be dangerous."

- Kazuhide Nakazawa, in an interview with IGN

A thought that came to my mind while playing Silent Hill 2 is that of all that games assigned a "mature" rating by the ESRB, this may be the only one that deserves it.

"We're trying to combine horror and a dramatic story. Obviously, we want to scare the player, but we'd also like it if the player were to cry at some of the more emotional scenes."

"Most people working for game companies are game freaks, but the Silent Hill team are artists and programmers first -- mainly artists. Silent Hill 2 is not a typical game because most of our staff didn't grow up playing games. Because of this, we hope to provide the gamer with a different sort of game."

- Takayoshi Sato, in an interview with IGN

"We have to admit that to create psychological-based game is actually quite difficult. A lot of thinking has to go into the game design when dealing with psychological horror, and at the same time I think the action element is more directly appealing to the users and it's more of the 'fun part' because you get the reaction right away, but for the psychological part it doesn't work like that, you need to look at details really closely in order to get the desired effect. So we try and keep the psychological element in the games, for the future as well, by implementing a lot of subtle expressions and details."

- Masashi Tsuboyama, in an interview with Video Games Daily

Some of the later Silent Hill titles were developed by groups other than "Team Silent." Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories came from Climax Studios. I didn't think that Silent Hill: Origins measured up to the four numbered games, but it was much better than I expected it to be. Shattered Memories took things in a different direction by not focusing on fear and by removing combat entirely, among other changes. It offered a different kind of experience rather than mimicking the previous games, and I thought it was a success.

I haven't tried Silent Hill: Homecoming or watched the Silent Hill film, and I probably won't.

“I am interested in other genres for children, games that have no blood and violence.”

- Akira Yamaoka, in an interview with Kotaku

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