In 1999, Konami put out a small unknown license in the ring with Capcoms Resident Evil franchise, hoping that it would pull off a ¨Rocky¨ and go the distance against the survival horror giant….and it did, and that little bastard was Silent hill.
The first time I played it, I had no prior notion of what the HELL it was, all I knew was, its ¨scary¨, so I sat down, played it, finished it and then spent most of that year with a night light in my room and really praying to the almighty that a siren wouldn’t go off in the middle of the night.
Then part 2 came out, and I for realzeez had nightmares of Pyramid head trying to re-enact ¨Deliverance¨ on me. then part 3, part 4, a prequel, a reboot, a pseudo sequel. a rail shooter, etc. etc. etc. slowly but surely, something went wrong.
gone was the uneasy feeling that came with silence, gone was the fear of the unknown, gone was the little slice of hell that made Silent hill the thinking mans Resident Evil. but when did this happen? why did this happen? and, can it be fixed? lets see.
when:
With out going in to deep, The vacation town next to Toluca lake suffered from that killer of titans known as Fame!
Part one broke the survival horror mold, and part two plane out blew the mold up and broke it again for good measure. Team Silent, the original team responsible of our nightmares did a superb job of putting us in the middle of nowhere, confused, disturbed, alone and making us love every second of it.
They did this by combining japans natural talent for horror, with deep psychological mind fu#%ery . Add the creators love for David Lynch films and the 1980s cult classic Jacobs latter, and you got yourself a baby that could spit fire, crap sulfur and scare your dog into its own puddle of pee.
the exact moment when the first chip of paint fell off of silent hills molded up coating was Silent hill 3. Part three was by no means a bad game, it followed up the story of part one while adding enough new things to make it stand out on its own, making it an obvious success with its core fan base.
But……but…..buuuuuuuut…..Like an M. Night shamalamamamnaan film, it found what worked for it and didn’t stray from the equation (plus killing Harry Mason is still something I haven’t forgiven them for) but still left us with that nice funny feeling of never being able to sleep again.
Chip of paint 2 didn’t come from the forth installment (the room). If anything the game did what it could, the game may not have taken a step forward, but at least it took a step sideways by mixing up the games core mechanics and putting us (almost comically) in the shoes of an idiot that had no clue of what was happening for the most part of the game, plus adding the ghost like enemies was a sign of the old dog learning new tricks.
the Room started off as a game having nothing to do with the silent hill universe, a stand alone property. But the choice of building it in to the foundation of Silent hills history was something I consider to be a good example of forward thinking, both story wise and financially.
Chip of paint number 2 was team silent stepping down. most gamers and critics agree that team silent leaving was the beginning of the end for the franchise, and then putting it in to the hands of western developers was basically letting the baby play with a gun.
Western developers are good, and even eclipse many Asian ones at that, but silent hill was such a personal project to team silent that it felt more like John Carpenter handing the film ¨The thing¨ to Brett Ratner and telling him to have fun with it.
why?
there is the written truth and then there is personal speculation. but since this is my blog Ill give you my two cents.
Team silent probably worked on the franchise as far as they felt they could, diving as deep as they could, and delivering what they still felt was a respectable and bone chilling product. but Konami saw a money machine.
Than theirs the most probable. Team Silent just got bored.
Silent hill was never a one trick pony, but with the last two installments (homecoming and downpour, and if you ask about the PSP one, ill gut you my self) it feels more like a prize pony being kept small by hormone pills, making it do the same tricks everyday till it gets old and dies of a infected horseshoe and VD`s.
Can it be Fixed?
No and yes.
No, because maybe the franchise just deserves to die now. It missed its chance of being held as a golden standard in the realm of survival horror. But it can at least be held as a cautionary tail to future developers showing the tried and true statement that to much of a good thing will screw the pooch sideways at some point.
but on the other side: Yes, it could be saved, because of the new king and current savior of horror and point and click adventures. Tell tales The Walking dead series.
Silent hill was never one to steal ideas, not until Resident Evil 4 kicked everyone’s ass and subsequently changed the idea of horror into horror/action and silent hill saw that as a good idea simply because it seemed that was what the people wanted.
so if they are going to steal an idea, they should rob one more attuned to its fundamental core, Story and vibe over controls.
Tell tale has proven you can sacrifice super game play for the sake of an engaging story and simple to follow mechanics.
In the end all we can do is watch…….and play…..and hope to ether see the town finally rest in its own pieces and fade in to the mist. Or probably have a reboot……again……for the WeeU………sigh…..
in any case, we can still hope for a Resident Evil crossover with silent hill.,,,,,,,,,…..oh come on, think about it, umbrella finds out about silent hill and tries to weaponize its bad juju, the thing practically writes it self.
thanks for reading.
Tony Merino
