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Do the Silent Hill games hold up today?

Barakov

Member
Growing up I was not allowed to play M rated games, but bow that I'm an adult I have played many horror games that I love. I hear so many rumblings about new Silent hill movies and games. Unfortunately since I missed those games in the past I missed out on the lore and nostalgia. I know there were HD re releases and whatnot, but I've heard iffy things about them.

I have both a Series X and PS5 that I would imagine would be backwards compatible for some of the originals. Can you recommend me the good ones to try so that I can get into the series? And is it even worth it by now?
They are worth playing. 1,2,3 are the best. Your better off emulating them. After that try 4 and Downpour. Don't play the HD collection because they are very poor ports.

Stay away from Homecoming and Wii Silent Hill. Those are by far the worst.
 

Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
They are worth playing. 1,2,3 are the best. Your better off emulating them. After that try 4 and Downpour. Don't play the HD collection because they are very poor ports.

Stay away from Homecoming and Wii Silent Hill. Those are by far the worst.

I would say play Wii Silent Hill as it *is* fun, just not scary in the least. It has some great concepts and fun puzzles.
 

ACESHIGH

Banned
If you play games for gameplay only then no, the controls are not responsive, the combat is outdated even by early 2000's standards, REmake had better enemies to fight and the player felt more tension because the enemies were faster and more dangerous, in SH 1 and SH 2 the enemies stand next to you doing nothing but creepy sounds. The graphics are outdated as well, compare SH2 to REmake and its huge gap, REmake still looks good, Even Level design isn't that interesting, most of the time you will be clicking on locked door until you find your next path.

However if you play games for atmosphere and to get "THE Experience" instead of mechanics or a specific gameplay element then i would say it still hold up yeah. You will notice few rough edges here and there because the game is old and outdated in a lot of its game design aspects but as a horror experience it definitely holds up well, i know that because i played it for the first time around the year 2015 and i enjoyed my time with it, obviously i wasn't crazy about it like many of its diehard fans but i found it to be a very interesting and atmosphere heavy game, it's a game that i still remember after my 2 playthroughs of it.
So a game i still remember after like 8 years of playing, a game that i had fun and enjoyed it 15 years after its original release, i would say it holds up. Not as well as REmake ,but it holds up.


What lesson, if i may ask?

Well I think that their atmosphere is second to none, partially thanks to the somewhat fixed camera angles. SH 1 to 3 stand out in an era that had some of the greatest horror games of all time. Ambient sound design and their OST are also amazing, there's a lot of attention to detail in that front and I still think the games hold up graphically when played through emulators or PC.

Combat is the achilles heel if you will, but the thing is... its not what the genre was supposed to be about. At least not until Gears of Evil 4 released in 2005 and changed the genre putting combat front and centre. Horror was no longer about being a weak character in an oppresive atmosphere where the illusion of incoming danger was what had the player on the edge of his seat. It became more about Solid Snake like characters shooting monsters in the face with a small arsenal. No subtlety at all...

The good thing is that recently, devs are going for a more balanced approach. Sadly we dont get more fixed camera angles games any more. But even with the over the shoulder camera (which was mainly intended to give the player more control when shooting, hence action oriented) horror games are trying to give more emphasis to atmosphere and subtle horror vs jumpscares and gorefests.
 
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peronmls

Member
1-4 are really good. If you like the music, then you can play the rest or just listen on YT. Downpour has no Akira music.
 

Mozzarella

Member
Well I think that their atmosphere is second to none, partially thanks to the somewhat fixed camera angles. SH 1 to 3 stand out in an era that had some of the greatest horror games of all time. Ambient sound design and their OST are also amazing, there's a lot of attention to detail in that front and I still think the games hold up graphically when played through emulators or PC.

Combat is the achilles heel if you will, but the thing is... its not what the genre was supposed to be about. At least not until Gears of Evil 4 released in 2005 and changed the genre putting combat front and centre. Horror was no longer about being a weak character in an oppresive atmosphere where the illusion of incoming danger was what had the player on the edge of his seat. It became more about Solid Snake like characters shooting monsters in the face with a small arsenal. No subtlety at all...

The good thing is that recently, devs are going for a more balanced approach. Sadly we dont get more fixed camera angles games any more. But even with the over the shoulder camera (which was mainly intended to give the player more control when shooting, hence action oriented) horror games are trying to give more emphasis to atmosphere and subtle horror vs jumpscares and gorefests.
I can agree with that, but i have to credit Resident Evil for that as well, everything you credited Silent Hill series for, i managed to find early RE titles do better maybe with the exception of the symbolism based storytelling.
I personally didnt feel in danger in SH games except maybe with the section where Pyramid Head chases you, whereas in Resident Evil the monster were faster and resource management was more strict so the tension was higher.
I do agree on the new action oriented design of Horror, influenced by RE4 clearly.
I still think Alien Isolation and Amnesia TDD are modern horror masterpieces in the sense of factoring scares, they are not action focused and they dont rely on jump scares either, by being First Person you are at bigger danger, considering you can't lurk behind walls to cheat the camera, but fixed camera angles are also great design choice if done well.
I do agree with you that over the shoulder TPS is the least scariest of the bunch, but its probably the most engaging combat wise, since FPS horror tend to be barebones when it comes to combat/gameplay.
 
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