Silent Hill (1999)

Wow I feel like the beginning of this game seemed pretty standard for Silent Hill, as someone who played through 2, 4, and a little of 3 prior. But once I finished the hospital everything kicked onto overdrive and just became a big messy mash of running away from hordes of enemies and praying I find the path to the next area before I die.

Also I suspect I may have missed an area or something entirely, as the characters are now referencing stuff that I don't recall happening at all. But maybe that's just how it is. Hard to tell with this game. I think I'm nearing the end now. Will have some more solid thoughts to put down then, probably.

I keep doing this thing where I skip to the most acclaimed game in a series, love it, but then don't really wanna step backwards to the original(s). I mean I probably will eventually in those cases, but it doesn't feel as exciting once you've already played the peak of a series. So I just decided this time to start from #1 since it's scored pretty well itself over here on Grouvee.

Despite the very much dated controls and visuals (and camera!), the worst tank control combat I have experienced personally, I am "enjoying" myself a fair amount so far. I mean, "enjoying" is just a weird word for this kind of experience—but it's true, it's kinda fun to play through and certainly not lacking in surprises and oddities.

After clearing the Midwich Elementary School, I searched for a Midwich Optometrist so that I could see more than a few feet ahead of myself, but to no avail. I did find the Triforce, though, so I assume that will solve all my problems and not lead to any weird stuff whatsoever.

There's something I like a lot about games like this one with the fog, or the first Resident Evil with its fixed camera angles: being able to look you in the eye and say "yep we are totally doing this because of the aesthetic, and not because technical limitations, it's a perfectly valid mechanic and we could absolutely remove it without fear of the console exploding BUT WE WON'T"

And it works! While it is showing its age (oh god the voice acting), about two hours in I'm finding it genuinely fun to play, even if not as creepy as later entries.

Beat on Normal and got the bad+ ending because I did not notice the code on the receipt. I figured I could come back later. This was my first experience with the series. I have heard good things over the past 20 years so this game has been near the top of my wishlist. I got the digital version and played in PSP. The PSP lacks the 2 extra buttons on top so I had to change out of the default control scheme to play, with quick turn and side stepping bound to the analog stick and thus being a bit awkward to perform.

I started out trying to kill everything, using the handgun for flyers and knife for dogs; not the best way to kill them for sure and I did a lot of save scumming. I soon decided that it was better to run around like a madman to scout and see what was worth checking out, then load and beeline for the loot without taking damage. I was slow and methodical indoors and played it more like Resident Evil, killing everything. I used the pipe a lot but based on its description I thought it would break after some use and was like a limited power up over the knife. I kept trying to loot other things that looked like pipes. By the end I used the handgun as my default weapon, switched to hammer to kill solo enemies that were not too fast, used the shotgun a couple times to deal with multiple enemies close together and for bosses, and saved the hunting rifle for flyers and the final boss. I did have to check a walkthrough for some puzzle solutions because I can't be bothered to spend more than a few minutes on that sort of thing. The puzzle that gave me the most trouble was the piano in the school; I was trying to figure out the order based on the blood splatter since I figured it was done with a single bloody finger, and I thought hearing a musical note was good and click was bad. Ended with a 4 star rating.

I am very impressed with this game. It takes the base gameplay of Resident Evil and improves upon it. The controls are a bit clunky but the only problem that I had was turning while moving in reverse; it feels wrong, that the turn buttons should turn you in the opposite direction that they do and I had to give up on using it. I really appreciated the ability to control the camera a bit and found that it enhanced the scare factor of the game; there were a few times where I was concerned that something bad would happen when the camera suddenly focused on something but that was just me having it outside the default angle. I loved not having to fool with a limited inventory.

By far the best aspect of the game is the atmosphere, presentation and story. I found the entire aesthetic of the dark world to be perfect and the audio is literally the best I have ever heard, even surpassing modern games. From every little door creak to metallic foot step, to the music that perfectly sets the tone of the game. I found one particular song like nails on a chalkboard and it made me want to get out of that room. The metal beats perfectly match the dark world aesthetic and a couple times I thought there was something hostile making those noises. It is like the distinction between sound effects and music are blurred and it seems quite possible that the character is hearing the music too.

Will play again on hard at some point but I am not going to put in the effort to 100% 10 star the game.

sigh... i tried to break myself away from overreliance on walkthrough so i explored the 3rd town section on my own... but it turns out i missed a vital side quest that is required for the true ending, and of course i passed a point of no return. i debated continuing but it sounds like a really important part of the story so i think i'm going to reload a save from... my most recent one was before fighting the moth boss i think, and redo that and the sewers (and the lighthouse which i already finished) so i can get the quest done.

on the plus side, i have bullets again. i started using the hammer to get through the sewers and realized its not horrible. i was conditioned from resident evil where the knife totally sucks, but melee isn't awful here. you take some hits but i've got more spare health drinks than spare bullets, so...

Been wanting to try this series for a while... Used to play Resident Evil games as a kid but otherwise no horror games at all, I'm really bad at any sort of action gameplay.

This game gives me SUCH anxiety - not from the horror, but just from constantly feeling like I am missing things, like I will run out of bullets, run out of health supplies, etc.

But I have to say it is sort of thrilling. I like how it feels similar to Resident Evil but yet has differences - the controls for one, but there's more "filler" rooms in this game (in the first dungeon at least) and the rooms are more open, so its less claustrophobic.

Also luckily, there seems to be tons of bullets and health? So I'm not running out yet. But it's still terrifying.

It's also sort of thrilling, I am quite enjoying it. The atmosphere is super creepy too. The graphics seem really good for the time? And the flashlight effect is well done.

Just finished the first dungeon, looking forward to the rest even if it stresses me out lol