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What Is Silent Hill?
Silent Hill is the town in which the story is set. It has become deserted and cursed, shifting between this world and another populated by fearsome monsters. The second game in the series also suggests that the town may be a metaphorical incarnation of a person's troubled psyche, or perhaps a kind of purgatory in which a person is judged for past sins. The protagonist of the game is trapped in the town and can only escape by resolving a personal issue that has been tormenting him (or her).
The games' visual design has come in for strong praise, depicting dark, fog-enshrouded, decaying environments enhanced by chilling (and very sudden) sound effects.
Many fans and reviewers have referred to the Silent Hill games as the most frightening ever made.
In 2003 a film based on Silent Hill was announced, with French director Christophe Gans (The Brotherhood of the Wolf) attached.
Silent Hill 1 (1999)
Seven years ago Harry Mason and his wife found a baby by the road and adopted her as their own, naming her Cheryl. Though the wife soon passed away from a disease Harry Mason continued to love Cheryl as his own daughter.
At the start of the game we find Harry Mason and Cheryl going to the town resort of Silent Hill. Already when they approach the town strange events start to happen. A cop on a motorbike drives past and only moments later Harry see the bike lying by the side of the road and the cop is nowhere in sight. Soon afterwards a figure suddenly appears on the road, Harry turns the car and slides off then road. When he regains conciousness he discovers that Cheryl is gone and Harry finds himself in the midst of the evil slowly engulfing Silent Hill, "somebody's nightmarish elusions come to life."Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams (2001)
Three years ago James Sunderland's wife Mary passed away from a terminal disease. James is unable to recover from the loss but one day he receives a letter from his wife telling him to meet Mary in their "special place" in Silent Hill. James, uncertain wether this can truly be his wife or merely a bad joke, ventures to the old tourist town and finds a mist-shrouded hell full of crawling monsters. James persists in his quest to his one desperate question: "Mary...could you really be in this town?". However, the insanity has yet to begin.Silent Hill 3 (2003)
Seventeen years has passed since Silent Hill was conquered by darkness. Heather is just a normal teenage girl who loves to shop and have a sharp attitude to almost everything. But one normal Sunday the past catches up with her. Escaping from a stranger who claims that he is a detective been sent to find her she suddenly finds herself trapped in another realm, a realm of terror and twisted elusions. Who is that detecive? And what about that strange woman who talks gipperish? "They've come to witness the beginning. The rebirth of paradise, despoiled by mankind" All Heather wants is to go back home to her dad but she is already trapped in the net spawned from Silent Hill. Silent Hill 4: The Room (currently due for Fall 2004)
Henry Townshend, living in South Ashfield, a town neighbouring Silent Hill, one day finds himself mysteriously locked in his apartment. After five days of entrapment Henry finds a hole in his bathroom. Nothing else is known about the game, but one thing is sure. Henry too will become a prisoner of the dark legacy swept around Silent Hill.What Is Silent Hill Really? (warning, WILL contain spoilers)
Silent Hill has many underlying layers of symbolism that many gamers around the whole has mused over since 1999. Some have dedicated their time to organise the many theories about the game and what it is actually about but it really it is all up to interpretation. In the first game Silent Hill is being slowly devoured by the evilness of Samael, a demon from hell. He is subsequently killed by Harry Mason but Samael's influence continues as is apparent in the following games. What each protagonist in all games find is that what they see is by no means of the reality we experience in our everyday lives. The 'Otherworld' is where the darkness is spawned and it creeps into slowly into every nook and cranny of the town of Silent Hill. From one moment to another a protagonist will find scenes completely changed from depressive gray streets to blood-covered cellars with mutulated bodies strapped upon the walls. It is also clear that what is seen is different from person to person. A player will slowly discover in each game that what is seen on the screen is metaphores for sins and self-loathings in the mind of the protagonists (mostly apparent in Silent Hill 2). There are many files going into much details about what Silent Hill really represents (Game FAQs is a good place to find them), and I suggest that anybody interest in Silent Hill and it's complex plot reads them.
