Silent Hill

About

Silent Hill (Japanese: サイレントヒル Sairento Hiru) is a Japanese horror video game series created by Keiichiro Toyama and published by Konami, which centers around the fictitious town of Silent Hill its many supernatural dangers.

History

On January 31st, 1999, the first Silent Hill video game was released for the Sony PlayStation console (shown below, left). In the game, the player controls writer Harry Mason as he searches for his kidnapped daughter. In September 2001, Silent Hill 2 was released for the PlayStation 2 console, in which the player controls the protagonist James Sunderland as he explores Silent Hill looking for clues about his deceased wife (shown below, right).

Over the next year, a director's cut version of the game titled Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams was released for the Microsoft Xbox, PlayStation 2 and PC systems. In May 2003 Silent Hill 3 was released for the PlayStation 2, which Harry Mason's daughter Heather 17 year after the events of the original game. In September 2004, Silent Hill 4: The Room was released for PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC systems. In the game, the player controls protagonist Henry Townshend as he escaped the town South Ashfield (shown below, right).

In November 2007, the prequel game Silent Hill: Origin was released on the PlayStation portable, which is set prior to the events of the original game in the series. In September 2008, Silent Hill: Homecoming was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game follows Alex Shepherd, a war veteran returning to his hometown of Shepherd's Glen. In December 2009, a remake of the original Silent Hill game titled Silent Hill: Shattered Memories was released for the Nintendo Wii. In March 2012, Silent Hill: Downpour was released for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, featuring the prison Murphy Pendleton who enters various dimensions while exploring Silent Hill (shown below, right). In October 2012, the PlayStation Vita game Silent Hill: Book of Memories was released, which differs from previous installments with the addition of role playing elements, hack and slash action and co-op gameplay.

Movie Adaptation

There have been two movie adaptations in the Silent Hill franchise. On April 21st, 2006, the horror film Silent Hill was realsed, which follows the story of protagonist Rose Da Silva as she searches for her dying daughter Christopher Da Silva within the fictional town.^[1] On October 26th, 2012, a second movie titled Silent Hill: Revelation 3D was released. The film's plot is loosely based on Silent Hill 3 and follows Heather Mason as she is drawn into a horrific alternate.^[2]

Silent Hills

On August 12th, 2014, a playable teaser for the game Silent Hills was released during the Gamescom conference for download on the PlayStation 4 console.

On April 27th, 2015, Konami announced the game's cancellation in the following statement:

Konami is committed to new Silent Hill titles, however the embryonic Silent Hills project developed with Guillermo del Toro and featuring the likeness of Norman Reedus will not be continued.

In the coming days, the cancellation was reported by a number of gaming news sites, including Gamespot,^[3] IGN^[4] and Kotaku.^[5]

Pachinko Machine

On August 4th, 2015, Konami announced the release of an upcoming Silent Hill-themed Pachinko Machine (shown below). News of the announcement was subsequently reported by gaming news sites Kotaku^[27] and Destructoid.^[28]

The announcement was met with backlash from fans of the series who criticized Konami's decision to shift the series from the horror video game genre into a gambling game. On August 6th, 2015, YouTuber AlphaOmegaSin uploaded a rant about the announcement, gaining over 78.900 views in first 4 days (shown below).

Reception

The Silent Hill series has met universal acclaim from critics for its graphics, gameplay and story. Critics noted the series use of psychological horror and literature with everyman protagonists in contrast to other video games in the horror genre which are more action oriented with strong main characters.

Online Presence

On February 15th, 2004, Urban Dictionary^[29] user Kilsis submitted an entry for "Silent Hill," which described the games as the "most mentally/physically/emotionally disturbing psychological horror game series ever." As of August 2015, the official Silent Hill Facebook^[30] page has gathered over 1,9 million likes. On April 1st, 2009, The Silent Hill Wiki^[31] was launched, which gathered over 2.100 pages in 6 years. On May 17th, 2010, the /r/silenthill^[32] subreddit was launched for discussions about the franchise. Additionally, the fanfiction database Fanfiction.net^[33] has over 1.800 fanfics regarding the series as of August 2015.

Fanart and Cosplay

The series has also inspired a number of fanarts and cosplays. As of August 2015, the key word "Silent Hill" yields more than 89.500 results on DeviantArt.^[34]

Related Memes

For The Last Time

For The Last Time is a YTMND fad revolving around a menacing figure standing outside of a window at night. The scene is often accompanied with ominous music, usually the track “The Darkness That Lurks In Our Mind” from Silent Hill 2.

Pyramid Head

"Pyramid Head" is the nickname of the primary antagonist in Silent Hill 2, who stalks the protagonist James Sunderland throughout the game. An image of the character next to a clock filled with the word "rape" is the earliest known instance of the "Good Heavens, Just Look at the Time" image macro series (shown below).

Search Interest

Search Interest