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==Scope==
[[Image:Sh3.jpg|right|thumbnail|200px|Screenshot from ''Silent Hill 3'']]
Better come up with a scope for this project.--[[User:Sefringle|Sefringle]] 23:56, 4 June 2007 (UTC)
'''''Silent Hill''''' is the title of a [[survival horror game|survival horror]] [[video game]] franchise, produced by [[Konami]]. As of [[2004]] there are five games available (one available only in [[Japan]]), all of which were released to strong sales and critical acclaim. The ''Silent Hill'' games are distinguished from other games in the same genre, such as ''[[Resident Evil]]'', in that the focus is far more on character, story, and atmosphere rather than action and violence. The games' storylines unfold like that of a [[film]], and multiple resolutions are possible depending upon what decisions the player makes during gameplay. Often, the player is left to wonder whether or not a sequence in the game has actually occurred in reality.
== What is ''Silent Hill''? ==
''Silent Hill'' is the town in which the stories are set. It has become deserted and isolated from reality, shifting between this world and the ''Otherworld'', populated by fearsome monsters and [[demon]]ic entities. The second game in the series also suggests that the town may be a [[metaphor]]ical incarnation of a person's troubled psyche, or perhaps a kind of [[purgatory]] in which a person is judged for past [[sin]]s. 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 third game continues the notion of the battles between good and evil forces. Numerous fan forums and message boards have sprung up on the [[Internet]] in the years since the games' introduction, where the [[symbolism]] and themes in each game are enthusiastically discussed.
The games' visual design has come in for strong praise, depicting dark, fog-enshrouded, decaying environments enhanced by chilling (and very sudden) sound effects. Composer [[Akira Yamaoka]] has provided atmospheric and emotional music for the series, which ranges from melancholy [[piano]] solos to heavy [[rock music|rock]] pieces. Many fans and reviewers have referred to the ''Silent Hill'' games as among the most frightening ever made.
In [[2003]] a film based on ''Silent Hill'' was announced, with [[France|French]] director [[Christophe Gans]] (''[[The Brotherhood of the Wolf]]'') attached.
== Synopses ==
{{spoiler}}
=== ''Silent Hill'' (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 Old ''Silent Hill'' for vacation. Strange events occur before they have even entered the town. A cop on a motorbike drives past and only moments later Harry sees 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 the road. When he regains consciousness Harry discovers that Cheryl is missing and he finds himself in the midst of the evil slowly engulfing ''Silent Hill'', "a world of someone's nightmarish delusions come to life."
Several [[Easter egg (virtual)|easter eggs]] and hidden references can be found throughout the game. As an in-joke for horror fans, most of the town's streets in the first game are named after popular horror and suspense novelists, such as [[Ray Bradbury]], [[Ira Levin]], [[Robert Bloch]] and [[Richard Bachman]] (aka [[Stephen King]]). If you care to look carefully enough, the word "Redrum" can be seen written on a door in a street, referring directly to Stephen King's ''[[The Shining]]''.
==== ''Silent Hill'' Play Novel ====
Released on [[Gameboy Advance]] only in [[Japan]]. The game featured related and unrevealed plot in ''Silent Hill 1''.
=== ''Silent Hill 2'' (2001) ===
Three years ago James Sunderland's wife Mary passed away from a terminal [[disease]]. James, still grief-stricken from the loss, has received a letter from his late wife telling him to meet her at their "special place" in ''Silent Hill''. James, uncertain whether this is real or a bad hoax, ventures to the old tourist town and finds a mist-shrouded hell full of crawling monsters. While searching the town's decrepit buildings for clues, James encounters other lost souls like himself, including a little girl who seems to know a great deal about James' and Mary's relationship, and a mysterious young woman named Maria who is the spitting image of Mary.
The [[Xbox]] version of the game, subtitled ''Restless Dreams'', featured an additional scenario where players controlled Maria. This level was included on the [[PlayStation 2]] version when the "Greatest Hits" edition was released (also known as Platinum Edition). The title of the original scenario with James is called ''Letter from Silent Heaven''. The one featuring Maria as the protagonist is named ''Born from a Wish''.
''Silent Hill 2'' does not have a direct narrative continuity to the first game, but shares locations with the third game, and a few allusions in ''Silent Hill 3''.
=== ''Silent Hill 3'' (2003) ===
Seventeen years have passed since the events of the first game. Heather is a normal teenage girl who loves to shop and has a sharp attitude about almost everything, but one Sunday the past catches up with her. Avoiding a stranger who claims that he is a [[detective]], sent to find her, Heather suddenly finds the environment transformed into a strange decaying landscape. She attempts to escape the horror to her home and her father, yet on the way she faces a mysterious and forgotten secret.
The third game is directly tied to the first ''Silent Hill''.
===''Silent Hill 4: The Room'' (2004)===
Henry Townshend, living in South Ashfield, a town neighboring ''Silent Hill'', one day finds himself mysteriously locked in his own apartment. He cannot escape through either the windows or his front door, which has been chained shut from the inside. No one, not even people standing directly ouside his front door, can hear him when he pounds on the door and cries for help. After five days of entrapment Henry finds a hole that has opened up in his bathroom wall. He is about to venture into the madness of ''Silent Hill''.
This installment of the series features revised controls, modifications to the item menu and map, and segments that are played from a first-person perspective. There are also a number of direct references to characters and plot elements introduced in ''Silent Hill 2'', although the storyline of the two games are not directly connected as it was between the first and third installments.
''Silent Hill 4: The Room'' was released on [[September 7]] [[2004]].
== Inspirations and references ==
'''This section is for pure speculation on the series, and contains spoilers.'''
The ''Silent Hill'' series borrows many of its twists and effects from horror novels and movies. The movie ''[[Jacob's Ladder (movie)|Jacob's Ladder]]'' has much the same theme as ''Silent Hill 2'' of a personal purgatory. The monsters in ''Silent Hill 3'', with their heads jolting in strange ways, resemble that of the disfigured human-creatures in the movie. Another strong reference is the use of the name Bergen Street for the subway platform to which Heather, the main character, tries to make it in the game. Bergen Street station played a significant part in ''[[Jacob's Ladder (movie)|Jacob's Ladder]]'' and the setting looks very much alike.
The cult series ''[[Twin Peaks]]'' is also supposed to have had a great impact on many aspects of the games.
A song in ''Silent Hill 3'' is titled "Sickness Unto Foolish Death". This might be a reference to the [[existential]] [[philosopher]] [[Søren Kierkegaard]]'s theory on [[Existential_despair|despair]], which he wrote in his ''[http://www.religion-online.org/showbook.asp?title=2067 Sickness Unto Death]'', an existential concept to describe the state we're in when we have to make choices in a world of uncertainty. This state is the "loss of self." Looking at the third installment of the series with this theme in its context, it could be seen as Heather's difficult choice of vengeance vs. submission to the Otherworld of ''Silent Hill'', and how she loses her self-awareness in the process of determined vengeance.
One of the end songs in ''Silent Hill 2'', Angel's Thanatos, is most likely a reference to the Freudian idea of Thanatos. It is the desire to give up life and return to non-existence. As the song proceedes the ending in which James commits suicide, it makes sense. It is perhaps a litte ironic as it is clear from Mary's occasional speech that she does not wish to die, although she is the one dying. James, the one living, has lost his will to live.
== External links ==
*[http://www.konamityo.com/silenthill/en/index.html ''Silent Hill'' series official website]
*[http://www.silenthill2.de/ Official ''Silent Hill 2'' site] (Konami Europe)
*[http://www.konami-europe.com/silenthill3/ Official ''Silent Hill 3'' site] (Konami Europe)
*[http://www.sh2003.com/ Official ''Silent Hill 3'' site] (Konami Japan)
*[http://www.sh2004.com/ Official ''Silent Hill 4'' site] (Konami Japan)
*[http://users.pandora.be/soundtrack-fm/Reviews/Akira_Yamaoka/Akira_Yamaoka.htm Akira Yamaoka's website]
*[http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/adventure/silenthill4theroom/index.html Gamespot's ''Silent Hill 4'' site] - Previews, screenshots, movies, walkthroughs (Playstation 2)
*[http://www.nurserycryme.net/ Nursery Cryme] - Files and general info on ''Silent Hill''
*[http://www.black-helix.com/is/dead/ Central Silent Hill] - Information and FAQs
*[http://www.silenthillheaven.com/ Silent Hill Heaven] - Information and a ''Silent Hill'' forum
*[http://gamingredients.com/issues/11/ Gamingredients ''Silent Hill'' coverage]
*[http://wwosh.tripod.com Weird World of ''Silent Hill''] - Fan site
[[Category:Survival horror games]]
[[Category:Fictional towns and cities]]
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