Welcome back to another instalment in Unforgettable Gaming Moments, where we recall some of our fondest memories from our illustrious gaming careers for a massive jolt of nostalgic bliss. This time around, with the influx of Silent Hill games hitting in Q1 2012, PSU decided to pay tribute to one of the series’ standout segments, namely the introduction sequence to the original 1999 psychological horror classic.
Join us now as we recall our rather grisly welcome to Silent Hill.
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The original Silent Hill is something of a landmark PlayStation release. While technically creaky by today’s standards (after all, the ubiquitous fog covering the town was in reality a clever mask for hardware limitations), the game’s ability to bake trouser brownies among game players is second to none. Even today, it’s still enough to instil a dread of knot in my stomach, and I relish at the opportunity to take it for a spin every now and then. Of all the standout moments however, the intro sequence is perhaps the most memorable. Things start off innocently enough as we see Harry Mason and his daughter driving to Silent Hill for vacation, though thing soon take a sinister turn after Mason is forced to crash his jeep to avoid a ghostly figure in the middle of the road.
It’s here that we’re put in control of Harry as he regains consciousness, only to find his daughter, Cheryl, missing. Stepping out into the snowstorm, Mason finds the place seemingly deserted, and a thick fog coats the area. Even by today’s lofty standards, the atmosphere in the opening minutes is unrivalled by most modern games, the uneasiness of the deathly quiet streets accentuated by some guttural audio snarls. You move through the fog, only to spot what appears to the silhouette of a young girl in the distance – is that Cheryl? Mason moves forward to investigate. Just as you do, the little minx makes a dash for it, darting down an alleyway. You make chase.
After legging it down the alley, you encounter your first ‘WTF’ moment of Silent Hill: the bloody remains of what I assume was once a lovable pooch. Of course, it’s hard to tell, seeing as how the red stain is devoid of any canine resemblance, but the ‘Beware of Dog’ sign on the gate just before it is a bit of a giveaway. In the distance, you discern the faint wail a siren, though its origins elude you. Harry then heads down some steps, where darkness soon engulfs his surroundings and the aforementioned siren kicks up a notch. If you’re anything like I was, this is the point you start getting really spooked. Undeterred however, you push on forward through a series of winding, claustrophobic alleyways.
You soon bump into what would become a Silent Hill staple, namely a wheelchair conspicuously buckled in the corner, one wheel still creaking away. Eventually, you stumble across a stretcher draped over what appears to be a bloodied corpse. At this point I noticed that the audio work reaches its peak, assaulting my ears with an amalgamation of indescribable, disturbing almost hammer horror effects. The sequence finally culminates in Mason discovering an eviscerated corpse hung from a fence, before being assault by small, child-like creatures, with Cheryl nowhere to be found. Outnumbered and all your exists mysteriously blocked, Harry succumbs to their attacks, only to wake up in a café seemingly unharmed. Was it all a dream? Was Mason killed and somehow resurrected by black magic? Did he imagine it all?
Welcome to Silent Hill.