Countdown to Homecoming Part 1
Nineteen days from now we will have a chance to return once more to the town that has, for some of us, haunted our nightmares for the past nine years. A town that bends to the whim of our darkest fears and our most painful secrets. A town where the only respite from a chokingly thick fog is the rotting corpse of what was once the home of those with pure souls and those with twisted desires. In just under three weeks we will return to Silent Hill.
To mark the time until the release of Silent Hill: Homecoming, GayGamer is taking a look back at the games of this series, the stories they told, the hidden connections between them, and the way they changed how gamers got scared. Every Tuesday and Thursday look for new installments leading up to September 30th when we join war veteran Alex Sheperd in searching for his missing brother. So turn down the lights, try to ignore that scratching noise from outside your window, and prepare yourself for the Countdown to Homecoming.
Follow the jump to read about where it all began.
First off, for the best retro look at the first game, check out Asterick's article from a few months back. I'm not going to step on his toes by rehashing the first game, instead I'm going to give a brief history of Silent Hill's transformation from tourist resort to an incarnation of Hades.
Released at the end of January, 1999, Silent Hill introduced gamers to a fog drenched world where sound was your ally, a world where sometimes it was a good thing that you couldn't see more than a few feet in front of you, because what you'd find would turn your stomach.
What differentiated the game from the Resident Evil series was a focus on tension, on causing fear and uneasiness instead of using cheap scare tactics. When I first played the game, the tension that mounted as the town grew dark and I maneuvered the bumbling Harry Mason through alleyways culminated in the pulse pounding sound of demon children stabbing Mason until he fell unconscious, seemingly dead. A moment later he was awake in a diner. Had it all been a dream? What followed went beyond a mere dream, it became a nightmare with no hope of waking.
Each bit of story that the player was able to pick up through documents and conversations revealed the history of Silent Hill. Who was behind the change in the town? Where could I find the source?
It all began with a girl named Alessa. Born fourteen years before the events depicted in Silent Hill, Alessa possessed abilities that set her apart from her peers. Rather than being praised for her differences, Alessa was victimized by the other children of the town, amongst the name calling was the accusation that the girl was a witch. At the age of 7, Alessa was seemingly killed in a fire, the deadly flames were caused by Dahlia Gillespie, Alessa's mother, who used the fire as part of a ritual to use her daughter as the vessel for the rise of a god.
Alessa's unnatural death created an infant copy, who would be adopted by Harry Mason and raised as Cheryl. Meanwhile a disgustingly burnt, yet mystically living Alessa uses her powers to pervert the town of Silent Hill. The secrets of the town, a fanatical religion, a drug trafficking scheme, were all given form in a hellish otherworld. It is this town that Harry takes his daughter Cheryl, both drawn to the town after the death of Harry's wife. That is where their nightmare begins.
A question that many bring up is that if after Harry Mason stops Alessa, how does the town still affect others in the future. More importantly, how does the town affect people who aren't even in the vicinity of Silent Hill? For this answer we go to the creators of the franchise who say:
The shift to the otherworld that takes place outside the town depends entirely upon a uniquee power. The power that absorbs and reflect what people hold in their hearts ~Hiroyuki Owaku
After the events of the first game, the town had become infected. What Harry Mason accomplished was the removal of the thorn in the lion's paw. Instead of causing the lion to be at rest, the pain and the wound drove the lion into an unstoppable rage. This rage would be used to destroy any who had a dark spot in their heart. Its next victim would be James Sunderland.
Join me on Tuesday when I dive into Silent Hill 2, with the first appearance of Pyramid Head, the debut of the mannequin monsters, and a storyline so dark even a flashlight will be of no use. In the meantime check out Asterick's take on Silent Hill to get yourself up to speed. There will be no turning back.
TheDoctor
Posted to Video Games on 11 September 2008
· Comments (2)
Other stuff like this: retrovision, silent hill, survival horror, vacation spots
Yeash! That picture is scary in ways I doubt they intended.
I can't Frakn' WAIT! I love Silent Hill. 2 was probably one of the best and sacriest video game experiences! (I was only 16 but still, spooky.
And the story was unpresidented. (unless you got the dog ending, lol)
Hope this one can live up.