Silent Hill (USA)

Silent Hill^[b] is a 1999 survival horror game developed by Team Silent, a group in Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo and published by Konami. The first installment in the video game series Silent Hill, the game was released from February to July, originally for the PlayStation. Silent Hill uses a third-person view, with real-time rendering of 3D environments. To mitigate limitations of the console hardware, developers liberally used fog and darkness to muddle the graphics. Unlike earlier survival horror games that focused on protagonists with combat training, the player character of Silent Hill is an “everyman“.^[1]

Gameplay – Silent Hill (USA)

The objective of the player is to guide main protagonist and player character Harry Mason through a monster-filled town as he searches for his lost daughter, Cheryl. Silent Hill‘s gameplay consists of combat, exploration, and puzzle-solving.^[3] The game uses a third-person view, with the camera occasionally switching to other angles for dramatic effect, in pre-scripted areas.

Reception and legacy – Silent Hill (USA)

Publication	Score
AllGame	[65]
Edge	8/10[66]
Famitsu	34/40[67]
GamePro	4.5/5[4]
GameRevolution	B+[3]
GameSpot	8.2/10[2]
Hyper	90%[68]
IGN	9/10[5]
Next Generation	[69]
PlayStation: The Official Magazine	10/10[70]
PlayStation Magazine	10/10[71]

Silent Hill received “generally favorable reviews” at the review aggregate website Metacritic.^[64] The game sold over two million copies,^[19] which gained Silent Hill a place in the American PlayStation Greatest Hits budget releases.^[73] In November 1999, the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) gave Silent Hill a “Gold” award,^[74] indicating sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.^[75]