Silent Hill 3

I first played this game shortly after it came out on the PC, which was sometime in 2004. At the time, it made an enormous impression on me. I believe it was my first introduction to the survival horror genre in general, and to the brand of horror found in the Silent Hill series in particular — not gore or jump scares, but fear of isolation and powerlessness. Its visions of hell were not religious ones, but drew upon the reality of our life, the barbed wire, chain-link fences, dirty tiles and rusty metal floors alluding to a death camp or a mental hospital. Strangely, the allusion went over my head at the time, but I think that only amplified the impact; my soul felt unclean for days afterward. The bizarre, disturbing monsters and bits of scenery, and the soundtrack that combined industrial noises with chanting, screaming and bestial growls, were also like nothing I had experienced before, and added to the overall impression. In this regard, the game is an undisputed artistic achievement, and, on the highest settings, it looks decent even today — old, but not as old as it really is. However, its other aspects leave something to be desired, which became apparent to me as I recently revisited it. The story is definitely weaker than it was in the preceding game. Silent Hill 2 was a psychological horror that dealt with things such as guilt, abuse, etc. The focus of Silent Hill 3 appears to be religion, and the game fails to say anything of import on the subject; one might go so far as to call it dumbed-down. All the text in the game was clearly written by someone who was not a native English speaker, which means that the phrasing is often awkward, and the meaning obfuscated. The puzzles, one of the game’s strongest sides in general, sometimes defy all logic (which often seems to be the case with things written by the Japanese). The controls are extremely awkward, which makes the combat a lot harder than it has to be (having separate difficulty settings for the puzzles and the combat was definitely a good idea). No matter how unique its atmosphere is, a video game is a holistic experience where every aspect counts, so, upon reflection, Silent Hill 3 is a good one. It is not the masterpiece I once declared it to be, but it has stood the test of time, and, if you are a younger person who thinks the horror genre is only represented by the likes of Outlast or Resident Evil, I suggest you give it a go.