Silent Hill 4: The Room

Silent Hill 4: The Room is the most unusual entry in a most unusual video game franchise. While earlier installments in the series have focused on stories designed to evoke spine- chilling horror, this fourth chapter in the saga causes much deeper feelings of anxiety and unease. I remember being more traditionally scared playing Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams, but the underlying, more psychological sensation of existential dread I felt playing this game was something altogether new.

The Silent Hill games have shown a narrative progression by which the nature of the town is expanded upon in each game. In the first two games, your character went to Silent Hill and had his horrific adventure. In the third, Silent Hill itself "came to" the main character of Heather, who merely wanted to have a nice day at the mall. In Silent Hill 4, the town has now invaded your last refuge of security, your home.

You play Henry Townshend, who lives alone in a small apartment in the bustling town of South Ashfield, half a day's drive from Silent Hill. After suffering from inexplicable nightmares, Harry awakens to find that his apartment door has been chained and padlocked shut from the INSIDE. He can't open his windows, and no one, even people standing directly outside his front door, can hear him when he pounds on the door and cries for help.

The game expertly evokes the desperate confusion and lurking fear you would feel if you simply couldn't get out of your house. The strangeness of Henry's situation is underscored by the fact that, tantalizingly, he can see the real world right outside his window, with cars and pedestrians zipping by on a street only fifty yards away. Neighbors in the apartment building opposite his can be seen going about their business (one guy, amusingly, is playing air guitar). The banality of day to day life takes on a whole new meaning when one person is suddenly set apart from it by horrific circumstances he can't understand or control. The next time you're taking a walk down the block, imagine if something terrifyingly Silent Hill-ish was happening to someone in the very house you're walking past, and you're safe outside with no way of knowing. The whole character of the neighborhood will change. That's the kind of thing the Silent Hill series does so well: conveying the deep terror that can result when what is normal and commonplace suddenly and without warning goes all WRONG.

The action begins when Henry discovers that a large hole has emerged in his bathroom wall. As it's the only way out, he must crawl through it, and doing so, finds himself in the decaying, blood-spattered environments of Silent Hill with which the series' fans have become so familiar. But this game offers alarming differences. Some of the creatures that menace you -- like the ghosts that look more like floating paralyzed corpses -- can't be killed, and others -- like the two-headed babies that walk on adult arms -- are so bizarre they beggar imagination. You're also limited in what you can carry, and the only place you can save your game is in your apartment, a safe haven you can return to through holes in walls spread throughout the levels. But even that safe haven isn't safe for long.

In earlier games, the horror, while nightmarish, was still rooted in a sense of realism that, in turn, created realistic horror. You'd walk down dark corridors or misty deserted streets armed with a flashlight and your weapon. But here, the environments are more outrageously surreal, as if you're literally wandering through a bad dream. Spiral staircases seem to float in thin air. A enormous woman's face peers at you from a hospital wall. Living tendrils of no discernible biology dangle upwards from the floor to bar your way. Wheelchairs zoom down corridors by themselves, as if it were a freeway for paraplegic ghosts. It's as if the game designers just decided to let Salvador Dali loose with 3D rendering software and instructions that he was to exercise no restraint at all in coming up with ways to freak people out.

Sometimes it gets a little TOO weird. At times I found myself less frightened by this game than morbidly intrigued; I was actually interested in getting to certain rooms just to see what kind of crazy thing I'd encounter next. In that sense, I'd have to say the earlier games work a little better as pure, edge of your seat, bloodcurdling horror. But Silent Hill 4 still does a bang-up job of generating an entirely different kind of fear, one that doesn't so much leap out at you from the dark as crawl deep into the back of your mind and lurk there.

I leave you with two pieces of advice. One: if you're new to the series, don't start here, start with 2 and 3. Two: don't take the doll.

Among seeing some of the complaints involved, it truly makes me wonder how people actually look at the Silent Hill series. Most see them as games, simple as that. I somehow have the impression of interactive movies - a glorious story that we have the privilege to unravel ourselves through each installment. So what if the controls, combat and inventory are plunked down a peg? Are you really gonna let that ruin your perspective of a wonderfully styled new story in this respectable series?

First thing I really liked about the story - it's irrelevant. That's right, completely out of wing from the first three. Instead of following through the grand cultist prophecies that Silent Hill 3 so casually topped off, we have the story of an individual that was misled by this cult since a child. That right there is a sign that the Silent Hill stories are maturing; the ability to successfully elaborate on and illustrate a smaller slice of the same pie.

The next thing I enjoyed was the innovation involved. The series has a history of altogether gritty and grotesque imagery, not holding back at the least. Here you have a much slower progression into that messy environment, and rightfully so. This is a more personal story, that of Walter Sullivan, therefore we don't see the cult's signature gooey imagery until they are quite literally consuming the main character's home. Until then, it is a journey through this very personal story in the form of dreamscapes. Though misshapen to say the least, the environments aren't as alive and gritty as most would like it, but that's perhaps because it's all in the perspective of Walter, not the 'paradise' that previous cultists allowed to come alive. Through this droning and down-beat style, the player can truly learn the story of Walter and maybe even come to have sympathy for him.

And perhaps the biggest thing I loved about the story is how the story is told. Previous installments was by adventuring and word of mouth. The Room takes a very abstract story and presents it in an abstract way. Whether by reading the diary entries of a forgotten journalist or reading random scriptures off walls, you have a presentation based more on illustration than verbal storytelling. Not only that, but the pieces don't even come in chronological order, so you are left to stare and think on a certain detail until you find perhaps another five to put together in a sort of order and make sense out of it. This abstract storytelling seems frustrating, but given its relevance to the harsh and melancholy imagery it comes from, it only provides further suspense and motivation to learn more.

Overall, I find this to be a very refreshing title in the series. I don't rate it any higher or lower in comparison to the previous titles, as it's a completely different entity on its own. And even considering the grotesque nature that it shares with its predecessors - it's a beautiful entity, indeed.

How anyone can say that this game is the weakest of the Silent Hill series, or weak in any aspect is at all is beyond me. This game is simply breathtaking. The environments, music, sound effects, monsters, storyline and appearance of this game FAR surpass any of the (admittedly excellent) previous 3 Silent Hill titles.

"The Room" just does it for me. I have played it at least a dozen times and it has been well over a year since its release. Right now just talking about it makes me want to play it again.

I personally feel, (in reference to what others have said about it) that it is the strongest in the series so far, with Silent Hill 3 coming a close 2nd, the 1st installment coming in 3rd and the "not very scary" but still very good Silent Hill 2 last on my list.

It is a big step away from the other games but thats what was needed. It would be too much to have 4 games that follow the same formula. Silent hill 4 has freshened up the series and more than opened the road for a 5th game on the upcoming PS3.

In conclusion - if David Lynch made a video game, this would be it. I can't think of a more glowing compliment for a game.

This is the 4th game of the franchaise with number and the last one that deserves the name Silent Hill. These games have 4 ingredients to be: Epic, Terrifying, Psychological, and Sad. The 4 titles have this ingredients, but each one stands out with one of these:

Silent Hill 1 - Epic Silent Hill 2 - Sad Silent Hill 3 - Terrifying Silent Hill 4 - Psychological

Oh, how I love the "Silent Hill" franchise. Or at very least, I love aspects of it... specific chapters and select media spin-offs. I've enjoyed most of the games, got a kick out of the first feature-film despite its flaws and have picked up and very much appreciated some of the products and merchandise the series spawned over time. But, much like any fan of "Silent Hill" will likely tell you, there was a definitive turning point for the overall media franchise that signaled an unfortunate trend. A bit of a specific entry that signified great change- that being 2004's "Silent Hill 4: The Room."

It's a very unique and peculiar game in an equally unique and peculiar series. For some fans, "The Room" signals the first "bad" entry in the "Silent Hill" mythos, and symbolizes an inherent loss in quality that no subsequent game was able able to redeem itself from. For other fans, "The Room" symbolizes the last "good" entry in the series, as it was the final game worked on by the original "Team Silent", whom created the series. And for others still, it's merely a slightly wonky but adequate continuation that signaled a turn towards generally far more flawed, but still mildly enjoyable future games. And I suppose I'm in that camp. I really, genuinely admire "The Room" for what it is, but I can't help but feel that starting with this particular chapter, the series has never subsequently delivered a masterpiece along the lines of the excellent first three games. It very much started a trend in lower-quality releases... but I still love "The Room" for at least trying something new with the series, and for delivering the same horrific and highly atmospheric dread that previous games specialized in.

We follow protagonist Henry Townshend, who awakens one day in his apartment in South Ashfield to discover that his door has been chained and padlocked shut... from the inside. Stuck for days on end with his neighbors seemingly unable to hear his knocks and cries for release, Henry worries he might be losing his mind. Until one day, he finds a mysterious hole in his bathroom wall, seemingly having appeared out of nowhere. He enters, intent on escaping his imprisonment... But the hole only leads to new and nightmarish worlds that he must explore over and over again. As the story progresses, Henry learns the dark secret about what's causing his misfortune, and also grows closer to his beautiful neighbor Eileen, who eventually joins him in his quest...

In terms of concept, I actually do find "Silent Hill 4" to be among the more effective entries in the franchise. Its set-up is quality and promises great terror and intrigue. What would you do if you suddenly couldn't leave your home, and you didn't understand why? It's a great hook to get the player instantly invested, and it keeps you questioning and theorizing throughout the entirety of the game. And the concept of your apartment becoming sort-of a hub world that you must return to constantly really does add a constant sense of paranoia and claustrophobia that lends much tension. In addition, though Henry is a bit more of a blank slate than other series protagonists, I actually didn't mind- it lets your put yourself in his shoes a lot easier, and ask yourself what you'd do in his situation. The other characters are generally likable and compelling, and even though you do spend several hours of game-play accompanying her in "escort missions", Eileen is actually one of my favorite supporting characters across all of "Silent Hill."

And the atmosphere? My god, I actually think "The Room" outdoes the previous two entries in this regard. While the game lacks iconic monsters and perhaps doesn't go as crazy with the visuals as "Silent Hill 2" or "Silent Hill 3"... I actually found this one to be more effective due to its inherent simplicity. It seems to be playing up on the sort-of things that everyone finds terrifying- the unnatural contortion and modification of the human form, the startling "uncanny valley" appearance of things like children's dolls, the idea that after death one might be trapped in a spectral form that's cursed to wander forever aimlessly... it's really chilling and deceptively simple stuff that just hits you to the core.

That all being said, there are some major issues, which is why I think this game is one of the more maligned and divisive across the "Silent Hill" saga. And they all come down to the basic game-play- it's a very uneven affair. The basic controls and whatnot are only mildly tweaked from previous entries... but its the structure of the game and some of the new mechanics that are introduced that really threw me off. For example (and without spoiling anything), certain enemies must be defeated in key specific ways, but it's near impossible to accomplish this without reading a dedicated walk-through. Certain worlds must be completed multiple times, which really feels like unnecessary padding. The game's repeated escort missions suffer for the same reasons that most escort missions fail. And yeah... constantly having to go back to your apartment does get old real quick. It's a very repetitious game with very repetitious game-play, and it throws people off.

Still, I loved this game despite these faults, and I do think its unfairly dismissed all too often. It's an ambitious affair, and it makes quite a few interesting choices. And I'd rather play a bit of an ambitious mess than just another standard retread. I give "Silent Hill 4: The Room" a very good 8 out of 10.