A letter that comes from a loved one can be very exciting, but in Silent Hill, it makes James Sunderland encounter a mysterious town filled with heavy fog and secrets.

Silent Hill is a video game series for over twenty years with developments to the franchise since 1999. This game came to be one of the most known terrifying horror game series out of many others. Its eerie town, disturbing monsters, and psychological horror story make it unique from other horror games. It’s also unique due to its multiple game endings based on small actions throughout the game; it determines the future of how players want the game to end.

The game tells the story of James Sunderland, who is looking for his wife in a town called Silent Hill after receiving an invitation through a letter from her three years after she passed away. The game relies heavily on visual storytelling in a very unique way. The player faces monsters that represent James’s fears, guilt, and past traumas that make the exploration of looking for his wife also based on confronting his own mind.

Unlike some horror genres and series based on sudden scares and focusing on mostly making monsters more terrifying, Silent Hill creates its horror in a more special way, specifically through its atmosphere. The fog, heavy environments, strange sounds, the feeling of loneliness, and disturbing creatures that make the town an even more horrifying nightmare.

One of the most impactful aspects is the feeling throughout the game. Playing the game gives the player a sense of constantly being affected by the misery and loneliness through the unsettling silence and disturbing noises. It makes players feel trapped in a nightmare with the eerie noises in the background and radio static;  even when nothing is happening, it feels like someone is watching. Slowly walking through the abandoned streets covered in the never ending fog with the odd camera angles make the player feel uneasy. Due to the player’s subtle shaking through the players movements this approach of feeling the immersivity makes Silent Hill never to forget.

Even after all these years Silent Hill is the game that redefined the survival horror genre in video games and was a big inspiration for other horror games that came after. The horrifying town of Silent Hill and deep stories still scares players today, and for those brave enough to return, the town will forever be waiting.