25 years in the past, Silent Hill made waves on the PlayStation and enlightened the world of online game horror, serving to to form the long run classics of the style. Lengthy earlier than the renaissance of heroic and caring online game dads, Harry Mason was in search of his daughter in a fog-ridden city, going through down hellish monsters whereas worry ran rampant, however he wouldn’t let something stand in his approach. Staff Silent labored laborious to make their protagonist the everyman, however he was additionally a fancy and fascinating character.
Harry is a novel author, clever and sensible, however prepared to consider in issues he might not totally perceive. He’s bodily succesful, capable of make fast choices, and first rate sufficient with a gun to defend himself, however he’s removed from an motion hero. What makes him stronger is his devotion to his adopted daughter, Cheryl, who he and his spouse, Jodie, discovered on the aspect of the street. Together with his ward gone lacking within the corrupted city after a automotive accident, he braves the risks and embarks on a mission to avoid wasting her, by no means shedding focus of that aim. He doesn’t appear non secular, even with among the obvious demonic affect and black magic he encounters. He’s rationalizing what they’ve seen, opening up believing within the Otherworld, however pessimism actually acts as a cornerstone of his beliefs. Harry worries continuously about his daughter’s security, which leads him to present his little one a stun gun when she’s older and kill a cult member to maintain her a secret, however that’s afterward.
“I don’t like this sense. Like one thing unhealthy will occur… Little doubt, one thing horrible is occurring.”
There are a whole lot of dad and mom who say they’ll do something for his or her kids, however few individuals are requested to actually undergo a nightmarish hellscape and battle a god. He’s a single father, as Jodie handed away 4 years prior, however at no level does Harry query his function or rethink his actions for the kid they took in. Throughout his journey, Harry encounters different residents of Silent Hill, most of them ladies with vastly totally different personalities. Doubtlessly, these women remind Harry of his daughter, or not less than the kind of girl she might develop into. Not all of them have Harry’s greatest curiosity in thoughts, however that’s advantageous. They aren’t his major concern both.
Our protagonist does have his moments the place he will be despondent, blinded by his targets, and barely caustic, particularly in a few of his conversations along with his allies. Gamers see a outstanding instance of Harry’s coldness in his remaining dialog with Lisa Garland, who is absolutely going by it on the finish. She’s one of the attention-grabbing and tragic characters within the sport, however the second Harry realizes that she could be part of the darker world he’s seen, he refuses to embrace or consolation her, even pushing her again as she cries. He shuts her within the room, bracing in opposition to the door whereas Lisa bangs on it. It’s heartbreaking, but in addition laborious in charge him, as she might have attacked Harry or develop into one other impediment in the best way of reaching Cheryl.
We additionally see this in his willingness to slay Cybil Bennett, a police officer who’s caught in Silent Hill as nicely and turns into the sufferer of a parasite that forces her to assault Harry. The participant can both purchase gadgets to avoid wasting her from the menace or just homicide her. I at all times felt that Cybil was an ideal character for what little time she had on display, and I attempted to assist her (although I failed the primary time). It seems that canonically, she was slain by Harry, who does present regret regarding her loss of life and questions why it needed to occur, however it looks like there needed to be one other approach. In the long run, Harry can’t save his daughter if he’s useless, and we can not query his dedication, regardless of what number of different our bodies are stacked up within the course of.
“Cheryl is my daughter. I’ll save her. It doesn’t matter what.”
The sport has a number of endings, even one which entails Harry being kidnapped by aliens. In my current replaying, I made certain to get the Good+ state of affairs, which sees Cybil saved, Dr. Michael Kaufmann handled, and an opportunity for Harry to boost his daughter once more, however I do know that’s not the true final result. The canonical conclusion sees Harry escape with the kid, with no Cybil, making it again to the freeway and questioning every thing he simply witnessed, however that isn’t the ending I most well-liked for a few years.
I’m truly in favor of the Dangerous ending, partially as a result of it was the result I obtained the primary time I ever performed the sport, but in addition it appeared probably the most becoming for Harry’s story and his life as a author. On this model, the participant doesn’t do Kaufmann’s sidequest and kills Cybil, which implies we struggle a distinct type of the ultimate boss, our personal daughter, who thanks us for ending her ache. As an alternative of operating out or taking a portal, we see our hero crumble, face down, and questioning how this might have occurred because the place collapses round him. Then, after the credit, we observe one remaining shot of Harry again in his jeep on the web site of the accident from the start of the sport. His head is bloody, and the horn is sounding, as we understand he’s died from the wreck and every thing we simply did was his remaining ideas of making an attempt to avoid wasting his daughter, all created in his head from his hyperactive creativeness or as a protection mechanism to fight the belief he was dying. It makes this line from earlier within the sport hit tougher.
“Was that one other dream? Did I go out once more? I don’t need to suppose so, however possibly that is all simply occurring in my head. I might have had a automotive accident, and now I’m mendacity unconscious in a hospital mattress… I don’t know what’s actual anymore…”
I discover that final result compelling, even when it doesn’t align with later video games or clarify what occurred to Cheryl in that model. One thing in regards to the inescapable dread and weight of the nightmare that’s Silent Hill makes that ending really feel proper. Even when it means we failed, and Harry had no likelihood of constructing it, that’s a stable story. Harry is an effective father, however he’s a sophisticated man who deserves an equally weighty ending. Janky fight, annoying puzzles, tank controls and all, I’ll at all times love Harry’s nightmare, even when I wish to play with the outcomes just a little.