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Silent Hill is a survival horror video game; franchised, developed and published by Konami. The first four games in the series were created by Team Silent, which has since disbanded. Two additional titles have been created by other developers, Silent Hill: Origins by Climax Group and Silent Hill: Homecoming by Double Helix Games. There is also a series of comics, books and novelizations based on the series. A film adaptation loosely based on the first game was released in 2006 directed by Christophe Gans. A second film has been approved and is currently in pre-production.The first three games of the series were released with strong sales and critical acclaim.Beginning with the release of Silent Hill 4: The Room, the critical reception and sales of the series began to decline.The series is known for its complex storylines, which are revealed through cinematic cut scenes and in-game notes. Each game unfolds like a movie, with the player's actions determining which of several possible endings they receive. The series is also acclaimed for its detailed, disturbing environments and chilling soundtracks provided by composer Akira Yamaoka.Silent Hill is a small town situated around the edge of Toluca Lake and a large forest, with the older sections of town located to the north and along the banks of the adjacent river. Due in part to heavy commercial development, the town is fairly self-sufficient; it has an elementary school, a shopping mall, a church, two separate hospitals, a sanitarium, and other stores and attractions. The majority of the town's businesses are locally owned mom and pop stores, with no apparent influence of chain stores or franchises other than a burger joint (called "Happy Burger" wink and a Shell gas station. Old Silent Hill and Paleville hold large residential areas with both apartments and homes, as well as several motels and the grand Lakeview Hotel. The beachfront area of Paleville also has a lighthouse and hosts the Lakeside Amusement Park.

Prior to the 1600s, the area where Silent Hill was eventually established was the home of members of an unnamed Native American tribe that used the land for sacred rituals. At the end of the century, settlers arrived and founded the town; shortly thereafter, they began to rapidly die off. The deaths were attributed to an epidemic, and Brookhaven Hospital was built to treat those affected. Eventually the settlers fled the town, leaving it abandoned for nearly a century, until it was resettled as a penal colony in the early 1800s. Twenty years later, another epidemic broke out, and Brookhaven Hospital was rebuilt and reopened. In the 1840s, the prison was closed, and the town once more abandoned; in the 1850s, coal was discovered there by another wave of settlers, and it became a boomtown.

During the American Civil War, the town served as a prisoner of war camp; after the end of the war, the prison used to house prisoners was converted into a state penitentiary, and shortly thereafter, Silent Hill became a resort town. Around roughly the same period, a group of religious zealots founded a series of small doomsday cults based upon the eschatology of the unnamed Native American tribe which occupied the land before settlers arrived. Collectively referring to themselves as "The Order", the cults, each of whom worshiped a different sub-deity, practiced human sacrifice and necromancy in an ongoing effort to resurrect "The God", an ancient deity which they believed would usher in an age of paradise by killing all humans. In order to fund their efforts, The Order dealt a psychedelic drug called White Claudia, manufactured from a plant indigenous to the town. The drug trade served to increase tourism to the town from the residents of surrounding areas, who traveled there to obtain White Claudia. The drug trade was eventually crippled, in the midst of a war between The Order and local authorities, during which members of The Order murdered several police officers.

Silent Hill manifests itself in at least three distinct parallel layers, or dimensions: a normal, populated town; a quiet, seemingly abandoned town veiled by supernaturally thick fog; and a dark and decaying town (called the "Otherworld" wink filled with disturbing, hellish imagery. Only the latter two layers are explored by the games' protagonists, where demonic and disfigured creatures roam the streets and buildings (appearing in greater numbers in the Otherworld). Electricity and lighting are extremely limited or nonexistent as well. Occasionally, characters will transit between dimensions, and in some cases the dimensions may intersect with each other, creating an incoherent space called "Nowhere."

The different appearances of both the town and its inhabitants are made manifest from characters' personal fears, though not necessarily those of the protagonists. These manifestations may be shared between characters, or otherwise appear exclusively to only one of them. It is implied that Silent Hill always held a supernatural presence, but the town's violent and deadly history since the early modern period had perverted these energies into something darker.Commentary published by Konami has stated that the power of Silent Hill has "intensified greatly" since the events of the first game.While the first, second, and prequel games featured protagonists who were drawn into Silent Hill, in the third, fourth and fifth games, the Otherworld has reached out to people in nearby towns of Ashfield and Shepherd's Glen.The location of Silent Hill is ambiguous, although it is in the United States; Californiais one location that has been suggested. There are a number of clues regarding the town's location throughout the series: * The body of water that surrounds the town on three sides is revealed in the second game to be called Toluca Lake. The only real-life Toluca Lake is in California behind the Universal Studios Hollywood lot.
* The liner notes in the Japanese version of the Silent Hill 4: The Room soundtrack CD give an address for Heaven's Night, a strip club visited by the protagonists of Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3, that would put it in Maine.
* Although no state location is given, a map found through the course of Silent Hill: Homecoming places the Toluca Lake area in a fictitious Toluca County. Also, the instruction manual for Homecoming states that Shepherd's Glen, another town on Toluca Lake neighboring Silent Hill, is located in New England.
* The film's screenwriter, Roger Avary, used the real town of Centralia, Pennsylvania as an inspiration for the town of Silent Hill. In 1962, a fire in a landfill spread to the coal mines underneath Centralia and has burned since then, which forced most inhabitants to leave forever. In the film, Silent Hill is in West Virginia.

The first Silent Hill title, which served as the model for all but the fourth game, utilized a third-person perspective with fixed camera angles at certain points. Most sections take place indoors, connected by open streets and alleyways (though the third and fourth games feature greatly reduced exploration of outdoor environments). The alternating fog and darkness only allow the protagonist and player to see within a ten-foot radius at any time. At the beginning of the game, the character is usually equipped with a pocket flashlight and a seemingly broken pocket radio that emits static in close proximity to monsters.

Much of the series' gameplay revolves around solving puzzles, often to obtain a key or other item essential to the plot. Various monsters are also encountered in nearly all parts of the game. The player has access to a variety of improvised melee weapons and firearms, although most characters do not show any indication of experience with firearms.All the games feature multiple endings. Silent Hill, for example, has a progression of endings from "bad" to "good," depending on how many side objectives the player accomplishes prior to the final boss fight.The endings of Silent Hill 2 are presented as being all equal, with no clearly defined "bad" ending.There are also humorous "joke" endings in every game (except Silent Hill 4), most commonly referred to as the "UFO Ending" because the main character comes in contact with extraterrestrials. Silent Hill 3 and Silent Hill: Origins, however, both force a "good" ending on first-time players, with "bad" and "joke" endings for players who use a continuing save.Composer Akira Yamaoka has provided atmospheric and emotional music for every game in the series, ranging from gritty post-industrial to trip-hop and alternative rock pieces. Often in the Otherworld, music played is much louder than that of the fog world, making it harder to hear enemy's presence and much more frightening to the players. In addition, some environmental sound effects are included simply to frighten and alarm, rather than cause actual physical harm in the game (e.g., loud breathing or faint rustling in dark, empty hallways).

Beginning with Silent Hill 2, the series introduced the Noise Effect. It has become a staple in the series and is explained in the "Book of Lost Memories." The noise effect acts like a film grain filter, giving the game a constant sense of noise and presence, especially in the dark. This can severely inhibit the player's sight, as common objects such as pipes, walls, and posters can appear from far distances as monsters, and vice versa with distant monsters appearing as objects from a distance when not in motion. This effect has been expanded in Silent Hill 4 and Silent Hill Origins by noticeably increasing in volume in the presence of monsters/spirits (even without the radio or flashlight on). This feature can be shut off after completing the game once.Conceived by the game designer Keiichiro Toyama, the first Silent Hill was released in 1999 for the Sony PlayStation. The plot of the game centered around Harry Mason arriving in Silent Hill and his subsequent attempts at finding his adopted daughter, Cheryl.

During the progress of the game, the protagonist Harry finds that Cheryl has a disturbing past as the details of her genesis are revealed.

This game was followed by the release of the side story for Game Boy Advance called Silent Hill: Play Novel which is detailed below.The sequel, Silent Hill 2, was released in 2001 for the Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox and PC. The extended versions for Microsoft Xbox and PC are sometimes referred to by the name Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams and feature an extra subplot scenario, as do the "Greatest Hits" re-release for the Sony PlayStation 2. The plot centered around James Sunderland, who had received a letter from his deceased wife informing him that she is waiting for him in their "special place", which leads him to Silent Hill.The second full sequel, Silent Hill 3, was released in 2003 for the Sony PlayStation 2 as well as for PC. Highly tethered to the events of the first game, the plot surrounds a teenager named Heatheras she uncovers the mysteries that surround her past - including her own link to the haunted town.Silent Hill 4: The Room was released in 2004 for the Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox and PC. The plot follows Henry Townshend who finds himself mysteriously locked in his own apartment until a hole appears in his bathroom wall. The game features characters that are mentioned in previous titles.The prequel Silent Hill: Origins, developed by Climax Group, was released in 2007 for the Sony PlayStation Portable, and in March 2008 for the PlayStation 2.The plot features Travis Grady, a trucker with a disturbing past who becomes trapped in Silent Hill after rescuing a girl from a burning house. During his quest to find the fate of the burned girl, he encounters characters from the first game and some new ones from his own subconscious.The sixth installment was officially confirmed on July 11, 2007, during E3 2007 for the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360 and PC. The game tells the story of Alex Shepherd, a soldier who has returned from a war overseas. Shepherd discovers upon his arrival that his father has gone missing and his mother has become catatonic. Joshua, his brother, is the only one who can provide solace, but he soon vanishes. The game chronicles Shepherd's search to find his missing brother.Like Silent Hill: Origins, Team Silent did not develop the project; instead, development was done by Double Helix Games.Homecoming was released on October 1, 2008.Shattered Memories will be a reimagining of the original Silent Hill by Climax Group, and will be released for the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable.[18] It is "not a remake or a port" and the character designs for Cybil, Dahlia and Harry have been redone. The recent Game Informer interview implies that it may connect to the original Silent Hill storyline.In 2001, Silent Hill: Play Novel was released in Japan for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. The game consists of still images and text and is played in the style of a Choose Your Own Adventure book. Full Motion Video sequences from the first game are also included. While the main game retells protagonist Harry Mason's journey through Silent Hill, it also deals with Cybil's adventures in the town as well as the exploits of a boy named Andy. It is considered a gaiden story and it has not been released outside of Japan.First multimedia DVD focusing mostly on material from Silent Hill 2 such as artworks and renders. It contains exclusive up to date music video 'Caramel Mix' as well as 'Ki-no-ko' and 'Fukuro' (both of which appeared on future media discs).Released only in Japan, it is a second and most popular multimedia DVD. Most of the content found on "The Art of Silent Hill" is included here in addition to new content cited below. Divided into seven sections, it contains full soundtracks, trailer collections, artworks, renders and creature galleries from all three games as well as additional music videos: Ki-no-ko, Fukuro, Usagimu and video with Heather performing the song 'You're Not Here' from SH3 OST.Audio drama added to Japanese version of Silent Hill 4 OST. It was made by Akira Yamaoka and Teisui Ichiryusa and lasts for 57 minutes, however there was later released additional 16 minute chapter to the story. The story is not linked to the Silent Hill series in any way.

to be continued...