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 longer term 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, dealing with down hellish monsters whereas worry ran rampant, however he wouldn’t let something stand in his manner. Group Silent labored laborious to make their protagonist the everyman, however he was additionally a posh and fascinating character.
Harry is a novel author, clever and sensible, however prepared to imagine 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 facet of the highway. Together with his ward gone lacking within the corrupted city after a automobile accident, he braves the hazards and embarks on a mission to avoid wasting her, by no means dropping focus of that aim. He doesn’t appear non secular, even with a few of 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 offer his baby a stun gun when she’s older and kill a cult member to maintain her a secret, however that’s in a while.
“I don’t like this sense. Like one thing dangerous will occur… Little question, one thing horrible is happening.”
There are a number of mother and father who say they’ll do something for his or her kids, however few persons 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 goal 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 a minimum of the kind of lady she might grow to be. Not all of them have Harry’s finest curiosity in thoughts, however that’s tremendous. They aren’t his major concern both.
Our protagonist does have his moments the place he might be despondent, blinded by his targets, and barely caustic, particularly in a few of his conversations along with his allies. Gamers see a distinguished instance of Harry’s coldness in his remaining dialog with Lisa Garland, who is de facto going by it on the finish. She’s probably the most attention-grabbing and tragic characters within the sport, however the second Harry realizes that she may 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 additionally laborious in charge him, as she might have attacked Harry or grow to be one other impediment in the way in which of reaching Cheryl.
We additionally see this in his willingness to slay Cybil Bennett, a police officer who’s caught in Silent Hill as effectively and turns into the sufferer of a parasite that forces her to assault Harry. The participant can both purchase objects to avoid wasting her from the menace or just homicide her. I all the time felt that Cybil was an awesome 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 dying and questions why it needed to occur, however it looks like there needed to be one other manner. Ultimately, 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 latest replaying, I made positive to get the Good+ state of affairs, which sees Cybil saved, Dr. Michael Kaufmann handled, and an opportunity for Harry to lift his daughter once more, however I do know that’s not the actual final result. The canonical conclusion sees Harry escape with the kid, with no Cybil, making it again to the freeway and questioning every part he simply witnessed, however that isn’t the ending I most well-liked for a few years.
I’m truly in favor of the Unhealthy ending, partially as a result of it was the end result I acquired the primary time I ever performed the sport, but additionally 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 unique type of the ultimate boss, our personal daughter, who thanks us for ending her ache. As a substitute of working 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 notice he’s died from the wreck and every part 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 cross out once more? I don’t wish to suppose so, however perhaps that is all simply happening in my head. I might have had a automobile 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 concerning 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 probability of creating it, that’s a strong 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 all the time love Harry’s nightmare, even when I wish to play with the outcomes slightly.