It's Really Freaking Me Out, Man

Halloween is almost upon us, so what better time than now to discuss horror games? I’ve never been the biggest horror fan. As a kid, my overactive imagination often prevented me from getting anywhere near the genre, as a scary movie would probably keep me from sleeping well for the next year of my life. It’s only been recently that I’ve started getting interested in it, and even then my interest is limited to very specific titles (I’ve got no interest in “torture-porn” like Saw or Hostel). But some horror games have managed to capture my attention since I first heard of them, even when I was too afraid to even touch them for fear of what they might do to my fragile psyche. I think they interest me so much because they’re essentially mysteries. Only instead of trying to figure out who committed the crime, you are instead trying to figure out what the hell is going on in these twisted places. I think that’s also why I like Lost so much, but that’s a whole different discussion, so let’s carry on.

Resident Evil is the most famous of the “horror” games, though I’m not sure they really belong in that category anymore. For most of the series, you’re facing off against zombies. Sure, zombies can be scary, but they’re also familiar. And most of the time, the story is more bizarre than scary. Really, the most frightening thing was how small your inventory capacity was (Four spaces? Seriously?!). Resident Evil 4 shook things up, though, and I think it is still the best game in the series. Gone are the zombies and the evil Umbrella Corp. that created them. When you start the game, you’re put up against a village in Spain full of people who want to tear you apart. Why? You have no idea. That’s where the mystery comes back into play for the series. Something is obviously wrong with this place, and you’re pretty much on your own to figure it out. And then when you start to see grotesque mutant creatures bursting out of people’s heads, well that just brings up even more questions. The atmosphere and story (though still totally ridiculous) managed to keep me hooked and excited throughout the whole ordeal.

The Fatal Frame series is one that a lot of people bring up. I’ve never played one of these games, so I can’t really speak to their subject matter, but I can understand why they freak people out. You’re usually playing as some kind of young Japanese woman or school girl who has no weapons with which to confront the paranormal terrors before her. Instead, you’re armed with a camera, and you use this camera to find and dispose of the ghosts that are stalking you (I think). I can imagine it getting pretty tense and spooky when you’re hearing strange noises all around you and you’re constantly staring through your camera to see if some apparition is nearby.

Eternal Darkness was a very interesting game that tried to bring something new to the table. In most horror games and movies, the terrors are limited to the characters. The players/audience might get scared, but they always know they are outside of the story. They can find safety in that. Eternal Darkness sought to change things by messing with the game players themselves. The characters you control each have a sanity meter, and as they confront the horrors of the game, their sanity begins to drop. While they are affected by this, the true assault is on the player. Rooms will start to appear twisted; the character may appear on the ceiling; you might enter a room only to get pulled right out to show you never really entered it at all. The most effective ones involve making you think the channel on your TV had been changed, or that your save file was corrupted, or the volume is being toggled. My favorite moment was when after completing one of the chapters, the game jumps to a splash screen that tells you the rest of the story will be told in an upcoming sequel. The screen hangs there just long enough to make you believe it’s true and utter “Oh come on! You have to be joking!” When it snapped back to the game, I couldn’t help but laugh at how well they got me. The story itself was pretty interesting too, choosing to look into the Lovecraftian style of horror and actually having many of your characters die or fail when their stories were complete. It really leaves you wondering just how this will all turn out.

But when I think of the horror genre, it is the Silent Hill series that reigns supreme. This was the series that intrigued me the most while convincing me I could never play it. It’s only recently that I’ve actually given it a try, and guess what? I was right! It did freak me out and mess with my head! And for some reason I keep going back for more. I think Silent Hill’s greatest strength is in how well it blends the familiar with the bizarre, making it utterly surreal and disturbing. You’re not up against zombies or ghosts or demons (well, you kind of are, I guess, but not in the normal sense). In Silent Hill you are being terrorized by…things. That’s really the best way I can describe them. I know some people have given them names, but screw that. The whole point is that you don’t know what they are. They are unknown monsters that take familiar forms (like human or animal shapes), but at the same time are bizarre and grotesque.

But the town itself is what also a huge part of the game. Silent Hill seems like a regular resort town, yet you get the distinct impression that something is very wrong. There is a thick fog everywhere, strange noises sometimes drift by, and more often than not you’ll find rusty medical equipment in random places. Oh, and it’s almost totally abandoned. And depending on which game you are playing, you just might find yourself in the dark world, which is the last place you want to be. The buildings and locations are the same, but they all appear rusted and decayed, and barbed wire and mutilated organic objects are strewn around. It is a dark and twisted mirror of the world we all know. This is where the mystery really comes into play. What happened to this town? What are these monsters? Where did everyone go? And what’s the deal with this other world, and how did you get there? These questions really compelled me to look into the stories of these games, and I was surprised at how deep and complex they actually were.

Almost any rational human being who found themselves in this town would run straight out of there at the first sighting of one its monstrosities. But the protagonists of these games all have very compelling reasons to not only stay in town, but to plunge even deeper into the horrors that face them. In the original, Harry Mason is trying to find his daughter, who disappears into the town after their car crashes. Imagine seeing these terrifying things in the town and then knowing your child was lost somewhere with these same creatures. I’d probably grab a pipe and start fighting my way through the town too. In the sequel, James is hoping to find his wife, even though he knows she is dead! (Much more on that one later.) Number 3 is especially frightening for me, because it starts out in a mall that’s not even in Silent Hill. The horrors that were previously confined to the town have followed poor Heather and can change any place around her. She actually decides to travel to Silent Hill in the hopes of stopping this madness (and get revenge too, though I don’t want to get into spoilers). I don’t know as much about the fourth game, but I know the main character finds himself locked inside his apartment. The only way out is a hole in his wall that leads to Silent Hill. So either stay trapped forever in his place and be haunted by nightmares, or jump into the scary portal that leads him to a place that is basically hell on earth. What would you choose?

Silent Hill Origins seems to have the shakiest of motivations for me. The trucker guy initially decides to save a young girl from a burning building. That’s a pretty noble and believable motivation. But then he hangs around town and persistently braves the terrors of the town when she goes missing. That’s showing some fierce dedication to a stranger, man. Yeah, you gradually learn he’s been there before (and had his life totally screwed up during that time), but he doesn’t initially remember any of that! And I still haven’t finished Silent Hill: Homecoming, so I actually don’t know the full story of what’s going on in there, so I probably shouldn’t comment on that one.

Silent Hill 2 is considered by most to be the high point of the series, and I can see why. The original revealed the town and its screwed up inhabitants and eventually you uncovered the horrible truth behind the town’s metamorphosis. Silent Hill 2 shifted away from that storyline and instead focuses in on the character of James, someone totally unrelated to Harry or the people in the town. He’s a guy who has recently lost his wife and is in a state of grief. He then receives a letter from her, dated after her death, telling him she’s waiting for him in Silent Hill. So now the mystery revolves around where this letter came from and why. And once you come across the big revelation of the game, your whole perception of the game changes. Now you have a whole other idea of why James is actually in Silent Hill. There is imagery in everything that James has come across that reflects the truth of what he’s done and is dealing with in his head. This also reveals a lot about the other people James has come across, and how they seem to be experiencing things in the town that are different from James. This complexity and symbolism really stood out to me when I first learned of it. This is one of the other reasons I find myself so fascinated by this series. I want to learn who these characters are, what has happened in their past, and if this has affected the way they are experiencing Silent Hill.

Silent Hill stands out because it doesn’t rely on gore or shock tactics to create fear. Sure, those are in there, but it mainly uses a creepy atmosphere and a sense of the surreal to create a persistently disturbing place. For me, this is a true horror story that puts believable and likeable characters into a terrifying situation that taps into the fear of the unknown. The stories explore some deep psychological issues and ideas, which is not something a lot of video games aim to do. So if you’re looking for a good scare that will also make you think, consider popping one these discs into your system this Halloween.