The survival horror genre of video games has turned into one of the most popular varieties of titles and they’ve been able to tremendously benefit from the advancement of video game hardware over the past decade. Many different survival horror franchises have come and gone, but Silent Hill is viewed as one of the foundational series for the genre.
The Silent Hill games have taken some risks over the course of the franchise, but the fourth entry in the Konami series, Silent Hill 4: The Room is an especially atypical title. Silent Hill 4 has found a greater appreciation over time, but there’s a lot about the sequel that most people don’t know.
10 The Game’s Main Priority Was Changed
Around the time that any series reaches the point where there are four or more entries it becomes important to not just recycle old experiences and actually figure out if these games are able to involve into something different. This can often be risky, but it’s necessary. Silent Hill 4 was approached specifically with the idea of change and to try to reinvent the series in as many ways as possible. This is why the title ditches the flashlight, introduces invincible ghosts, and even largely ignores Silent Hill itself for much of the game.
9 It Was Rumored To Not Have Started As A Silent Hill Game
Silent Hill 4: The Room definitely takes some ambitious risks for the series and many people believed that it actually started development as an unrelated horror game that was later turned into a Silent Hill entry. This may have to do with how the project’s working title was just Room 302, but it was always designed to be a part of the Silent Hill franchise and was specifically designed by Konami’s Team Silent. That being said, this new structure could have led to more games with a similar gameplay style.
8 The Environments Are Inspired By Various Horror Novels
Silent Hill 4: The Room largely fails if it doesn’t create a properly unnerving experience for Henry in his quaint apartment. Silent Hill 4 wanted to make sure that this area wasn’t a failure so they turned to the mind-bending novel, House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, which similarly explores spatial displacements in a normal home.
Ryu Murakami’s extreme novel Coin Locker Babies has also been cited as an influence, as well as Rosemary’s Baby and various works of Stephen King. All of these influences mesh together in a very effective way.
7 The Premise Came From The Desire To Remove The Player’s Safety
The many Silent Hill titles go in different directions and explore unique areas of the community, but they typically play in a similar way. The concept behind Silent Hill 4: The Room grew from the desire to break these expectations and take the sense of security that a safe room in a game provides and then make it dangerous. It’s a strong idea that the game illustrates well, especially in the second half when the protagonist Henry’s room goes through more changes and is increasingly punishing.
6 It Was In Development At The Same Time As Silent Hill 3
It can sometimes be difficult to determine the success of a franchise, but Konami was pretty sure that they had a hit on their hands after the popularity of the first two Silent Hill games. Accordingly, Silent Hill 4 actually went into development right after the release of Silent Hill 2. It was developed by Team Silent at the same time that work started on Silent Hill 3. It’s an interesting approach that turned out to work in their favor and keep momentum going for the franchise.
5 The Use Of First-Person Is To Create Claustrophobia
Silent Hill 4: The Room’s agenda was to mix up with the audience was familiar with and a lot of this idea comes down to Henry Townshend’s apartment. Silent Hill 4 creates tension out of this environment in ways that are new for the series, but it also marks the first time that the series shifts to first-person perspective.
The rest of the game uses the standard third-person point of view, but this radical shift was to make Henry’s cramped apartment feel even more claustrophobic and like the hauntings are personal.
4 The Game’s Protagonist Is Modeled After Peter Krause
The Silent Hill series features some memorable protagonists from its various titles and they make a strong impression with their singular appearance in a way that’s unique from the Resident Evil series. Silent Hill 4’s main character is Henry Townshend is a satisfying addition to the series and he’s a particularly tortured soul. Konami designed Henry as an introverted and distant person in their late twenties. They specifically looked to the actor Peter Krause for Henry’s look, which is why the forlorn protagonist may appear to be familiar to some people.
3 It Wanted To Continue The Story Of The Previous Games In An Unconventional Ways
The Silent Hill titles tell stories that mostly standalone and it’s the larger elements about Silent Hill’s history and the dark forces that set up residence there that are the recurring elements. Silent Hill 4: The Room uses its place in the franchise in a unique way by fleshing out certain elements to both Silent Hill 2 and 3, but in subtle ways that will only be obvious to the series’ more dedicated fans. Serial killer Walter Sullivan is first introduced in newspaper entries from Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3’s journalist, Joseph Schreiber, actually makes an appearance.
2 Twin Peaks And The Cell Were Visual Influences
There’s a very specific style that’s present in the Silent Hill series, but The Room strips some of those typical locations away and has to figure out ways to make simple things frightening. David Lynch’s Twin Peaks and Tarsem Singh’s surreal film, The Cell, were both looked at as ways to have the game’s visuals mirror the story and the characters’ existential dread in a style where they all work together. They excel at finding horror in the mundane as well as small instances of dread that fester over time. It helps make every area of the game feel threatening.
1 The Game’s Soundtrack Features Traditional Japanese Ghost Stories
The disturbing subject matter and visuals of Silent Hill titles are important factors in why these games are so successful, but the creepy soundtracks for the titles are also essential. Akira Tamaoka does amazing work with Silent Hill’s soundtrack and The Room’s soundtrack was given special attention. In North America and Europe the game’s soundtrack was heavily promoted and included as a pre-order bonus. However, the Japanese version of the soundtrack contains a second disc that features Akira Tamaoka reading spooky classical Japanese stories to the accompaniment of his music.
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