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 searching for 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 approach. Staff Silent labored onerous 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 imagine in issues he might not absolutely 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 hazards and embarks on a mission to save lots of her, by no means shedding focus of that objective. He doesn’t appear spiritual, 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 definitely acts as a cornerstone of his beliefs. Harry worries consistently about his daughter’s security, which leads him to provide 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 unhealthy will occur… Little doubt, one thing horrible is occurring.”
There are quite a lot of dad and mom 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 function or rethink his actions for the kid they took in. Throughout his journey, Harry encounters different residents of Silent Hill, most of them girls with vastly totally different personalities. Doubtlessly, these women remind Harry of his daughter, or not less than the kind of girl she may grow to be. Not all of them have Harry’s finest curiosity in thoughts, however that’s nice. They aren’t his major concern both.
Our protagonist does have his moments the place he could be despondent, blinded by his targets, and barely caustic, particularly in a few of his conversations together with his allies. Gamers see a outstanding instance of Harry’s coldness in his closing dialog with Lisa Garland, who is admittedly going via it on the finish. She’s one of the vital attention-grabbing and tragic characters within the recreation, 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 onerous in charge him, as she may 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 save lots of her from the menace or just homicide her. I at all times felt that Cybil was an excellent character for what little time she had on display screen, 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 demise and questions why it needed to occur, but it surely looks like there needed to be one other approach. Ultimately, Harry can’t save his daughter if he’s useless, and we can’t query his dedication, irrespective 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 certain to get the Good+ situation, 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 popular for a few years.
I’m really in favor of the Dangerous ending, partially as a result of it was the result I acquired 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 battle a unique type of the ultimate boss, our personal daughter, who thanks us for ending her ache. As an alternative 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 closing 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 part we simply did was his closing ideas of attempting to save lots of his daughter, all created in his head from his hyperactive creativeness or as a protection mechanism to fight the conclusion he was dying. It makes this line from earlier within the recreation hit more durable.
“Was that one other dream? Did I move out once more? I don’t need to suppose so, however possibly that is all simply occurring in my head. I may 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 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 constructing it, that’s a strong story. Harry is an effective father, however he’s an advanced 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 prefer to play with the outcomes a bit.
