I remember it well. It was spring or early summer of 1999. I was 18 years old and getting ready for college. I barely played my Playstation, except to get out Resident Evil or Tomb Raider occasionally. The PS1 was in the living room, and my dad played it more than I did. Sometimes he bought games at the video rental store downtown. He’d been playing something on the weekends late at night, and I didn’t really care. One day, he handed me a disc. There was a negative image of a girl I’d later know as Cheryl Mason on it. There was no instruction booklet, just the disc. My dad said he got it for $4 in the bargain bin for used games. He said it was a cool game, but once you got to the school level, you “couldn’t see a damned thing.” That’s why he gave it to me. He blamed it on his eyesight, but I think he wussed out. I spent the next several months playing and replaying, going to the library to check out Gamefaqs, then I started my own Silent Hill site, so great was my obsession. I played through to get all the endings, then played more times to look at all the cool stuff in the game. I bought a TV capture card for my computer just to make screenshots for my website.

What was it about this game that my dad found in a used games bin? I’d probably seen articles about it, but the name didn’t really catch my attention. Hell, I might have thought I had grown out of video games. Little did I know, I’d still be playing this thirteen years later, and it would still be my favorite game. Why? There are a lot of reasons, I think.

At the time, the best game in the genre was still Resident Evil. I liked Clock Tower, too, but the graphics kind of sucked badly. Resident Evil wasn’t even true 3d; it was 3d-looking sprites on a flat, 3d-looking background. Tomb Raider was one of the closest things to the type of movement and cameras in Silent Hill at the time. You could actually see things around you and explore anywhere you wanted. And it was the exploration that pulled me in at first. I hated how linear a lot of games seemed. Sure, you still have objectives, but you can walk around town and read the posters if you feel like it. Another thing was that there were a lot of posters to read! And I got most of the movie references, like the theater from Demons and the store from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. This made exploration all the more fun.

Of course, there is more to Silent Hill than some Pet Sematary posters, but you don’t really get that right away. All you know is something strange is going on in town, and Harry can’t find his daughter. At first, I wasn’t sure if it was supernatural, or a murder mystery, or what. That all starts to change after the Levin Street dog house.

But I didn’t really want to shit my pants until alternate Midwich. It wasn’t just the darkness, and not knowing what’s around the corner, but the aesthetic of the level was unlike anything I had ever seen before in a video game. I know it’s unpopular to praise the graphics of SH1 these days, but damn, it looked awesome in 1999. I think the graphical limitations of the time and the system actually helped the feeling of claustrophobia and made you feel ill at ease in general. I wasn’t very good at killing the school monsters yet, so when they ganged up on me, that freaked me out. To me, the level design is really the star of the game. Yamaoka’s music is perfect, too, of course. From the opening theme to the end credits, not a note is out of place. This is my favorite Silent Hill soundtrack. The more industrial and noise-sounding tracks add to the oppressive atmosphere of the town. One of my favorite parts is when the Antique Shop changes over to the Otherworld, and you go running through the streets, but they’ve changed. They’re all fencing now, and a lot of parts are blocked. It’s dark and raining, and the music gets more and more nerve-wracking.

As the game went on, it got more mysterious. Who was this crazy Dahlia lady? What’s up with Lisa? Where is Cheryl? Things got curiouser and curiouser. Nowhere was my favorite part. I had never experienced something like that in a game, and it really felt like Harry’s reality was breaking down. The fighting was awkward, but it wasn’t a game about fighting. You learned to run in certain areas and fight in others. I think it was the Otherworld that made me realize how awesome this game was. The idea of familiar areas changing into something more threatening was more interesting than just having a character end up in some creepy house with monsters. And I liked the occult aspect in this game, mostly because it was not all spelled out immediately. “Occult” can also mean “obscure; secret” so revealing everything ruins the magic. I don’t think you’re supposed to understand it all, it’s just supposed to feel threatening. And one man’s search for his daughter is what holds it all together. Without Cheryl, Harry would’ve taken one look at that town and decided to go to Vegas instead.

The acting also deserves mention. I know that budget limitations and the industry standards of the time are part of it, but I think it’s fantastic. It’s not the sort of performances that will get anyone an Academy Award,but remember that there are references to Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 here. Go watch that movie, come back, and tell me the acting isn’t over the top in the very same way as Silent Hill. Dahlia Gillespie would fit right into a cheesy horror movie. And that adds to the charm, for me.

The monsters may not feel as “symbolic” as those of Silent Hill 2, but I don’t care. I like them. They’re just the sort of things you’d believe would come from the mind of a child. Pterodactyls, threatening skinless dogs, giant lizards and insects… The wormhead is one of my favorites, followed by the puppet doctor. I like the doctors because of the noises they make, mostly.

Silent Hill 1 started it all. Even if you hate the graphics, you have to respect it for getting the ball rolling. Without it, we wouldn’t have Silent Hill 2, or any of the other games people love so much. If you haven’t played it, you should. It’s on PSN, and you can find used copies for reasonable prices on amazon.com. It’s still my favorite, and I still play it all the time.