🐳 New! Moby v2023.05.26 update

Silent Hill

aka: Jijing Ling, SH1

Description official descriptions

Harry Mason, an average man, is driving to the town of Silent Hill with his daughter. Upon approaching the town, a cop speeds by on a motorcycle. When Harry gets closer to town, he sees that same motorcycle sprawled in the middle of the road. Harry also spots a woman standing in the road, but due to the dense fog, he can't stop in time, so he swerves to avoid her, crashing into a railing, knocking him unconscious.

When Harry wakes up, his daughter, Cheryl, is missing. Sensing that she would head to the town to seek help, Harry sets out on a journey, not knowing what to expect from this eerie town, enshrouded with fog.

You play Harry Mason, a normal man, with no powers or training of any kind. You must search through the town of Silent Hill, looking for your daughter. You will come across many people, some friendly, some not. You must visit many different areas, such as the school, and the church.

Will Harry find his daughter and safely get out, or is there more to this town than a simple fog layer?

Spellings

  • サイレントヒル - Japanese spelling
  • 寂静岭 - Simplified Chinese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Videos

See any errors or missing info for this game?

You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.

Credits (PlayStation version)

93 People (81 developers, 12 thanks) · View all

Director of Marketing
Product Manager
Producer
Assistant Producer
Customer Support
Packaging and Manual
Executive Producer
Director
Game System Programmer
Graphic System Programmer
Character System Programmer
Enemy Programmer
Event Programmer
Background Designer
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Discussion

Subject User Date
Opening sequence is brilliant Donatello (463) 2013-09-09 15:33:20
1st person mode Donatello (463) 2007-08-11 22:33:54

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The PS1 version of Silent Hill appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Bloopers

This game features a "blooper reel" that can be seen upon completion of the game.

Censored content

The Pal release of Silent Hill is slightly censored, specifically it's missing the deformed child-like enemies that appear in the school and other places of the game. For this release they were replaced with the "Clawfinger" monsters (which only have a minor appearance late in the original game).

Development

When Silent Hill was first announced, press releases indicated that there would be two playable characters with different scenarios, like Resident Evil 2, but the retail version was released with only one playable character: Harry. Apparently, Cybil was originally intended to be the other playable character, and another side of the story would be viewed from her perspective.

Cybil's scenario was never completed, but not all the clues were taken out of Harry's scenario. On the map it would seem most places marked out in dark pink are significant to you on your adventure, however there is a shop on Simmons St. that doesn't open. There is also a boat below Indian Runner that you cannot get to. The door of the diner next to Norman's Motel is only locked, not jammed. In the school Chemistry Equipment Room, there is Glucose and Distilled Water — these are among the ingredients needed to make bombs, but you are told you have no reason to take them.

On a side note, Cybil as a playable character would later appear in the Japan-only GameBoy Advance text-adventure remake of the game, Silent Hill Play Novel.

References

  • Most of the street names in Silent Hill are names of sci-fi or horror authors: Finney - Jack Finney, author of "Time and Again" Bachman - Richard Bachman, Stephen King's pseudonym Bloch - Robert Bloch, author of "Psycho" Matheson - Richard Matheson, author of "I am Legend" Ellroy - Jack Ellroy, author of the "Black Dahlia" Bradbury - Ray Bradbury, author of "Something Wicked This Way Comes" Levin - Ira Levin, author of "Rosemary's Baby" Sanford - John Sanford, author of the "Prey' books Simmons - Dan Simmons, author of "Song of Kali" Sagan - Carl Sagan, author of "Contact" Crichton - Michael Crichton, author of "Sphere" Koontz - Dean Koontz, author of "Phantoms" Wilson - F. Paul Wilson, author of "Nightworld"
  • Blood marking a garage door across from the church spells out "Redrum", a reference to Stephen King's "The Shining"

Sonic Youth

The teachers on the register in the school, Moore, Ronaldo, and Gordon are the three main members of the band "Sonic Youth", Kim Gordon, Lee Ronaldo, and Thurston Moore. Also, the school section ends with you picking up the "K. Gordon" key and going to her house!

Information also contributed by Dr. M. "Schadenfreude" Von Katze, hydra9, Lain Crowley, Tiago Jacques, and Zovni

Related Games

Silent Hill 2
Released 2001 on PlayStation 2
Silent Hill 3
Released 2003 on Windows, PlayStation 2
Silent Hill 4: The Room
Released 2004 on PlayStation 2, Xbox, Windows
Silent Hill: Complete Set
Released 2006 on PlayStation, PlayStation 2
Silent Hill: The Arcade
Released 2007 on Arcade
In Silence
Released 2020 on Windows, Macintosh
Dead by Daylight: Silent Hill
Released 2020 on Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch...
S3: Silent Storm - Sentinels
Released 2004 on Windows
The Moment of Silence
Released 2004 on Windows

Related Sites +

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 3564

Contribute

Know about this game? Add your expertise to help preserve this entry in video game history!

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Grant McLellan.

PSP, PlayStation 3 added by Jeff Hazen. PS Vita added by GTramp.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Richard Simpson, JPaterson, Alaka, Zeppin, DreinIX, Zaibatsu, Jon Collins, brandon221234, FatherJack.

Game added April 4th, 2001. Last modified May 20th, 2023.