With the release of the Silent Hill 2 remake, Silent Hill has been making an astonishing comeback with a new film in the works and other games. Silent Hill has always been one of the most popular horror franchises, with its last demo, P.T., released in 2014, garnering attention and love from horror fans everywhere. However, ever since its initial cancelation and Hideo Kojima's departure from Konami, it had been a downward spiral for the Silent Hill, with no new release or remaster coming out.

But ten years later, Silent Hill has returned with its Silent Hill 2 remake which has done remarkably well. Though this remake proved to be rather successful, some are wondering which Silent Hill is next to be remade (if any at all). Revisiting the franchise's origins is a good starting point, and looking back on the original Silent Hill, fans might just have to accept the harsh reality that Silent Hill is in dire need of a remake, as replaying Silent Hill is not a fun ride.

10 Silent Hill's Graphics Do Not Hold Up Well

Graphics Feel A Little Too Outdated

Back in the early PlayStation era, Silent Hill was a frightening game with its graphics. Though it lacked the realism that present-day games have, the terror itself was in the unknown of horror games, contained within the thick fog. The fog depicted in the game did the game wonders, hiding monsters within it and shortening the player's field of vision. As it stands now, Silent Hill is definitely a product of its time. Though photorealistic games were non-existent back in the 90s, Silent Hill graphics were as real as one would get in a horror game.

However, like with most games, players had to use their imagination to really make these games work, which helped in making Silent Hill one of the most terrifying horror games. But now spoiled by the incredibly realistic, Silent Hill's dated graphics are a real hurdle, especially since the remake has proven that its horrors deserve to be seen with the realism that was intended. In 2024, Silent Hill is a little too outdated for any horror standards, and AI-upscaling is definitely not the answer.

9 Silent Hill Has Awkward And Weird Dialogue Throughout

Awkward Dialogue Creates Awkward Moments

PlayStation 1 games never contained great voice acting. Even in classics like SSX, Bully, or GTA, the voice acting sounded off or lacked the believability that a modern game has. Even Silent Hill 2 had trouble with the awkward and unnatural-sounding dialogue between characters, like when Angela and James first meet. Even the remake has a bit of awkward dialogue here and there, especially during conversations between characters. But in Harry Mason's case, everything sounds off and unnatural.

The script and internal dialogue are notoriously bad in horror games like Silent Hill. After all, Silent Hill 3's most infamous quote is the "it's bread" line. Despite the awkward internal and external dialogue, there was something campy about Silent Hill just as there is about Resident Evil, another game known for its notoriously bad dialogue. Still, intentional campy-ness aside, bad dialogue is bad dialogue.

8 Combat Is A Chore In The Original Silent Hill

Clunky Combat Makes the Game Less Fun

In Silent Hill, when encountering enemies, the piece of advice is to run or sneak past, and this advice is given for good reason. Silent Hill has abominably bad combat that feels too clunky. Movement and camera angles already affect the player's reaction time, and with the combat being horrendously bad, those who attempt to kill all enemies encountered in the game will find themselves on the game-over screen time and time again.

The only good form of combat in Silent Hill is the gun, which allows for more precise aim and better timing. Combat with the knife or metal pipe leads to slow reaction times and poor timing, which adds to the clunkiness of the combat. The gun allows for better reaction time, but ammo is limited and should be reserved for more difficult enemies.

7 Silent Hill's Fixed Camera Angles Haven't Aged Well

Certain Viewpoints Make For An Awkward Experience

One of the worst parts about the original Silent Hill was the fixed camera angles. Of course, fixed camera angles were common in early horror games (e.g., Resident Evil), and it's not like they didn't serve a purpose. Fixed camera angles add to the atmospheric horror, taking away the players' control and awareness and containing it to a single line of sight. This allowed for enemies to pop out of nowhere.

Despite the sense of dread that came with the camera angles, in older games, this also took away from immersion because sometimes it was hard to tell where a character was supposed to go or what areas were blocked off. This confusion and lack of understanding were not helped by the incredibly low-resolution and awful graphics.

6 Low-Resolution Monster Models Make Silent Hill Less Scary

These Models Look Too Silly to Be Taken Seriously

One good aspect of Silent Hill, and the most terrifying part, is the monsters that originate from it. In Silent Hill 2, the monsters encountered are due to the disastrous and broken psyche of James Sunderland. These are the horrors that came from his mind. The monsters in the original Silent Hill, however, are manifested from Alessa Gillespie. Alessa Gillespie was a poor child who was bullied, tormented, tortured, and burned for the sake of birthing a new god – acts committed by her mother.

The monsters and creatures that are manifested from her mind are supposed to be terrifying, and in Silent Hill, they once were terrifying creatures. But as graphics get better and developers are able to accurately depict the monstrosities intended, Silent Hill begins to look a bit sillier over time. That is not to say that they never had an impact or were never once scary, but they prove that they are a product of their time.

5 Silent Hill's Lore Is A Bit Too Convoluted For Its Own Good

Was the Lore Always This Cryptic?

For those new to the Silent Hill franchise, the lore of Silent Hill is rather complicated. Most of Silent Hill's story can be vaguely summed up as a town enveloped by a mist that has monstrous creatures waiting inside it. Even the film attempted to explain pieces of the lore, though new and sometimes even returning players tend to have a hard time understanding the intricacies.

This is not to say complex lore isn't good or necessary. But sometimes, a game's lore can be a little too cryptic for the audience, especially since Silent Hill serves as the introductory installment to the series. It doesn't help that Silent Hill 2 is different from the original and that the nightmarish town conjured up in James' mind is his own hauntings and manifestations. A well-developed story, Silent Hill will always be a bit too cryptic.

4 Silent Hill's Multiple Endings Aren't All Great

There Is Such a Thing as an Anti-Climactic Ending

Silent Hill is known for having multiple endings, depending on the certain decisions you make. There's usually a good ending, a bad ending, and a joke ending (Silent Hill leans in heavily on UFO joke endings). But while the good ending is typically a well-deserved happy ending, the bad ending in the original Silent Hill is cut rather short.

Silent Hill's bad ending is super anti-climactic, though it makes sense, considering Harry's one and only purpose was to find his beloved Cheryl, and failing to bring her home elicits an empty feeling. While the intent is clear, a player who missed an item or quest unintentionally, devoting hours to the game, deserves a more climactic ending than that. Otherwise, endings like these only leave sour tastes in the mouths of players, making them never want to touch the game again.

3 Low Visibility Can Be Incredibly Tedious

Being Unable To See Is More Frustrating Than Immersion-Inducing

Lack of visibility is what makes Silent Hill the horror game that it is. Resident Evil has zombies, Dino Crisis has dinosaurs, and Silent Hill has the fog, which makes its mysterious and deadly enemies ten times more terrifying. It is the fear of the unknown that elicits new and returning players.

But a lack of visibility can also make things a bit more frustrating than immersion-inducing. Slight visibility is fun, barely any visibility, as seen when it's dark outside in Silent Hill, is when the game starts to lose the excitement and thrill. Not to mention, the constant ambush of enemies in the dark and not being able to run in a straight line leads to more game-overs, making it more frustrating than anything else.

2 Puzzles Can Be So Hard They Stop Being Interesting

Silent Hill's Puzzles Can Be a Little Too Difficult

Puzzles are a key component of survival horror games. Think Haunting Ground, Resident Evil, Fatal Frame, and Clock Tower: these horror games require puzzle completion in order to move on. Some puzzles are rather easy and don't take a second to think about them, but other puzzles in Silent Hill tend to be a bit more difficult.

One such complicated puzzle is the infamous Zodiac Puzzle, which left fans of the original game confused and bewildered as to how to even begin completing the puzzle. Another terribly hard puzzle is the Piano Puzzle, where players have to figure out a poem's correlation to the piano. While complicated puzzles can be fun, oftentimes they can be a hindrance to the actual game, making it more frustrating to figure out more than anything else. At least, that's how it felt with the original Silent Hill.

1 Enemy Levels

The Enemy Difficulty Only Increases

One key component of Silent Hill is that, since there is no leveling system, enemies tend to grow more difficult later on. While this is normal for most horror games, Silent Hill in particular raises the bar substantially without warning.

The rise in difficulty is not uncommon, but for a game with janky controls, awkward movement, and an absolutely awful combat system, this difficulty is heightened exponentially. This almost makes the original Silent Hill not enjoyable with how unreasonably difficult it gets, relying on the system of trial-and-error. The story and atmosphere are the only things making the enemies worth charging through, even though that can be questionable sometimes.