Silent Hill: Origins
Few studios clamour to make a prequel even under the best circumstances, but Origins’ developer was set an even tougher task. Previous Silent Hills were developed by Konami’s own Team Silent; when that team was closed Climax Action’s LA branch was given Origins to develop.
Then that studio was shuttered amid troubled production, and the project was given to the Portsmouth branch – with the same budget and looming deadline.
Origins follows trucker Travis as he takes a particularly cursed shortcut. He goes on not only to carry Alessa from the charred husk of the Gillespie household but to see his own inner demons come out to play.
Reader Saddam Saddam rightly says, “I loved the start of this game.”
WRONG TURN
Kevin Fox notes the PS2 version is “hard to find and very expensive now,” though in an interesting departure for the series Origins debuted on PSP. Considered odd at the time, it proved a perfect spooky fit for a few reasons. @JD_INCINERATOR highlights the accessibility of handheld horror, telling us that it “was the first Silent Hill I played thanks to the PSP.”
Ahmad Alkazmi adds, “How interesting to see this post today, as I am [currently] playing Origins [on] the PSP.”
Then there’s the immediacy of palmtop peril.
“I liked it. Lots of good spooky otherworld gameplay,” Adam Vian reflects. “I played
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it on PSP with headphones, which really helped.”
On top of the stressful soundscapes, series mainstay Akira Yamaoka returned to compose the music, making earbuds a must whether you’re playing on PSP or PS2.
Another immersive aspect saw you hopping between the town and the Other World to solve exploration puzzles. Adam Vian adds, “I liked how the otherworld was through the mirror – making the player enter it themselves, even if they didn’t ‘want’ to, was a good wrinkle in the design.”