Well, it has been a while since I wrote a stand-alone “Horror Videogames Series” article, and I want at least one to appear here in this – the month of Halloween. So, I thought that I’d talk briefly about “Silent Hill 4: The Room” (2004).
This article may contain mild SPOILERS for “Silent Hill” (1999) “Silent Hill 2” (2001), “Silent Hill 3” (2003) and “Silent Hill 4” (2004).
And, no, this article isn’t about the restored content in the March update for the GOG PC re-release of the game – although this did lead me to reinstall the game and re-play part of it.
Thanks to still having my original save data from 2020, I was able to start the “new game plus” (or “A Brand New Fear”) game mode I unlocked after completing it back then. And, at first, nothing really seemed different compared to my original playthrough.
But then, during the forest level, I stumbled across a CHAINSAW 🙂
(Click for larger image) Although I haven’t unlocked this weapon in “Silent Hill 2” (2001), that game reportedly has a similar “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”-inspired idle animation for its own chainsaw.
Naturally, I was excited and eager to try out this engine of obliteration on the nearest monsters… but it’s actually a less useful weapon than the basic metal pipe! Too funny! Seriously, instead of just gleefully plunging it into the nearest monster like the Doomguy would, Henry just sort of gently jabs and prods the monsters with it. In fact, the only time Henry actually uses it in the way you’d expect is in a cool alternate animation when finishing off downed monsters.
Not to mention that the A.I. for the “mutant dog” monsters is good enough that they’ll sometimes actually keep their distance slightly when they hear the chainsaw revving… which sounds good, but there’s usually more than one of them and another will sneak up on you from behind whilst you’re keeping the one in front of you at bay with the noise of the engine. This is hilariously evil game design.
Of course, this isn’t the only time where “Silent Hill 4” (2004) trolls you with its weapons – the best example is, of course, the “gun room” in the apartment building level. There’s a whole room filled with fearsome-looking guns and, given that you’ve spent most of the game so far scrabbling by with just melee weapons and 1-2 pistols, you’ll be eager to grab a flamethrower or a shotgun or an SMG… only for the game to cheerfully inform you that the guns are just (non-functional) ornamental models.
And this is hardly the only time where these games have tricked, trolled or mocked you with their weapons. Famously, “Silent Hill 3” (2003) gives you a SMG during the dream sequence at the very beginning of the game. If you’re used to action games, you’ll expect to blaze your way through the entire area with it. But, unlike most action games of the time, it fires at what is apparently a realistic speed. In other words, it runs out of bullets after about 2-3 seconds of continuous firing. Something you’ll probably instinctively do on your first playthrough. It’s hilariously evil.
And, in the original “Silent Hill 2” (2001) – you can actually find Pyramid Head’s “Great Knife” if you explore a little. It’s a cool-looking giant sword… which is just as slow, heavy and unwieldly to use as you’d expect it to be. Yes, it’s one of the game’s most powerful melee weapons but, if I remember rightly, even just equipping it slows James’ movement speed down a bit.
Even the original “Silent Hill” (1999) isn’t immune to messing the player around when it comes to weapons. On my very first playthrough of it, way back when I was maybe about fourteen or fifteen, I got stuck and looked at GameFAQs (on dial-up) for a written walkthrough that I could print out parts of.
Whilst looking at the walkthrough, I was surprised to see references to a rifle… and it turned out that I’d already missed my chance to get it. Yes, if you don’t pick up this one weapon during one part of the game, then the most powerful basic weapon is locked out for the rest of the game. If I remember rightly, it’s somewhere in and/or near one of the boss arenas (the room in the mall with sand on the floor, I think)… but it is very easy to miss if you don’t know to look for it or that it’s supposed to be there.
So, yes, one of the hilarious things about classic “Silent Hill” is the way that it will often mess with the weapons in amusing ways. Yes, there are a few examples of this sort of thing from the rival “Resident Evil” series, but it is a lot more common in classic “Silent Hill”. And it makes sense – after all, these games aren’t supposed to be mindless action games. And playing cruel pranks on the player also fits perfectly into the series’ psychological horror elements as well.
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Anyway, I hope that this was interesting 🙂
