The survival horror genre’s taken a fair battering over recent years. You won’t find many gamers who’d disagree that its best days have long since past. Oh sure, we’ve got titles like Amnesia and Slender popping up to remind us all that games are still capable of scaring the shit out of you; but obscure wee indie releases like that are few and far between. It makes you yearn for the golden age of the genre, when Japan seemed to pump out the next best thing in horror every second week. When actually scary games were major console releases, selling millions of copies.
And what are the two big name franchises in survival horror? If you said Clock Tower and Fatal Frame then… Well honestly I admire your taste, but really it’s Resident Evil and Silent Hill, isn’t it? However much you want to argue that both have lost their way a wee bit in recent years (and they sure as hell have), it’s undeniable that back in the day they were both pretty unbeatable. And as with most rival franchises, you’ve always got fans willing to argue that one is better than the other.
And with Halloween having crept up on us again, I’ve been thinking about this. They both offer something a little different; Silent Hill’s sheer psychological terror versus Resident Evil’s B-movie jump scares. That’s not easily comparable, but y’know… Silent Hill really is the more effective horror series. It knocks Resi into a pyramid-shaped hat. The first Resident Evil might have invented the term “survival horror” back in 1996, but it was Silent Hill that perfected it. Don’t believe me? Here are ten reasons to convince you.
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11 Comments
Personally I find the melee weapons in Silent Hill to make me lose respect for the enemies, while in RE you’re nothing without ammo, the knife is mostly useless and the defensive items are clearly only for defense.
Well, once I read in a magazine an explanation for that. As you play with elite officers, aware of what they are going into, SWAT people if you will, in Resident Evil; you play with regular people, next-door stylish in Silent Hill, unprepared for what is coming, they have no special skills or training in using weaponry. So, if you have no access to weaponry during an attack, what do you do? Use what you have at hand, right?
I sincerely think that Silent Hill is THE game for Hardcore Survival Horror fans.
RE2 & 3 were the biggest scare for me, RE2 the tone atmosphere and Birkin, and 3 nemesis added more of the scares, the shocks and the freaking out. Since then I could not stand playing anymore survival horrors (nightmares and all). But when I decided to play SH2, god, even at the start of the game, just look around and all the stuff going on, I quit… same for No3.
I am the one who really welcomed the change which came in RE4 to the latest instalments. This Action horror stuff is more how I like RE now, was kind of fed up with the doors, the keys, the items ,the unlocks ,the puzzles. Nevertheless, i’m no call of duty, nor black ops or other stuff fan.
You’ve nailed exactly why this series is superior to RE. In fact, even a below par western developed SH game is a better horror experience than the past couple of Resident Evil games.
To say SH is survival horror does the series a disservice. The series is alone in its class ‘psychological horror’
Ahí lo tienes! Silent Hill es 20 veces mejor que Resident Evil en todo lo que se menciona en el artículo y por muchas razones más, La saga de RE se fue al carajo desde el 4… 100% SH Sin duda la mejor saga de terror ;)
This list can honestly be summed up in “What are good things about Silent Hill” then saying “Well Resident Evil didn’t do those things as good.” I love both series but both over the years have declined but Silent Hill got bad before RE did in it’s main series RE did stuff good and stuck with it and thats when you get games like Code Veronica X where as Team Silent handed off the games after 4 (Yes 4, the majority of the team that did 4 was Team Silent and it was still a great game) but origins sucked Homecoming was unbearable they tried something new with Shattered Memories and it honestly worked but then that all god ruined by Downpour where as Resident Evil I felt was strong until 6 with the main series. Also saying the story of RE was more B movie like Resident evil got its inspiration from Romero and monster Films, Silent Hill got it’s inspiration from Jacob’s Ladder, Kubrick, Lynch & Stephen King works of course there’s gonna be a great difference ones more horror, blood, gore, and creatures the other is more atmosphere, psychological, and making YOU the player create the fear for yourself. I liked the article but really felt it was too point out the obvious and pick on the lesser for it.
While I completely agree with all of these statements. I believe that SH and RE are in completely different ball parks. SH has a COMPLETELY different plot and therefore, needs to be outlined in a different way. RE is all based of off military/science operations and that’s what makes it cool… because of the zombies. SH is based of religion gone wrong and philosophies. And that’s why I enjoy each series differently because they are completely different sub-sections of horror.
I completely agree with this. I am more of a Silent Hill fan but I do enjoy the occasional Resident Evil. They both have different classes. RE is more action and SH is more mystery.
I agree w/many of the comments here. i do think RE and SH are in different categories. SH fits more into Psychological Horror, whereas RE is more Survival Horror. And if that’s the case, I prefer Psychological. SH has an incredibly researched story and mythos and they know how to use it WELL. It really leaves you coming back for more and wanting to know what certain things mean, b/c everything means SOMEthing–a scrawled note, a painting, everything. And I love that. And it’s all twisted. It haunts you after you’ve stopped playing.
To the dude that couldn’t play it out of fear–that’s actually very common–I hear it a lot. And it’s proof the Dev team has done its job, even TOO well. But try it again. It’s really worth it.
Resident Evil is far superior in all aspects, Silent Hill is too weak in the villain department, not to mention Resident evil is more realistic than Silent hill.
Both are in completely different classes. One is psychological terror, the other is situational terror. Sure, Res has taken a different approach, but change worked for them. And there will always be things we don’t like about a different series than another.