Sounds of Nostalgia: Silent Hill
Do we need an excuse to play old games? Hell no! But sometimes music from OSTs can inspire us to try new ones or revisit past loves like dirty, secret affairs.
There’s nothing quite like Silent Hill. The survival horror series stands on its own, and while the games aren’t quite what they used to be, they’re still as screwed up as ever. Even the not-so-great Silent Hill movie succeeds as one of the better adaptations, especially since it manages to retain the spirit of Silent Hill with so many nods to the fans—not to mention my favorite scene, where Pyramid Head rips the skin off Anna.
Anyway, few fans can forget the first installment of the series—the game that redefined “what the fuck” moments. Who can mistake the classic alley scene at the beginning? Or the first time you were thrown headfirst into the dreaded otherworld—which I’m pretty sure is what hell really looks like. From static radios to monsters in the fog, exploring hospitals and cursing at the sudden lack of road before you, Silent Hill truly grasped the raw notion of horror and made you stare at it mercilessly before shoving you blindly into hell. The combat system might be worse for wear, but we loved the game for its ability to scare the shit out of us with psychological, weird stories that don’t make a shred of sense but horror scenes that completely do. And the puzzles were always annoyingly fun, like they should be.
While “Promise (Reprise)” ranks high as one of the best Silent Hill songs, it’s hard to scrub the eerie beginning of the “Opening Theme” out of your psyche. And isn’t that just perfect?
What are some of your favorite Sounds of Nostalgia?
