DF's Spoiler thoughts on Silent Hill 1

Spoilers below! This should only be read by those who finished the game!
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LAST WARNING
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Before I start I want to say one mixed feeling I didn’t put in my review and that was obscure, cryptic puzzles at times with obscure hints on solutions. Not all of them. A certain instrument gave me trouble(piano). The solution made me wack my head once I saw it. Just a minor thing. Otherwise the rest of them didn’t give me nearly as much trouble and I felt they were not too hard while not being too easy.

Man this game. The beginning took some getting used to. And I didnt know where to go at times, but the slow approach through subtle hints in the environment to help like the key inside the doghouse to enter the house in the beginning of the game hooked me from then on.

I was sold as heck to continue on and while confused why there weren't any cutscenes to grant me any information on the main story at least in the beginning. The school, church & hospital. The scene with Dahlia in the church gave me alarm bells and I predicted early on maybe she was an antagonist. Glad I was right to learn that later on.

Lisa’s role in the story stumped me for a long time. For I would say 80% of my playthrough I thought she was trapped in the alternate world. It wasn’t until the ending we learn her true fate. She already passed away and is a lingering spirit. Still her final interaction with Harry is heartbreaking and tragic. Seeing her want to leave this hellish world is empathetic and honestly if I was in her shoes id want to leave asap. If anything her final act to take Kaufmann with her gave me SUPER satisfaction to see.

Cybil’s role I was confused for a good while. I rustled with the thought maybe she could be an antagonist. But after the antique scene where she rushes to our location to help us and gave us a gun in the beginning of the game. I mean hell you have COP giving some random joe on the street a gun after hearing his story why he’s here. I’d almost call her crazy, except with the circumstances I can get behind her logic. She’s trying to escape and knows training. So she can prolly procure a gun somewhere else. Harry is well. A random joe, with a genuine motive to search for his daughter. So maybe it pulled on her heartstrings to see an earnest man looking for his kid. Giving him a gun would help. So I admire that from her. Not sure if I could do it myself if I was a cop. But if i were in Harry’s shoes i’d be really F^%&(ing grateful for some semblance of protection against these creatures.

Kaufmann’s role was an interesting transition. I didnt think much of him in the first encounter, but after reading some notes and watching the VHS tape(watching this in the Nowhere zone) really puts things into perspective. Especially during the ending. Dude’s a selfish A-hole. Once I helped him with his sidequest I realized he’s got to have something up his sleeve for later. And wadda ya know. Dude summons the incubus unknowingly making harry the everyman clean up his mess. God what a dumba^&.

Cheryl + Alessa - Im a sucker for saving family members tropes. So when in the beginning of the game were off to save our daughter. It was an extra cherry on top incentive to keep going instead of leaving the game unfinished and thus leaving her fate unsaved.

TBH her scenes + alessa I didn’t quite get early on until endgame where i guess alessa and cheryl merge which almost took my suspension of disbelief oughta nowhere, but iirc they said alessa and cheryl possessed special powers. And that cheryl was adopted. Still to see them merge sure was something. Would’ve thought I would fight her, but im glad it wasn’t. In the other endings I watched we do, but damn I prefer fighting the incubus imo. Since what came out of her was some sick parasite or something similar to what was on the nurses and doctors in the hospital and Cybil when we fight her in the amusement park. Really makes me think of some demonic possession stuff which creeps me the hell out. GOOD LORD.

Dahlia’s role I predicted early on, so I was unsurprised to see her being the big bad that orchestrated this whole mess. What she did to her daughter Alessa especially is super unforgivable. God my hatred was near conniptions level. I hate parents subjecting their children to horrible scenarios. And what she did to Alessa and by extension to our child Cheryl made me want to shoot her during her monologue during the ending. God damn.

The Good + ending i super love. We get the reincarnated baby of Alessa + Cheryl. Essentially giving them a new chance at life which is fitting considering what the former went through and the latter would have struggled mentally due to the trauma of the events of SH1. Cybil joining Harry is such an appropriate decision. And I wholeheartedly approve. Not because Harry’s wife is gone, but after the sheer ordeal they both suffered in SH1 they 100% deserve happiness if that’s what i'm thinking happens after the events of the game.

I did watch the other endings and man bad/bad+ is pretty depressing. Dude loses all hope or dies from the car crash early on sucks. The good ending is somewhat solid. But not having Cybil with us sucks.

The UFO ending is both hilarious and terrifying. Love the art stills and the starwars esque credits sequence + the music was spot on cool.

Overall. I can see if others getting the bad/bad+ endings would feel dissatisfied. But the good and especially good+ endings are such a 180 into satisfying. Well more so on good+.  I applaud it all the same. Its like as good as the endings as Chrono Cross, MGS1, Vagrant Story, Xenogears, Castlevania: SOTN, FFT, FF7-FF9 in varying degrees for the PSX era. I love it!

Before I forget. Absolutely adore the bloopers during the credits. Goes to show the dev team had a lot of fun making that lol