Silent Hill: Homecoming will be released at the end of this month (September 30). I keep waiting for them to mention something about it on Steam, but all’s quiet so far. In the meantime, I’ve finally completed Silent Hill: Origins (PS2), a worthy addition to the series. Graphically, it’s in between Silent Hill and Silent Hill 2—closer to the latter—but plays much more like the original, as you might expect from a prequel. After completing the game and seeing how it fits into the Silent Hill mythos, it got me thinking: what’s the best order to play the games in?
It’s an interesting question for a series like Silent Hill. The first, third, and fifth (Origins) games are directly linked, while the second and fourth games stand-alone titles. There are some allusions to the second installment in Silent Hill 4: The Room, but they’re so minor (and the game itself is so different) that claiming any kind of serious story-based link between the two is ridiculous.
So if you’ve never played a Silent Hill game before, where do you start? Some people would probably argue for the order the games were released in: 1, 2, 3, The Room, and Origins. This doesn’t make a lot of sense, though. As stated, 2 and 4 have no direct link to 1 and 3 or even themselves, so there’s no particular reason to play them “in order”. Origins also confuses things; as a prequel to the first game, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to play it last.
A better way to approach the games would be to view parts 1, 3, and Origins as the primary arc (which I’ll call the Alessa Arc). So we have 1, 3, and Origins lumped together in a single continuity, with 2 and 4 as spin offs of the main series: related by setting and theme but not by story. We’ll come back to them in a moment, but let’s ask the same question of the Alessa Arc: what order should these be played in?
Chronologically, the correct order is Oirigins, 1, and 3, but (much like playing the games in release order) this doesn’t make a lot of sense. A large part of the fun in Origins are the references to Silent Hill, which would be lost on anyone that hasn’t actually played the original. Silent Hill 3 suffers from a similar problem, as well as wrapping up the Alessa Arc at it’s completion. Because of this, the best order for the Alessa Arc would be Silent Hill, Silent Hill: Origins, and then Silent Hill 3.
How do 2 and 4 fit in to all of this then? Silent Hill 2 is arguably the best individual Silent Hill game to date, while Silent Hill 4: The Room is only arguably even a Silent Hill game. Anyone being introduced to Silent Hill, having no experience with the franchise, should almost certainly start with Silent Hill 2. It offers a compelling storyline, the ability to tweak the game to individual play style (it has separate “Action” and “Riddle” difficulty settings), and some of the best graphics in the series to date. Silent Hill 4: The Room is more of a throw away title; interesting if you’re a serious fan, but not particularly interesting (or necessary) if you’re unfamiliar with the games.
So the final, best order for a newcomer to the Silent Hill games is: Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill, Silent Hill: Origins, Silent Hill 3, and Silent Hill 4: The Room (if you really can’t get enough of Silent Hill).
It’ll be interesting to see how Homecoming fits in to all of this. Word has it that it’s much closer to Silent Hill 2 in terms of story and game play; combined with an impressive graphical overhaul and (hopefully) improved game mechanics, it could beat out Silent Hill 2 as best individual game in the series.