A quick plot summary:
Henry Townshend wakes up to his apartment being locked up from the inside, and is unable to leave or make contact with anyone outside of his apartment. That is until a hole appears in the wall of his bathroom (Perhaps a reference to Silent Hill 2s holes which appear and disappear)
As we make our way through the hole, we appear in a local subway station which is dreamlike. Monsters appear and one of Henry’s neighbours dies, later turning into a ghost. Throughout the game more of Henry’s neighbours appear and die in a similar manner, and this is due to Walter, a serial killer who died prior to the events of SH4. Walter is attempting to reunite with his mother who he believes is the room that Henry Townsend is trapped inside. To do this, Walter believes he must kill 21 different people to revive god where he can be reunited with his mother (Room 302) in paradise.
These beliefs are due to Walter being raised by the silent hill cultists. Anyway, that’s the plot. Most of the 21 people happen to be Henry’s neighbours from the apartment, and so Henry must try to prevent Walter from succeeding.
A little thing about control mechanics:
Within the first four Silent Hill games, the camera is on fixed angles. In most games you would play today with a third person perspective or first person, you are able to manipulate the camera using your mouse or right analog stick. Due to being fixed angle, how the controls function within these games is also different.
The two control styles are “Tank controls” and what is often refered to as “2d controls.”
”Tank controls” are a control scheme in which a player controls movement relative to the position of the player character.
”2d controls” instead are based on the position towards the camera.
Silent Hill 1 only allows the use of tank controls, however Silent Hill 2 and 3 allow you to switch to which control scheme you prefer.
Silent Hill 4 only allows for 2d controls which doesn’t make much sense.
So yeah, I found the change in controls really confusing and unwanted. I hate 2d controls so much in games like this but seems like people I talk to think tank controls suck? Weird, I guess I’m just used to them. Like tank controls just feel so natural to me after having played the original silent hills, most of the resident evils and a whole bunch of other ps2 and ps1 games. The instant switch in movement once a camera angle change happens just sucks, fuck 2d controls! Anyway, onto some more thoughts on the game.
Me thoughts on the game
In terms of riddles, this game does not at all take the same approach as the previous two games. They are pretty much non-existant by comparison which is kinda disappointing but I felt like there was much more focus on combat.
Also, the protagonist in this is really just a guy. I think that’s a good thing in videogames but some might disagree, Henry doesn’t need to be interesting because the other characters and things around him are.
I thought Walter Sullivan was a fun villain, also cool design for the final boss fight although the fight itself is not great. Depending on how well you played the game and whether you managed to stay on top of hauntings which took place in your apartment, the character who you escort throughout the game will walk slower or faster. This is important as you are trying to defeat the boss on a time limit and your escort is walking towards some spinning blades, which is kinda funny really.
I really liked that there were a bunch of scenes you could miss, peeping through the peephole in the front door or through the crack in the wall to Eileens room as well as looking out the windows within the lounge and the bedroom. The voyeuristic nature of looking into Eileen’s bedroom is also really creepy. Otherwise you get to see people outside doing weird stuff. Something to do with seeing other people living relatively normally and not being as concerned about Henry as they should be was funny.
My favorite monster design in SH4
This thing, a twin victim. It just looks cool I think, I’m not sure the exact symbolism or whatever. Apparently they point at whoever is a sacrament for Walter, that meaning someone who he intends to kill and use as part of the 21 sacraments to bring about “god.”
My favorite scene in SH4
There’s something just so weird about this interaction, like a lot of the other cutscenes throughout the games the line delivery is so stilted and weird. And not to mention that it’s two instances of the same character, but one being this creepy serial killer and the other being this small child is so weird.
My favorite song off the soundtrack
I feel like this soundtrack is the best out of the series, and this song in particular just sells the themes perfectly.
Some interpretation of the story/events
I got the worst ending, which meant that the 21 sacraments were successful. The 21 sacraments is like pseudo religious thing where Walter, the antagonist has to fulfill 21 different things which amount to the sacraments before he can awaken what he believes to be his mother, the room, which is where Henry lives. Anyway, prior to the events of SH4, Walter kills 19 people and dies coming back as a ghost later. So we can surmise that there must be two more people, or things he must do before he achieves this 21 sacraments.
Walter thinks his mother is this room. And the reason for this is due to him being born in the room, which kinda doesn’t make any sense but it’s a weird, surreal horror game so whatever. Supposedly, it’s more to do with the fact he felt some kind of connection to the room and where he ended up next was an abusive orphanage. So we can at least interpret this as more of a connection to an inanimate, unfeeling room than to people who actively hated and abused him. Kinda makes sense then.
There are two monsters within the game that have a fairly clear interpretation, and both are meant to represent his hatred for others. In the form of misandry and mysogyny, which is kinda funny I wonder why they didn’t just say misanthopy? I guess that is more general or something, like mysogyny and misandry is very targeted towards groups of people rather than a general feeling of hatred or something.
Anyway, it’s some weird inversion of Jesus and Mother Mary. Immaculate conception for a room. I think that’s interesting. It also helps that for Henry to leave the room he has to travel out of the room which is analogous to a womb, through these tunnels that lead from the room to different locations like the train station, the forest, and so on. It is as if the room is giving birth to Henry.