Silent Hill: Origins

Silent Hill: Origins (also stylized Silent Hill: Ørigins), known as Silent Hill Zero in Japan, is the fifth installment in the Silent Hill survival horror series, developed by Climax Studios and published by Konami Digital Entertainment for the Sony PlayStation Portable. The game is a prequel intended to explore the backstory to the series' eponymous town, and follows protagonist, truck driver Travis Grady, who finds himself becoming involved in the events of Silent Hill when he rescues a young girl from a burning house. As he tries to investigate the mystery surrounding her fate in the town of Silent Hill, he also finds himself uncovering long-forgotten truths about his childhood.

It was first released for the PSP in North America on November 6, 2007,^[1] and was later ported to the PlayStation 2, where it was first released on March 4, 2008 in North America. The initial PSP release garnered a mixed reception but was generally received well, with reviewers complimenting gameplay mechanics and good graphics for the hand-held console, while most complaints concerned the brief length of the game and overly-strict adherence to the series' past formula by the new developer. The later PS2 port received slightly lower aggregate scores, owing to lower-than-average quality graphics for the console, and some camera and control issues.

Gameplay

Silent Hill: Origins follows the same basic formula of the previous titles in the series. It is shown from a third person perspective with alternating camera angles; however, rather than an option to move the camera around, the player can now press a single button to pan it behind Travis. The game also features no heads-up display, providing no status on health without opening the inventory.^[2] However, when Travis' health is critical, the edges of the screen will throb red, and a quickening heartbeat can be heard.^[2]

The game favors fully 3D controls instead of the "tank" controls seen in past titles (excluding Silent Hill 4: The Room). This control scheme has been chosen to optimize handheld play.

Unlike past titles, Silent Hill: Origins provides a more in-depth combat system, yet it does not stray from the series' trademark exploration and the ability to outrun some enemies. Throughout the town, Travis will find a number of melee weapons including broken planks and portable TVs.^[2] All melee weapons will eventually break,^[2] and some, such as portable TVs and toasters, are one-shot weapons that break upon a single use.^[3] A relatively wide variety of firearms are available, including a .22 target pistol, a double-barreled shotgun, and an assault rifle.^[3] If no other weapons are immediately available, Travis can use his fists.^[2] A new feature allows the player to quickly switch their equipped weapon with the use of the D-pad.^[2] The game also introduces the "grapple" system, wherein some enemies may grab Travis, and certain button combinations are presented to the player in order for escape.^[2] If the player performs a successful grapple, they can avoid taking damage.^[2]

Travis also carries a flashlight and a radio with him; static from the radio alerts him to the presence of nearby monsters.^[2] He will also tilt his head in the direction of a nearby item.^[3]

Silent Hill's "Otherworld" can now be entered and exited at will by the player through mirrors found throughout the game.^[2] Often, actions performed in one world will affect the other; for example, raising a prop on the stage in the Theatre will create a similar reaction in its "Otherworld" form.

Beating the game will cause the player to receive "Accolades", depending on various possible accomplishments.^[3] Different accolades can unlock special items or different outfits for Travis to wear.^[3]

Plot

Silent Hill: Origins follows protagonist Travis Grady, a seemingly ordinary trucker who suffers from haunting nightmares that have an odd sense of familiarity to him.^[4] Out on a job near the town of Silent Hill, he sees a figure walking out in front of his truck and collapsing, forcing him to swerve and nearly crash his truck; though he initially has no luck finding the girl, he ultimately sees her run off ahead, and so chases after her, thinking she might be hurt.^[5] Instead he finds a burning house, and upon first seeing a woman on the side of the house vanish then hearing a scream, enters to rescue the occupant; he pulls a young child from the fire, and collapses outside, waking later in Silent Hill.^[6]

Wondering about the fate of the child, he heads to Alchemilla Hospital, but finds it almost deserted; here he finds Dr. Michael Kaufmann, who denies that any girl with burns is a patient there.^[7] In another room, he finds a large mirror that contains a horrific reflection, a twisted "Otherworld" version of the room; the girl appears in the reflection and prompts him to touch the mirror, upon which he finds himself in the Otherworld.^[8] He eventually finds a strange, triangular object before passing out and returning to the normal hospital, where he meets Lisa Garland, a nurse who informs him the girl he rescued, Alessa Gillespie, died.^[9] They both leave for the Cedar Grove Sanitarium; here, Travis meets Dahlia Gillespie, who informs him that it was her house and her child that were swallowed by the fire, before leaving.^[10] Travis also finds files and has flashbacks that suggest his mother, Helen Grady, attempted to kill both him and herself years ago, after becoming angry with his father; he collects another triangular-shaped object before returning to the sanitarium lobby.

Travis continues to find clues that lead him first to the Artaud Theatre and then to the Riverside Motel, and which ultimately see him locate another triangular piece.^[11] The girl continues to appear in the mirrors he encounters, but is unable to get answers from her before he wakes back in the hospital, where he locates the final triangular piece and assembles them to form the Flauros, an unusual device used by Harry in the first game of the series, which works to increase Alessa's power and free her from Dahlia's spell.^[12] Finding a map drawn by Alessa as a child, he heads to the cult's ritual grounds, and sees cult figures, including Kaufmann, surrounding the burnt body of Alessa. Kaufmann incapacitates Travis, who is transported into a dream-like state to fight the final battle with a demonic creature; he defeats the monster, and seals it back up using the device.^[13]

Three endings can be accessed in Origins. The Good ending sees the Flauros create a newborn baby that contains half of Alessa's soul, and Travis returning to his truck as Alessa carries the baby out of town. Through radio static, the player first hears that Harry Mason and his wife find and adopt the baby, naming her Cheryl, and then that Kaufmann and Dahlia plan to use a summoning spell to draw the other half of Alessa's soul back to the town, even though it may take a great deal of time (specifically, seven years).^[14] The Bad endings sees Travis awaken in a dark room tied to a metal table, and injected with an unknown substance. In a series of frenetic, dream-like visions, Travis is made to believe he killed a woman he mistook for his mother, as well as his father and a hotel receptionist. He is then seen kneeling, looking at his bloodied arms in despair before his form is briefly replaced by a monster resembling the Butcher. Travis is left struggling on the metal table, with his fate unknown.^[15] The UFO ending, a tradition returning from past entries, sees a grey alien and a dog step out from a UFO to greet Travis; they invite him to join them, and Travis accepts, leaving in the UFO.^[16]

The "Good" ending is heavily implied to be the canon ending to the game, as it explicitly describes the plotline for the first Silent Hill title. Additionally, an older Travis makes a cameo appearance inSilent Hill Homecoming during the course of the game's normal storyline, driving Homecoming protagonist Alex Shepherd to Shepherd's Glen.