Silent Hill: Origins (PSP)

Despite the survival horror genre being one of my favorites, and Resident Evil being a top series for me, I have limited experience with the Silent Hill series. I’ve played but not completed the original Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, and Silent Hill 4: The Room, all games I borrowed and had to return before getting too far. I have witnessed cringe-inducing minutes of the Silent Hill movies. I’ve read the Silent Hill 2 book by Mike Drucker (published by Boss Fight Books), which is an excellent, in-depth read, and is what got me to truly appreciate that game. And I thoroughly enjoyed the Silent Hill 2 remake.

With my Silent Hill origin story out of the way, let’s talk about Silent Hill: Origins for the PSP.

For a 2007 PSP game Origins looks quite good. The fog and grainy static we expect from Silent Hill helps obscure some of the graphical limitations. And there’s some “high-end” cut-scenes that kick in towards the end. In total, this is a visually appealing PSP entry.

The bloody, creepy creatures are lurking about as one would expect in this series. But the true horror in this game is the camera and its inconsistent behavior. At times, the camera is at a fixed angle that cannot be adjusted, and other times it can be reset to jump behind our hero Travis, though with limitations based on his proximity to walls. When traversing a space the camera angle will sometimes jump, and if your thumb ever so slightly shifts on analog stick then you will find yourself heading in an undesired direction. This change in direction can be both disastrous when fleeing from baddies and disorienting.

When playing a game I'm often looking for a nice balance between challenge and the ability to succeed with cadence that feels rewarding. Overall, this game feels fair and balanced, and I progressed regularly without much friction. There’s plenty of melee weapons and just enough ammo to ration. Enemies stay dead unless they are repopulating based on a triggered event. Overall, the difficulty feels solid.

Combat is a somewhat weak point, which I felt was the case in the limited time I spent with the original Silent Hill. Swinging a melee weapon feels clunky and dated, even for 2007. For example, there’s an awkward pause after an attack that leaves you vulnerable and is arguably an intentional part of the design and balance of the game—it just doesn’t feel good. I also found myself pausing a lot to switch weapons and to reload so that I could breathe a little while I made my selection and avoid getting hit while navigating my options. When it comes to boss battles there’s not much to them, as you will find yourself unloading ammunition from a safe distance as quickly as possible with no strategy beyond that.

I have mixed feelings about the navigation in this game. On one hand, the map is nicely presented such that you can toggle between the two worlds, objects are labeled, and open and locked doors are marked as such. It’s also a nice touch that the main character will automatically look at enemies, doors, and items, including those outside the frame of the camera. On the other hands, because the camera is so disorienting and spaces look so similar to one another, I found the need to open the map constantly (400+ times, apparently). Plus, on the small PSP screen, I would zoom in and slide around the screen to plot my next move, which is a tedious process.

For quite a while there’s not much of a story. The main character comes across as a hollow vessel and his motivation is confusingly absent. (To be fair, this is generally a theme of the series and in some ways intentional.) Who is Travis? Do I care about him at all? Is the goal to find the girl or escape? It’s not until deep into the game that the connection between Travis and Silent Hill manifests, played out between various notes and cinematic scenes. Having a mystery slowly unveiled is something I’m typically drawn to in a story. But here it’s something different. Here it’s vague and feels missing in the first half of the game.

Origins has all the typical hallmarks of a survival horror game, including the puzzles and backtracking. Much like a Resident Evil game, I found myself looking for artifacts to fit into slots next to doors and solving simple, elementary school math problems. The design of these puzzles are quite basic, and the most common scenario was “find key then use key,” a repetitive scenario that lost flavor quickly. Thankfully, a few more challenging puzzle would arrive later in the game.

Speaking of keys and navigation, a major point of friction in Origins is the “play” vs. “work” dynamic. As with most games, when “play” slips into “work” the game stops being fun. During my play through I ran into a recurring scenario where I would explore a large building and would find myself knowing what was expected of me many steps ahead, and now had the task to simply execute those steps. For example, I’d find a key and know where to use it based on the label on the key, and then would have to back track all the way to that door (opening the map multiple times to make sure I didn’t make a mistake, along the way). Meanwhile, I know of one other door that needs to be opened so I then assume the item for that next door will be behind door number one, meaning I am already anticipating back tracking even further. Lo and behold, it all comes true, and 20 minutes later I have caught up in the game where my thoughts began.

Level design is a mixed bag. The first few “levels” felt oversized (especially for early levels) and extremely repetitive. The motel, on the other hand, displayed well thought-out design by offering an environment that had unique sections and layouts, interesting camera angles and backgrounds, a stark difference between the two worlds, and, most importantly, great flow. This is also the point where the story starts to truly reveal itself. The motel is, simply put, a fun experience, unlike some of the earlier levels.

In the end, I’m glad I saw it through. The first half of the game is confusing and the level design is lacking inspiration. Whereas the latter half is much more engaging and intriguing. As an added bonus, it's always fun to play something on the PSP.