Silent Hill Origins Preview

By Kristan Reed Published 23 August, 2006

GC: World-first showing of Konami's PSP-exclusive.

Tucked away rather sheepishly in the handheld inner sanctum of Konami's (literally) throbbing Leipzig stand, Silent Hill Origins made its unheralded public debut today - but we came away wondering whether it really benefited from such a premature showing.

Said to be "30 per cent complete", the playable demo of Climax-developed PSP offering gave us nothing more than a fleeting glimpse of what to expect when it emerges from the fog of early 2007. In essence, the game's Leipzig showing gave us the chance to see the basic tech behind the game, as well as a fairly rudimentary idea of how the games controls and combat are shaping up. But beyond that - we'll have to wait.

So far, Konami has revealed that Origins follows the fortunes of lonesome truck driver Travis Grady (dropping the O' Grady name revealed at E3, we note) who finds himself getting stuck in Silent Hill while making a routine delivery (seriously, who makes a routine delivery there? Satan's smoke machine manufacturer?) Unsurprisingly, he finds the locals to be somewhat 'strange', and then (oh ho ho) contracts the deadly Silent Hill disease of being confronted by his troubled past. Confronted by these terrible memories of his childhood, and surrounded by utter weirdoes, it won't come as a great shock that the premise involves getting the hell out.

Puzzling

Naturally, a large part of the escape plan involves shooting shambling otherworldly creatures in the face rather a lot. As such, it's expected that Origins will continue to steer the brand in a more action-focused direction - something this demo appears to underline with its overhauled combat system. Presumably, puzzling will still feature in the game, but we didn't see any evidence of it in the demo, put it that way.

'Silent Hill Origins' Screenshot terminator

Even terminator zombies like to boogie.

Unashamedly taking its cue from the revered Resident Evil 4, the first thing to note is how the closely the game apes the pulled back camera angle and over-the-shoulder aiming system - complete with red laser pointer to ensure you can pull of those all-important head shots with the minimum of fuss (and, presumably because it worked so well in Capcom's classic).

Unfortunately, with only a few dim-witted, skinless, shambling Terminator-esque zombie types (minus the benefit of their digestive systems, it seems) to shoot at, it was hard to get a true sense of how well Konami's 'Cinteractive' control system (as it's officially calling it, terrifyingly) has been adapted to the limitations of the one-stick PSP. In the blurb handed out at the stand, the idea is "to face down horrifying monsters while the control scheme changes intuitively for each situation".

Fire and forget

What this amounts to appears to be a camera system which swings around to a predetermined 'dramatic' angle whenever you head down alleyways, and changes to 'Ressie 4 mode' whenever you hit the right shoulder button to aim. Tweaking the aim seems simple enough, and unleashing pistol shots were similarly straightforward, leaving the prospect of numerous tense encounters with the full repertoire of Silent Hill's inmates.

'Silent Hill Origins' Screenshot students

Bloody students.

Whether this amounts to "an enhanced camera system" or just making the most of the PSP's annoying limitations is something for discussion and examination when the game comes out. Happily, general movement and navigation seemed simple enough, but typically drunken and imprecise in the way that most single stick third person games are. You get used to it quickly, but in the back of your mind there's that nagging reminder that it’s not ideal.

Once we'd dispatched the trio of undead, we swung our rather redundant mallet around a few times (by hitting the X button), and began running around town with gay abandon (in the old fashioned sense, you understand). We indulged in a quick spot of fog-bound sight seeing, making a mental note of the cinema, restaurant, flower shop and other buildings in the vicinity, wondering what role they'd play in the finished article. We were certainly appreciative of the detail levels and faithful foggy ambience, but also somewhat frustrated that we couldn't enter a single one. Not only that, this frustratingly limited demo didn't allow us to interact with seemingly anything of note. Instead, we ran around repeatedly, doing laps of the small section of the town and wondering why the gods had been so cruel to us.

Early doors

'Silent Hill Origins' Screenshot fog

Travis wonders why does it always fog on me.

Moving onto the Asylum demo, there wasn't much more to report, sadly. This gloomily lit environment aped most of the typical Silent Hill squalor, without presenting us with anything of specific note. Abandoned offices, sitting rooms, corridors and the like promised to reveal vague hints of the direction of the game, but in truth the same skinless terminator-alikes shambled into view and posed no threat. We shot, we moved on, we wandered, we found nothing. We appreciate the game is currently at a very early stage, and that it's definitely way too early to even pass comment, but we can only report on what we're shown. On a basic level, Climax seems to have done a reasonable job of recreating the gritty visual style, the control system's progressing along the right lines, and the music's as atmospheric as ever. But beyond that we're struggling to be nice.

It sounds like a fairly obvious thing to say, but if a game's not ready to show off, don't put it in front of expectant journalists. Watch the Silent Hill Origins trailer instead and keep your fingers crossed that Climax has what it takes to keep fans happy while the Tokyo team keeps itself busy with its next gen Silent Hill.

Silent Hill Origins is due out in 2007 exclusively on PSP.

Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (30) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • TwistidChimp #1 6 years ago

    Whats with the resident evilesque mutant ?
    Edited by 1 at 24/08/06 @ 12:28

  • Hunam85 #2 6 years ago

    I was thinking that, poor form.

  • Talha #3 6 years ago

    Why every handheld version is supposed to be named 'origins' or 'tactics' or such?

  • chupachups #4 6 years ago

    "Why every handheld version is supposed to be named 'origins' or 'tactics' or such?"

    Cos they think handheld formats are somehow lesser kids stuff, they want to save the "real" games for the home consoles. I think they're being daft, but there you go.

    Or else they've just renamed a port of some Japanese game never seen in the West which has nothing to do with the franchise, and they bolt the extra name on the end to explain why it looks and plays totally differently.

  • KillahSouljah #5 6 years ago

    YES, Silent Hill for PSP, PSP's gonna rule, cant wait to play this game in the dark with my headphones on.

    I love Silent Hill games.
    Edited by 1 at 24/08/06 @ 12:53

  • killyourtv #6 6 years ago

    silent hill is all about adventure and atmosphere. this action direction they've gone in with recent entries is raping the series

  • KraftWerk #7 6 years ago

    Silent Hill 4 had several strong redeeming qualities, but ultimately was a turn in a direction I didn't like for the Silent Hill series. Seems like Origins continues down that road. Hopefully SH5 will be more of a free-roaming-city-spanning, linear-but-not-set-in-stone, finish-it-in-8-hours-but-play-it-through-5-times-to-see-ever y-ending, monsters-there-to-keep-you-moving-not-to-keep-you-from-movin g kind of game. That is, more like numero uno. :)

  • Blerk #8 6 years ago

    Oh dear! :-(

  • smelly #9 6 years ago

    Sorry but I've only played the original SH and SH4.

    And SH4 was SH4t.

  • Doobie #10 6 years ago

    This does look ok from the videos I've seen, the screenshots doesn't do it any justice.
    A remake of the original for the DS would have been alot better.

  • rinoaMW #11 6 years ago

    if you liked SH smelly, you should really play 3 - just to get the second half of the story. 2 was good, but subtracted from the others. 4 was pap. I was so disappointed with 4.

    and this. Hmm.. it doesn't look hopeful.

  • reflux #12 6 years ago

    FUGLY!

  • mash the x button #13 6 years ago

    Silent Hill is dead.

  • Isonic #14 6 years ago

    Ok,that first screenshot with that creature really does look wrong.I personally hate silent hill.After those screenshots,i cnt imaginewhat everyone else must be thinkin,even fans!!And whats with the ''why does it fog on me'' joke.Lame....

  • abigsmurf #15 6 years ago

    that creature looks appauling. Silent hill is well known for the amount of thought that goes into the creature designs but that is generic as hell.

    Also the Resident evil 4 rip off is utterly shameless

  • TedBaker #16 6 years ago

    Have to say, the environments do look very empty.

    And I absolutely agree with all comments about the switch from puzzle to action orientated gameplay.

    I wonder if at some point, the main character will hop on an ATV :-)

  • manic_mouse #17 6 years ago

    Nothing wrong with ripping off the RE4 control scheme to an extent, it's a very nice way of allowing you to get around and aim using just one stick. However what is up with that monster? It looks like it belongs in Cold Fear or Random Zombie Shooter 2. Not a Silent Hill game.

  • kangarootoo #18 6 years ago

    The first thing that struck me about the visuals (not that its a deal breaker if the gameplay is good) is that everything looks quite clean and sharp.

    The SH games have always used that grainy filter that makes everything look just that little bit muddy and sort of... odd. That really adds I think to the whole "things are 'wrong' here, you aren't in control" aspect of the game that makes it so damn scary.

    A minor point, but thats never been a good enough reason for me to keep my big gob shut :)

  • Mr_Brown #19 6 years ago

    Konami are being incredibly stupid. They are alienating all SH fans and handing one of their biggest Japanese IP's to an American developer. I think they looked the sucess of Resident Evil 4 and thought thats the direction survival horror games should evolve. If that is so they are incredibly wrong. Resident Evil has always leaned more towards action and shock horror. Whereas Silent Hill has concentrated on Psychological horror and Survival and frightening players with things they can't see etc. If they keep on trying to copy Resident Evil, they will lose the big niche they gained in the survival horror market and someone else will take that place.

    Silent Hill 5 better be good and a return to the direction SH3 took...or even I'll lose faith in the franchise and look else where...even though I've been a huge fan of the series since it began >_

  • Nikanoru #20 6 years ago

    Games that rely on atmosphere shouldn't be on handhelds. :\

  • Nikanoru #21 6 years ago

    Silent Hill 5 better be good and a return to the direction SH3 took...

    While I liked that game a lot, actually I thought it was way too "on rails", restricted. Not free-roaming-ish like SH was (and to a lesser extent, SH2...I guess it's been going downhill in that aspect throughout the series).

  • chupachups #22 6 years ago

    "silent hill is all about adventure and atmosphere. this action direction they've gone in with recent entries is raping the series"

    Sounds like what happened to Tomb Raider.

  • IronGiant #23 6 years ago

    Obviously you and IGN saw different versions of the game then..

    "August 23, 2006 - Konami today revealed a playable version of its upcoming PSP horror, Silent Hill Origins, which marked the first time the title was available for firsthand impressions since debuting at E3. The game looked absolutely dazzling too, wowing us with a visual presentation that most PS2 software still hasn't achieved. In fact, Silent Hill Origins' graphical detail is so well-crafted that even the most subtle things -- things you'll probably never even see through the darkness -- have been rendered in some fashion or another (down to the individual cracks in the walls) and the signature Silent Hill fog looks appropriately ominous and realistic.

    Played from the RE4 perspective and heavier on action compared to previous iterations, Origins is still a Silent Hill game in every sense of the word. That means that yes, the storyline still takes center stage and figuring out how to get the hell out of Dodge without losing your soul is still the primary goal. In the build we demoed, however, it was the town itself that Konami wanted to focus on. A good 30% of the environments here have been recreated from the original's PlayStation One days and the artists have done a good job of making it feel both familiar and new at the same time."

  • space_ace #24 6 years ago

    it was foggy and abandoned in the beginning? what kind of origins are we talking about?

  • mezzomorto #25 6 years ago

    I heard that the reason why PSP games have "Origins" or Tactics" tacked on to the original game title originates with a request from Sony themselves as opposed to the actual publisher.

  • kangarootoo #26 6 years ago

    @Mr_Brown

    "I think they looked the sucess of Resident Evil 4 and thought thats the direction survival horror games should evolve. If that is so they are incredibly wrong."

    Umm, but they have a pretty good record of making those calls thugh don't they. With the SH series but also as a develop in general. This is Konami we are talking about. A proper company, with market research and everything.

    So it might be a little naive to say they are being "incredibly stupid" of the back of a couple of screen shots and some bizarre phobia of a US dev working on a Japanese game.

  • krudster #27 6 years ago

    I can assure you we saw the exact same version of the game as everyone else. It was on public display.

  • Mr_Brown #28 6 years ago

    @Kangarootoo

    Well, their market research didn't help Silent Hill 4 much did it? Or did you miss that game? As for the SH origins, well, I have seen the trailer and the screens and though I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt, from what I saw I didn't like it. It looked like it was trying to copy Resi 4 and bared only a vague resemblence of SH games previously.

    As for a bizzare phobia or US devs (or UK devs) well not really. How can giving a big franchise to another Dev be good for the game. Specially when talking about Horror looking at how different Western horror is to Eastern horror...not a smart move in my eyes but hey what do I know I'm only a fan :)

  • Grom #29 6 years ago

    Not sure where you got your info from Krudster, but it's being made at Climax LA.

    http://www.climaxgroup.co m/

  • Lex_Luthor #30 6 years ago

    I think it looks good. The shitty monster hopefully isn't indicative of the rest of the game design, but if it's using the Resi 4 control scheme, it should be a blast.

    Action centred gameplay may work best for a handheld version of the game, but I pray that Silent Hill 5 is more like the first 3. Don't fix what ain't broke.