I have always enjoyed the concept of the Resident Evil and Silent Hill games...I always felt that in a sense, they mirrored each other. They gave that equal balance of horror. For example, for the most part, Resident Evil had its fair share of cheap scares and thrills, with predictable but beloved horror that stands as the basic concept for horror today. With Silent Hill, the notion of horror was explored a little more, in order to give a more deeper and psychologically terrifying experience to really give that player the sense of...helplessness. If you have never played thee games, now is as good a time as ever to start. Below you can view my own written back-story on both franchises, and then the question comes that really rattled my brain.
An introduction to the world of Resident Evil
The town of Raccoon City was like any normal one, full of community and booming with flourishing businesses. But one company in particular flourished just a little too much. The Umbrella corporation served as the most reliable basic supplier of simple to important products for the city, and was the most dependable source of resources. However, the company held a deep dark secret that eventually destroyed the entire town. Umbrella led experiments in viral weaponry and genetic mutations--meaning that they created a virus, that was soon unleashed upon the little town. The commune became bloodthirsty, mindless zombies while hideous genetic mutant monsters ran amok.
Some people fled, while others defied the evil corporation by fighting their way through the city. Some fought to expose the greedy company for what it was, while others simply just fought to survive. But even those brave men and women weren't enough to save the town from its demise. The town became as dead as the dead residents that walked it, and soon the simple little mountain community of Raccoon City became the most legendary and feared town throughout the
Resident Evil universe. Sure the world carried on as usual, but Umbrella still continues to spread its evil, giving Earth more and more of what Raccoon City suffered.
But back to the point at hand, Raccoon City felt the consequences of letting a corporate machine feed it. The town was mislead while the evil company did its evil right under its nose. As of that, the town became the patriarch of the evil that plagues
Resident Evil.
An introduction to the world of Silent Hill
Now jump to a different town...there was a certain stretch of land that held a very mysterious and terrifying power since before the first Native Americans made their home there. And it was by the Indians that this strange power was first felt. As time progressed, and English colonization took its course, settlers decided to build a town on this dark territory. A town that would be forever cursed. A town the settlers deemed Silent Hill.
As the town expanded, families grew, and the town seemed beautiful and bloomed like no other, except there was a catch. The town had its demons. A secretive cult which called themselves The Order, ran the town and worshiped an ancient and monstrous god. In an attempt to summon this 'god' the priestess of The Order sacrificed her daughter, Alessa Gillespie, a troubled little girl with strong telekinetic abilities. Alessa's sacrifice was a dark secret among the town and she was declared dead.
Alessa however, was very much alive. Utilizing the powers of the town with her telekinetic abilities triggered by the events following the sacrifice, she cursed the town with an alternate and inescapable reality which set the town in a shrouded fog, and when the town reached its darkest point, would become a hellish interpretation of itself. Anyone with dark connections to the town would see that alternate reality, and be pursued by horrifying monsters that manifested from their darkest negative feelings. Unless redeemed of those feelings, those people would be forever trapped by the curse of Silent Hill.
Now to the question that I want to ask all of you, If you are a fan of Resident Evil and Silent Hill, ask yourself this--If you had to choose one of either, would you rather be stuck in Raccoon City, overwhelmed by zombies and other hideous mutations, or would you be entrapped by the powerful town of Silent Hill, chased and tormented by manifestations of your own personal demons? Make your vote below, and please feel free to comment.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it! I am a huge fan of both franchises and as for my answer to this poll, I still haven't really chose one yet. Either way you're screwed. To me it was just an interesting thing to think about.