Silent Hill: Origins

2007 video game

Silent Hill: Origins (stylized as Silent Hill: 0rigins) is a 2007 survival horror game developed by Climax Action and published by Konami Digital Entertainment. It was released worldwide in late 2007 for the PlayStation Portable, beginning in early November with the United Kingdom. A port for the PlayStation 2 was released worldwide in early 2008, beginning in March with North America. The fifth installment in the Silent Hill series, Origins is a prequel to the first game (1999). Set in the series' eponymous, fictional American town, Origins follows trucker Travis Grady as he searches for information about a girl whom he rescued from a fire. Along the way, he unlocks his repressed childhood memories. Gameplay uses a third person perspective, and emphasizes combat, exploration, and puzzle solving, similar to the previous installments. Origins was developed by the Portsmouth branch of the Climax Group, which was known as Climax Action at the time. It was transferred from the Los Angeles Climax branch, who closed down after facing issues with the game engine and the vision of the game; the script, monsters, and level design were redone, and aspects of Origins atmosphere and gameplay intentionally replicated those of the first Silent Hill game. Origins was generally positively reviewed, although some reviewers wrote that it followed the formula of the series too closely and failed to add anything new. Its PlayStation 2 port received a lower aggregate score, with criticism directed towards its visuals.

The objective of Silent Hill: Origins is to guide player character, Travis Grady, as he searches the monster filled town of Silent Hill for information about a girl he rescued from a burning house. Often, actions performed in one dimension will affect the other; Once solved, the riddle leads to an encounter with a boss, whose defeat unlocks a new area. The town is characterized by the "Other World", a supernatural location periodically encountered by the protagonists of the series. Most frequently assuming the form of the town, the Other World causes the characters to experience delusions and various symbols from their unconscious. Origins introduces Travis Grady, a trucker with a troubled past who suffers from nightmares. Returning characters from the first installment are Alessa Gilespie, a young girl who possesses supernatural powers; licensed practical nurse Lisa Garland, who has a drug addiction and dreams of being an actress instead of a nurse; physician Michael Kaufmann, who supplies Lisa with illegal drugs;

Driving past Silent Hill as a shortcut, Travis swerves his truck to avoid hitting a spirit manifestation of Alessa. While following the spirit manifestation, he stumbles upon a burning house and rescues the real Alessa, who was immolated in a ritual to impregnate her with the cult's god. Losing consciousness outside the house, he awakens in the town and resolves to learn if she survived. During his journey, Travis unlocks his repressed childhood memories and defeats monstrous forms of his parents: his mother had been committed to a local mental institution after attempting to kill him, and his father had killed himself, unable to live with the guilt of having his wife condemned. Additionally, Travis kills the Butcher, a monster that has been slaughtering other monsters. Travis continues following Alessa's spirit manifestation, which refuses to speak to him, and gradually collects pieces of an unknown pyramid shaped object; after collecting all of the pieces, he assembles them to form the Flauros, an artifact which contains a trapped demon and can be used to amplify thought. Alessa's spirit manifestation uses the completed Flauros to increase her powers and free herself from Dahlia's spell, which had inhibited her abilities. Travis heads to the cult's ritual grounds, and sees members of the cult, including Kaufmann, surrounding Alessa's burned body. Incapacitated by Kaufmann, Travis defeats and imprisons the demon within the Flauros in a dream like state. In the "Bad" ending, Travis awakens strapped to a gurney and is injected with an unknown substance: he starts convulsing and has a series of visions in which he kills two people and his form is briefly replaced by that of the Butcher. The joke ending sees Travis leave with an alien and a dog in an unidentified flying object.

At E3 2006, Origins was announced as in development by Climax Group's development team in Los Angeles, instead of by Konami's Team Silent who had developed previous installments. The first previews of the game featured a departure from the third person view typical of the series to a Resident Evil 4 style camera angle, and an emphasis on action and combat to a greater degree than the previous installments in the series. In the previews, Travis had six weapons, divided equally between melee weapons and firearms. At the time, the game was expected to be released in late 2006. Issues with the game's engine and "a confused high level vision for the game" led to Climax shutting down their Los Angeles studio, and transferring the game's team to the Climax Action studio in the United Kingdom, The version of Origins that the United Kingdom development team received was intended to be a dark comedy inspired by the American television series Scrubs. Konami allowed the team to change the game, provided that the changes were done within the same budget and time frame; Originss script, level design, and monsters were redone within a week by Sam Barlow. Later previews showed that the game had changed significantly and contained gameplay more in line with that found in the previous titles in the series. The changes were well received by video game journalists. On 19 August 2007, a demo of the game was leaked to internet download sites; Climax promptly denied they were the source of the leaked content. Origins was released for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) on 6 November 2007 in North America, on 16 November in Europe, on 29 November in Australia, and on 6 December in Japan. The Japanese release carried the alternate title Silent Hill Zero. The PS2 port was released in North America on 5 March 2008, while the United Kingdom and Australian releases followed on 16 May 2008, and 23 May 2008, respectively. It became available on the PlayStation Network for Europe on 28 April 2014.

Released as Silent Hill Zero Original Soundtracks, the musical score of Origins was composed by Akira Yamaoka, who had created the music of previous games in the series, and released in Japan on 25 January 2008, by Konami Music Entertainment, Inc. As Origins is a prequel, Yamaoka wished to imbue its music with the atmosphere of the first installment. Mary Elizabeth McGlynn provided vocals for four tracks, for which Joe Romersa wrote the lyrics. All three had previously worked together on the music of the fourth installment of the series (2004).