INTRODUCTION / OPENING PARAGRAPH
Silent Hill has literally become the staple of what a good psychological horror game should be. Releasing originally on the PlayStation in 1999, it has done something incredible. Having been a commercial success all around the world, Silent Hill has spawned multiple sequels, graphic novels, films, spin offs and obviously hundreds of games that try to aspire to being similar in style. We at Honey’s Anime have walked around in dark towns and traversed twisted cityscapes to find you six games like Silent Hill.
Our list of similar games will have you taking the role of characters who faced a large variety of dangers. These dangers involve trying to survive to solving puzzles that will make you think. Ranging from titles that involve crazed monstrous beings to some traditional Japanese horror tropes, this list will cater to a wide variety of games that have their own concepts but clearly took inspiration from Silent Hill. The only side effect from playing these games is you may find fear oof some of the most unlikely places and that we can’t avoid causing. So if you dare, read on brave soul to see what games can come close to mimicking the greatness that is Silent Hill.
Similar Games to Silent Hill
1. Clockwork Tower 3
- System/Platform: PlayStation 2
- Publisher: Capcom
- Developer: Capcom, Sunsoft
- Release Date: Mar, 18th, 2003
Clockwork Tower 3 ventures into the world of Alyssa Hamilton. A young fourteen year old girl, Alyssa hopes to find some joy in returning home. However, she gets a letter from her mother warning her to hide until her next birthday. Alyssa decides to forgo listening to her mother and ventures back to her home where a man named The Dark Gentlemen tells Alyssa to be wary and gives slight ideas to what happened to her mother. Soon Alyssa will find that her life is about to become a desperate battle for survival and she will be tasked with defeating an ancient evil in the form of four beings that need their souls to be rescued.
Silent Hill has always been at the heart of the matter a survival game. While Harry Mason, the main protagonist is able to arm himself with weapons, players found more solace in running than fighting against the monsters of the series and only ever have to battle the larger bosses to progress. Similarly Alyssa faces the same concept in Clockwork Tower 3. Players will rely on running away from threats in the form of the four evil enemies only ever fighting them in situations near the end of their perspective level. Even more so, while Alyssa starts the game in her home, she is transported into an altered world quickly similar to Silent Hill’s tale of Harry entering a twisted variant of the once peaceful Silent Hill. Both titles use the survival game elements well and thus fans of that will find a great enjoyment in Clockwork Tower 3’s gameplay. What can be scarier than being a normal girl fighting larger than her evil beings seriously?
2. SIREN: Blood Curse
- System/Platform: PS3, Playstion Store
- Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
- Developer: SCE Japan Studio
- Release Date: Jul 24th, 2008
Siren: Blood Curse has several individuals who have entered Japan with one goal in mind. Their mission is to record and document Hanuda, a village that apparently disappeared but not before having stories of human sacrifice linked to it. Quickly the individuals realize that the legends of this cursed town may not be legends after all and soon find themselves lost in the nightmare that the village has housed for so long. Armed with wit, a few weapons and an ability called sight jacking, the player must battle against the enemy threat known as Shibito to hope to survive.
Siren: Blood Curse is actually a sequel to the Siren series that released on the PlayStation 2. Siren: Blood Curse and Silent Hill share a common ground in a lot of ways from the elements of using crude weapons like pipes and the occasional gun to fighting malformed and twisted enemies, though Siren: Blood Curse’s enemies are more so twisted humans. The ability titled Sight Jacking is a series staple that allows players to actually see the enemy’s movements via their own eyes, and in Siren: Blood Curse the ability has been altered slightly allowing more freedom during combat. Both of these titles are about surviving in desolate and terrifying places against enemies. If you loved the gameplay of Silent Hill and found the whole town of Silent Hill horrifying, we welcome you to enjoy your stay in Hanuda from Siren: Blood Curse. If you don’t mind we won’t be vacationing in either location.
Siren: Blood Curse Trailer (Official Trailer)
3. Lone Survivor
- System/Platform: PC, Mac, Linux, PS3, PS Vita, PS4
- Publisher: Superflat Games
- Developer: Jasper Byrne
- Release Date: Apr 23rd, 2012
Having survived an outbreak that has altered mankind, you are seemingly alone. Having been hiding in your apartment for an undetermined time, you find your supplies you have amassed depleted. Deciding to venture out into the world, you begin to see the world has changed dramatically, your apartment complex has become a breeding ground for odd creatures and is barely recognizable. What’s worse is you are losing your mind! You see dreams of a man wearing a box, and keep having strange dreams of previous events. What is really happening, what is reality, and are you losing your mind? Welcome to the indie survival horror game known as Lone Survivor.
We at Honey’s Anime will say this, one of the scariest things in horror games is the lack of accurate perception. When in a story or game you can’t determine what the reality is versus a delusional perception that leads to elements that can only be done by a good horror survivor game like Lone Survivor. Using elements straight from Silent Hill, players will explore their world finding dead ends, puzzles and various objects that can alter the ending to the game just from using once. While Lone Survivor may look like an old 2D game from the older days of games, trust us you won’t want to misjudge this games horror elements when you’re hiding from the zombie like creatures that roam around. Harry’s adventure during Silent Hill bought with it a nightmare filled setting that seemed outlandish, Lone Survivor does a similar thing but focusing more on mentality than just ancient gods and cults. Like Silent Hill, Lone Survivor also has a multitude of different endings warranting several playthroughs to see it all. Lone Survivor may be an indie game from creator Jasper Byrne, but its success has showed the indie world what horror really means.
Any Games Like Silent Hill ?
4. Corpse Party
- System/Platform: PSP, IOS
- Publisher: 5pb,XSEED (NA)
- Developer: Team GrisGris
- Release Date: Aug 12th, 2010
Satoshi Mochida and his classmates of Kisaragi Academy are just trying to enjoy their friends last day in their class before their classmate moves. Along with their teacher, the friends decide to do a charm named Sachiko Ever After that will make sure their friendship is eternal. However, the charm is actually a lie that causes the students to get transported to an otherworldly place called Heavenly Host Elementary School. In this once real school, ghosts of former people transported like Satoshi and his friend roam in constant agony. Now facing dangers from murdered ghost students, an effect that alters the mind called the darkening, and being separated, the friends must attempt to survive in this hellish version of a school. Can they find a way out or will they die being forced to endure their own deaths over and over like the other spirits trapped in Heavenly Host?
Corpse Party shares a vast amount of similarities with Silent Hill. Besides the obvious transportation to an alter setting of a previous place, players in Corpse Party will have to survive the cruel setting by running and relying on sometimes subtle clues. While not combat focused like Silent Hill, Corpse Party relies on classic horror in the form of ghosts, locked doors, and puzzles in terms of finding keys and other items. Similarly both games have different endings based off choices made during the game’s story. Corpse Party has had its fair share of popularity like Silent Hill, as well boasting an anime OVA series, several games, and even a manga series. If you want some Japanese horror thrown into your survival game, look no further Corpse Party has you covered.
Corpse Party: Launch Trailer (Official Trailer)
5. Project Zero II: Crimson Butterfly (Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly)
- System/Platform: PS2, PlayStation Store
- Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc
- Developer: Tecmo, Ltd, Tecmo, Inc (US), Ubisoft Entertainment SA (Ger, Fra, UK, AUS, FIN)
- Release Date: Dec 10th, 2003
Mio Amakura and her twin sister Mayu travel to an old place where they would play as kids. However, Mayu sees a strange crimson butterfly and follows it with Mio in tow. They end up finding a lost village and upon exploring it, find an old camera. Soon after though, they notice that they aren’t alone; ghosts from the village have set their sights on them. If the twins wish to escape, they will have to solve the villages ancient past and fight using their camera obscura, the only thing able to defeat the ghosts that wander.
Project Zero II: Crimson Butterfly belongs to the popular Project Zero games, or Fatal Frame series as it’s known in the US. Similar to Silent Hill, players are recommended to run from fights than just engage every ghost enemy. The games also explore similar themes of ancient sacrifices that caused their respective normal areas to now be anything but normal. Project Zero II: Crimson Butterfly also relies on heavily exploring areas for ways to precede further in the game. If you loved the haunted themes that Silent Hill occasionally uses in its gameplay, you’ll enjoy Project Zero II: Crimson Butterfly’s constant idea of ghosts being the main threat. Now excuse us as we go and hide under our sheets…
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly PlayStation 2 Trailer- (Official Trailer)
6. BioHazard (Resident Evil)
- System/Platform: PlayStation, PC, Sega Saturn
- Publisher: Capcom, Virgin Interactive
- Developer: Capcom, Nextech (Sega Saturn Port) Westwood Studios (PC Port)
- Release Date: March 22th, 1996
Outside the city of Raccoon City near the Arklay Mountains strange murders have been recorded by the police. Sending the elite unit known as S.T.A.R.S to investigate, they soon learn that something isn’t quite right. When abandoned by their helicopter pilot, S.T.A.R.S members such as Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine find themselves forced to run to a nearby mansion to escape strange violent dogs. However, what lurks in the mansion is the stuff of nightmares as those who have died have come back to life as zombies. Forced to endure the mansions zombified residents as well as mass amount of traps and locked doors, Jill and Chris have entered a true survival nightmare.
Resident Evil has had a mass amount of success as a franchise similar to Silent Hill. That being said in many ways Silent Hill has actually relied on a lot of the mechanics that were set by Resident evil seeing as how Resident evil released prior. However, regardless both games are shining examples of how to mix 3rd person gameplay mechanics with an engaging story. If you were looking for one of the earliest examples of a true horror game, Resident Evil is worth playing. There are several versions of remakes but for this list we wished to focus on the original seeing as how the two are similar to one another. If you have never ventured into the horror staple that is Resident Evil but loved Silent Hill you will not go wrong into diving into this classic franchise.
Final Thoughts
Silent Hill messes with its players in so many different ways. If you’re not running around trying to avoid a scary monster, you’re engaged in combat just trying to survive. All of these titles on the list have tried their hands at survival horror like Silent Hill and have met with success in different degrees. Yet we at Honey’s Anime know there are hundreds of survival horror games out there on various systems, did we miss one of your favorites? Leave in the comments your thoughts and stick around to Honey’s Anime for more great articles like this.
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