Silent Hill: Origins
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Spoiler Warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
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November 16, 2007 
Silent Hill: Origins (known as Silent Hill: Zero in Japan) is the fifth installment in the Silent Hill video game series and a prequel to Silent Hill 1. Set seven years prior to the events of Silent Hill, Origins expands on the backstory that the series had built itself on. It debuted on the PlayStation Portable in late 2007 and was ported to the PlayStation 2.
Contents |
Plot
Travis Grady, a trucker who suffers from visions that are somehow familiar to him. He is running late for a delivery one night and intends to detour by Silent Hill on his way to Brahms to save time. While driving into the Silent Hill vicinity, a cloaked figure darts into the road in front of him. Travis brakes and exits his truck to see if the person is hurt. Outside, he sees a brown haired girl in a blue uniform. While chasing after her, Travis stumbles upon a house-fire. He sees another woman outside of the house but before he can talk to her, he hears a scream from inside and enters the house to find the person. After making his way through the burning house, Travis discovers a severely burned young girl (who appears to be a sacrifice in a ritual) and he manages to carry her outside with the safety of a seal. Afterwards, he loses consciousness after hearing sirens in the distance.
Travis wakes up some time later on a bench in Central Silent Hill. After remembering the events of the night before, Travis heads to Alchemilla Hospital where he hopes to find out about the girl's condition. Once in the hospital, he briefly meets Doctor Michael Kaufmann, but is unable to find out any information as he denies there were no new patients recently. Travis follows Kaufmann to the second floor where he is suddenly attacked by a nurse. Within the hospital, Travis is confronted with a large mirror with an unusual reflection. On the other side of the mirror, the brown haired girl appears and presses her hand against it indicating that Travis should follow suit. Upon doing so, Travis appears within the Otherworld version of the hospital. After exploring the hospital, Travis fights a monster and after its defeat, he finds a strange triangular piece of an unknown object. The brown haired girl appears again and Travis loses consciousness once more to the siren.
He then wakes up in the hospital lobby where he meets Lisa, a nurse, who informs him about the sanitarium. Making his way through the town of Silent Hill, Travis must pass through the town's butcher shop. Once inside, he witnesses the murder and mutilation of a nurse by a large monster called The Butcher.
Once Travis arrives at Cedar Grove Sanitarium, he runs into Dahlia Gillespie. After making his way through the sanitarium, it is revealed that Travis's mother attempted to kill him and that she was placed in the female ward. Voice recordings tell how she claimed she wanted to see her son and that she "was all better now". Finally, Travis reaches her cell and finds her other-world counterpart in a large triangular prism with spikes attached. After defeating her, he finds another triangular piece and the same girl appears as Travis slides into unconsciousness.
When he wakes up, Travis is lead to the Artaud Theater. As he arrives in the theater, he meet Lisa again, this time revealing little more information about her dream of being an actress and proceed to tease Travis using her "acting skill" before existing out. During his search in the theater Travis encounter new enemies and also it was shown that Alessa used to visit the theater when the actors were doing their repetition for Shakespears "Tempest", she has a fear for the character Caliban from the play that she use her telekinetisk power to injure the actor who played Caliban.
NOTE: The rest of the plot is unfinished. Please help out with the plot if you can (and don't copy-paste from wikipedia either). Thanks!
Endings
- Good Ending - Travis has successfully moved on from his past and finds himself back in the real world, in front of his truck. He gets in, and sees in his rear-view mirror Alessa holding a baby (Cheryl Mason from the first game). Travis smiles and drives away. It can be assumed that, based on the events of the original Silent Hill and Travis's cameo in Silent Hill: Homecoming that this is the canon ending for the game.
- Bad Ending - Travis wakes up seemingly tied to a hospital bed, still in the Otherworld. As Travis struggles with his restraints, we hear dialogue in the background of people meeting Travis, and then screaming as a strange sound eluminates from Travis perspective. He has regressed into his alter ego, 'The Butcher', and is now on a killing spree. This ending is obtained by killing over 200 enemies in the game.
- UFO Ending - As with all Silent Hill games (excluding the fourth installment), the UFO ending is the spoof ending. After completing the game once, the player is given the option to climb the stairs opposite Alchemilla Hospital and obtain the key to room 502. This key is used in the Otherworld Riverside Motel. In a cartoon/anime style, Travis tries to open the door but it won't open, even with the key. To Travis' surprise, a UFO comes down from the sky and opens up, revealing an alien and the dog from Silent Hill 2's Dog ending who is wearing a space helmet. They greet him and the aliens reveal that his truck is on their planet. Travis asks if he could drive to the alien's reply, "You drive stick?" He joins them in their UFO and they fly away.
Characters
Travis Grady
A truck driver, the protagonist from whom we see the story develop. During his journey through Silent Hill he discovers repressed memories about his childhood revealing a previous link with Silent Hill. He may also have murdered someone before the events of Origins, as implied by the butcher ending, and the opening scene where he is talking on the radio with another truck driver.
Alessa Gillespie
A young girl burned horribly in a house fire at the start of the game. Travis is told early on that she dies in this incident (fans will know the truth of this of course) and her spirit leads Travis to collect fragments of the Flauros which is used at the end of the game. There are a number of potential references to her in the game which also refer to her great power.
Dahlia Gillespie
Alessa's mother who is heavily involved with a secret cult within Silent Hill. It is she who starts the housefire for Alessa to burn and warns Travis of the dangers of assisting her.
Lisa Garland
A young intern at Alchemilla hospital. Silent Hill: Origins provides some background information about Lisa who also feautures in Silent Hill. An altercation between Travis, Kaufmann and Lisa at the motel and Travis' subsequent discovery of a white powder in Lisa's room demonstrates her addiction to the drug 'White Claudia' which Kaufmann supplies her for in return for her cooperation when dealing with Alessa.
Michael Kaufmann
Kaufmann is the director of Alchemilla hospital but features little in Silent Hill: Origins. He is also involved with Dahlia and her cult as he is with the conspiracy surrounding Alessa. The public record office tells us that he was the director of an investigation into a complaint of abuse against Alessa but found these to be unfounded. (If only the public record office had known).
Helen Grady
Travis' mother with strong links to Silent Hill. She was committed after attacking her son whom she claimed was a devil child, knowledge she acquired through the people in the 'mirror world'. Travis was kept unaware of his mother's condition by his father who preferred to tell him that she was already dead. Helen died in unknown circumstances within the institute.
Richard Grady
Travis' father who also has a considerable connection to Silent Hill. He brings a young Travis to Silent Hill but Travis can't remember why or what happened.
Gameplay
Developement
Music
A soundtrack for the game titled Silent Hill Zero Original Soundtracks was released in Japan on January 1, 2008 by Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. The soundtrack contains music from Silent Hill: Origins, composed by Akira Yamaoka. The tracks Shot Down In Flames, O.R.T, Blow Back and Hole In The Sky have lyrics writen by Joe Romersa and vocals performed by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn.
The CD was packed in a transparent keep case, as opposed to a standard jewel case or digipack, together with the comic Белый охотник.
Reception
The game gained positive reviews by many reviewers but still recieved some level of criticism with it's length and straightforward gameplay. However the game did get an award from Gamepro as an editors choice. Fans have on the other hand have varied views. Some dislike the story while others were turned off by the reuse of similar monsters. Despite this it did gain popularity.
Response
Connections to other games
- Travis appears in Silent Hill: Homecoming.
- The good ending appears to reveal how Cheryl was adopted by Harry and his wife.
External links
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