Silent Hill 4: The Room

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Silent Hill 4: The Room is the fourth installment in the survival horror series Silent Hill. The game was released in Japan on June 17, 2004, North America on September 7, 2004, and Europe on September 17, 2004. Silent Hill 4: The Room was released onto multiple platforms consisting of the PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC. It is the second Silent Hill game to be released with a subtitle, following the expanded version of Silent Hill 2.

Contents 1 Plot 1.1 Prologue 1.2 Walter's history 1.3 Eileen Galvin 1.4 Otherworlds revisited 1.5 Endings 2 Gameplay 3 Reception 4 Connections to other games 5 Trivia 6 Music 7 External links

Plot

Note: For more information and story about Walter's Otherworlds and the characters that appear in them, see Walter's Otherworlds.

Prologue

Henry Townshend is living in South Ashfield; a town that is a half a day's drive away from Silent Hill. He is currently happy with his daily life, living in the South Ashfield Heights apartments. However, one day he finds himself mysteriously locked in his own apartment room, Room 302. Along with experiencing strange and nightmarish dreams, he cannot escape through either the windows or his front door, which has been chained shut from the inside. No one, not even people standing directly outside the door, can hear him when he pounds on the door and cries for help. The other residents notice Henry's absence, but carry on with their everyday lives (even with the right key, the superintendent cannot open Room 302). After five days of entrapment (Note: Henry states that he feels as if his body is frozen in time and doesn't hunger), Henry finds a hole that has opened up in his bathroom wall. Armed with only a steel pipe that broke loose when the wall opened, he proceeds to venture into the hellish madness of Walter's Otherworlds.

The hole leads Henry to a variety of strange areas, inhabited by dangerous and sometimes immortal creatures. He is able to travel between these worlds and his apartment through mysterious holes resembling the Halo of the Sun. Every time he comes back to his apartment, he wakes up on his own bed. In these "Otherworlds", he witnesses the murders of people who are stuck in corresponding realms like him. The murders also happen in the real world, too. As Henry ventures further, he learns more about Walter Sullivan, a serial killer that terrorized Ashfield several years ago and left numbers carved into his victims. Walter was eventually arrested and committed suicide. However, these new victims bear similar numbers, and different events suggest that Walter has come back as a ghost. The victims are Cynthia Velasquez, Jasper Gein, Andrew DeSalvo and Richard Braintree.

Walter's history

Walter Sullivan was born in the same Room 302 where Henry lives now. His parents fled the scene soon afterwards, as the baby's birth was considered unnatural. The superintendent Frank Sunderland handed the newborn to the medics, and so Walter found his way to the Wish House Orphanage in the woods outside of Silent Hill, where he was taught occult rituals and teachings of The Order. Sullivan started to believe that Room 302 itself was his "mother". When Walter was an adult, he decided to "wake" his "mother" through the "21 Sacraments" ritual, which required 21 murders. Walter killed 10 people in different ways and he ended each murder by taking their hearts out. He then went through the ritual of Assumption, which allowed him to make himself the eleventh victim through suicide and yet still remain in the world. The four victims that Henry encounters in his wanderings are numbers 16 through 19. Henry also meets two Walters: one immortal adult and one child, an image conjured by real Walter's reminisces.

Eileen Galvin

An important character in the game is Eileen Galvin, Henry's next door neighbor in Room 303. For the beginning of the game, the player is unable to interact with her and can only watch her through Room 302's peephole and walls. By listening to Eileen, Henry learns that Eileen is passing time in her apartment just before arriving at a friend's party. After exploring Walter's first four Otherworlds, he arrives in the fifth Otherworld: an alternate South Ashfield Heights. Henry sees Walter Sullivan knocking on Eileen's door. When Henry first meets Walter Sullivan, he learns that Walter was given a doll by Eileen when she was little girl. If Henry passes by Eileen's door, he will hear her being assaulted and beaten by Walter Sullivan. After finding the key that unlock's Eileen's room, Henry discovers her on the floor, bleeding to death next to little Walter. After thanking little Walter for trying to protect her from the adult Walter Sullivan, she passes out and Henry wakes up in Room 302.

Otherworlds revisited

For the second half of the game, Henry will notice some odd things in his apartment called "hauntings". It appears these hauntings have been invading from the Otherworld. After exploring the first five Otherworlds, Henry wakes up and notices an ambulance on its way to St. Jerome's Hospital. A new hole leads to St. Jerome's Hospital, where Henry finds Eileen in a hospital room. Henry and Eileen decide to stay together and try to find a way out. Henry takes Eileen to a hole and realizes that Eileen isn't in his apartment when he wakes up. He then reunites with Eileen and he discovers that he is the only one who can use these holes. Eileen tells Henry about Joseph Schreiber, a journalist who disappeared six months before Henry moved into Room 302. Like Henry, Joseph was also trapped in Room 302. Henry and Eileen decide to "go down into the deepest part of him and look for the ultimate truth".

After leaving the hospital, Henry and Eileen find themselves on the top of a spiral staircase, full of strange things such as human limbs and figures. Each Otherworld is connected by this spiral staircase and Henry and Eileen have to descend this staircase in order to keep going. These Otherworlds are the same as before, except each victim is now a ghost that can be deadly to Henry's health.

In the first Otherworld revisited, Henry meets the victim Cynthia Velasquez, who has long, flowing black hair that covers her face. In the second Otherworld revisited, Henry meets the victim Jasper Gein, who is on fire. Soon after exploring this world, Henry realizes Walter Sullivan is pursuing them. In the third Otherworld revisited, Henry meets the victim Andrew DeSalvo, who is shirtless and must be defeated. In the fourth Otherworld revisited, Henry meets the victim Richard Braintree who has the ability to teleport. The adult Walter also kidnaps the child Walter here.

Henry and Eileen reach the bottom of the spiral staircase and find a dark abyss with Room 302 of the past, a memory of Joseph Schreiber's. Henry and Eileen meet Joseph Schreiber in Room 302 of the past, who appears as a statue in the ceiling. He tells them about Walter's history and reveals that these Otherworlds are a creation of Walter's "Assumption" ceremony. Before his voice fades away, he tells them that they are the last two victims, Eileen, the "mother reborn" and Henry, the "receiver of wisdom". They must kill Walter in order to stop the ritual of the 21 Sacraments or else Walter will find them. Henry is shocked and speechless when he discovers a hidden room containing Walter Sullivan's corpse in his apartment. Henry is able to unlock the front door, and is surprised by the fact that his seemingly normal apartment has also been transformed into a nightmare. Eileen appears in his hallway and they reunite.

In the apartment Otherworld, Henry unlocks Frank Sunderland's (the superintendent of South Ashfield Heights) apartment room. Inside, he discovers Walter's umbilical cord that Sunderland has kept in a box for decades. Henry suddenly sees flashes of Walter's memory in his mind and falls to the floor with a massive headache. Eileen tries to comfort Henry and she decides to find the young Walter on her own and they separate (however, if the player didn't keep Eileen from harm, she will be possessed by Walter, hit Henry's back with her arm and leave the room).

Henry returns to Room 302 and discovers Walter's corpse has gone missing. Underneath where Walter's corpse was is a round, black liquid abyss. Henry enters the abyss and finds a large room with a spiked, spinning mechanism in the center with a pool of blood surrounding it. There are also eight spears and a giant monster resembling a human's upper body in the room. Walter Sullivan confronts Henry and Henry realizes that Eileen is possessed and is about to walk into the large mechanism, unconsciously killing herself. The final fight of the game takes place. Henry uses the umbilical cord on the monster, allowing him to take the eight spears and spear them into the monster. After using the eight spears on the monster, Walter loses his immortality and Henry defeats him.

Endings

The game has a total of four possible endings. There are two factors that determine the ending, if Henry saves Eileen in time (if Eileen was injured too much during the game, it may be impossible to save her) and if Henry cleared most of the hauntings throughout the game. In this game, however, there is no UFO Ending.

• Escape. After Walter falls to the floor he lifts his arm up, calling out "Mom" before he goes motionless. The room starts to shake. Eileen, still alive and no longer possessed, slumps to the ground. Henry calls her name and reaches out to her, then the screen fades to young Walter knocking on Room 302's door in Walter's apartment world, calling out to his Mother to let him in. He then falls to his knees and to the floor, fading away. After he disappears, the door leading to Henry’s apartment opens. Next Henry is walking away from South Ashfield Heights. He looks back and then continues on, saying Eileen's name. One day later, Henry visits Eileen in a normal hospital. Henry smiles and gives Eileen a bouquet of flowers, alluding that their relationship has strengthened over their previous recognition of one another. Eileen says to him, "Guess I'll have to find a new place to live, huh?" This ending is considered the best. To obtain it, the player must keep Eileen from getting hurt and clear 80% of Henry's apartment of hauntings.

• Mother. This scene is the exact same as the Escape except when Henry visits Eileen in the hospital, she tells him "Well, I guess I can go back to South Ashfield Heights now." We then see Henry's apartment as it was at the beginning of the game, covered in blood and rust, implying that the spirits still haunt Room 302 and that Eileen may still be possessed. To obtain it, the player must keep Eileen from getting hurt, but not clear 80% of Henry's apartment of hauntings.

• Eileen's Death. After Walter falls to the floor he lifts his arm up, calling out "Mom" before he goes motionless. The room starts to shake. The screen fades to young Walter knocking on Room 302's door in Walter's apartment world, calling out to his Mother to let him in. He then falls to his knees and to the floor, fading away. After he disappears, the door leading to Henry's apartment opens. We see Henry sitting up in his bed once more, then a shot of him in first person point of view in the living room hearing on his radio, to his despair, that Eileen has died of her wounds. To obtain it, the player does not have to keep Eileen from harm, but they do have to clear 80% of Henry's apartment of hauntings.

• 21 Sacraments. After Walter falls to the floor he lifts his arm up, calling out "Mom" before he goes motionless. Henry stares down at him, and then suddenly falls to his knees, holding his head in pain. He then stands up, as if possessed by Walter due to his reactions. We see young Walter in Room 302 as it was at the beginning of the game with blood and rust. He cuddles up to the couch saying, "I’m home, I won't let anyone get in the way... I'm gonna stay with you forever..." The radio turns on with a news bulletin announcing the deaths of Eileen, Henry, and others while the adult Walter is motionless against a wall. This ending is considered the worst. To obtain it, the player does not have to keep Eileen from harm, nor do they have to clear 80% of Henry's apartment of hauntings.

Gameplay

Silent Hill 4: The Room is the first game in the series to feature a first-person perspective. The player is based on Henry Townshend's apartment, from which the player navigates through a first-person perspective and can access their only save point and reach the other levels of the game through mysterious holes formed in the walls. For the first half of the game, the room will also heal the player. The second half of the game has the room become possessed by various hauntings which drain Henry's health.

In the main levels of the game the player uses the usual third person perspective of the Silent Hill series. Unlike other games the player only has a limited item inventory which can be managed by dumping unneeded items in a chest in Henry's room. Breakable melee weapons are also introduced in this game through a variety of golf clubs. One of the most significant changes is the introduction of the Ghost monsters, the unkillable ghosts of Walter Sullivan's victims. The ghosts have the ability to hurt Henry with a damaging "aura" which can be nullified by the holy candle and saint medallions items. The same items can also exorcise the hauntings in Henry's apartment. Ghosts can also be knocked down for a long time with one of the two silver bullets and pinned permanently with a Sword of Obedience item.

In the second half of the game, Henry is accompanied by his neighbor Eileen Galvin. Eileen cannot die while she is with Henry, although as she takes damage she succumbs to possession by Walter Sullivan. Eileen walks slower than Henry due to her injuries, and cannot climb ladders. The player can also equip Eileen with a weapon to have her join Henry in combat or to defend herself. The damage Eileen takes in the game determines whether or not she dies in the final boss fight, directly affecting the ending achieved.

Reception

Upon its release in 2004, Silent Hill 4: The Room attracted the attention of mainstream news outlets CNN, the BBC and The Times as well as the main gaming reviewer community. Some criticisms were having to constantly visit Room 302, the ability to only hold 10 items and the lack of detailed puzzles and boss fights. There was also the absence of the portable radio, flashlight and a UFO ending, which are basics in the series. The story, music, detailed environments and graphics were well praised.

The Xbox and PS2 versions of the game received an "impressive" 8.0 rating from IGN reviewer Douglass C. Perry.

PS2:

• IGN: 8.0,
• Gamespot: 7.9,
• 1Up.com: 7.0,
• Gametab: 76%,
• Gamerankings: 76% (based on 62 reviews),
• Metacritic: 76 of 100 (based on 54 reviews)

Xbox:

• IGN: 8.0,
• Gamespot: 7.9,
• Gamestats: 8.0,
• Gametab: 77%,
• Gamerankings: 74% (based on 45 reviews)

PC:

• IGN: 7.0,
• Gamespot: 7.6,
• 1Up.com: 7.0,
• Gametab: 75%,
• Gamerankings: 71% (based on 21 reviews)
• Metacritic: 67 of 100 (based 20 reviews)

Connections to other games

• Silent Hill 4: The Room uses two minor, unseen, characters from previous installments as major characters in its plot. The antagonist of the game, Walter Sullivan, was first referenced in a newspaper scrap in Silent Hill 2 as having killed himself shortly after killing twins Billy and Miriam Locane. These two victims also appear in the form of the "twin victim" creature Henry encounters.
• The second reused character is investigative journalist and previous tenant of Room 302 Joseph Schreiber, who was first referenced in Silent Hill 3 with a magazine article he has written condemning the "Hope House" orphanage run by The Order which the game's protagonist, Heather can discover.
• It is implied that Frank Sunderland is the father of Silent Hill 2's protagonist, James Sunderland. As with such, Walter Sullivan's grave site is visible in Silent Hill 2 in the graveyard later on in the game.
• Silent Hill 2 appears to contain several foreshadowing’s of Silent Hill 4. At one point, James enters a bar with a cryptic message scrawled on the wall: "There was a HOLE here. It’s gone now." This could be a reference to the kinds of spontaneously appearing and vanishing "holes" Henry uses to travel between realms in Silent Hill 4.
  • When you look into the hole in your apartment (302) to the apartment Eileen lives in (303), the Robbie The Rabbit doll can be seen sitting on the bed. Robbie has so far appeared in Silent Hill 3, Silent Hill: The Arcade and Silent Hill: Homecoming.
• A remix of the song "Your Rain" from that game's soundtrack, performed by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, was used on Konami's Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME.

Trivia

• Walter Sullivan is mentioned in Silent Hill 2. He is described as a psychopathic killer who chopped two children into pieces with an axe.
• The circles seen on the loading screens and the save locations during Silent Hill 3 have identical outer rings to that of the portal in the bathroom when it is completed during Apartment world.

Music

The original 2-disc soundtrack for Silent Hill 4: The Room is Silent Hill 4: The Room Original Soundtracks, composed by Akira Yamaoka and was released in Japan on June 17, 2004. Its catalogue number is LC1292-3.

External links

• Official Silent Hill 4 site (Konami Europe)
• Official Silent Hill USA Forum
• Silent Hill 4: The Room at Game Rankings
• Silent Hill 4 at MobyGames

Silent Hill Games
Main Series	1 · 2 (port) · 3 · 4 · Origins · Homecoming
Remakes	Play Novel · Mobile · Shattered Memories
Spin-offs	Arcade · Orphan · Orphan 2 · The Escape
Production	Team Silent · Konami · Climax Studios · Double Helix