Silent Hill (video game)

Silent Hill is a 1999 survival horror video game developed by Team Silent, a group within Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, and published by Konami for the PlayStation. It is the first installment in the Silent Hill video game series. The game follows Harry Mason as he searches for his missing adopted daughter in the eponymous fictional American town of Silent Hill. Stumbling upon a cult conducting a rite to revive a deity it worships, he discovers her true origin. Five game endings are possible, depending on the actions taken by the player, including one joke ending.

Unlike earlier survival horror games that used pre-rendering backgrounds, Silent Hill uses a third-person view with real-time rendering of 3D environments. To mitigate the limitations of the console hardware, developers used distance fog and darkness to obscure the graphics and omit pop-ins, which, in turn, helped establish the game's atmosphere and mystery. The player character of Silent Hill is an "everyman", unlike survival horror games focused on protagonists with combat training.

Silent Hill received positive reviews from critics upon its release and was commercially successful. It is considered by many to be one of the greatest video games ever made, as well as a defining title in the survival horror genre, moving away from the elements of the B movie horror genre to more psychological horror, emphasizing atmosphere. Various adaptations and expansions of Silent Hill have been released, including a 2001 visual novel, the 2006 feature film Silent Hill, and a 2009 reimagining of the game titled Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. The game was followed by Silent Hill 2 in 2001; a direct sequel, Silent Hill 3, in 2003; and a prequel, Silent Hill: Origins, in 2007. A remake by Bloober Team is in development.