Otherworldly atmosphere: Ice vs Blood

[clips7]

I prefer the blood and rust...i get the symbolism in SM because of what Cheryl was trying to do...(freeze her memories and avoid the truth etc)...but the ice world to me just really wasn't that scary and the raw shocks were a complete joke in creature design.

Another thing that kinda killed the atmosphere in SM's otherworld was the art direction....the blue theme ice seemed kinda cartoony, or scooby-doo blue as i like to call it...look at the texture work done in the earlier games2-4...but especially prt3....the otherworld environments really drew you into their horrific world. I think if the same amount of extra effort was applied to this game in terms of environments, the icy world possibly could've ended up just as scary and disturbing as the otherworlds in the earlier games.

Even tho SM was more psychological than anything, i still feel that the dev's wanted to create a terrirfying icy otherworld, but it really didn't feel scary at all, it seemed like you was in a cheaply made haunted house. I did enjoy SM's nowhere otherworld tho...that was the only otherworld section i enjoyed...

[Chiral_Spiral]

This is kind of difficult to answer for me.

On one hand, the traditional Otherworld we all know and love is definitely scarier. I don't think you could really argue otherwise.

However, I actually found the ice Otherworld more atmospheric. This might be because it largely takes place outside, but there was a real sense of desolation, as if you were the only person in the world. The older Otherworld made you wonder what lay beyond the walls of the building you were trapped in; SM's Otherworld gave you an answer to that question: Nothing.

Special mention must go to the second-to-last sequence, which trades all that in in place of being balls-out insane. Good times.

[gustavopi]

Hi, I'm new here too. Good first post! It's an interesting subject. I became to know Silent Hill by the movie. I don't like game movies but I find this one particularly interesting with the changes of Otherworld to snow colors to red bloody colors. Than I bough SH1 for my old PS ONE at the day after!

For us from "western society", bad things are associated to hell. In the past, hell was a cold place and Satan was a white-blue monster stucked on the ice (eating people, etc.). Today the flames and lava are more associated to hell, with different beasts, but sometimes somebody brings the Dante's inferno back to us: frozen! Witch hell is better? I haven't decide yet...

Thinking about SH1, when snow is falling, Harry is lost, and the blody colors means a crisis moment, when things will be decided for good or bad. In Shattered Memories, frozen world means a rejection of the truth - interesting the way they made the connection!

[Axiomatic]

Which do you prefer? Which is more frightening? Do you think the icy world, or the gory nightmare compliments the plot better? Why?

I prefer the Otherworld in Silent Hill over the one in Shattered Memories. I would pick the Otherworld in Silent Hill as more frightening because, upon replaying Silent Hill, even with its shoddy graphics, I found myself bothered by the rust, blood, and so on. I cannot really say the same for Shattered Memories: if anything, I felt loneliness and fragmentation, not fear.

I think each Otherworld compliments their respective plots equally as well. In the case of Silent Hill, you're dealing with rust and blood, torture dungeons, and so on that are representative of the kind of stuff that went on in Silent Hill (at least according to Alessa). In Shattered Memories, the Otherworld compliments the themes of loneliness, fragmentation, and so on.

[JaneTheNurse]

I think the reason I liked the ice world vs the otherworld was because the ice world triggers a natural instinct in me more than the otherworld ever has. When I see the blood and rust and gore, I just think it's paint and special effects, thinking rationally. When I see the ice, the snow, and Harry's breath, I start to feel like I should bundle up and find shelter. It makes me actually feel like there's something to worry about.

[gustavopi]

I remember when in the army I face hot and cold in the field. Hot is very uncomfortable, but cold frights me more. After days without food or sleeping, I felt my body week. The sensation of can't warm my own body well anymore is horrible, and also lonely, confusing, missing home, etc.. That's what they were looking for in SM. The other ones still got the action that fit more with warm red and gore. It's impressive, but I have decided now: I prefer ice world!

[Dark Jaguar]

I don't really "prefer" the ice to the rust, but I can safely say that I prefer the idea of a unique hellscape "theme" for each person in the town.

Yes, the overall "mythos" is the town imparts it's own nature into a viewer's mind to give shape to their fears. Well, I'm actually okay with letting the main "mythos" go and only returning to "the order" sparingly. I like the idea of Silent Hill as a serial. I love the blood and rust, but I also love the ice and cobwebs. I love pooring rain and floods (as a concept at least), and I want to see more along those lines in the future. Maybe one hell is fire and ash everywhere (a more literal hell) and another might be a town full of broken glass and torn book pages (I dunno, maybe that's a character from one of the Myst games finding the wrong linking book).