Silent Hill 4: The Room Special Interview

Producer Akira Yamaoka talks about "A New Stage".

Date published: 2004.06.11
Source: PS World
Note: Machine translation

“SILENT HILL” is a popular horror adventure game that depicts a quiet, unidentifiable terror that drags the mind into darkness. This series, which has consistently released new titles, is finally taking flight to a new stage. What kind of terror will “SILENT HILL 4 -THE ROOM-” portray? Akira Yamaoka, the series producer at Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, talks about the latest installment!

A New Concept for “SILENT HILL 4 -THE ROOM-”

I hear that SILENT HILL 4 -THE ROOM- (hereinafter SH4) was a huge hit at E3, which was held in the U.S. the other day?

To be honest, I was the most surprised of all (laughs). Since SH4 is doing things differently from previous entries in the series, I expected some kind of reaction, but I never imagined it would attract that much attention from everyone. From my perspective, I was thinking, ‘Gee, you didn’t have to get that excited…’ (laughs).

When you say it’s different from before, what specifically are you referring to?

The biggest change is in the story’s concept. In the past, the protagonist would find themselves unexpectedly caught up in mysterious events in the town of Silent Hill, but this time, the setting is their own room.

Is it just the difference in setting?

Of course, it’s not just that, but the thing I was most conscious of when creating SH4 was the idea of ‘making a complete overhaul.’ During the presentation at E3, I described SH4 as ‘the second stage of SH.’ SH4 is the title that marks the start of Chapter 2, a new SH. As for a visually obvious difference… this is the first time we’ve included a subtitle. After all, if it’s just a numbered title, it can feel like a high barrier to entry for people who haven’t played the series before, right? They might think, ‘If I haven’t played *3* or *2*, won’t I be lost?’ So, please see the subtitle as a message from us—we want people to better understand the game’s concept and encourage new users to give it a try…

So the most concrete example of that “radical change” is the fact that SH4 is set in the protagonist Henry’s own room. But why did you choose a “room” as the setting?

For most people, their own room is the safest and most reassuring place, isn’t it? You know exactly where everything is, and it’s a place where you can find peace of mind. No matter what happens there, you can usually make sense of it. But wouldn’t it be terrifying if you suddenly found yourself in a situation there that you couldn’t understand? Thinking along those lines, I chose a person’s own room as a new source of horror in a horror game.

There’s a hole in the protagonist’s room that leads to a strange world. Henry, the protagonist, ends up facing various terrors in this otherworld beyond the hole. That certainly sounds like a strange and terrifying experience, doesn’t it?

‘SH’ was originally conceived as a game centered on the concept of ‘inner fear’—psychological terror—but this time, while maintaining that core theme, we aimed for a different vibe. Players will have to face two specific fears: ‘being chased by someone’ and ‘being trapped in a room.’ The content might be a bit more eccentric compared to our previous titles. In terms of movies… think "The Cell". And then… though it’s not a horror film, it has a similar atmosphere to "Being John Malkovich". The story of SH has always had an “outer” and an “inner” side. The fear depicted there is what defines the essence of SH. This time, the room where the protagonist, Henry, is—the real world—is the “surface,” while the world visible beyond the hole he stumbles into from the room is the “underworld.” We hope players will experience “inner fear plus a fear that goes one step further” in this setting.

The world beyond the hole… that really piques my curiosity.

To begin with, the act of peering into a hole is interesting in itself, isn’t it? In this game, too, the story progresses by peering into the hole. It’s like tapping into human instinct… People just can’t help but want to peek into a hole when they see one (laughs). SH4 includes some playful elements like that—if you keep peering into the hole, fun things happen. It’s just for a split second, but you might see something dart by or experience a surprise. It doesn’t happen every time, and since it’s such a fleeting moment, be sure not to miss it. Robbie (the rabbit), who’s become the series’ mascot (?), also makes a secret appearance, so please try to spot him.

Things I Kept in Mind When Writing the Script

It seems like the story will be quite complex. What kind of direction did you give the scenario writers, Mr. Yamaoka?

I really struggled with the story aspect. I had a lot of fundamental requests. First, I wanted something different from the previous games. Second, I wanted it to be accessible even to people who haven’t played the series before. And third, I wanted it to retain the essence of ‘SH’… I asked them to incorporate all of that. That’s pretty greedy of me, isn’t it? (laughs). 　

The current story and setting are the ones that resonated with me the most out of the several ideas that were proposed. There were plenty of other ideas, too. For example… this one wouldn’t be set in a room, but it involved the player forming a party to go on an exploration. And you could even recruit creatures and monsters as party members (laughs). But we decided against it because, quite frankly, if we changed the story and the system that much, it wouldn’t be ‘SH’ anymore (laughs).

We also adopted a first-person perspective set in the player’s own room to express a new kind of fear. So-called FPS (first-person shooters) are popular overseas as well, and I thought, “If we channel the sense of immersion you get from those into expressing fear, wouldn’t it be easier to convey?”

Has the way the story unfolds changed from previous games as well?

The ‘SH’ world tends to have a setting that’s easy to misunderstand… and while that’s part of what makes ‘SH’ unique, if the creators’ intentions are too heavily embedded, regular players might get a little put off, right? (laughs) So this time, we focused especially on conveying this complex world in an easy-to-understand way. For example, the protagonist in this game is trapped in their own room. In previous ‘SH’ games, the protagonist would move forward without really understanding what was going on, gradually getting drawn into a complex world as the story progressed. But in ‘SH4,’ right at the very beginning, the player is given the task: ‘First, get out of the room you’re trapped in.’ That’s probably the biggest change in the scenario’s progression compared to before. Then, you find a mysterious hole inside the room. I think it’s a development that’s very much in the spirit of an adventure game, starting with a clear motivation for the player (laughs).

――If I ask for specific details about the story here, it would be a spoiler, so I’ll leave that for you to enjoy in the game… But as a fan of the series, I’m curious about how it connects to the previous game?

The characters from previous SH games… don’t appear directly. However, there are various references to settings and stories involving characters from the series that come up throughout the game. It’s the kind of thing that will make fans who’ve played the series so far smile. 　

We deliberately chose this approach this time. If we made the connection to the previous game too direct, it would raise the barrier to entry for people playing the series for the first time with SH4, right? If elements that require prior knowledge appear as key plot points, it inevitably narrows the player base. As a new SH title, it’s our hope that new players will also enjoy SH4.

There are also new features in the battle system

The “SH” series features battle action against bizarre monsters, but are there any changes to the game mechanics as well?

That’s right. This time, we aimed to create ‘battles that are fun to engage with’ in terms of action as well. Specifically, we’ve introduced a ‘charge’ attack system. You build up power while holding down a button, and when you release it, you can unleash an attack that’s stronger than usual. Up until now, to put it simply, the basic combat involved just spamming buttons to beat up enemies. But this time, by making good use of this charge mechanic, I think players will be able to engage in strategic battles while carefully gauging their distance from the opponent. Of course, there’s also the downside that you’re more vulnerable after performing a charged attack, so players can enjoy the tension and strategic back-and-forth of how to approach the battle, along with the fear of facing these creatures. “This isn’t just about strengthening the action elements; it’s the result of trial and error in figuring out the best way to incorporate action into a horror game.

Do these changes to the action elements have any impact on the game’s world-building?

Rather than the battle system itself, adding the charge mechanic means we have to display various pieces of information on the screen—like a charge gauge and an HP gauge—don’t we? We really struggled with that design. In a horror game—especially one like SH that places such importance on its world-building—displaying gauges that look too much like typical game elements on the screen can ruin the atmosphere that’s been built up until then. In fighting games or RPGs, you have to make the colors and shapes distinct so they stand out, but you can’t do that in a horror game. However, if you blend them in too much with the background, players won’t be able to recognize the gauges, which makes combat more difficult. There were quite a few twists and turns in deciding on the gauge’s color scheme and shape.

It’s also difficult to “completely overhaul” things, isn’t it?

That’s absolutely true (laughs). I wanted to make it a completely new game, but I couldn’t change everything. As a series entry, I really struggled to strike that balance. For this project, the development team was centered around members from *SH2* rather than the immediately preceding *SH3*, and personally, I’d decided from the start that if I were going to completely overhaul the series, it would have to be with SH4… but to be honest, I really wanted to make even bigger changes (laughs).

A new type of enemy appears

I can sense how challenging it is to create a sequel. Speaking of changes to the battles, I hear that the enemy types have also changed somewhat compared to previous games?

This time, there are roughly two types of enemy monsters: Creatures and Ghosts. Within the development team, we don’t necessarily distinguish between the two, but as we refined the designs, it naturally ended up with these two types. 　

As for how these two types differ… you can think of “Creatures” as being similar to the enemies that appeared in previous games, but the “Ghosts” are a bit trickier. In Japanese terms, they’d be described as “resentment” or “vengeful spirits”… but since that concept doesn’t really exist in the West, we explained them as “Revenge” at E3. It was a pretty forced translation, though (laughs). In the story, there’s the real world and an alternate world on the other side of the hole, and the setup is that the ghosts of living humans from the real world are in that alternate world.

Of course, since they’re ghosts, they’ll chase you no matter how far you run, and you can’t defeat them directly. They pass right through walls, and you’ll take damage just by being near them, even if you don’t do anything. At first, your only option is to run. Later on, though, you’ll be able to use items to keep the ghosts in one spot. As you’ll see when you play the game, there’s a very deep connection between the humans in the real world and the ghosts, so that aspect will likely influence the relationship between the ghosts and the player as well. The fun of an action game and the fun of an adventure game fuse together here, too. It’s actually quite deep (laughs).

So, are there any tips for fighting creatures?

I’d say it comes down to using the right weapons for the situation. Unlike in previous games, where you could defeat enemies just by spamming buttons, this time you can enjoy a variety of charged attacks, and certain weapons are particularly effective against specific enemies, so there’s the fun of figuring out how to use different attacks strategically. However, when you enter the world beyond the hole where battles take place, there’s a limit to how many weapons and items you can carry. Depending on the enemy, the same weapon might be completely ineffective, so please keep that in mind. There aren’t set limits on how many weapons or items you can carry, so I think that’s where players can really put their own creativity to work.

I hear there are some unique weapons in the game—which one would you recommend, Mr. Yamaoka?

Hmm… maybe the golf club. It might break while you’re using it, so it’s guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat (laughs). The development team doesn’t actually play golf, but we were thinking about adding some kind of striking weapon, and that’s how we finally settled on this. We’ve included almost every type of club. Plus, the swing animations are really well done. The “whiff” animation, in particular, is a must-see. It’s a massive whiff (roars with laughter). You might think a golf club wouldn’t be useful in battle, but there are actually enemies it’s effective against, so please give it a try.

Our Commitment to Sound

Mr. Yamaoka, you’re also active as a sound creator—are there any changes to the sound in SH4?

That’s right. We’re taking a different approach than before. In previous titles, there were a lot of tracks that tended to be more ambient… designed to evoke a certain atmosphere. But this time, since we wanted to convey the ‘fear of being chased,’ there are more edgy, high-impact sounds. The kind that really get the player’s heart racing. We’re definitely focusing on that. 　

As another new experiment, we’ve included about five vocal tracks in the game. Normally, you’d only find vocal tracks in the opening and ending themes, but we’ve included a bit more in SH4.

The SH series’ soundtracks aren’t just musically high-quality every time; they also have a unique sound that doesn’t feel like typical game BGM, don’t they?

This time, we also changed the way we created the soundtrack compared to a typical game. Usually, we prepare tracks to match the game’s situations, but this time, we first created the entire SH4 soundtrack. After that, we selected the tracks that fit the game’s scenes and included them. For some tracks that didn’t fit the game, we rearranged them later to make them suitable. It’s the exact opposite approach to how game soundtracks are usually made. The soundtrack also includes tracks that weren’t used in the game… In fact, the original atmosphere of SH4 might actually be better captured in the soundtrack (laughs).

Why did you adopt that approach?

I didn’t want to follow the typical method of matching ‘obvious’ music to game scenes—like, ‘Since it’s a battle scene, it should sound like this.’ In SH as well, we’d been using a similar approach—creating the tracks first as rough mixes—but with SH4, we took that even further. So I think you’ll be able to enjoy the music in a way that’s even more different from conventional game soundtracks than ever before.

I hear the first-press edition comes with a bonus CD of kōdan storytelling?

I really wanted Ichiryūsai Teisui, a Living National Treasure, to narrate it, so I asked him to do it. It’s a new form called ‘Kyodan,’ which fuses traditional Japanese rakugo storytelling with Western music. Here’s an interesting story: when I first pitched this project to Ichiryusai Teisui, he seemed to misunderstand and thought Konami was hosting some kind of event and was asking him to perform there (laughs). I hurriedly explained the details, and he happily agreed to participate, saying, ‘That’s a very interesting endeavor, and I’d definitely like to try it.’ It seems opportunities like this are quite rare even in the world of kōdan, and as you’d expect from a Living National Treasure, you’ll be treated to a truly magnificent performance. I highly recommend this just as much as the game itself.

With all these experiments under your belt, do you have any lingering regrets regarding SH4?

As for the sound… honestly, I’d like to reduce the number of tracks even further. It’s a common technique in film scores to use the same theme to connect different scenes, right? Personally, I’d like to present the music in SH that way as well. That’s something I’ll be focusing on in the future when it comes to the sound.”

You mentioned “future themes”—can we assume that refers to the future of the SH series?

Since SH4 is the ‘second stage’ of SH, I think a new stage will naturally follow from here (laughs). The various changes we tried this time aren’t just for SH4—they’re part of an image overhaul with the future in mind, so for the next installment… I think it’s about time we got started.