Resident Evil vs Silent Hill

You can't compare these games. They are both great games and unique in their own ways, but they are two different genres. Both share horror (not sure if you can consider RE horror anymore), but they are two different types of horror.

RE is just Survival Horror (Now it's action third person shooter, with a horror room every now ans then)

SH is Psychological horror. It's hard to choose which is better this way. I'm just going to choose which genre I like better. I prefer Silent Hill's genre better, but I feel Resident Evil games make happier.

Industrial Ridden wrote:

You can't compare these games. They are both great games and unique in their own ways, but they are two different genres. Both share horror (not sure if you can consider RE horror anymore), but they are two different types of horror.

RE is just Survival Horror (Now it's action third person shooter, with a horror room every now ans then)

SH is Psychological horror. It's hard to choose which is better this way. I'm just going to choose which genre I like better. I prefer Silent Hill's genre better, but I feel Resident Evil games make happier.

Silent Hill IS survival horror. You don't go to Silent Hill and just get your mind raped; you also have to survive the horrors there (the monsters, the traps, the town itself). While Silent Hill is more so psychological (it doesn't have as many jump scares as classic RE did; it left a creeping, lurking horror in the mind).

The reasons why I like Silent Hill better:

I like supernatural stuff better than science fiction; it's stayed true to it's roots in horror and has never deviated from it; its stories and characters are much more deep than your typical RE character (except for Wesker, but they thought he was 'boring' and so gave him the ax).

I still love RE to death, but it has just changed so much for the worse. If they would have developed their characters more and gave a much more meaningful storyline, I'd probably be much more conflicted over which I like better. RE is still in my top 5 favourite series of all time and I do like Wesker more than SH characters, surprisingly (though he does have to battle with Pyramid Head).

EDIT: I actually must say that they are about equal with Silent Hill just surpassing RE by a tiny bit (classic RE, that is). The thing is, though, that RE didn't ever get as horrific as SH did (except for Outbreak when I first played it). I love SH's backstory and characters so much too. It's so mysterious and dark, but that's not to say that classic RE's not good. Classic RE's stories and characters are gold and that's why I have trouble, sometimes, declaring a favourite even though I end up saying SH.

I must also inform you guys that, though RE popularized survival horror, the first true survival horror game ever was Alone in the Dark which was based off of HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos (which is a series of literary holy works).

Wesker's Fanboy wrote:

Industrial Ridden wrote:

You can't compare these games. They are both great games and unique in their own ways, but they are two different genres. Both share horror (not sure if you can consider RE horror anymore), but they are two different types of horror.

RE is just Survival Horror (Now it's action third person shooter, with a horror room every now ans then)

SH is Psychological horror. It's hard to choose which is better this way. I'm just going to choose which genre I like better. I prefer Silent Hill's genre better, but I feel Resident Evil games make happier.

Silent Hill IS survival horror. You don't go to Silent Hill and just get your mind raped; you also have to survive the horrors there (the monsters, the traps, the town itself). While Silent Hill is more so psychological (it doesn't have as many jump scares as classic RE did; it left a creeping, lurking horror in the mind).

The reasons why I like Silent Hill better:

I like supernatural stuff better than science fiction; it's stayed true to it's roots in horror and has never deviated from it; its stories and characters are much more deep than your typical RE character (except for Wesker, but they thought he was 'boring' and so gave him the ax).

I still love RE to death, but it has just changed so much for the worse. If they would have developed their characters more and gave a much more meaningful storyline, I'd probably be much more conflicted over which I like better. RE is still in my top 5 favourite series of all time and I do like Wesker more than SH characters, surprisingly (though he does have to battle with Pyramid Head).

It's nice to know that there's another person on these forums who also has Wesker as their favorite character. Thought I was alone for a good few months

Industrial Ridden wrote:

Wesker's Fanboy wrote:

Industrial Ridden wrote:

You can't compare these games. They are both great games and unique in their own ways, but they are two different genres. Both share horror (not sure if you can consider RE horror anymore), but they are two different types of horror.

RE is just Survival Horror (Now it's action third person shooter, with a horror room every now ans then)

SH is Psychological horror. It's hard to choose which is better this way. I'm just going to choose which genre I like better. I prefer Silent Hill's genre better, but I feel Resident Evil games make happier.

Silent Hill IS survival horror. You don't go to Silent Hill and just get your mind raped; you also have to survive the horrors there (the monsters, the traps, the town itself). While Silent Hill is more so psychological (it doesn't have as many jump scares as classic RE did; it left a creeping, lurking horror in the mind).

The reasons why I like Silent Hill better:

I like supernatural stuff better than science fiction; it's stayed true to it's roots in horror and has never deviated from it; its stories and characters are much more deep than your typical RE character (except for Wesker, but they thought he was 'boring' and so gave him the ax).

I still love RE to death, but it has just changed so much for the worse. If they would have developed their characters more and gave a much more meaningful storyline, I'd probably be much more conflicted over which I like better. RE is still in my top 5 favourite series of all time and I do like Wesker more than SH characters, surprisingly (though he does have to battle with Pyramid Head).

It's nice to know that there's another person on these forums who also has Wesker as their favorite character. Thought I was alone for a good few months

It's truly unfortunate that there aren't enough of us. It's also unfortunate that he was just scrapped which I often find myself becoming murderous over.

Wesker's Fanboy wrote:

Industrial Ridden wrote:

Wesker's Fanboy wrote:

Industrial Ridden wrote:

You can't compare these games. They are both great games and unique in their own ways, but they are two different genres. Both share horror (not sure if you can consider RE horror anymore), but they are two different types of horror.

RE is just Survival Horror (Now it's action third person shooter, with a horror room every now ans then)

SH is Psychological horror. It's hard to choose which is better this way. I'm just going to choose which genre I like better. I prefer Silent Hill's genre better, but I feel Resident Evil games make happier.

Silent Hill IS survival horror. You don't go to Silent Hill and just get your mind raped; you also have to survive the horrors there (the monsters, the traps, the town itself). While Silent Hill is more so psychological (it doesn't have as many jump scares as classic RE did; it left a creeping, lurking horror in the mind).

The reasons why I like Silent Hill better:

I like supernatural stuff better than science fiction; it's stayed true to it's roots in horror and has never deviated from it; its stories and characters are much more deep than your typical RE character (except for Wesker, but they thought he was 'boring' and so gave him the ax).

I still love RE to death, but it has just changed so much for the worse. If they would have developed their characters more and gave a much more meaningful storyline, I'd probably be much more conflicted over which I like better. RE is still in my top 5 favourite series of all time and I do like Wesker more than SH characters, surprisingly (though he does have to battle with Pyramid Head).

It's nice to know that there's another person on these forums who also has Wesker as their favorite character. Thought I was alone for a good few months

It's truly unfortunate that there aren't enough of us. It's also unfortunate that he was just scrapped which I often find myself becoming murderous over.

Yes. I felt that he didn't go out like a true villain should. Sure he was foolish for thinking he could take over the world, but he made up for it by being a complete badass with his movies fending off both Chris and Sheva. Oh and Why out of all people, did Sheva help Chris kill him? It should of been someone more major in the storyline such as....oh I don't know....VALENTINE! She was clearly there in the helicopter with Chris, why didn't SHE help him instead of that piece of sh.....I mean, Sheva. God that pissed me off, but I'm all over it now. Jake is offiicially my second favorite character.

Wesker's Fanboy wrote:

I must also inform you guys that, though RE popularized survival horror, the first true survival horror game ever was Alone in the Dark which was based off of HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos (which is a series of literary holy works).

Not only that but Resident Evil was originally based on a whole other survival horror game, Sweet Home.

SH is, generally, a superior story, no discussing it. Can't even compare. SH2 and 4 are way out of the league of most horror books I have read when it comes to the story itself.

RE is, on the other hand, well, a better game. Gameplay in every SH pretty much sucks, whereas RE is awesome. RE has it's own ambient, which, while not really as bizarre as SH's, brings very unique atmosphere which is awesome. The zombie apocalypse thing is shining here like in the Walking Dead episode-like game, where you immerse yourself through those diaries and stuff.

Sadly, RE4 and onwards can't get any praise on the horror aspect for me, it's just a shooter (even though the village and somewhat the castle in RE4 were okay settings). They are good games, but they can't compare to SH in any way.

Atmospheric & Surreal & Creepy = Silent Hill.
Dark & Realistic & Scary = Resident Evil.

Silent Hill is more of a mindfuck of psychologically-generated monsters whilst Resident Evil borders on mad scientist-esque experimentation with corporate conspiracies.

Shrike wrote:

SH is, generally, a superior story, no discussing it. Can't even compare. SH2 and 4 are way out of the league of most horror books I have read when it comes to the story itself.

RE is, on the other hand, well, a better game. Gameplay in every SH pretty much sucks, whereas RE is awesome. RE has it's own ambient, which, while not really as bizarre as SH's, brings very unique atmosphere which is awesome. The zombie apocalypse thing is shining here like in the Walking Dead episode-like game, where you immerse yourself through those diaries and stuff.

That.

Limey wrote:

Atmospheric & Surreal & Creepy = Silent Hill.
Dark & Realistic & Scary = Resident Evil.

Silent Hill is more of a mindfuck of psychologically-generated monsters whilst Resident Evil borders on mad scientist-esque experimentation with corporate conspiracies.

And that.

SH manages to have a twisted, horrific, but also very mature storyline, and an interesting mythos behind it all, but the games themselves have always been quite clunky, and the puzzles are usually highly unintuitive. I sometimes struggle to go back through them, because while the stories themselves are head and shoulders above anything else in gaming, save perhaps Metal Gear Solid 2 and Deus Ex, they're just not very fun games to play. IMO. They lack the replayability factor that RE games have in spades.

Although having said that, the atmosphere created in old SH is the atmosphere that anyone developing a so-called horror game should strive to emulate. I still regard the first time I played Silent Hill 2 as my quintessential horror gaming experience.

i watched my dad play most of the silent hills like he's a huge fan and knows just about everything, and i still lean on the re side in just more into zombies.

Mass Distraction wrote:

Wesker's Fanboy wrote:

I must also inform you guys that, though RE popularized survival horror, the first true survival horror game ever was Alone in the Dark which was based off of HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos (which is a series of literary holy works).

Not only that but Resident Evil was originally based on a whole other survival horror game, Sweet Home.

Oh yes, I remember reading about that one too! I think they got the Licker idea from some character named Dr. Tongue, no? (something along those lines)

Cyberization wrote:

Shrike wrote:

SH is, generally, a superior story, no discussing it. Can't even compare. SH2 and 4 are way out of the league of most horror books I have read when it comes to the story itself.

RE is, on the other hand, well, a better game. Gameplay in every SH pretty much sucks, whereas RE is awesome. RE has it's own ambient, which, while not really as bizarre as SH's, brings very unique atmosphere which is awesome. The zombie apocalypse thing is shining here like in the Walking Dead episode-like game, where you immerse yourself through those diaries and stuff.

That.

Limey wrote:

Atmospheric & Surreal & Creepy = Silent Hill.
Dark & Realistic & Scary = Resident Evil.

Silent Hill is more of a mindfuck of psychologically-generated monsters whilst Resident Evil borders on mad scientist-esque experimentation with corporate conspiracies.

And that.

SH manages to have a twisted, horrific, but also very mature storyline, and an interesting mythos behind it all, but the games themselves have always been quite clunky, and the puzzles are usually highly unintuitive. I sometimes struggle to go back through them, because while the stories themselves are head and shoulders above anything else in gaming, save perhaps Metal Gear Solid 2 and Deus Ex, they're just not very fun games to play. IMO. They lack the replayability factor that RE games have in spades.

Although having said that, the atmosphere created in old SH is the atmosphere that anyone developing a so-called horror game should strive to emulate. I still regard the first time I played Silent Hill 2 as my quintessential horror gaming experience.

Agree with that very much, SH was alway a brilliant but one time game, after getting through each part of it i never had a feeling "lets do this again", when second after beating any RE games i started playing em over over and over and its not only cs i am a fan of that game, there are a lot of games i like to play all the time when not being a fan of em, say 4 ex Tomb Raider games (not the latest one, cs i think that that game sucks ass) i like to play them over and over.

As 4 which one is better RE or SH, thats very much the matter of taste, I never was a fan of paranormal activities that SH stood for, im always for realism, so the atmosphere in RE is much much closer to me, I mean a Spooky city with ghosts in it kinda lame, when on the other hand zombie Apocalypse man, havent you ever dreamed of being in the middle of it with a huge baseball bat smashing heads off of the undeads . . .

Hi New here!

But what i would like to say and i see every one is saying the same. But both type of games are good in there own way so it is really hard to compare these two because they have such a different play style. Resident evil is more action with zombies trying to bite your ass of. Where silent hill is more of trying to get in your brain and twist it around kinda way. With weird puzzles and big faces on the walls.

Sometimes you want to go and flash that little flashlight in a dark room and have a iron pipe in your other hand, and sometimes you want to take your big rocket launcher and shot the big guy in the face.

But if i really need to choose i would go for silent hill because if you are sitting in a pitch black room with nothing but the tv screens light on you. You will probably scare your self more then the game. Also have a open door at your back. You will turn your head around more then looking at the screen. which is what silent hill is good at.

Wesker's Fanboy wrote:

Mass Distraction wrote:

Wesker's Fanboy wrote:

I must also inform you guys that, though RE popularized survival horror, the first true survival horror game ever was Alone in the Dark which was based off of HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos (which is a series of literary holy works).

Not only that but Resident Evil was originally based on a whole other survival horror game, Sweet Home.

Oh yes, I remember reading about that one too! I think they got the Licker idea from some character named Dr. Tongue, no? (something along those lines)

Eh... Not quite. Dr. Tongue is from Zombies Ate My Neighbors. I'm referring to this: [link]

I think, IMO, two other genre-defining survival horrors need to be included: Fatal Frame & definitely Clock Tower. Look at this way:

Fatal Film - Paranormal horror, it brought Japanese folklore, like Yūre, into the survival horror mix.
Clock Tower - Pure horror, the helpless pursuit as seen in many classic slasher films.
Silent Hill - Kafkaesque horror, completely distorting conceptions and reality-twisting events.
Resident Evil - Science horror, explained in reality but feared as one's role is a victim who's resilient whilst ineffective.

The subsequent horrors were modeled after these with an interesting amalgamation, but mostly Clock Tower/Fatal Frame as the combat mechanisms of RE are obsolete. Silent Hill isn't done as much for being so difficult to execute - it's literary genius.

Limey wrote:

I think, IMO, two other genre-defining survival horrors need to be included: Fatal Frame & definitely Clock Tower. Look at this way:

Fatal Film - Paranormal horror, it brought Japanese folklore, like Yūre, into the survival horror mix.
Clock Tower - Pure horror, the helpless pursuit as seen in many classic slasher films.
Silent Hill - Kafkaesque horror, completely distorting conceptions and reality-twisting events.
Resident Evil - Science horror, explained in reality but feared as one's role is a victim who's resilient whilst ineffective.

The subsequent horrors were modeled after these with an interesting amalgamation, but mostly Clock Tower/Fatal Frame as the combat mechanisms of RE are obsolete. Silent Hill isn't done as much for being so difficult to execute - it's literary genius.

Why not Alone in the Dark too? That one precedes all of these. So does Call of Cthulhu. It doesn't really matter, it's just somethign the OP wanted an opinion on. Then again, what you just said IS an opinion. STOP CONFUSING ME!

IKD, I guess RE and SH are just so similar and they were once thought of as rivals, unlike CT or FF.

We do have a Fatal Frame thread and a Clock Tower Let's Play thread if you're interested in reading those. At least the FF thread is seriously lacking in comments after I had to restart it when the original one disappeared.

I don't care much for either franchise anymore. I still say the best Silent Hill games were the first 3 to 4. Just cos modern consoles are graphically superior, that doesn't make 'em superior games overall. In fact, I found the stories, characters and scare factor to be greater in the earlier horror games from the PS1, Dreamcast and GameCube era. Since RE4 was released in 2005, a lot of games (not all) have had a lesser chance of scaring or entertaining me, due to the shooting galleries they've become and then there are those annoying button mash scenes. Whatever the right name for them is. Quick time events, or something. You die more often that way, than having a zombie eat your health away. It's a tad bit unfair when you survive the horror, but die from falling off a bloody rope.

White Rock wrote:

Since RE4 was released in 2005, a lot of games (not all) have had a lesser chance of scaring or entertaining me

It could be because when we grow up things have a lesser chance to scare us and we learn to have higher standards. I know for a fact that a game like Revelations would have scared me shitless when I was a kid, back when games like RE2 actually did scare me.

Yeah. That's what I meant. SH 1 to 4 and RE 1 to 0 were all ace horror games, that you really got engaged into. After that, they've been a bit...all over the place. In my opinion, RE6 felt more like an homage than a sequel, being that all these incidents were happening at the exact same times and you could see all the clear references to past games. One being the rookie cop and girl who unlike Leon and Claire, don't survive.

It feels wrong to compare them. They both have their own way as a horror game.

People just compare them all the time, due to the fact they're at the top of the survival horror universe. You're right, though. There is no real similarities about them.

White Rock wrote:

People just compare them all the time, due to the fact they're at the top of the survival horror universe.

I guess we should talk about that in a past sense now. Sure, Silent Hill is still one of the top names in the survival horror genre but RE can hardly be called horror nowadays. The only reason they are still being compared is their roots.