Silent Hill (サイレントヒル Sairento Hiru?) is a survival horror video game franchise developed and published by Konami. The first four games in the series were created by Team Silent who have abandoned the series to work on other projects. Two additional titles have been made by other developers, Silent Hill: Origins by Climax Studios and Silent Hill: Homecoming by Double Helix. There are also a series of comics, books and novelizations based on the series. A film adaptation of the first game was released in 2006 directed by Christophe Gans. There is currently a second film based on the series under development.
The first three games of the series were released to strong sales and critical acclaim. Beginning with the release of Silent Hill 4: The Room, the critical reception and sales of the series began to decline.
The series is known for its complex storylines which are revealed through cinematic cut scenes and in-game notes. Each game unfolds like a movie with the player's actions determining which of several possible endings they receive. The series is also acclaimed for its detailed and disturbing environments and chilling soundtracks provided by composer Akira Yamaoka

Silent Hill is a small town situated around the edge of Toluca Lake and a large forest, with the older sections of town located to the north and along the banks of the adjacent river. Due in part to heavy commercial development, the town is fairly self-sufficient; it has an elementary school, a shopping mall, a church, two separate hospitals, a sanitarium, and other stores and attractions. The majority of the town's businesses are locally owned mom and pop stores, with no apparent influence of chain stores or franchises other than a burger joint (called "Happy Burger") and a Shell gas station. Old Silent Hill and Paleville hold large residential areas with both apartments and homes, as well as several motels and the grand Lakeview Hotel. The beachfront area of Paleville also has a lighthouse and hosts the Lakeside Amusement Park.
Prior to the 1600s, the area where Silent Hill was eventually established was the home of members of an unnamed Native American tribe that used the land for sacred rituals. At the end of the century, settlers arrived and founded the town; shortly thereafter, they began to rapidly die off. The deaths were attributed to an epidemic, and Brookhaven Hospital was built to treat those affected. Eventually the settlers fled the town, leaving it abandoned for nearly a century, until it was resettled as a penal colony in the early 1800s. Twenty years later, another epidemic broke out, and Brookhaven Hospital was rebuilt and reopened. In the 1840s, the prison was closed, and the town once more abandoned; in the 1850s, coal was discovered there by another wave of settlers, and it became a boomtown.
During the American Civil War, the town served as a prisoner of war camp; after the end of the war, the prison used to house prisoners was converted into a state penitentiary, and shortly thereafter, Silent Hill became a resort town. Around roughly the same period, a group of religious zealots founded a series of small doomsday cults based upon the eschatology of the unnamed Native American tribe which occupied the land before settlers arrived. Collectively referring to themselves as "The Order", the cults, each of whom worshiped a different sub-deity, practiced human sacrifice and necromancy in an ongoing effort to resurrect "The God", an ancient deity which they believed would usher in an age of paradise by killing all humans. In order to fund their efforts, The Order dealt a psychedelic drug called White Claudia, manufactured from a plant indigenous to the town. The drug trade served to increase tourism to the town from the residents of surrounding areas, who traveled there to obtain White Claudia. The drug trade was eventually crippled, in the midst of a war between The Order and local authorities, during which members of the order murdered several police officers.
Silent Hill manifests itself in at least three distinct parallel layers, or dimensions: a normal, populated town; a quiet, seemingly abandoned town veiled by supernaturally thick fog; and a dark and decaying town (called the "Otherworld") filled with disturbing, hellish imagery. Only the latter two layers are explored by the games' protagonists, where demonic and disfigured creatures roam the streets and buildings (appearing in greater numbers in the Otherworld). Electricity and lighting are extremely limited or nonexistent as well. Occasionally, characters will transition between dimensions, and in some cases the dimensions may intersect with each other, creating an incoherent space called "Nowhere."
The different appearances of both the town and its inhabitants are made manifest from characters' personal fears, though not necessarily those of the protagonists. These manifestations may be shared between characters, or otherwise appear exclusively to only one of them. It is implied that Silent Hill always held a supernatural presence, but the town's violent and deadly history since the early modern period had perverted these energies into something darker.
Commentary published by Konami has stated that the power of Silent Hill has "intensified greatly" since the events of the first game. While the first, second, and prequel games featured protagonists who were drawn into Silent Hill, in the third, fourth and fifth games, the Otherworld has reached out to people in nearby towns of Ashfield and Shepherd's Glen

The first Silent Hill title, which served as the model for all but the fourth game, utilized a third-person perspective with fixed camera angles at certain points. Most sections take place indoors, connected by open streets and alleyways (though the third and fourth game feature greatly reduced exploration of outdoor environments). The alternating fog and darkness only allows the protagonist and player to see within a ten-foot radius at any time. At the beginning of the game, the character is usually equipped with a pocket flashlight and a radio that emits static in close proximity to monsters.
Much of the series' gameplay revolves around solving puzzles, often to obtain a key or other item essential to the plot. Various monsters are also encountered in nearly all parts of the game. The player has access to a variety of improvised melee weapons and firearms, although most characters do not show any indication of experience with firearms.
All the games feature multiple endings. Silent Hill, for example, has a progression of endings from "bad" to "good+," depending on how many side objectives the player accomplishes prior to the final boss fight. The endings of Silent Hill 2 are presented as being all equal, with no clearly defined "bad" ending. There are also humorous "joke" endings in every game (except Silent Hill 4), most commonly referred to as the "UFO Ending" because the main character comes in contact with extraterrestrials. Silent Hill 3 and Silent Hill: Origins, however, both force a "good" ending on first-time players, with "bad" and "joke" endings for players who use a continuing save

Composer Akira Yamaoka has provided atmospheric and emotional music for every game in the series, ranging from gritty post-industrial to trip-hop and alternative rock pieces. Oftentimes in the Otherworld, music will play that is much louder than that of the fog world, making it harder to hear enemy presence and causing it to frighten the player. In addition, some environmental sound effects are included simply to frighten and alarm, rather than cause actual physical harm in the game (e.g., loud breathing or faint rustling in dark, empty hallways).
Beginning with Silent Hill 2, the series introduced the Noise Effect. It has become a staple in the series and is explained in the "Book of Lost Memory". The noise effect acts like a film grain filter, giving the game a constant sense of noise and presence, especially in the dark. This can severely inhibit the player's sight, as common objects such as pipes, walls, and posters can appear from far distances as monsters, and vice versa with distant monsters appearing as objects from a distance when not in motion. This effect has been expanded in Silent Hill 4 and Silent Hill Origins by causing noticeable increases when in the presence of monsters/spirits (even without the radio or flashlight on). This feature can often be shut off after completing the game once.