The Gentleman: I wouldn’t consider myself a long time fan by any standard, I’ve known of the series for years but I only really became a horror fan when I was about 16 and around christmas last year was the first time I ordered Silent Hill 2 and 3. They both scared the living sh!t out of me. Now I’m on Silent Hill 4, I’m working my through the games now (which is why I was utterly overjoyed to see that the OG Silent Hill was coming back to the EU PSN). So far Silent Hill 2 is my favorite but I found Silent Hill 3 so much scarier.

The Gentleman: As an art student I find the art direction of the series, such as Ito’s designs particularly inspiring, as well as the story and how it’s told. Especially Shattered Memories, watching a Lets Play had me choking up at the end and the way it was told in such a strange and gripping way makes it my favorite storyline in the entire series. Everything in the games is just so thorough and the attention to detail is staggering which I think is the main thing I’ve taken from it.

The Gentleman: Oh most definately. My dream job would be to work for Valve (as much as I appreciate the slim likelyhood of this), but artistically I would love to work in game development. In fact, I think almost all the art I do outside college is fanart nowadays when it’s not concept art. As for focus, I currently do fine art, but if I go on to university I might move to a more applied course, say an illustration or graphic design BA.

The Gentleman: If games like Metal Gear Ac!d or Ghost Babel are considered real Metal Gear games (I played Ac!d back in yonder days and I loved it!) then I consider Shattered Memories to be a real Silent Hill game. There’s such things as alternate continuities and I personally think the fandom can get too “canon snobish” when it comes to things like Shattered Memories. It has the atmosphere, has the music, has the complex storyline. I consider it worthy of the Silent Hill label. 😀 I personally think considering something a “true” this-that-and-the-other goes deeper than plot connections and gameplay.

The Gentleman: You pretty much described my non-working life! Videogames make up some of my earliest memories. Hate to sound pretentious here but I’m a sucker for “intelligent” games which really show off how sophisticated a medium it really is. Probably one of the major things that attracted me to Silent Hill. Alot of the time I am into games for the story and atmosphere like Metro 2033 or Hitman, but I can appreciate the utterly joyous fun in games like Killing Floor where the grainy look, creature designs and charmingly bad voice acting all just adds to the fun of it. I’m either into it for pure bollocking fun or to appreciate an admirably crafted experience.

My favorite game of all time has to be the Half Life series. My very earliest gaming memory was of being terrified to play the first one back when I was about 8 or 9. And when Half Life 2 came around it was an absolutely revolutionary experience for me, not just in the groundbreaking visuals, animations and gameplay but the subtle way of telling a story through environmental detail. I will live to see Episode 3 I gaurantee you that! As for the console it has to be the Playstation 2. So many fond memories throughout my pre-teen and teen years. Also I’ve really been getting into Metal Gear Solid lately.

The Gentleman: Probably not unfortunately. I have 2 and 3 on PS2, in the future I may have a shot with MGS1 and 4, but right now I’m content to occupy myself with secret and easter egg hunting. Though further down the line I’ll most likely get it to play Peace Walker. Might I add that since the last batch of questions you sent me I’ve gotten into two really choice horror games; Cursed Mountain and the Penumbra series which I got off steam for £4 over their halloween sale. Both are massively overlooked horror titles I’d reccommend to anybody.

The Gentleman: Ever since I’ve been a valve fan I’ve been the type to draw fanart for my favorite games. You’ll find Half Life, Portal and Hitman fanart all over my profile. I do this for anything I’m turned onto and since I’ve been into Silent Hill, it too has been subjected to this.

I frequent the Silent Hill Community and Hell Descent forums weekly at the least. Both are awesome places to hang with so many friendly, great folks! I’ve been providing concept art for a fangame project called Silent Hill: Rebirth (though admittedly I’ve been too lazy to draw much lately) and I do a machinima series called Despoiled Heart filmed in Garrys Mod (a sandbox mod for Half Life 2 you can get over steam).

Constructing an original story is really super fun and seeing it playing in a 10-20 minute episode is just great, for a moment not caring how bad it is. The project’s been on abit of a hiatus for a few weeks due to some delays with some of my voice actors. I’d like to quickly shout out to the Silent Hill Community forum for being super supportive and say sorry for being a procastritive bastard. Other than that I’ve drawn comics on my deviantart for Silent Hill and other game series, abit of fanart here and there (my personal favorite is the one of James and Mary in the final boss area). I’ve also done a couple tributes and really (no, really) dumb joke videos.

The Gentleman: Pretty sure it’s about a man who goes to Silent Hill to find the man who ran over his daughter. I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say so I’ll leave it there. Also I’d be more than willing to share some concept art! I’ve got some of it on my DeviantArt.

Silent Hill Rebirth Production Site: http://silenthilluniverse.weebly.com/—silent-hill-rebirth.html

Silent Hill Rebirth – Concept Art

The Gentleman: It’s all up on my youtube channel, I post updates on the Silent Hill Community to keep people in the loop about how filming’s going. The story follows a man who gets a job offer from the Silent Hill Historical Society, obviously not knowing what is really waiting for him, all while meeting the usual colourful cast of characters.

The Gentleman: MARYQUEST, because we have fun with fads. 😀

The Gentleman: Naturally, like almost all fans I initially found the different voice acting jarring. But upon comparing the two I find the older voice work obviously fits the faces we’re familiar with, but the extra proffessional expertise put in by the likes of Troy could just turn me onto them. I could see myself warming to Troy’s performance in the jail scene we were given a preview of. The only thing I’m less than moderate about is Eddie’s new voice, it just doesn’t fit his character.

Other than that, I love the idea behind the collection, bringing it to a more current console for a more current generration of gamers I think is a superb idea, and from your write-ups from your Konami visit, the enhanced visuals sound like something to look forward to!

The Gentleman: I haven’t seen the film so I can’t give an informed opinion on that. As for the sequel, I kinda wish they’d injected abit of Silent Hill 2 into it, there’s actually a great photoshop job which I think demonstrates this, though I can imagine the fandom fallout would be catastrophic.

I’ll definately try and see Revelations when it comes to cinemas, I generally keep an open mind towards these things.

The Gentleman: Downpour will rock. The only things I don’t feel comfortable with are petty ticks really. I love how the atmosphere looks, the characters, the visuals look gorgeous and it looks like nice old survival horror gameplay. The story is being written by the chap who did Past Life too which I think promises an excellent story. I also like how the trailers, while showing alot still leaves only clues and speculatory material in terms of anything that pertains to the storline, compare this to the Homecoming promo material where the plot seemed more, I hesitate to say “straightforward”. In fact, Downpour was one of the few interesting things at the last E3 for me. I think the series still has more to give. I’m glad Book of Memories will probably fall into the same category as the arcade game and Orphan games. It’s wildly experimental but too far a departure that I could put it with the main series. I won’t knock it, it looks like a fun game but I’m very uninterested in it. I wouldn’t buy a Vita just to play it.

The Gentleman: Anyone who loves the games. I wouldn’t po-poo someone for liking Homecoming or the arcade game for example, I like to think quality is in the eye of the beholder. I’m sure by some standards I wouldn’t be considered a “true” fan, and that’s an opinion anyone has the right to have.