History NightmareFuel / SilentHill1

* The Otherworld version of Midwich Elementary School, full stop. What was an innocuous elementary school is now a dark, decaying house of horrors filled with bloody steel grating, partially dismembered and bound corpses lining the walls, and the "classrooms" have numerous hooks and chains dangling from the ceilings, all covered in ropy strands of gore. It's your first extended taste of Silent Hill's hellish alternate reality, and boy, does it ever set the tone. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTJgiTGy0dY Then there's the music...]]

* Due to the graphical limitations of the time, the monsters are much more blocky and lower resolution than when the series leapt forward to ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' on the UsefulNotes/PS2. This adds a degree of vagueness to the monsters as though you can't quite get a good look at them, and [[NothingIsScarier the imagination fills in the blanks]]. As it turns out, graphical constraints also make the world look like a bad dream due to how illegible a lot of things are.

* Fighting Puppet Cybil near the end of the game. In one of the CG cutscenes, she is sitting in a wheelchair, wakes up and staggers towards you with blood-red eyes. The boss also can and will shoot at you with a gun, and has a very disturbing laugh when the merry-go-round activates. If you didn't get the red liquid in the hospital, the only way out of the fight is to attack the boss until another CG scene triggers, which shows Cybil puking blood all over the place before she dies. [[PermanentlyMissableContent Keep in mind as well that you have ''no idea'' what the Unknown Liquid does or is for, and you can't find out until LONG after it's too late to get it, and only if you complete an optional sidequest, so it's likely that most players, unless they're thorough, ''won't'' be able to save her the first time around.]] Taking it a step further, [[GoldenSnitch failing to complete that sidequest AND failing to save Cheryl leads to the Bad Ending.]] Have fun!

** There's not much danger down in the hospital basement, just a few cockroach-like critters that are easily dispatched and do little damage. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-wbjVP7m3k&list=PLOEAs04auvidhe4R9NX5BR1NCSbxqBDZx&index=20 music that accompanies this area]], on the other hand, is enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.

* The Otherworld version of Midwich Elementary School, full stop. It's dark, decaying, filled with partially dismembered and bound corpses lining the walls, and the "classrooms" have numerous hooks and chains dangling from the ceilings, all covered in ropy strands of gore. It's your first extended taste of Silent Hill's hellish alternate reality, and boy, does it ever set the tone. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTJgiTGy0dY Then there's the music...]]

* In the [[DyingDream Bad ending]], Harry's been DeadAllAlong. [[FromBadToWorse It gets worse]] when you [[FridgeHorror think about it]]. Considering Silent Hill's nature as a GeniusLoci EldritchLocation, that is explicitly stated to warp reality in relation to the people trapped there, and considering that the Bad Ending involves both [[KillEmAll failing to save Cybil AND failing to save Alessa/Cheryl]], and ends with Harry [[HeroicBSOD collapsing in despair]] as Nowhere burns down around him, it's entirely possible that Harry's death in the ending is a twisted variation of RetGone for failing completely to save anyone.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLrve9PVwrg "I'll Kill You"]], the moth battle theme. It's used very sparingly throughout the game, but try listening to it when you're alone and see if your hair doesn't stand completely on end.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_qAhy4XzGk Never Again]], a track made with the ''absolute'' intent of making you uncomfortable. Once the actual music and bassline abruptly cut off halfway in, you're left with only the rising, screechy noise that comes to a sudden stop; it's terrifying enough to make you believe something is going to grab you from behind the more you listen to it.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzQe4AfVhxw The Sewer Passage]], combining sewer ambience, a creepy, metallic melody, unearthly groaning/screaming, and an eerie, rising droning noise (which later returns as part of Nowhere's background music) makes for one of the game's more unsettling tracks.

* The moaning and gurgling noises made by the Grey Children are creepy enough in the final game, but they were even worse in the demo version: the completely unmodified sounds of giggling infants, which were ''extremely'' disturbing in that context]].

* The moaning and gurgling noises made by the Grey Children are creepy enough in the final game, but they were even worse in the demo version: the completely unmodified sounds of giggling infants, which were ''extremely'' disturbing [[UncannyValley in that context]].

* After the above opening, you spend a while trying to figure out your first goal: get to Midwich Elementary at the bottom corner of the map. The only way to do so is through the house on Levin St., but the back door is locked up with three locks. After finding all the keys, you finally make it to the back yard, ready to progress again...[[OhCrap and then it starts getting dark all of a sudden]]....

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMIvMdCL2H4 "My Heaven"]]. IronicName taken UpToEleven. It sounds like horrible laughter mixed with a distorted dentist's drill and rhythmic banging on a metal drum. It's almost a nauseating BrownNote. Quite possibly the crowning moment of horrid un-sound of all the ''Franchise/SilentHill'' soundtracks.

** There's also [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSffnX9ZTZU the Nowhere "music".]]

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLrve9PVwrg "I'll Kill You"]]. It's used very sparingly throughout the game, but try listening to it when you're alone and see if your hair doesn't stand completely on end.
** There's also the moth battle theme and the Nowhere "music".

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o_CDmBbnOw "My Heaven"]]. IronicName taken UpToEleven. It sounds like horrible laughter mixed with a distorted dentist's drill and rhythmic banging on a metal drum. It's almost a nauseating BrownNote. Quite possibly the crowning moment of horrid un-sound of all the ''Franchise/SilentHill'' soundtracks.

* It's not as pronounced as in later games, but the fog obscures everything more than a few feet away. It creates a claustrophobic atmosphere, but you know full well that something is always lurking nearby. [[ParanoiaFuel The flap of wings, clicking of claws and the radio warning you that there's something nasty just out of sight make sure of it]].

* It's notable how infrequently the game will try to JumpScare you outright, rather the game works by playing you subtly with its startling imagery. When a jump scare finally comes, it's a complement to the already miserable nightmare you're trapped in and can feel like game "earned it", even having a sense of awesomeness to it thanks to the buildup. Still, the first time playing can be tense as you may be expecting to be startled suddenly but the game usually holds back and simply lets the visuals and strange sounds unsettle you.