Silent Hill is pretty much the benchmark of the genre. Well, the early games at least.
Always thought Resident Evil got that honor.
Resident Evil has the bigger fanbase. Silent Hill is infinitely more horror filled though.
Resident Evil's horror is mostly a mixture of zombie and slasher films. The story is relatively weak with lots of action. More combat intensive with easy puzzles. Combat being shooting because Resident Evil melee combat is trash until RE6.
In Silent Hill the monsters are unique creatures, there's a huge focus on a deeper less direct story, challenging puzzles and the entire environment is disgusting but attractive. And the relatable non-action movie protagonists.
Also, Akira Yamaoka is a sound genius. Sound effects, back ground noises and music are very disturbing.
Another point in Silent Hills favor is melee combat is and has always been absolutely viable. Scarce bullets doesn't mean much when you can beat the ***out of an enemy with a steel pipe. Something that took Resident Evil uh... eight? games to get right.
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