Story
Silent Hill: Origins is a prequel, exclusive to the Playstation Portable [PSP], to the famous Silent Hill released on Playstation in 1999. Silent Hill: Origins ,aply named, tells the story of the events before the original Silent Hill and the Origins of how the town came to what it is today.
Following the tradition of the previous Silent Hill games, Travis Grady, a seemingly normal truck driver, however, as all silent hill games go he has been called to Silent Hill for a reason. He is on a routine delivery when he decides to take “the quick route” through Silent Hill and stop of Brahms for the night. On route to Silent Hill his truck is forced to stop when a young girl is seen in the road after he has some painful flashbacks of a graveyard and his younger self attending a funeral. This event and past trailers suggest that Travis has some mental issues which could be to do with why the town has called him. Travis gets out to investigate only to find no one there… apart from the creepy little girl in his read view mirror. After the initial shock, he sees the girl standing in front of him. He waits for her to speak but instead she runs into the fog. He peruses her until he finds the legendary house where it all began. Silent Hill 1 fans will recognise this house in an instant. Then a popular theory is proven: “Its not fog… its smoke…my god”. He hears a scream and rushes in to save the little girl trapped in the fire. After he makes it out onto the lawn a familiar siren plays and he collapses. He wakes up in the foggy town of Silent Hill determined to find out what happened to the girl he saved, however things aren’t as they seem when he arrives at the hospital. Shifty staff, strange noises, rusting walls and hellish demons.
Characters
Name: Travis Grady
Occupation: Truck Driver
Gender: Male
Age: 20s
Appeared in: Silent Hill: Origins
Info: Travis is a regular Truck Driver doing a normal, routine delivery until he decides to cut through Silent Hill to get to Brahms and stay there for the night. Travis evidently has had a troubled childhood. In the 9 minute video preview we have seen Travis remembering a funeral and what looks to be some time in a mental institution where he is seen strapped to a bed. Travis is stopped by a girl in the road while he is making his pass through Silent Hill. She runs off without saying a word, he chases her and she leads him to the all famous burning house. Travis rushes inside and finds Alessa very seriously burnt lying on a ominous pattern on the floor. He saves her from her death and then passes out. When he awakens he is on a bench in Silent Hill. He is determined to find out what happened to the young girl that he had risked his life to save. What would have happened if Travis had let her burn? Is it Travis' fault that Silent Hill is the way it is...?
Name: Alessa Gillespie
Occupation: N/A
Gender: Female
Age: 7
Appeared in: Silent Hill: Origins, Silent Hill, Silent Hill 3
Info: Alessa is the daughter of Dahlia Gillespie, High priestess of the Cult, "The Order". She was caught up in a house fire, caused by her mother, which almost burnt her to death and would should have killed her. However, Travis happens to appear at the perfect time to notice the burning house and save her. It was the demonic power within her which allowed her to survive such torture. The idea behind this was Dahlia's plan to offer Alessa as a sacrifice by burning their house down with her still inside. This, Dahlia believed, would turn Alessa into the birth mother of the towns god. The plan suceeded, however Alessa's soul managed to escape which births a "second" Alessa. Good and Evil, Cheryl and Alessa. This demon side is what is causing monsters made up meerly from her twisted evil imagination to become very real.
Name: Dahlia Gillespie
Occupation: High priestess of The Order
Gender: Female
Age: ~40
Appeared in: Silent Hill: Origins, Silent Hill
Info: Dahlia Gillespie is the High priestess of a cult called "The Order". She strongly believes in a perfect "paradise", however to achieve this the god of the town will have to wipe everything clean and start again, sparing the ritous of course. To achieve this she needs to birth the god. She is convinced that a young girl needs to be birth mother, and numorus young girls were abducted by The Order to attempt to birth the god, but all had failed until Dahlia decided that there would be more chance of it working if she sacrificed her own daughter. She did, and it worked.
Name: Dr. Michael Kaufmann
Occupation: Director of medical staff at Alchemilla Hospital
Gender: Male
Age: ~40
Appeared in: Silent Hill: Origins, Silent Hill
Info: Dr. Michael Kaufmann is the Director of Medical Staff at Alchemilla Hospital and a member of the cult; The Order. He works with Dahlia to birth the god through Alessa by allowing her to hide Alessa in the basement of the hospital for Seven long years until she was use to Dahlia. His actions suggest that he didn't fully trust Dahlia, as he carried a vial of Aglophotis which he could use to "abort" the god if Dahlia turned against him, which he does in one of the endings to the original Silent Hill. In Silent Hill: Origins he has been seen in the hospital claiming that he knows nothing of a burned little girl being admitted to the hospital and leaves quickly. He is a very shady, serious character who will no doubt be a larger part of Origins' plot.
Name: Lisa Garland
Occupation: Nurse at Alchemilla Hospital
Gender: Female
Age: ~16
Appeared in: Silent Hill: Origins, Silent Hill
Info: Lisa Garland is a nurse who works at Achemilla Hospital. While working there, she became addicted to the drug, White Claudia who Kaufmann provided for the hospital. If she did not do as ordered he would threaten to cut it off - thus giving her no choice but to act on his word. Her job was to look after the burned and crispy Alessa. By the end of Silent Hill she realised she is no different to the other nurses in the derranged hospital and accepts her fate in which blood leaks from her head and all down her face. You don't see what happens to her completely as Harry is too afraid and holds the door shut after running away from her out of the room.
Monster
All of the monsters in this section have no official names as of yet, so we will name them according to their apperance, characteristics or previous appearances.
Nurse
The nurse is a common enemy in the hospital, as you would imagine. They have been seen using various weapons including scapels and syringes. They're standard enemies with standard attack power that can be beaten to death or have a TV smashed over their head quite easily.
"Green" nurse
Whether or not this "green" nurse is a different type or just the same nurse with a different colour or in an area with different lighting is unclear. However, it appears to have a slightly different colour outfit as well as the face.
Lying Figure (Straightjacket Zombie)
The Lying Figure appears to be the first boss of the game, or the ending boss in the Silent Hill: Origins demo. As before in Silent Hill 2 these creatures have the ability to spit acid as well as physcially hit you.
Purple Zombie (SCRAPPED)
This particular monster made its first apperance in the debut trailer for Silent Hill: Origins at E3 in 2006. However, it wasn't shown very clearly. It wasn't until Leipzig that year that fans got a glimpse of what we could expect in terms of game play which included this terrible monster. Good news game in April 07 though, the production was moved to Climax UK and this monster was scrapped completely. Good times.
Hanging Monster
Only one video of this monster as been shown, and that was pre-redesign so it is uncertain if this monster will appear in the final game. However, it is large flat monster which hangs on meat hooks in the butchers.
??? Monster
This monster is so strange and unusual its very difficult to decribe. It seems to mainly used its hind legs to move and appears to lie on its face and not use its front legs. It attacks by using its powerful hind legs to launch its large body into the enemy. From its appearance it has been dubbed the "Turkey" Monster.
Dog (?) Monster
Another Similar monster to the "Turkey" Monster which appears to behave in the same way other than it is much much larger and resembles a dog.
News
Akira Yamaoka has been interviewed again at E for All, this time by Joystiq in which he discusses Silent Hill: Origins. Interestingly, he is questioned on wether or not Origins will remain a PSP exclusive title, to which he answers:
«Right now it's only on the PSP, but if the customers or the market request other platforms, then I'll think about it.»
PSP to PS2 ports are usually terrible but this could mean good things for the fans unwilling to buy a PSP.
The interview also included a talk about how Silent Hill: Origins is still able to scare the player despite being on a small screen.
«I'm very confident that we've done a good job and that players will be scared by this title. Silent Hill: Origins has some keys to understand the entire world of Silent Hill and the other games. Playing this game will help people better understand those mysteries.»
Hopefully Silent Hill: Origins can deliver and not only turn out to be an excellent addition to the series, but reveal some secrets which the past games have raised.
SilentHillOrigins.com