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Pyramid Head and Robbie the Rabbit in Silent Hill: Homeco... (ps3fanboy.com)

Silent Hill: Homecoming gets Pyramid Head and PC treatment

chautemoc | July 18, 2008 | News | PC Playstation 3

Uh huh. That's right. The rumblings rang true, Silent Hill fans. Fan favourite Pyramid Head (probably the most demented fan favourite in any game, if I dare say so myself) is set to return in Silent Hill: Homecoming. More than that, PC gamers will have the opportunity to experience the game, presumably this fall or winter.

Earlier this week I watched a Konami rep play through a bit of Silent Hill: Homecoming while we were awaiting the coming of Castlevania creator Koji Igarashi. The quick play through showed off the opening moments of the game, with protagonist Alex Shepherd waking up in Silent Hill and setting off on the search for his little brother. The game looked rather nice in motion, and creepiness immediately ensued as Sheperd's little bro seems to have a penchant for scampering in and out of shadows, a staple of the horror genre since Uggok the caveman drew the first horror cave painting. Note to Alex: your brother might be more receptive to being found if you don't slowly walk towards him with an axe in your hands.

While the demo was cut short by Iga's entrance, two bits of news to come to light. Pyramid Head will indeed be playing a part in the game, and now the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game is coming to PC, as did Silent Hill 2, 3, and 4 before it. What will Pyramid Head do in the game? Not sure, but I'm ruling out the hokey pokey.

News Story attached to:

Silent Hill: Homecoming [PC, XBOX360, PS3]

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Comments

0 thumbs!
Seeker X | July 18, 2008

Do they honestly believe that PH will automatically make this game pique interest? Since this PH will be shamelessly ripped off the movies, I don't think there's any reason for anybody to get excited.
0 thumbs!
Jak66 | July 19, 2008

If they brought back the original PH from SH and SH2, that would be a delight.
- 0 thumbs!
  Raziel_326 | July 19, 2008
  
  SH? He was only in SH2 unless you're referring to the movie.
0 thumbs!
Raziel_326 | July 19, 2008

I found a comment in the ps3fanboy comments that I more than completely agree with. For a long time I've always wondered why most of these new monsters didn't look right, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it and this comment answered it.

quote
It looks bad because it's too crisp. The graininess is too low. Plus, the enemies seem to pop out and stand apart from their environment too much. They're too clean. Look at the legs of grey crawler guy on the ground here: http://www.ps3fanboy.com/photos/silent-hill-5/772816/ . Too distinct and well defined. He needs to blend better.
They DO look too clean, I can point at all the details of these new enemies, in the older silent hills, they ble nded in with the environment, and they had too many cover ups or shadows or something similar for them to appear mysterious or grosteque in many of their parts.
0 thumbs!
Marshal Loss | July 19, 2008

I agree with Seeker, I don't see any reason why it would make anybody excited in the slightest.
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Gothic Girl | July 19, 2008

Ugh, it looks like they are just re-hashing ideas from the SH movie and previous games without little thought put into them. >_>

Pyramid Head better have a damn good reason for being in SH5.
He's James's monster. If anything, this news just disappoints SH fans because it shows that the new team has no idea what they're doing or even what the SH series is about.
- 0 thumbs!
  Raziel_326 | July 19, 2008
  
  To be fair there are hints in the trailer being discussed in the major Silent Hill forums of other sites. One thing somebody telling the main character "I'm sorry I brought you into this". Which may hint that Pyramid Head might be there for somebody else.
  - 0 thumbs!
    Gothic Girl | July 19, 2008
    
    quote
    Which may hint that Pyramid Head might be there for somebody else.
    Please be James.Please be James.Please be James.
    
    (even though that's highly unlikely, what with SH2's "Water" ending most likely being the canon one)
    - 0 thumbs!
      RabidChinaGirl | July 19, 2008
      
      Didn't his dad mention in SH4 that the Sunderland couple just disappeared? D: Personally, I thought the Water-ending was pretty funny the more I thought about it. James finally goes bat shit crazy.
      
      EDIT
      Wrong water ending. I meant the one where he tries to resurrect Mary was amusing.... not the... really horrible suicide one. My bad.
  - 0 thumbs!
    Seeker X | July 19, 2008
    
    To be quite honest, I don't believe Pyramid Head will have much of a meaning in the game. My guess is that it's gonna be considered a boss (that can possibly be killed, if the developers have their way) and it will be some rampaging PH with not much motive for him being there other than to violently kill you (or skin you, if they wanna rip that part off the movie too).
    
    quote
    even though that's highly unlikely, what with SH2's "Water" ending most likely being the canon one
    It always irritated me that SH4 never explained what the hell happened to James. We got his father...but he did jack squat anyways.
    - 0 thumbs!
      Gothic Girl | July 19, 2008
      
      I got the impression that SH4 was hinting that James had died when he went to Silent Hill. The "water" ending certainly fit in with the theme of James's guilt. Even though Mary had forgiven him, he still couldn't live with himself. That was really tragic - I loved it. (though I was feeling a bit sorry for James by the end. He wasn't all bad. He just ... snapped.)
      
      quote
      EDIT
      Wrong water ending. I meant the one where he tries to resurrect Mary was amusing.... not the... really horrible suicide one. My bad.
      Lol, I was wondering why you thought the "Water" ending was funny.
      You mean the "Rebirth" ending. I loved it too (come to think of it, I liked all the endings ... even the bad ones). Poor James. Even though it was his fault for what happened to Mary, I felt sorry for him by the end. His crazed ramblings that he would bring Mary back were fantastic.
      
      I thought the Maria ending was the funniest. James didn't learn his lesson, Mary didn't forgive him, and he leaves Silent Hill with a sick Maria ... thus everything starts all over again.
0 thumbs!
RabidChinaGirl | July 19, 2008

I think this confuses die-hard Silent Hill fans because Pyramid Head is supposed to be James' monster, specific to SH2 (as Gothic Girl said). I wrote my own impressions under Neoseeker's E3 updates, and honestly, Silent Hill: Homecoming is just.... different. It's.. not a Silent Hill, in a traditional sense, but some horrid effort to bank on the name of Silent Hill. When I first pointed out the name change from SH5 to Homecoming in an article on Neo, many people replied that the name really means nothing. Wrong, it can mean everything; it can mean precisely what we saw at Konami's conference -- that Silent Hill is not the Silent Hill we once knew and loved.
0 thumbs!
Raziel_326 | July 19, 2008

It's interesting how many people say he's supposedly exclusive to James. In some questioning I read with Masahiro Ito (creator of Pyramid Head), Masahiro made some mini comic with Pyramid Head in it, and it...pretty much made no sense xD So people asked what did it mean and what was pyramid head doing in it? Masahiro said it was an entirely different Pyramid Head that had nothing to do with James it didn't even had anything to do with the town of Silent Hill, it was just apart of that weird dimension and its sole purpose was to kill angels or something like that...which kind of contradicts the whole PH is exclusive to James theory.
- 0 thumbs!
  Seeker X | July 19, 2008
  
  Personally, I don't think it's exclusive to James only. I believe that Pyramid Head meant Judgement, and there's plenty of evidence around the game to support that (Like the painting in the Silent Hill Historical Society building). Though why they would make a totally different PH with a different purpose beats the hell outta me.
  
  quote
  I got the impression that SH4 was hinting that James had died when he went to Silent Hill. The "water" ending certainly fit in with the theme of James's guilt.
  Makes sense...or he could've left and disappeared. Kinda like SH: Origins, all the endings could fit into what happened to him...bar the UFO ending.
  - 0 thumbs!
    Gothic Girl | July 19, 2008
    
    Actually, when you put it like that, it makes sense that another Pyramid Head is able to appear in SH5.
    Silent Hill 2's PH was a manifestation of James subconciously wanting punishment and his fascination with Silent Hill's history (hence the reason PH resembles Silent Hill's past executioners (as we can see in the painting you mentioned)).
    
    So it wouldn't be totally unreasonable if a PH appeared in SH5, since executioners who resemble "pyramid heads" are a part of the town's history ... although it's a pretty cheap move for the new team to bring back an existing SH monster and pass it off as being "different". Even the Silent Hill nurses all had fairly different appearances, depending on what the main character's (or Alessa's) fear/guilt was.
    
    I don't see why the new team doesn't just come up with a brand new monster with a similar purpose to Pyramid Head. It's just lazy bringing back PH, and a cheap attempt at garnering fan's interest in SH5.
- 0 thumbs!
  RabidChinaGirl | July 19, 2008
  
  EDIT
  http://www.translatedmemories.com/bookpgs/Pg48-49SH2Creature.jpg
  Character commentary for Silent Hill 2 explains Pyramid Head an incarnation of James' subconscious. So the belief that PH is specific to James is not an unfounded one. However....
  http://www.translatedmemories.com/bookpgs/Pg110-111.jpg
  Here, it is stated that the Pyramid Head guise is one worn by executioners from Silent Hill's past, so PH's reappearances aren't totally outrageous after all. Hope that clarifies some things.
  End Edit
  
  I don't think the appearance of Pyramid Head is the biggest issue here, since he's become the trademark of Silent Hill (it's mostly confusion over his purpose, but SH has always confused people). Rather, the main problem lies in the overall feel and altering of gameplay for Silent Hill: Homecoming.. it's move toward a more action-quality, closing the gap between it and Resident Evil, when SH and RE represent different ends of the survival-horror spectrum.
0 thumbs!
Raziel_326 | July 19, 2008

A bit off topic, but I must admit, this trailer (the intro to the game) was a breath of fresh air, I loved it, it really did remind me of the past Silent Hill games menu intros (excluding 4).

Also, I loved the music.

http://ps3.ign.com/dor/objects/777941/silent-hill-5-working-title-rumor/videos/shDF5_attractmode_071608.html
- 0 thumbs!
  Seeker X | July 19, 2008
  
  I think Akira Yamaoka has become really comfortable with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn's voice. Ever since she made her debut in SH3, she's been on ever since, she might even become a typecast for Silent Hill.
  
  Really good looking trailer...and also nice to see Travis in Silent Hill again.
  
  @ Gothic Girl - It would not be unreasonable to see him again, but it's also because he appeared in the movie. I don't want some cheap recreation of something I saw in a movie, I want to see Pyramid Head have an original and symbolic meaning in the game.
  
  @ RabidChinaGirl - SH took an action-oriented turn first in SH4. Focused more on the fighting and a little bit less on environment interaction. Origins used the classic controls but it ALSO focused on the fighting as well...SHV pretty much changed the whole gameplay...I almost thought it was going to include over-the-shoulder aiming and all.
  - 0 thumbs!
    RabidChinaGirl | July 19, 2008
    
    Yeah, I see what you mean with Silent Hill 4 being more action oriented; I remember reading that it wasn't supposed to be a Silent Hill game until the last minute (still, Team Silent worked on it). I must have been too busy pissing my pants to notice. I didn't play Origins because I haven't heard anyone tell me it's worthwhile.
    
    Agreed @ the Silent Hill: Homecoming part. I don't call it SH 5 because they intentionally changed it from "Silent Hill V" to "Homecoming" so it would not be associated with the previous 4, I believe. Plus, I'm still a little indignant about the whole thing, like Homecoming is the franchise's illegitimate child, or something.
    - 0 thumbs!
      Gothic Girl | July 20, 2008
      
      I really enjoyed SH4... maybe moreso than *gasp* SH3.
      The more action-oriented gameplay didn't bother me - I didn't think it was too much of a change from previous games (unlike RE4's drastic overhaul). I'd go as far to say that it was an improvement on a gameplay system that sometimes came off as "clunky".
      The lack of "bosses" and puzzles in SH4 was the most noticeable difference for me. (Come to think of it, I can't think of any bosses besides Walter ). And the atmosphere didn't seem quite as creepy as previous SH games. Though the plot and characters made up for it, imo.
      
      quote
      @ Gothic Girl - It would not be unreasonable to see him again, but it's also because he appeared in the movie. I don't want some cheap recreation of something I saw in a movie, I want to see Pyramid Head have an original and symbolic meaning in the game.
      Yeah, sadly enough I can't see the new team thinking up a logical way to include Pyramid Head in Homecoming without it coming off as needless fanservice. I agree that it looks like PH has been included just because he was in the movie (same with the boob-ful nurses. I find it hard to believe that Alex's story will be more "sex-oriented" than James's. They also look like they've been ripped off from the movie for no reason at all).
      
      Bah, I hate to make judgements before I've played a game but I can't help but feel negative about what seems to be happening to the Silent Hill series. >_>
      
      quote
      I don't call it SH 5 because they intentionally changed it from "Silent Hill V" to "Homecoming" so it would not be associated with the previous 4, I believe.
      I can't help but think that, if SH: Homecoming is a failure, then Konami will give the series back to Team Silent and continue where they left off (by making "SH5"). Tbh, I hope that is the case. I'd hate for the series to go down the crapper if Homecoming fails.
0 thumbs!
Drago Shi | July 19, 2008

Maybe the original pyramid head belongs to James,and the other dimension/creatures/god/cult/whateverthehellitis took an interest in James' creature?

*awaits slap in the face*