I can write about that later because watching it all unfold was a borderline religious experience. Anyway, the retrospective was supposed to follow from Silent Hill 1 through Downpour but why not milk the cash cow discuss the most recent attempt at revival: P.T. . P.T is an interesting subject to discuss, even though the game (or more accurately the teaser) itself is less that forty-minutes long, even less if you know the solutions to all the puzzles. But make no mistake, this teaser has been lauded as one of the scariest experiences put on the PlayStation 4.
The question then becomes: Why? What did this game do that was so much more effective than other console releases and PC games of the same genre?
In the weeks ahead, one aspect of the teaser will be examined, leading to the legacy PT has built up since its untimely removal and Konami's attempts at making this short-lived masterpiece disappear. In my opinion, P.T. has one of the most immersive environments I've seen in quite some time...and it's all in one hallway.
That's it. There's the Concrete Room you start in with the roaches and come back when you're killed, the bathroom with a crying fetus, and the stairs down to the "basement" when you start the hallway again. The Never Ending Hallway and the elements it presents are our only environment but it is jam-packed with tension and uneasiness. For me, this house feels lived in. it feels familiar and the creeping fear that comes along with it is all the more unnerving. The graphics are amazing and the house becomes that much familiar. This placed housed a family...but we'll get to the story in another time.
The house also has an uncanny construction design, at least from what we can see in the hallway. Let's see this scene for reference:
Picture Credit: GameSkinny.com
Throughout the loops we can see this area but we never get access to it, unlike the smiley face above us named Lisa (more on her in a later post). Besides setting up for an effective scare and build-up (linger too long in the hall way and you will die), it's most likely there to be taunting at a much larger structure that the player can't interact with. But how do you get around the house then? Maybe I'm overanalyzing this small detail but it's a puzzle for me because I want to explore the rest of this house.
The Grate Debate offers a very in-depth analysis of the plot elements in P.T. as well as an element that struck me as important in the writing of this article: the theme of descent. In the link, this can clearly be seen as every time to you go through the door to the basement, you're going one level further, as VoidBurger explains. In this subtle journey, we see the way the player descends and the horror starts to show itself, the mind unraveling into madness, especially in the sped-up hallway loop.
Another detail that strikes me as creepy is the outside of the house. It's pitch black, but on occasion, the player can see rain outside and dripping down the windows. It plays with the player's sense of location, especially if you see the descending pattern because by then the player should be deep underground. The player can also see Lisa outside which makes her even more terrifying: it means that she's not limited to the hallway itself, just like the small balcony above. This is probably the game's way of reminding you that this is her dominion and you're playing by her and the house's rules.
While I won't go into detail into the bathroom because it is part of the plot itself, it should be noted at how different it is compared to the rest of the hallway.
Picture Credit: Gaming-Nerd.com
The lighting is different, almost industrial compared to the rest of the warm lamps in the house. It feels like it doesn't belong in this hallway, especially if it's the visitor's bathroom. There's a tub in there but it is downright filthy compared to the already messy hallway. There is blood spilled here and cockroaches (ugh) cover the walls when you first see it. And then there's the fetus in the sink. I have nothing to add because look at this bathroom. It follows the Silent Hill tradition of bathrooms being points of information and being used to the point of... even James Sunderland would see this bathroom and say "Nope." If you're familiar with Silent Hill 2 (one of my favorite games of all time), you'll know what I am referring to.
I have a theory about this bathroom that I'll expand on in an article about the theories surrounding P.T.'s plot: this isn't this house's bathroom but someone else's. Without giving too much away about the plot, the radio in the hall talks about two other instances of family massacres perpetrated by fathers. For me this theory added at how unnatural the hallway is but let's be very clear: the fetus is from Lisa and her husband's story, more on that next time.
All this talk and the title of the article reads Impact of Minimalism and I just spent a full article talking about it and that's part of the success of the teaser itself. In these very limited locations, the story unfolds and the more you explore them, the larger the impact is on the player. It reminds me of the Spencer Mansion from the first half of Resident Evil and its remakes. It's claustrophobic and yet provides the fear of the unknown. It's simultaneously surreal and fantastical yet grounded in reality in which sadly enough, these massacres do happen. Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro chose and used this series of locations to great effect.
Yes, this article is fairly short and I could ramble on about the Hallway's significance in the story line but these topics will all be covered one article, week by week. There is a lot of cloth to cut from when it comes to P.T. itself that still prompts discussion among Silent Hill fans and horror enthusiasts in general.
Speaking of terrifying tragedies, next week, we're examining the Lady in White and Red herself: Lisa.
Disclaimer: All Images unless stated, belong to their respective owners as linked below. Protected by Section V of FAIR USE Act of 2007.
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