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[Afro Republican]

When it comes to horror games, the biggest rivalry after AiTD died has always, until this day, been Resident Evil vs. Silent Hill. Kind of like the Cowboys Vs. Redskins of horror video games.

However going back and replaying the older games as well as the newer entries, me and several people I know offline and on, have changed our minds over which we used to think was the better series. I figured why not see if Gaf has changed it stance.

Resident Evil was always the more "action based" of the two, and became more of a TPS over time though it seems with RE7 the series has become more Silent Hill like imo. Silent Hill was the more mysterious atmospheric game and never really left that.

These two styles have created dedicated fanbases over the years, where do you stand on Resident Evil vs. Silent Hill today? Have recent entries, or replays of older titles over the last several years changed your mind?

Resident Evil Games:

Resident Evil
Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 3
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 6
Resident Evil 7
Resident Evil Remake
Resident Evil 0
Resident Evil Revelations
etc.

Silent Hill Games:

Silent Hill
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 3
Silent Hill 4
Silent Hill Origins
Silent Hill Homecoming
Silent Hill Shattered Memories
Silent Hill Homecoming
Silent Hill Downpour
Silent Hill Book of Memories
etc.

 

[J-Roderton]

No vote from me. I’ve never finished a game from either series.

But, I really like Resident Evil. First game’s atmosphere and level design is nuts.

 

[Chozofication_]

Horror - silent hill
Action - resident evil

Overall resident evil is the better more consistent franchise.

 

[Danjin44]

I like both for different reason. I like resident evil for survival horror gameplay while I like Silent Hill for psychological horror. But unfortunately SH series died after SH3.

Spoiler

You sure do love to make polls.

 

[Fake]

I voted both because REmake and Sillent Hill 2 are the top of survive horror IMO.

 

[TLZ]

Both of them are excellent, but Silent Hill is the scarier one of them.

 

[struggler_guts]

I played the intro to both SH1 and RE1 when I was way too young and they scared THE SHIT outtah me, but RE stayed alive and SH died in spirit by the time I was old enough to play them. Going back about a year ago I still prefer RE. Even though RE went more action I hear 7 is a return to form and Im soo excited to get VR and jump in, as opposed to looking forward to what, silent hills? Lol

 

[Chozofication_]

I like both for different reason. I like resident evil for survival horror gameplay while I like Silent Hill for psychological horror. But unfortunately SH series died after SH3.

Spoiler

You sure do love to make polls.

Shattered memories on wii is really good although not quite a horror game.

 

[kunonabi]

Love both series, up to a point anyway, but I'll take SH1-3 over Resident Evil's entire output any day of the week.

Fatal Frame is number 1 though so it doesnt matter that much in the long run.

 

[Plague Doctor]

Horror wise? Which series has Silent Hill 2? That's the winner.

 

[brian0057]

Horror? Silent Hill, by a mile.
Action? DOOM.

 

[Neverwas]

Gotta go with RE. SH, for me, was a victim of hype, and could never live up to the gushing nonsense people spouted about it.

 

[kingbean]

When I was younger I liked Silent Hill more but really I think they're just so different in tone that I don't really think they compete for the same audience.

I picked both.

 

[Paracelsus]

Different style, two worlds apart. In Resident Evil, the horror comes from seeing yourself, your avatar, eaten alive by cannibals or ripped in half by ninja frogs. In Silent Hill, the horror is all around you, the creatures are the least of the problem.

 

[Sparda]

Silent hill is less action oriented, it has a deeper story and a more psycological approach. Maybe resident evil is more fun to play, but silent hill is a better overall experience.

 

[MrRogers]

Resident Evil is the only choice, even tho I really like Silent Hill too. It's just comes down to the number of sheer masterclass titles in the RE franchise. Silent 2 is a standout, with SE 3 behind it. Resident Evil has RE4, REmake, RE2, RE3 and Resident Evil 7 that are all survival horror classics with RE2make looking to join their ranks. As well as the fact that Silent Hill is a dead franchise, and will never be revived while Konami has the rights, which means that RE will continue to surpass it in classic titles as Capcom will be making RE titles for the foreseeable future.

 

[petran79]

Neither imo. Never revisited any franchise
But I would replay:

Alone in the Dark
Ecstatica
Horrorsoft trilogy (Elvira, Jaws of Cerberus, Waxworks)
Corpse Party

 

[Airbus Jr]

Resident Evil all the way

All my favourite characters are there

Leon F Kennedy
Jill Valentine
Chris Redfield
Claire Redfield
Ada Wong
Albert Wesker

Can't wait to play RE 2 Remake

Silent Hills officialy dead now since Kojima is gone

Konami only make pachinko machine

 

[Nny7229]

I've played both series extensively and for different reasons they are my favorites. They fit into different genre.

 

[molasar]

It is RE (RE 1-3) for me as long as it is not too much over the top. I still like SH but generally I prefer a physical type of horror (action, body, sci-fi, natural, zombie genre) without supernatural elements.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

Voted both. They are each great for their own particular reasons. To be truthfully honest though, I always thought Silent Hill was much more creepier than RE. Guess I always found psychological horror much more unsettling than slasher or action horror.

 

[Danjin44]

Voted both. They are each great for their own particular reasons. To be truthfully honest though, I always thought Silent Hill was much more creepier than RE. Guess I always found psychological horror much more unsettling than slasher or action horror.

The enemy designs and the fact the character models in SH series much more realistic compare to RE series, especially SH3.

To this day character models in SH3 still very impressive.

 

[-MD-]

Resident Evil easily.

 

[yoyo67]

I want another Silent Hill game. Only problem I have with Resident Evil is not having enough ammo then a boss fight happens lol.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

The enemy designs and the fact the character models in SH series much more realistic compare to RE series, especially SH3.

To this day character models in SH3 still very impressive.

Agreed. SH3 was a technical masterpiece even to this day and severely underrated. The monster designs in SH were one of the main reasons the Western SH monster designs looked so underwhelming, especially in Downpour where they were almost comical imo. I’m probably the only person who thought SH3 was a better game than SH2 even though I will admit SH2 had the better and more memorable story.

 

[Danjin44]

Agreed. SH3 was a technical masterpiece even to this day and severely underrated. The monster designs in SH were one of the main reasons the Western SH monster designs looked so underwhelming, especially in Downpour where they were almost comical imo. I’m probably the only person who thought SH3 was a better game than SH2 even though I will admit SH2 had the better and more memorable story.

I said this before, both SH and RE are very Japanese games even tho both inspired by western media. Western developers made both SH and RE and it just doesn't feel the same compare to original games.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

I want another Silent Hill game. Only problem I have with Resident Evil is not having enough ammo then a boss fight happens lol.

Considering how popular P.T was, I know there are quite a few people who would love to see another Silent Hill. Unfortunately I doubt it will ever happen.

 

[Danjin44]

Considering how popular P.T was, I know there are quite a few people who would love to see another Silent Hill. Unfortunately I doubt it will ever happen.

When first I heard Jinji Ito was part of the new Silent Hill project, I got sooooo hyped.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Silent Hill has the best horror, when a game makes you not wanna play it because how somber and psychological mindfuck it is, you know they got something right. However after SH3 the series just fell off, they were putting out games too fast with mediocre results.

I chose RE, it was somewhat consistent in what it wanted to achieve. Id say they really lost their way and the only dud was RE6. I have no idea what they wanted to achieve. RE5 gets flack but its just an upgrade to RE4 so it cant be that bad. RE7 was AWESOME!

 

[Danjin44]

Silent Hill has the best horror, when a game makes you not wanna play it because how somber and psychological mindfuck it is, you know they got something right. However after SH3 the series just fell off, they were putting out games too fast with mediocre results.

I chose RE, it was somewhat consistent in what it wanted to achieve. Id say they really lost their way and the only dud was RE6. I have no idea what they wanted to achieve. RE5 gets flack but its just an upgrade to RE4 so it cant be that bad. RE7 was AWESOME!

I personally didn't like RE5 because it was mostly co-op game and I don't want co-op in my survival horror and if you try play RE5 alone then you have deal with Shiva's dumb AI and that wasn't fun for me.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

I said this before, both SH and RE are very Japanese games even tho both inspired by western media. Western developers made both SH and RE and it just doesn't feel the same compare to original games.

Exactly. I always felt that way when I played them. That goes for the vast majority of Japanese games they get outsourced to Western developers. That’s the primary reason I never liked outsourcing with Japanese video games.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

When first I heard Jinji Ito was part of the new Silent Hill project, I got sooooo hyped.

I learned about him a little later after I played Silent Hill and then I knew the game and franchise was something special. I think Jinji Ito is the master of horror.

 

[Danjin44]

I learned about him a little later after I played Silent Hill and then I knew the game and franchise was something special. I think Jinji Ito is the master of horror.

 

[Airola]

Resident Evil wins this one.

Silent Hill 1 is a masterpiece.
Silent Hill 2 & 3 are from ok to good.
Silent Hill 4 - I absolutely LOVE the idea of that game but its execution is very faulty and I just stopped playing the game because of it. I have gotten more enjoyment out of just reading some online summaries and theories than what I got from actually playing the game. Its story and lore is super interesting. Too bad the game itself isn't good.
I have zero interest to play the rest of the series with the exception of Shattered Memories. I have actually only played Homecoming holding out tons of hope for it but I didn't have to play far to see the game was not good at all.
Shattered Memories on the other hand was quite interesting -played it through in one sitting - and one of the endings still puts me in tears. I don't usually give much value to stories in games but Shattered Memories has it all done correctly.
P.T. was amazing.
But really the only one I think is a true classic is the first one.


Resident Evil 1 is a masterpiece.
Resident Evil 2 is a masterpiece.
Resident Evil 3 is ok/good.
Resident Evil 0 is annoying because of its two characters system.
Resident Evil: Code Veronica - haven't played but I am interested in that.
Resident Evil Survivor was surprisingly good.
Resident Evil Remake was really good even though I prefer the original (the remake has too obvious horror mansion while the mansion in the first one felt much more normal and a lot more pleasing because of that).
Resident Evil 4 was a move in the wrong direction but still amazingly well designed game. The castle section with the chanting "monks" or whatever was my favorite part of the game.
Resident Evil 5 is bad.
Resident Evil 6 is abysmally bad. It manages to get hyper annoying already in the first minute of gameplay. Awful game.
Resident Evil 7 - I guess it's a step to the right direction but I'm not much interested in these first person flashlight horror games. In a sense Survivor was more interesting to me.
Resident Evil Revelations is really bad. What a HUGE disappointment it was after hearing people claim it goes back to the Resident Evil roots. What a load of bullshit that was.

Both series have become really uninteresting. While I'm really not interested to see new installments in either of the series I'm kinda less interested in new Silent Hill games. While P.T. was amazing I don't think the full game would've had the magic P.T. had. The high concept was executed without fault and I don't think a longer game would have that going on for it. I would basically only be expecting to have games like Homecoming and my interest for them is zero.

I'm basically basing this only on only one Silent Hill game being a masterpiece to me versus two Resident Evil games being masterpieces.
And while I really love the first Silent Hill and I am very much into the abstract nature of that game and enjoy that adventure, I kinda feel both Resident Evil 1 and 2 are more pleasing in "metroidvania type adventure progression" gameplay. Silent Hill has a more linear feel to it even though I really loved how the map got markings based on where you had visited.

I guess what I really think is that it's not possible to make another Silent Hill 1 anymore so I'm not having any sense of excitement out of thinking if they make new Silent Hill games, but on the other hand with Resident Evil I think that as the first two games are just super well designed adventure masterpieces instead of "art" I think they possibly could create something like those two games again, so I kinda still have a little bit of interest towards any possible future Resident Evils.

 

[Cato]

Resident Evil because I have never played a Silent Hill game. Have I been missing out?
I am thinking about playing all of the SH games, from first to last since I have heard so much praise for them.

I will be experiencing them for the first time. Are you jealous?

 

[Danjin44]

Resident Evil because I have never played a Silent Hill game. Have I been missing out?
I am thinking about playing all of the SH games, from first to last since I have heard so much praise for them.

I will be experiencing them for the first time. Are you jealous?

Spoiler

 

[DiscoJer]

Resident Evil isn't horror, it's a zombie action game. At least past the first game.

 

[GenericUser]

I can't decide, I think they are both unmatched when it comes to horror games.
I love both series from the bottom of my heart.

 

[nkarafo]

If horror is the deciding factor i'm going with Silent Hill.

The scariest Silent Hill (2 or 3) is far scarier than the scariest Resident Evit (REmake maybe?).

 

[Shotpun]

I fully recognize Silent Hill as better horror game series that has way more depth to it, but I personally just like Resident Evil much more. I love atmospheric games but not outright horror, the audio design in Silent Hills is so incredibly powerful it tends test my tolerance limits and I just stop enjoying the game at that point. And even if that wouldn't happen I still would prefer the more laid back action oriented gameplay of the first three Resident Evils.

 

[jdforge]

I found Silent Hill too scary so for that reason as odd as it sound my vote goes to Resident Evil - as I was actually able to play them and enjoyed the experience. I stopped playing at 5, but hear good things about 7.

 

[klosos]

Id say Silent Hill , its more complicated horror compared to the jump scare's Resident Evil series , don't get me wrong tho the first few entries into both series were fantastic but for me Silent Hill just edges it.

RE2 remake looks fantastic and i cant wait for it but its been to long we need another great Silent Hill game as well

 

[Dada55000]

As far as horror? SH, easy. RE was, since its inception, b movie schlock horror. It was scary 'cus you were 6 years old when you played it. Atleast it holds up better than Alone in the Dark.

As far as action? Who cares.

 

[SoulUnison]

Resident Evil is a solid survival horror series, but several Silent Hill games, especially 2, approach the boundary of being "art."

 

[kyussman]

I've actually never played a Silent Hill game,not sure why tbh.
I've enjoyed all the Resident Evil's I've played(5 or 6 of them I think)..........I'm actually playing 7 right now,only a few hours in but it's an interesting twist on the original so far.

 

[Sub_Level]

Resident Evil has not a had a single bad mainline game yet. Not even 5 or 6.

 

[MrJTeera]

My vote goes to Resident Evil since they reinvent itself and went back to their roots.

Konami hasn’t done anything to bring back their franchise back to the limelight.

As much as I love the horror aspect in Silent Hill more than RE, most of that stems from the old Team Silent.

Unless they can bring back the nightmarish horror of its glory days, I would prefer the body horror RE provides, and not the poor Hollywood jump scare imitation they have currently.

 

[Freedom Gate Co.]

Resident Evil was never a horror game, or tired to be a horror game, at best a horror-themed game but that doesn't mean anything, otherwise you could say Charlie Brown's Halloween was a horror film.

The Alone in the Dark style of gameplay was made to try and set a template for a horror game based on the limited capabilities of PC's at the time. But, it was just a horror-themed adventure game in the end. Resident Evil decided to take that outdated gameplay style and use it during the late 90's but turning it into nothing more than a third-person shooter with terrible controls.

It soon abandoned that style completely to become a co-op action game that just happens to have zombies. To say RE4-6 are horror games is just plain wrong. Otherwise, the zombie mode in COD: World at War makes COD a horror game.

Silent Hill at least TRIED to be a horror game using Japanese and Hollywood influences for the story telling and the design of the game world. It knew what elements to include and what elements to stay away from.

However, I'd argue Dead Space was closer to a proper "horror game" than either of these two, but Silent Hill was definitely the better horror game between it and RE, and all of its games are unique which makes replaying both older and newer SH games much more enjoyable.

 

[MiguelItUp]

I will always choose Silent Hill, though I will always love Resident Evil. Silent Hill 2 had scenes that linger with me more than any moment I've experienced in any Resident Evil title. Because it was a whole package, the music, the dialogue, the characters, the story. It all made you feel so uneasy.

The original Resident Evil scared me as I was younger, but as I grew older with the series, it did so less and less. An occasional jump scare is what they continued to rely on, and anyone can do that. Silent Hill always made me feel uncomfortable, and continued to do so even as I got older. Unfortunately the series has had, not only less titles, but less solid ones.

With the Silent Hill series being dead, I look to Resident Evil to continue to carry the torch, and then some. At least until there's a day where Silent Hill returns, but that possibility just continues to seem less and less plausible. But with Resident Evil 7 feeling more horror driven that it's previous iterations, it makes me happy, and hopeful. But man, talk about a lot of pressure, haha.

 

[dolabla]

Resident Evil. Resident Evil holds more memories for me. I first played it in 1996 at one of my sister's friends house. I went over there with my brothers to watch a WCW PPV (the guy's dad had "the box" aka stealing cable and he got all the wrestling PPV's for "free") and there were a group of people gathered in this room playing it. I played it and fell in love with it.

I love Silent Hill as well, but I definitely prefer the Resident Evil series more.