Comments on: The horror before words

By: Year One: Editors’ picks « The Idler

Year One: Editors’ picks « The Idler — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 13:04:22 +0000

[…] struggling for legitimacy. He hasn’t disappointed. And being the former roommate mentioned in “The horror before words,” it was impossible for me to not pick it. Plus, it contains the line, “the difference between fear […]

By: It’s time for New Liberal Arts says Guardian (UK) | Gavin Craig

It’s time for New Liberal Arts says Guardian (UK) | Gavin Craig — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:48:28 +0000

[…] I’m at it, back in December the Guardian (UK)’s Games Blog gave my “Horror before words” piece from The Idler a shout out in a write-up on recent horror video games (and where they go […]

By: Shock and gore: why video games are failing at horror

Shock and gore: why video games are failing at horror — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 07:02:13 +0000

[…] monsters – but there’s little sense of universality in the demons that stalk the series. In an article on survival horror for The Idler, Gavin Craig asserts that Silent Hill 2, in which the lead character is haunted by […]

By: GF Kirkpatrick

GF Kirkpatrick — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 22:39:56 +0000

“…because I don’t have a roommate anymore. Now I have to run from Pyramid Head myself.”

I finished SH2 a few times, but that just makes it worse. I know what’s creeping up on me, I know what’s going to be there and where I’m going to have to go.

Almost 10 years on and I still won’t play it in an empty house…

It’s the presentation as well with Silent Hill. The crooked camera angles that hide so much and reveal what you don’t want to see. The noise filter over the graphics, the noise on the sound track. The colour palatte. The motion of the creatures. The way the background is revealed piecemeal.

Silent Hill 2 is a work of genius. Evil, evil genius.