To mitigate the limitations of the console hardware, developers used distance fog and darkness to obscure the graphics and hide pop-ins, which, in turn, helped establish the game's atmosphere and mystery.

Unlike earlier survival horror games that focused on protagonists with combat training, the player character of Silent Hill is an "everyman".

Since Silent Hill has no heads-up display, the player must consult a separate menu to check Harry's "health" in similar traits of early Resident Evil titles.

[9][10][11][12] Harry can later rescue Kaufmann from a monster, discover evidence of his involvement in local drug trafficking, and find his hidden bottle of aglaophotis, a supernatural liquid that can exorcise demons.

[14] Continuing his search, Harry is drawn into a confrontation with Cybil, who has become host to a supernatural parasite; the player can choose to save her using the red liquid found at the hospital.

Alessa survived being immolated because her status as a vessel rendered her immortal, while her mental resistance to the rite caused her soul to be bisected, preventing the birth.

As time passed, both the personnel and management of Konami lost faith in the game, and the members of Team Silent increasingly felt like outsiders.

Despite the profit-oriented approach of the parent company, the developers of Silent Hill had considerable artistic freedom, as the game was produced in an era of lower-budget 2D titles.

The plot was intentionally made vague and occasionally contradictory to leave its true meaning in the dark, encouraging players to reflect on unexplained elements.

[25] The game's joke ending was inspired by a suggestion box created to find alternative explanations for the events in Silent Hill.

Sato eventually approached the company's higher-ups with a short demo movie he had rendered and threatened to withhold his technical knowledge unless he was assigned to 3D work.

[33] Over two and a half years, he lived in the development team's office, using approximately 150 Unix-based computers to render scenes after his coworkers left for the day.

He stated that the development team intended to make Silent Hill a masterpiece rather than a traditional sales-oriented game, opting for an engaging story that would endure over time, similar to successful literature.

[25] The game debuted at the 1998 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Atlanta, Georgia, where presentations of movies and in-game scenes received applause from the audience.

[25] Konami later showcased Silent Hill at the European Computer Trade Show in London[35] and included a demo with its stealth game Metal Gear Solid in Japan.

[36] The names and designs of some Silent Hill creatures and puzzles are based on books enjoyed by the character Alessa, including The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle and Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

[9] Fictitious religious items in the game drew inspiration from various religions: the spirit-dispelling substance Aglaophotis is based on a similarly named herb in the Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism); the "Seal of Metatron" (also referred to by Dahlia as the "Mark of Samael") references the angels Metatron and Samael; and the name "Flauros" was taken from a demon in the Lemegeton, a book of magic attributed to Solomon.

The names of these doors, taken from angels Ophiel, Hagith, Phaleg, and Bethor—who appear in medieval black magic texts—were used to signify deeper entry into Alessa's mind, according to Owaku.

[38] The soundtrack for Silent Hill was composed by sound director Akira Yamaoka, who requested to join the development team after the original musician left.

[42] When she arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to record the translated Spanish lyrics with Argentine singer Vanesa Quiroz, Muranaka found that the syllables no longer matched the melody, and she had to recompose it in five minutes.

[28][42] On October 29, 2013, Perseverance Records released a "Best Of" album featuring 16 newly interpreted instrumental tracks composed by Akira Yamaoka and arranged and performed by Edgar Rothermich.

Silent Hill was released for the PlayStation in 1999, with launch dates spanning from February to July in North America,[45] Japan,[46] and Europe.

[53] Much like the original version of the game, Play Novel: Silent Hill features a variety of endings, depending on the choices made throughout each scenario.

[63] It features psychological profiling, which alters various in-game elements based on the player's responses during therapy sessions,[63] lacks the combat seen in Silent Hill, and replaces the "Otherworld" with a series of chase sequences through an alternate frozen version of the town.

[64] The game sold over two million copies,[21] which earned Silent Hill a spot in the American PlayStation Greatest Hits budget releases.

[73] In November 1999, the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) awarded Silent Hill a "Gold" certification,[74] indicating sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Bobba Fatt of GamePro labeled Silent Hill a "shameless but slick Resident Evil clone",[6] while Edge described it as "a near-perfect sim nightmare.

[7] While they noted the similarities, Silent Hill utilized a different form of horror, focusing on creating a disturbing atmosphere to evoke fear, in contrast to the visceral scares and action-oriented approach of Resident Evil.

[5] AllGame editor Michael L. House praised Silent Hill, describing it as "a truly magnificent work of art" and "a genuinely terrifying experience combined with a unique, gripping story and immersive atmosphere.

"[7] Edge selected Silent Hill as runner-up for the Gameplay Innovation award, noting that while other games attempted to hide the PlayStation's visual limitations, Konami used the draw-distance deficiency to chilling effect by enveloping the environment in atmospheric fog.