Movies have been proving how cool prequels can be. Batman Begins and Casino Royale totally make up for the Star Wars prequels, and the new Star Trek is shaping up nicely. Now video games are getting into the prequel game. Silent Hill is going back to the beginning, before the beginning actually. Silent Hill Origins is a PSP exclusive title, and Producer William Oertel answered a few questions to preview the new look into Silent Hill.

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CraveOnline: Like movie prequels, what fun is there to be had in exploring pre-Silent Hill backstory?

William Oertel: Lots of fun! The ability to delve into the past and, in a way, put the blocks in place for what is already there, was very exciting. The most difficult part was determining how much. From the beginning, this wasn’t going to be a “tell-all” of everything in Silent Hill. It was going to, perhaps, a bit of fleshing out of the foundation of what is seen in the first game, but we also wanted to tell a unique story, of a new character. So one way to look at this is that it’s a new chapter in Silent Hill, for a new character, told around familiar events that tie to the first game.

CraveOnline: What easter eggs might fans of the series find in the prequel game?



William Oertel: Easter eggs? Hmmm…well, Silent Hill is always a layered experience, and it’s no different here. Something we’re particularly excited about is the accolade system. Depending on how you play the game, you can unlock different costumes for Travis. Fans will instantly recognize one of the costumes as Vincent from Silent Hill 3. We also have a costume that looks like the dog from the end of Silent Hill 2. There are countless other notes, artifacts, images and references to prior games, as well as some gameplay elements. People that have gone through the Motel level will now what I’m talking about!

CraveOnline: How has the Silent Hill movie impacted the story of this origin game?

William Oertel: Christophe Gans' vision of the way certain things occur in Silent Hill were really inspiring, and provided us with a level of inspiration. Of course, the primary source of inspiration were the previous games, primarily Silent Hill 2. However, the way the world transforms in the film, that’s a powerful scene and it’s something you can see as a sort of reference in one of the cinematics in Origins.

CraveOnline: What familiar locations, characters and creatures will fans see in Origins?

William Oertel: The very first location Travis enters is the Gillespie residence, where he sees Dahlia and meets Alessa. This is a great way to start the game since it poses questions to the new user, but the experienced fan will recognize right away the people they know and feel instantly familiar and, hopefully, intrigued, about what’s going to transpire.

CraveOnline: Could any locations from previous games be reused directly in Origins?

William Oertel: We recreated parts of Silent Hill 1, the largest being Alchemilla Hospital. Being able to traverse this level, with the relatively higher graphical fidelity of the PSP, compared to the PS1, is really run. Of course, this is also the level where you meet with Dr. Kaufmann as well. Lisa also makes an appearance here to, so it’s a level that contains a lot of obvious connections to the first game.

CraveOnline: Tell us about the new characters like Travis and any others we'll meet?

William Oertel: Travis is pretty much a loner, a truck driver that finds solace on the empty highways, accompanied by a lonely moon. He’s the most physical of the previous characters, being able to use his fists to fight off monsters if no weapon in handy. He handles life with a calm detachment. He’s not easily surprised. However, nothing has prepared him to face what he’s going to go through in Silent Hill. That’s the perspective users will hopefully pick up on when they play through the game. Actually, when you think about his occupation and why he chose that of a truck driver, it makes sense given the context of how he grew up. The other characters are from the first Silent Hill game, and they serve as both a foundation and a vehicle to move Travis along his path. There’s parallel lines going here. One is Travis’ story, but there’s also the story of the town itself, and that involves the larger cast of characters, such as Alessa, Lisa, Dahlia and Dr. Kaufmann.

CraveOnline: Why was the PSP the right system to debut this game?

William Oertel: Konami is an innovator, and this was one area that we saw opportunity. No one else had tried this. It was driven primarily by an interest to port the first game to the PSP platform, but we early on changed the focus to be one that contributes to the entire mythos of the series.



CraveOnline: How were the controls for the portable game designed differently than controls for the console Silent Hill games?

William Oertel: Well, we obviously didn’t have the second analog stick, so we knew we had to do something about that. Fortunately, with Silent Hill, we can work a lot with fixed cameras, so that solved part the problem. By placing a control to recenter the camera, we could introduce some level of camera control. Overall, though, we feel we have a control scheme that works well with the PSP and Silent Hill.

CraveOnline: What are the definitive elements that must be in a Silent Hill game?

William Oertel: Atmosphere is the key. Building that requires firing on all cylinders on multiple elements, including music, sound, graphics and story. Fortunately, we were able to get Akira Yamaoka to create the music. For the graphics, Climax did a great job of extracting all the rendering power out of the PSP in order to create a convincing Silent Hill environment. For the story, we knew we needed good characters. By adding the cast of Silent Hill 1, we could rely on that foundation, but we also highly respect the work of Silent Hill 2, so to that end we wanted to create an experience that was akin to that. That’s why you have Travis, and not only him, but his background and how it interplays with the town.

CraveOnline: How are the cut scenes designed differently for a portable game?

William Oertel: The cut scenes are driven by motion capture data, giving a lifelike appearance to all the character performances. In that way, they are produced or designed no differently from other games, except that they have to fit within the constraints of the engine performance, which is obviously less than that of a PS2.

CraveOnline: How do the cut scenes in Origins fit in with the other Silent Hill games?

William Oertel: In terms of fitting in with the other games, the game as a whole is designed to fit into the series, and the cut scenes are part of the game. We really took the approach that this is a full-fledged Silent Hill game, the next one in the series. The character story is really focused on, the gameplay, monsters and what he has to do in order to progress. This involves both continuing the story of Alessa and the town and also Travis’ own story.

CraveOnline: Could we see Travis again in future Silent Hill games?

William Oertel: It’s possible.