Chapter 766: Does This Game Have Multiple Endings?

After completely clearing the game, looking at the UI back on the starting screen, Zhang Yi's heart was filled with emotion.

The top ten thousand spots clearly had nothing to do with him.

As for the achievement of clearing the game, he had obviously achieved it.

Now, he was overjoyed.

It wasn't about money.

As everyone knows, freeloading is about happiness.

Just as Nebula Games often gives players some ‘add one more to their collection’ games.

Are these games blockbusters?

No.

Are they quality independent games?

Not really.

Except for special holidays, the free games usually offered are many players’ jokingly called ‘games even dogs wouldn’t play’. Yet, as long as they’re given away, players eagerly claim them.

Whether they play them, or even download them, is another matter; just seeing ‘add one more to their collection’ in their inventory brings a full sense of accomplishment.

And now, Zhang Yi had a similar thought: the price of this ticket to Silent Hill was absolutely worth it.

At the same time, he also received a CDKEY, a special gift prepared for a good friend.

Even on his way to Old Song’s party, he passed by the Nebula Games merchandise flagship store and found official Silent Hill collectible figures for sale.

He didn’t hesitate to buy one, adding more weight to his gift for Old Song.

Of course, it wasn't the nurse sister figure that looked rather alluring, but the Third Brother with the big machete.

Compared to the wallet he casually bought in the store, there was no doubt that the highlight of his gift today was the Third Brother figure and the CDKEY he painstakingly earned. Zhang Yi hoped his good brother Song Ren would remember the joy he found in the town of Silent Hill when he thought of it at night.

This was his way of showing the most sincere brotherhood.

Recalling his experience in Silent Hill, he could say he had a love-hate relationship with this game.

An excellent horror game always has a reason to make you feel it's not that scary.

Of course, that's in hindsight. In reality?

Is Silent Hill terrifying? It can be said to be very terrifying, so much so that many veteran players feel it's even scarier than Outlast.

Because its horror doesn't come from powerful monsters or startling jump scare designs; rather, it stems from a feeling.

Even in an environment that isn't inherently scary, with a little bit of atmospheric rendering, it immediately gains a bone-chilling magic that sends shivers down everyone's spine.

This is a spiritual horror, a strong psychological suggestion.

Every element in Silent Hill stimulates the deepest feelings within the player.

It doesn't rely on external factors in the game but rather triggers fear in the players' hearts through environmental stimulation and引导.

What's even more amazing is that Silent Hill’s story also revolves around psychological themes.

After clearing the game, many players summarized the deeper meanings represented by the various monsters in Silent Hill.

The faceless, armless monster encountered at the beginning, whose main attack method is spitting poisonous mist, was jokingly called the ‘Shooting Man’ by many players.

This monster symbolizes James’s distress during Mary’s illness: unable to touch or hold her, as if his hands were bound. The monster’s twisted body symbolizes Mary’s body, twisted by the pain of her illness.

At the same time, the monster's attack method – spitting poisonous mist – also metaphorically hints at the cruel words Mary spoke during her illness, harming James.

Furthermore, the mannequin represents James's sexual repression, composed of two lower halves, which can be seen as a monster with no thoughts, only desires.

The swollen-faced nurses in the hospital symbolize James's delusions arising from his sexual repression during Mary's hospitalization; the nurses' faces wrapped in something also implicitly refer to Mary's suffocated face in the end.

Pyramid Head is a reflection of James’s brutality and guilt, representing the judgment and punishment for his own crimes.

Because James feels powerless against his crimes, he cannot harm Pyramid Head and can only helplessly flee, watching it kill Maria again and again, reliving James’s crime of killing his wife.

It can be said that the entire game not only presents players with a tragic love story.

It also presents content with a sufficiently profound core.

“Old Zhang, damn you, thank you!” Song Ren looked at the illustration of the Third Brother on the outer packaging with a pained expression.

“You’re welcome, what are brothers for?” Zhang Yi chuckled, “Have you played Silent Hill yet? I specifically got a CDKEY for you.”

Hearing this, Song Ren flashed a smile that made Zhang Yi feel a little uneasy.

“Of course, I’ve played it. Oh, by the way, Old Zhang, which ending do you like?” Song Ren asked subtly.

“Which ending? This game has multiple endings?” Zhang Yi was bewildered.

“The game has three endings, didn’t you know?” Song Ren seemed surprised.

Zhang Yi was completely dumbfounded.

He truly hadn’t known about Silent Hill having multiple endings.

In fact, it was the same for most players; they were scared throughout, and once they cleared it, they thought the game was over.

But who knew this game actually had multiple endings?

Some players, after clearing the game, left Silent Hill with Lara.

Some players, after killing Maria, chose to drive into the lake with Mary’s corpse, sinking to the bottom of the lake with her forever.

Other players eventually killed Mary and then left Silent Hill with Maria.

These different endings also influenced each player's perception of the game's story.

And Silent Hill's design like this also greatly surprised many players.

After all, a horror game adopting a multi-ending mode?

Do these endings have different meanings again?

And how are these endings achieved?

Similar to multi-ending games like The Witcher: Wild Hunt, there are usually various choices given to players within the game.

But Silent Hill is completely a linear mode.

It's exactly like Uncharted or The Last of Us, with no dialogue or action choices at all.

The triggered cutscenes are also fixed.

So, if you just casually cleared it, you wouldn’t really know that this game has multiple endings, just like Zhang Yi now.

“It’s okay, Old Zhang, it’s not embarrassing not to have cleared the other endings. After all, this game is quite scary, and it takes some guts to meet the conditions for different endings,” Song Ren feigned comfort.

“By the way, Old Zhang, I’ve already completed this game. Counting this one, I’ve surpassed 100 Platinum Trophies on the Nebula Games Platform, it wasn’t easy!” Song Ren said with a sly laugh.

Looking at Old Song’s sly, smiling face, Zhang Yi was silent for a few seconds.

At that moment, a phrase suddenly came to his mind: ‘He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.’

While he was thinking of giving Old Song a grand gift at the birthday party, the other party seemed to have already been planning how to reciprocate early on.

(End of Chapter) <>