I'm Tiffany. I'm seventeen, a senior, and I sell popcorn at a movie theater on weekends, which means I watched people come out of The Sixth Sense every Saturday for a month with the exact look I had on my face the first night I played Silent Hill.

I've finished it seven times now. I wanted to see every ending, and then I wanted to see a couple of them again because I didn't believe them the first time. I've read nearly everything Stephen King has written, and this is the first game that has ever felt to me like one of his books: a quiet town, a father looking for his little girl, and something underneath that's been wrong for a very long time. (I'm so glad he's getting better after his accident this summer. I kept checking the news.)

This page has no spoilers. The walkthrough has a few, the endings page has all of them and a warning on the door, and the Next Fear page is for after you've finished. Go in order. It's better that way.

The story, as much as the box tells you. Harry Mason is driving to the resort town of Silent Hill on vacation with his daughter Cheryl, who is seven. Something runs out in front of the car, he swerves, and he wakes up in the wreck. Cheryl is gone. The town is empty, it's snowing out of season, and the fog is so thick you can't see across the street. That's all you need to know, and honestly it's better if that's all you do know.

The flashlight. You'll get one early. It lights a little circle in front of you and nothing else. In the dark parts of the game it's all you have. Turn it off and you can see almost nothing, but things have a harder time finding you too.

The radio. This is the most important thing in the game and the thing everybody talks about. Harry finds a pocket radio, and it only plays static, and the static gets louder when something is close to you. In the fog, you'll hear it before you see anything. After a while you'll hear static in your sleep. I still can't stand the sound of a radio between stations, and I don't think I ever will.

Saving. You save at notebooks you find lying around. They're not everywhere. When you see one, use it, even if you saved five minutes ago. Every time.

Health. Health Drinks fix a little, First Aid Kits fix more, and Ampoules fix the most. Don't drink anything when you're nearly full. Save the Ampoules for the bosses.

Ammo. You won't have as much as you want. Harry isn't a soldier, he's a writer, and he can't aim very well. You don't have to kill everything. In the streets, most of the time, you can just walk around. Save bullets for things that are between you and where you need to go.

The map. Harry marks his map as he goes: locked doors, blocked roads, things he noticed. Look at it constantly. When you're lost (and you will be), the map knows more than you do.

Play at night with the lights off. That's not a tip for winning. It's a tip for the game being what it's meant to be.

Why it scares me. Most scary games make you jump. Silent Hill makes you dread. It's the fog that hides everything past a few steps, the radio that tells you something's coming without telling you what, and the sound, which is half the game, all clanking metal and things breathing. And it's Harry, who isn't a hero, who's just a dad who keeps going because his daughter is somewhere in there. I've played games where I was a soldier with a rocket launcher and I was never once afraid. Here I'm a tired man with a flashlight, and I'm afraid the whole time. That's what makes it good.