Thread 717913840

>numerous games
>spinoffs
>a couple of movies
>thousands upon thousands of hours long video essays

How the hell has such a franchise routinely proven to be so popular despite such low sales per game? Can you explain how Silent Hill has somehow achieved this feat /v/?

The thing that baffles me about Silent Hill is that the gameplay is genuinely subpar compared to the old Resident Evil games. I think it's just the psychological horror atmosphere of the games that has granted them an enduring following. They were the original "deep" games plotwise and thematically before every game started doing that.

>>717914065
I think you are right but with how much they get discussed and how even tons of casuals know about the games you would think they would have sold at least double their actual sales numbers which would still not be a ton compared to what their popularity would suggest. They actually have a lot in common with the Mega Man series. Two massively popular franchises that somehow endured in popularity despite low sales.

games with actual good writing and mature characters
that's it

>>717914278
>even tons of casuals know about the games
because they don't play them

>>717914065
>gives an accurate summary
>this baffles me

>>717913840 (OP)
The original concept and aesthetics are fucking great, but barely any of the games managed to live up to it in a widely appealing manner
The movies and western games were an attempt at capturing the charm and appeal to everyone, but it was just style (sometimes not even that) over substance

>>717919718
The western games all flopped even harder. The remake seems to have done good enough for Konami to greenlight a remake of the first game but that game was made by the polish I think.

>>717913840 (OP)
The sales were fine, and comprehensive data is not available anyways.
The franchise was revolutionary thanks to their artistic merits, aesthetic content, writing and even replaying value.

People also honestly love the traditional survival horror gameplay.

>>717914065
Bullshit.
Most of us considered SH to be a massive upgrade from RE back in the day. I still replay the first two SHs annually.

>>717920178
Yeah that's my point, the western games tried to be more appealing but sucked
SH2 only succeeded because it's a remake, even as someone who (generally) liked it, i can say the good aspects come from the original, and some of them weren't even properly executed

>>717920178
Poland is Westoid as fuck, and the demake was literally the exact same cancer as all the past Western action games. The current GenA toddler gen is just used to that slop, so it now sells.

>>717913840 (OP)
Lots of Big Silent Hill Fans(tm) who never even played these mediocre games.