Silent Hill 3

Silent Hill 3
European box art featuring the main character Heather Mason
Developer(s)	Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo
Publisher(s)	Konami
Director(s)	Kazuhide Nakazawa
Programmer(s)	Yukinori Ojima
Artist(s)	Masahiro Ito
Writer(s)	Hiroyuki Owaku
Composer(s)	Akira Yamaoka
Series	Silent Hill
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows
Release	PlayStation 2 EU: May 23, 2003 JP: July 3, 2003 NA: August 5, 2003 Microsoft Windows EU: November 7, 2003 NA: April 6, 2004
Genre(s)	Survival horror
Mode(s)	Single-player

Silent Hill 3 is a survival horror video game published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 and developed by Team Silent, a production group within Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo. It is the third installment in the Silent Hill series and a direct sequel to the first Silent Hill game. It was released in May 2003, with a port to Microsoft Windows released in October of the same year. A remastered high-definition version titled Silent Hill HD Collection was released for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 on March 20, 2012.

Set seventeen years after the events of Silent Hill in which Harry Mason defeats the god of the town cult and is given a baby girl to care for, Silent Hill 3 focuses on Heather Mason, a teenage girl raised by Harry in Portland. She discovers that the cult plans to use her to birth their god, and becomes caught in a conflict within the cult.

Silent Hill 3 was mostly well received by critics, especially in its presentation, including the environments, graphics and audio, as well as the overall horror elements and themes that are continued from past installments. Its plot was loosely adapted into the 2012 film Silent Hill: Revelation 3D.

Gameplay in Silent Hill 3 resembles closely that of its two predecessors, the three main gameplay elements being combat, exploration, and puzzle-solving. Combat, as well as exploration, takes place in third-person view, with the player able to equip weapons found throughout the game. Heather may also block and perform side-step maneuvers to avoid enemies. As series staples, the flashlight and radio return, the latter of which crackles when monsters are within close proximity.

Players can set the difficulty of both the combat and puzzle elements of the game separately. In the case of the puzzle difficulties, there is a large difference between the "medium" difficulty level and the "hard" difficulty level; one of the puzzles on the "medium" level requires only simple pattern recognition, while the "hard" difficulty level version of the same puzzle requires knowledge of Shakespeare plays to complete. The game also features unlockable weapons and costumes.