Tag: Silent Hill

Gilet, the best a man trapped in Silent Hill can get

I realize I’m probably dating myself with that reference, because thinking about it, I’m not sure when the last time I heard that jingle. For those of you who don’t have back pain, commercials for Gillette razors used to be a lot more musical. Anyway, on to today’s word.

gilet, noun – a sleeveless, outerwear-style jacket usually cut to the hip

Learned from: Silent Hill: Townfall (PC, Playstation 5)

Developed by Screen Burn Interactive

Published by Konami Digital Entertainment, Annapurna Interactive (2026)

You might be saying to yourself, “but that’s just a vest!” but apparently you’d be wrong. And so would I, because until Simon, the game’s protagonist, finds a garment laying on a bed that looks just like the one he’s wearing–which is clearly labeled a gilet–I also called any sleeveless piece of upper body clothing a vest. Or, rarely, a jerkin.

But then, a lot of things aren’t really what I expected them to be in Silent Hill: Townfall, including the town, itself. Instead of the eponymous location that the series has usually been built around, Townfall takes place in a town on an island off of Scotland, called St. Amelia in 1996. And yes, Silent Hill f did this time and place switching as well, but I ran into game-breaking graphical glitches the last time I played that, so I don’t know how well it worked there (I should see if that problem’s been patched out yet). The fog is still there, and so are the really freaking weird creatures shambling through it, but everything else is unpredictable and frankly, a bit fresh as a result. If a bit head-scratching at times.

Like, were there actually prepaid cards for electricity in remote Scottish communities in the mid-90s? Because there’s a puzzle that involves one, and that seems like a pretty bizarre thing to just make up, whole cloth, if there wasn’t some precedent for it. I’d like to think that, in addition to scaring myself half to death and learning at least one new word, maybe I’m also learning a bit about a point in time of the history of another culture.

…okay, so while writing this, I did some digging, and the answer is “Yes. Sort of.” From a quick search, it seems like some regions of Scotland did have cards issued to their residents for utility billing purposes, but they didn’t have to keep feeding money into their fuse box like some kind of demented arcade cabinet, just to keep the lights on. It also seems like they were being phased out in the ’90s, and…this is a rabbit hole I hadn’t anticipated going down, in a game where you play a guy who washes up on the beach of an island he left years ago(?), with an IV bag strapped to his arm that causes him immense pain if he tries to remove the needle. Simon may have bigger things to worry about, but I’m finding myself strangely sidetracked by this random tangential detail.

Anyway, so far Townfall seems to be a successful entry in the series, surviving the switch to a first-person view, the change of venue, and some very interesting visual and design choices. I’m not terribly far in yet, but I think I can already recommend this one.

Townfall was one of my most anticipated games of 2026, but there’s plenty other good horror coming out, if the first-person perspective isn’t your style. So, with Spooky Season upon us, consider bundling up (maybe in something with sleeves), and diving into something creepy.

Back from the dead

A lot has happened since my last post–most of it work-related. We’ve had a couple people leave, others have been out sick, so I’ve been picking up extra shifts and training in new hires as a result. It’s not over yet, but things have slowed down for the moment–enough that I was able to get my first round of the Moderna vaccine today. Which brings us to today’s word.

ampoule, noun – a small, hermetically sealed glass or plastic vessel used to store solutions for hypodermic injection

Learned from: Silent Hill 2 (Playstation 2, PC, XBox, Playstation 3, XBox 360)

Developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo

Published by Konami (2001)

Silent Hill‘s equivalent of the first aid spray from Resident Evil, ampoules would bring you back to pretty much full health, no matter how close to death you were. Though, I really don’t know how any of the protagonists actually got the stuff inside into their systems, since you never pick up any syringes. Maybe they just drink it? Seems about as sanitary as anything else in Silent Hill: the town where you can get eye tetanus just by reading the street signs.

On the subject of the COVID vaccine though, it was painless. I got it about an hour and a half ago, and the worst side-effect I have so far is a tiny bit of an ache in my arm. So far, it’s not even as rough as the flu vaccine, which is great. Though, seeing just how many people showed up to get their doses this morning made me almost pine for the deserted streets of Silent Hill. A year of isolation hasn’t exactly helped my social anxiety.

Still, it feels good to be back posting here, so it won’t be long until the next one. Cheers, and sign up to get the vaccine if you haven’t already–it really isn’t bad at all.