These fans claimed Silent Hill as a cozy retreat

Christian Zeva acknowledges how strange it sounds to call Silent Hill games “cozy,” especially to people who haven’t played one before. His introduction to the horror series, however, wasn’t in front of a TV. During a rainy train ride one day, he heard the ethereal sound of “The Day of Night” in the background of a YouTube video. Ten seconds in, he Shazam-ed the Silent Hill 2 track and then looped it for the next 40 minutes.

“Listen to that song and don’t tell me you don’t feel this melancholic warmth,” Zeva says via Reddit messages. “It’s beautiful.”

The song pushed him to listen to Akira Yamaoka’s soundtrack in full, eventually leading to playing the game. He quickly learned how every single step you take could kill you. He experienced the emotional drain of the story, the way the loss of loved characters takes a toll on both the protagonist and the player. None of the gloom managed to dissipate the comfort, though.

This week on Polygon, we’re looking at games that feel like vacations for your brain in a package we’re calling Retreat Week.

“Being alone in the Woodside Apartments with no sound and enemies lurking simply feels cozy,” he says. “When you enter a room not knowing if something will attack you around the corner and finally when you [have] searched through the whole room and know you’re safe — that’s the coziness I’ve been looking for my whole life.”

One can often find pockets of solace in horror games. Safe rooms, like the ones in the Resident Evil series, are a clear example. They provide opportunities for players to take a breather, the assurance that — for a brief moment — nothing can get in. Some developers have subverted said tradition to make these sanctuaries unsafe in the least-expected moment, though, toying with familiarity. This sort of subversion also extends to different genres. Games such as Don’t Starve and Dredge are darker takes on what people deem comforting, adding stress and somber themes to survival games and management sims.

Silent Hill should be different. The series is driven by psychological horror. While jump scares are few and far between, the ambiance grabs you, permeating your mind with an uneasy feeling that lingers long after you stop playing. The town itself is not exactly a summer resort, either, with its origins rooted in a strange cult and it serving as a place for manifestations of its visitors’ traumas.

“Silent Hill fans are spread across the whole series, but the first four games get the most love,” Cryveil, who runs the Cry Café YouTube channel, says over email. “The atmosphere of these titles are quite different, but they all evoke a sense of loneliness or melancholy in their own way. I think this resonates with people who feel lost or lonely in life, because their emotions are reflected back through song, and they can feel seen or comforted by mutual sadness.”

Cry Café is host of “Ambient & Relaxing Silent Hill Music (w/ rain ambience),” one of the most popular Silent Hill mixes on YouTube. This category isn’t new in the video game space, with The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and the Persona series being other popular picks. Cryveil has dabbled in some of them, including the latter with “Persona 5 Jazz Cafe Mix (w/ Cafe & Rain Ambience).” Yet they always return to Silent Hill.

Searching for “Silent Hill mix” on YouTube results in dozens of videos. Some, like “Silent Chill,” are seven years old. Others are brand-new — while I was working on this article, the site’s algorithm recommended multiple mixes that were uploaded the same week. It’s a rabbit hole that gets sort of meta the further you plunge into it. “Dreaming in Silent Hill.” “Those days are over.” “1 hour train ride to nowhere.” “I hope I find you again.” “Why do i feel this way?“

A majority of the mixes are playlist arrangements based on the soundtrack of one or multiple games. Others get background rain sounds, slowed and reverb-ed tracks, or both. Armand Tormo, creator of the “|| nobody here || Silent Hill fogcore playlist,” went a step further, adding a subtle pitch modulation to make the mix sound unreal and dreamlike. “It can also resemble the sound of an old cassette tape, with the tape speed fluctuating, causing pitch variations and giving it a slightly vintage feel,” Tormo says over email.

Tormo isn’t sure how the video got 2.5 million views — if it’s due to featuring a loop of Silent Hill protagonist Harry Mason running in a black void, the term “fogcore,” or something else. There are many videos featuring still images or animations from the first game. Ephraim Lovelace, despite playing Silent Hill 2 first, created an hourlong album inspired by its predecessor, and illustrated the video with scenes from it. Both Tormo and Cryveil, however, believe the sequel to be the most popular choice for these mixes, largely due to how resonant the themes can be.

“The second game, while retaining the horror mechanics of the first, added a deeply powerful melancholic undertone,” Tormo says. “It’s no longer just a horror game filled with monsters and surreal creatures — it takes you into the intimacy of a profoundly human, realistic, and cold relationship. I think the scariest kind of horror is the horror of reality: the mundanity of a relationship ending, the death of a loved one, illness, etc. That feeling somewhere between comfort and horror, between dream and nightmare, between peace and melancholy.”

The soundtrack and ambiance are intrinsically connected in each game. For some, the sense of retreat comes down to listening to the mixes to clear their head when they need to focus or fall asleep. To others, it goes beyond being just white noise. They use comment sections across YouTube and Reddit to commiserate with one another, sharing stories and experiences.

“For those of you reading this, i hope your having a good day. and i just wanted to let you know that your not alone when it comes to feeling lost sometimes,” reads a comment from YouTube user lrnr466. “I feel like I’m walking through nowhere, but it feels peaceful,” reads another from brycevaldez4635.

“The whole town had a comfort to it,” Reddit user killerbox13 says regarding the setting over DMs. “The fog made me feel secluded and alone which made me feel safe. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that I experienced a lot of trauma as a child so when I played it when young, it was a type of escapism for me.”

“The ambience of Silent Hill is perhaps the element that makes it my favorite game series,” Reddit user Lewis Morgan says over DMs. “Even as a terrified 8-year-old playing the original on the PlayStation 1, I experienced a sort of coziness when exploring the town. The fog, snow and ambient, meditation-like music all fuse perfectly to create a unique and strangely peaceful atmosphere. It feels ethereal, almost like a dream or a David Lynch film.”

Not everybody finds Silent Hill games relaxing. As Cryveil says, some players only take away the horrifying encounters and dreadful anxiety from their playthrough. But Cryveil argues that most people find the desolate, fog-filled town to be peaceful whenever they’re not being chased by monsters. “This glimmer of hope or clarity is never shown explicitly, never handed to you on a silver platter,” Tormo says. “It’s up to the listeners and players to find their own light, much like in the difficult moments of life. Maybe that’s also what subconsciously touched so many players.”

There’s a peculiar dissonance in discussing coziness around a horror game series. Yet more people are being dragged into this unexpected feeling every week, finding solace in melancholic soundtracks and resonating with somber, familiar story themes. Whatever the reason, much like it has done with its protagonists over the years, it seems Silent Hill has a different way of luring each person in.

“Later in life I developed a love of abandoned towns and buildings,” Lewis says. “I solely put this down to playing Silent Hill. Essentially I think there is a sort of beauty when it comes to things in a state of decay. And places that were once teeming with life, now quiet, abandoned and seemingly frozen in time. It’s mysterious and makes me feel a warm coziness that I struggle to put into words.”