Silent Hill
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A long-running series of Playstation survival horror games. Pretty much a rival to the Resident Evil series, Silent Hill has a reputation for focusing on creepy backgrounds, "fearful mystery" (you never know too much about what the FUCK is going on, hence, scares, since you can't put anything into proper context) and introspection over RE's focus on creepy monsters, gore and jump scares. In fact, Silent Hill differs from Resident Evil in that it focuses heavily on evasion rather than combat. Indeed, one game even makes fighting too much a cause for you to get the bad ending. Combat is still mandatory at some points, but routinely difficult and clumsy, making running much better.
Yeah, this is vidya stuff, but this series is da shit if you want to run a horror campaign. D20 Modern, Dungeons & Dragons, World of Darkness... hell, even Ravenloft DMs could pick up a few interesting tips for designing creepy locales, stories, mood setting motifs... Even the creatures from this game could be lifted and re-used to great effect.
Silent Hill 1
Harry Mason, a widowed author, is at his wits end. His adopted daughter, Cheryl, has been having recurring nightmares about a town named Silent Hill. Driven to desperation, he finally decides to drive her there and see if they can find the cause behind her nightmares. A mysterious figure causes his car to crash, and when he regains consciousness, his little girl is missing. Determined to find her, he sets off to explore the town, wandering through eerie, fog-shrouded streets and evading twisted monsters. And all the while, he becomes deeper and deeper involved in a mysterious cult that lurks behind everything...
This is generally remembered as a bit more of a fun romp then something inspirational like most first games are in popular series, mostly because 2 blew it out of the water and many of the staples in the series were not established yet, mostly because it's more or less a self contained story if left on it's own. The biggest thing was that everything could be explained by bad cult magic and the town was more a setting for the evil that went down as opposed to the mythical, thinking force seen in latter games. A good game, but most fans started with it's sequel.
Silent Hill 2
James Sunderlund receives a letter from his wife Mary, begging him to come to Silent Hill, the town where they met and married. Naturally, James immediately follows to investigate what's happening and how he got such a letter. After all, Mary has been dead for four years...
Regarded as the best by far and single handily made Silent Hill a well known franchise. It invented many of the staples in the series today such as enemies being metaphors, a protagonist who must face the harsh truth of their actions and Silent Hill being a almost living, breathing creature who sucks in people from the outside in order to confront them about the crimes they committed. While many claim it's over rated, it generally comes down to how deeply you look into it. If you just burn though it you'll find it a poorly designed, spooky haunted house of a game with bad voice acting. If you like to look into the symbolism of the world and meanings behind actions and designs then this game will blow your mind.
Silent Hill 3
Heather Mason thought that she was done with Silent Hill, and the mad cult that lurks within. But when her dad, Harry Mason, is spirited away, she cannot leave him in their clutches and she returns to confront the darkness within the fog-shrouded town.
More of a love letter to the first game while keeping aspects of the second, it's generally accepted as the second best. If you liked the second or the first you'll like this. If you liked both you'll love this.
Silent Hill 4: The Room
Harry Townshend thought that Room 302 of the South Ashfield Heights apartment complex was a nice enough place to live. Until the day he woke up and he was trapped inside, unable to make contact with the outside world in any way, shape or form. And then a hole in the wall opened up, leading him to twisted, nightmarish versions of places throughout his hometown of Silent Hill. See, turns out Harry's room used to belong to a serial killing occultist and lunatic. And he wants his room back...
Black sheep of the family, a few find it quirky and neat but most despise the game, in no small part thanks to the game symbolizing a turning point for the franchise suddenly making good Silent Hill games a rarity.
Introduced the idea of the "evil" from Silent Hill leaking into other cities and people are split on this. It IS more terrifying to think what happens in Silent Hill could suddenly happen everywhere but your view might change depending on how you see the town. If you see the mind behind the town as some Cthulhu style monster who loves seeing people suffer while giving a evil laugh then you probably like the idea. If you think it's some neutral force that brings people in to help them get over their problems and move on, even if it puts their lives in danger, then you would find the "evil" spreading to be out of character. It's differs from person to person.
Silent Hill Origins
Seven years before the events of the first game, a wandering vagrant named Travis Grady saves a badly burned girl from a burning house, only to pass out and wake up in a twisted, nightmarish city called Silent Hill.
Generally seen as a good, quirky side story and talked about rather positively. Detractors will mention that it's pretty forgettable, especially the protagonist.
Silent Hill Homecoming
Alex Shepherd, a Special Forces soldier who has been discharged from the hospital and sent home after being wounded in battle, arrives in his hometown of Shepherd's Glen and finds that all is not right with the world: the town is covered in fog, people (including his younger brother Josh) are disappearing, his father has left to look for his brother, and his mother is catatonic. The dark forces of Silent Hill soon infect the town proper, transforming it into a nightmarish otherworld where Alex must struggle to survive against hordes of monsters and waves of increasingly obtuse symbolism... as well as a group of mysterious cultists who seem to bear a grudge against him.
Pretty much hated for it's boring gameplay, combat focus, lack of logic and rather bad story. It was released so the movie could have something to run along with and it reeks of a tie in game. Not terrible, but below average.
Silent Hill Shattered Memory
A revisioning of the first game that ends up being framed as a result of psycho-thereapy that Heather Mason is undergoing.
Another rather liked side game built up like a good movie reboot, same story and cast but with a new spin on things. If you like alternate world stories or just like to see the first game done differently, give it a shot. Those who don't like it point out that it feels more like a mystery than horror game and doesn't mesh well with the other games, which is probably why it didn't receive a sequel.
Silent Hill Downpour
During a routine transfer to a new prison, the bus transporting prisoner Murphy Pendleton crashes and leaves him a free man. With a security officer from the transport on his tail, Murphy - desperate for an escape route and an escape from ever-worsening weather - follows a worn-down road through the woods and into the world's least desirable holiday destination ever: the rain-drenched, monster-infested city known as Silent Hill.
Seen as the middle of the road, not bad but pretty forgettable. Did some things right, did some things wrong, can be fun at times and boring in others. A mixed bag. Calls back to Silent Hill 2 by having little connection to the other games besides the town itself and is a story focused on its characters and their personal demons.
Silent Hills
An upcoming game in the series, where apparently the player takes the role of someone trapped inside of a haunted house.
UPDATE: Guillermo del Toro recently confirmed that the game is cancelled. The Konami Curse strikes again.