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Silent Hill: Deep Six (Doodles)

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SILENT HILL: DEEP SIX

#2) A fisherman whose carelessness and greed cost his whole crew. His Silent Hill is caked with coral and barnacle-like growths, and physics work as if everything is underwater.

Pyramid Head expy: a shambling heap of red seaweed with a blindingly lit porthole face, able to emerge from even a thin puddle of water.

Nurse expy: mermaid-like dolls with rusted hooks for tails and hands, and painted-on googly eyes. In other words, “fishing lures” for humans.

bogleech​

So, my buddy Voyd got me into Silent Hill, specifically by pointing me to RoahmMythril’s LP of the first game, and I’ve been looking into it for a while but haven’t really gotten into the nitty-gritty of the franchise until recently. Anyway, I wanted to illustrate at least a few fan-Silent Hill ideas and starting with one of Bogleech’s brilliant prompts seemed like a good idea. Besides, the titular town seems to be on the coast of a lake, so it was only natural to try out a pirate/sailor theme or something. Are there any underwater levels in the canon games?

Anyway, the protagonist of this hypothetical game is Francis Magellan, a struggling small-town fisherman who had to give up his dream of being a maritime explorer and move out of his home town of Silent Hill to provide for his ailing family. Unfortunately, his fear of losing his livelihood to the big-league fishing industry has developed into a manic, selfish devotion to his career and income at the expense of his family and friends, and at the start of the game it culminates in attempting to scour the waters around the coast of Maine only to get caught in a weird freak storm. Francis is supposedly the only survivor after his ship is destroyed, and somehow ends up washing onto the shore of a very familiar lake…

Silent Hill: Deep Six combines the aesthetic of the SH games with the explorational and water-physics aspects of Subnautica, as Francis has only the clothes on his back to go by and has to explore, craft, and survive this weird, reef-like town, which runs a gamut of aquatic habitats from tropical coral reefs to kelp forests to entire fields of deadly rocks and geothermal vents, all of which are strangely above-water (meaning that the monsters are basically “swimming” through the air; Francis himself doesn't, to avoid screwing over the motion controls, but the pseudo-buoyancy does allow him to "moon-jump" but slows his movement speed, as though pushing through a liquid medium), although there are some small areas that do abide by standard land-level physics as well; you can also get multiple endings depending on how hostile Francis is, as well as which crew members you find and save. His Silent Hill setting reflects how he’s been exploring uncharted waters for ages in the hopes of finding what he needs to provide for his family; its key objective is, of course, to find the X marking the spot of stereotypical pirate treasure, except that instead of actual gold, the fabled chest contains a secret which may forever change his life and his relationships… if he chooses to believe it.

  • Davy Jones - The “Pyramid Head” of the game, if Pyramid Head were a pile of murderous red seaweed and flotsam whose head is a diving bell with a luminescent eye. It’s also the first boss of the game, initially a massive diving suit that tries to throttle him, but as he continues fighting it he destroys more and more of the suit until it collapses into a seemingly lifeless pile of seaweed. It still chases him like some horrific algal kraken throughout the rest of the game, however, until towards the end when he realizes that it’s actually the manifestation of his childhood friend who died in a tragic boating accident; the trauma of the incident still haunts him to this day and was why he gave up exploring in the first place. He finally comes to terms with his loss at this point, whereupon the kelp and junk melt away into nothing and leave behind just the helmet, which he can opt to wear for the final boss battle.
  • Sea Legs - A common enemy based on the trope of “reverse mermaids”, with a touch of deep-sea anglerfish and Junji Ito’s GYO. They embody Francis’s hard times in general and how his wares are now worth about as much as rotten fish - i.e. not at all. They’re not very strong, but come in large numbers and also stink to high heaven, exploding into rotten goop when killed. This is actually worse than you may think, because the goop functions like fishing chum and attracts more dangerous monsters.
  • Captain’s Daughter - The fishing lure monster Bogleech mentioned, representing the occasions when he’s tried to turn to adultery and one-night stands to alleviate his suffering, only to be taken advantage of like a fish on a hook. Because “Captain’s Daughter” also refers to the cat-o-nine-tails, they not only use their hooks but also their whip-like hair to attack, attempting to reel him in and then pull him up to an unseen demise.
  • Keel Hauler - A ghostly old-timey submersible covered in predatory bladed barnacles, embodying the feeling of constantly being in uncharted waters and having become obsolete compared to the major industries. It senses Francis’ presence only if he blunders into the light beam produced by its eye, then rushes at him at high speed and attempts to slam him with its barnacles or grab him with its clawed arm. It’s relatively easy to avoid, but also deceptively fast and very difficult to kill.
  • Halcyon - Based on the superstitions regarding the albatross in sailor folklore, though I gave it a few pterosaurian elements as well (Nyctosaurus specifically) and put a rowboat on its back, cementing its status as the embodiment of his wanderlust and desire to just travel without worries. It cameos a few times in the early game, soaring over the town and watching him from afar, but makes its proper debut as a mid-game boss and one of the hardest fights in the game. How you beat this boss determines whether Francis gets the good endings or the bad ones, and because killing an albatross is an omen of bad luck, killing the boss prevents you from getting any of the good endings - but winning the fight peacefully is a huge “Guide, Dang It” moment and extremely difficult to do because of how powerful the Halcyon is, making it very hard to avoid dying long enough to escape. If you succeed, though, the creature will sometimes attack some of the more dangerous monsters later in the game and may even carry him to later plot-important destinations (in lieu of longer, more dangerous foot-paths).
  • Castaway - Obligatory pirate skeleton, denoting how Francis’ crew and associates have either died trying to help him or abandoned him to his fate. It functions much like the Dry Bones from Mario, being able to put itself back together if destroyed; you need to get rid of the skull with a more permanent method of destruction like burning it to kill it for good.
  • Scurvy - Based on Francis’ subconscious fear of falling ill or infirm while out at sea, far away from medical help. It’s a diseased zombie-like humanoid resembling scurvy symptoms, including discolored skin spots, swollen legs, putrid gums, etc.; gotta have at least one standard body horror mutant after all. Unable to move at all, but acts like a turret, projectile-vomiting onto Francis if he gets near it. If it hits, it covers him with disgusting puke that causes him to attract every monster in the area until he washes it off, which can only be done in a few areas with running water.
  • Bigwig - You’ll have noticed by now that all of these monsters are named after nautical expressions, and this is the one that gives that away. A “bigwig” is a derogatory term for an important and influential person, derived from the powdered wigs that used to be a trend for people of status (think Lord Beckett from Pirates of the Caribbean). I needed a big vicious fish monster like a shark or something and also something to represent Francis’ feeling of being overshadowed by the global marine industries, which are very much like the East India Trading Company from his standpoint. As soon as I imagined something combining those wigs and a hammerhead face, my brain took it from there and this guy happened. It’s a bit slower than him, but is nearly impossible to surprise thanks to its 360-degree vision, incredibly strong, and has a lethal charge attack that can one-hit-kill him if it catches him. Despite its immense power, though, it's not the Pyramid Head of this game, since Francis soon finds out that he has some much more personal fears than being run out of business - and anyway, the Bigwigs themselves are quite clumsy and can't fit through tight passages and hiding spaces like Francis can.
  • Tide Waiter - An enemy embodying the many, many false hopes Francis has encountered over the years in pursuit of his dream, and inspired by the trope of mimic monsters. There are treasure chests all over the town that often contain useful items, but nine times out of ten the “chests” are these horrible things that pop out and grab you and will deflect any attack that isn’t directed at their bodies. They are quite rare since the chests themselves are rare as well but that’s a good thing because they’re the utter scum of the earth. The absolute worst. I’m so freaking done with these awful awful bastards I can’t take it anymore I quit I’m sorry.

I might color these later, and maybe make more detailed images of them because I like the concepts a lot. I may also come up with more SH fangame pitches based on some of Bogleech’s other suggestions, but I gotta actually finish Roahm’s LP first and probably a few others, just to get the feel of the game a little better… I don’t think I quite succeeded in that with this first batch. :/

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OtachiKaiju68's avatar
Cool! I like the pterosaur looking creature in the center! :)