In 2000, my family and I visited our local Blockbuster. This time, 9-year-old Zack decided to rent the original Silent Hill for the PlayStation 1. The game wasn’t new at this point, and the PS1 was starting to show its age, but I was happy with the console and excited to play a new game. My mom was aware it was rated M, but I had played other T and M games before, so she let me rent Silent Hill . Later that day, I’d play what remains the scariest moment I’ve ever experienced in a video game. In hindsight, I wish she’d said no.

Before Silent Hill , I hadn’t really played a scary game. I’d played games that had moments that were scary or tense, but nothing that I would classify as horror or even horror-adjacent. I’d never played Resident Evil , Alone in the Dark , or anything like that. Looking back, I can’t even tell you why I picked Silent Hill that day.…