Playing Paranormal: Pyramid Head

Playing Paranormal is the latest feature here at Paranoid Gamer. The idea is simple: to profile all of our favorite video game monsters/creatures and the creative minds behind them. For our inaugural episode we’re profiling one of the greats, one of the most iconic creatures from gaming’s past: Pyramid Head.

Pyramid Head makes its first appearance in the 2001 horror classic Silent Hill 2, and has become something of a trademark of the series ever since. His imposing stature and large bladed death-dealing instrument allude to the series’ titular town and its dark past as a grounds for execution. The very iconic pyramid shaped head piece was designed to obscure the monster’s face, adding mystery and dread to his various on screen appearances.

Silent Hill, has always been a series built around psychological horror. The town itself, being the true antagonist of the franchise time and again, lures victims in, draws from their psyche and warps their troubled thoughts into real manifestations of terror. Pyramid Head is no exception, representing the guilty conscious, masochistic self punishment, and sexual repression endured by the game’s leading man James Sunderland.  Without going into spoiler territory, James is ultimately able to overcome this triangular villain by coming to terms with his own violent past and the psychological damage that’s associated with it.

Masahiro Ito, worked on Silent Hill 1-3 as the developer’s primary monster/creature designer. In designing Pyramid Head, the artist stated that he wanted “a monster with a hidden face”. What he created is so much more, and has since become one of the most celebrated and feared entities in all of gaming.

Pyramid Head has made numerous appearances both in and out of the Silent Hill Series, including: Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill: Homecoming, Silent Hill: The Arcade, and the 2008 DS title International Track and Field. The character is also portrayed in the 2006 film simply titled Silent Hill.