Silent Hill: The Arcade is an arcade game based on the Silent Hill series. Being a rail shooter, the game is a large departure from the normal survival horror mechanics. Gameplay is similar to the House of the Dead series in which players use light guns to aim and shoot at enemies. Shooting away from the screen reloads the player's gun. The Arcade has a multiplayer element, a second player can join the game at any time.

The story takes place in 1993, when a group of five students and members of an occult club travel to Silent Hill to solve the mystery of Toluca Lake. It is known that seventy-five years ago a boat called Little Baroness disappeared with all the crew and passengers on the lake, and the bodies have never been found. The next morning after the arrival, the protagonists Eric and Tina discover that one of their club members is injured while others are missing, and that the whole town is crawling with monsters.