Silent Hill 2

Hitting nurse zombies with a pipe "NO THIS IS A MATURE STORY YOU SEE...

Forces you to go to places you never want to go, do things you never want to do, and be a person you never want to be. Hell is hiding under a lake, in a cage, hearing Pyramid Head yet never seeing him - a trope hinting at the unseen sadism within the very character you're playing.

There was this moment, when i was standing in front of a locked staircase and heard someone whisper "james" just loud enough for me to think "did i just hear that?". I went back and forth multiple times, even loaded up an older save to check, but i never heard that whisper again. That is how you fuck with people effectively. Silent hill 2 does this like none other. It fucks with you, man. It fucks with you.

Playing for the first time in 2022, the engine feels rather dated, but the narrative, themes and atmosphere are agelessly compelling.

Can't believe my gameplay style got me to the true ending on the first playthrough. This is definitely an emotional and farewell letter to silent hill franchise. The best and the last.

I peed just thinking about it. Seriously though, I couldn't figure out where to go in one part in the game so I kept exploring the same areas. I was in this one building and I had been there a million times and then I saw a shadow on the wall in game and I got terrified and it was my own shadow so this game made me scared of my own shadow. GG, SH, GG.

I only played the XBox version, which has the Restless Dreams content but no subtitle. Play those versions if you can, the QoL improvements are worth it. For God knows what reason, SH4 was my Silent Hill game of choice, but 2 is better by leaps and bounds. I just don't have the personal attachment I have to SH4. There were times in SH2 where I felt like I was wrestling with the game as a game and frustrating myself out of a good experience.

#9 Best by Average Percentile on Criticker

I remember this game being good at the time when I played this. I beat this long ago.

Silent Hill 2 remains my favorite horror video game for one simple reason: less is more. No overly complicated exposition, no music stingers to accompany jump-scare enemy encounters, simple yet effective and thematically consistent enemy and level design, a layered story, and clunky controls adding to the constant sense of terror. Silent Hill 2 earns its spot in my short list of "games as art" examples and there are few more deserving entries.