James, honey, did something happen to you?

After we got separated in that long hallway?

...

Are you confusing me with someone else?

...

You were always so forgetful.

Remember that time in the hotel?

You said you took everything.

But you forgot that videotape we made.

...

I wonder if it's still there?

if you've found this website i don't think i have to explain what silent hill is. my favorite of the series is easily silent hill 2 and it's the one that consumes like 98% of my thoughts at any given time so this shrine is for that game in particular.

i didn't actually grow up with silent hill! i played the series for the first time in 2021 after my friend kept telling me how much i would love it and 2 especially. and they were right. in the short time i've had of being into the game i've bought myself an itabag (pics to come later) that i've spent the years slowly customizing to be themed after silent hill. i've cosplayed heather mason from 3. i own the silent hill 2 soundtrack in vinyl, CD, and mp3 formats.

despite being a horror fan my whole life i was late to checking out the quintessential games on account of being chicken to play them myself; i have vague memories of trying to play silent hill 1 as a kid on an emulator but i got too frustrated with the controls and gave up. i think the only reason i could complete the games for myself is because i played them on call with my friends. there was a part in 2 that scared me so bad i literally had to get up and do a lap around my apartment before i sat back down to play more. i'm not as easily scared by games now but that's a fond memory for me haha.

what makes 2 so special to me? well honestly: mostly james, the game's protagonist. it's hard to explain what makes james such a powerful and compelling character without geting into spoilers especially when he looks like this--

--BUT HE'S TRULY ONE OF A KIND OK...!! for better and for worse. i love this fucking guy, i hate this fucking guy, you know how it is. trust me, you won't end the game feeling any sort of middling way about him. in my case, i adore him, but not because he's worth adoring. it's very hard to find a character like james anywhere else without it feeling like they're trying too hard to emulate silent hill 2.

2 is the quintessential psychological horror game. it defined a generation of horror games both good and bad and even arguably doomed its own franchise because of the way it portrays things like guilt and grief. everything in it exists only to terrorize james and make his world a living hell--a hell he either desperately wants to reject or accept, depending on how you play since the game has multiple endings. luckily there's no true ending here, so don't worry about that when playing!

if you haven't heard the music in silent hill you absolutely have to. here are some of my favorites (not just from 2 but with heavy 2 bias):

if you want to play silent hill 2 but don't know how: great news first off, the remake that came out in 2024 is actually stellar (in my opinion), but you'll need a PS5 or a really nice PC to run it since it's pretty graphics-intensive. also the remake, though amazing, is definitely not a replacement for the original game. but i think the remake isn't trying to supersede the original. it just feels like a love letter. both are awesome games that tell the same story, so it's really up to you which way you want to experience it. i prefer the original still, mostly because it's like half the length of the remake and because i just like the music more and the stilted david lynch-like performance of it.

for playing the original game yourself it's easy enough to source a PS2 ROM and play it on an emulator (i use PCSX2). however i also recommend checking out silent hill 2: enhanced edition for some nice QOL changes and updated textures and the like. note that it requires the PC version of the game but that is abandonware and shouldn't be too difficult to find.