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<div style="font-size: 1.5em;font-weight:bold;text-align: center;">Silent Hill 2</div>
'''Systems:'''
* Windows PC
* PlayStation 2
* PlayStation 3
* Xbox
* Xbox360 
* Releases: <small>
** Original Release: 2001
** HD Release: 2012
</small>
'''Publisher:'''
*Konami
'''Developer:'''
* Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo
* Creature Labs (PC)
* Hijinx Studios (HD)
'''ESRB Rating:'''
* '''Mature (M)'''
* Reasoning: <small>
** Blood and Gore
** Violence
</small>
</div>
''Silent Hill 2'' is a psychological horror game and the indirect sequel to [[Silent Hill]]. The game centers around James, a widower who recently received a letter from his dead wife asking him to come to Silent Hill. James embarks alone to find the origin of the letter. But the longer he stays in the town the more terrifying it becomes, and the closer James comes to realizing his own dark secret.
==General Comments==
This review also contains tags and explanations for the "Born from a Wish" extra campaign. All tags that are also in "Born from a Wish" are noted.

Note that only boss enemies are required to be fought. The player can choose to run away from enemies that appear randomly in areas instead of fighting. This can affect the ending.

==[[Animal Death]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">Eddie references killing a dog out of spite.</div>

==[[Blood]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">Blood is a unavoidable result of fighting monsters. Blood is also occasionally found smeared in locations, and occasionally used to write messages.

This is also true in "Born from a Wish".</div>

==[[Body Horror]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">All monsters all fall under this category; they are all twisted in some way.

This is also true in "Born from a Wish".</div>

==[[Claustrophobia]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">One level requires the Player Character to run down a very narrow hallway while being chased by a monster. 

There is at least one instance of being forced to hide in a closet from a monster.</div>

==[[Darkness]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%"> A gameplay mechanic of the game is to put the Player Character in extremely dark areas with only a small flashlight to see. Enemies can be heard before they appear, but the player will not be able to see them until they are on top of them. </div>

==[[Dead Bodies]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">Most notably, the player finds a slain man in an armchair in one of the early levels.

Monster bodies do not disappear immediately after defeat.

This is also true in "Born from a Wish".</div>

==[[Death of Family/Friends]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">The premise of the game is that the Player Character's wife has died. Three characters that could be described as friends (Maria, Eddie, and Angela) all die within the course of the game.</div>

==[[Dehumanization]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">Debatable. Some interpret the Player Character as having sexualized women to the point of dehumanization. The dehumanization is generally implied by events.</div>

==[[Disease]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">The Player Character's wife dies prior to the game due to an unspecified illness.</div>

==[[Disruptive Home Life]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">It is revealed later in the game that after James's wife got sick she became verbally abusive towards James, making life with her nearly unbearable. </div>
==[[Drowning]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">This game has multiple endings that are unlocked based on variables in the player's gameplay. One ending has the PC drive his car into the lake and drown himself.</div>

==[[Emotional Abuse]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">One of the most notable instances includes writing (possibly in blood) on a wall. It says: "If you really want to see Mary, you should just die. But you might be heading to a different place than Mary, James." 

Eddie and Angela are implied to have suffered emotional abuse. 

Some flashbacks reveal Mary as emotionally/verbally abusive to James while hospitalized.</div>

==[[Existential Despair]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">This game has multiple endings that are unlocked based on variables in the player's gameplay. Some endings have James experience this.

Maria in the supplementary campaign "Born from a Wish" experiences this at the end and contemplates suicide.</div>

==[[Fire]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">During the last level, the Player Character encounters Angela on a burning staircase. Angela willingly walks into the fire at the end of the cutscene. </div>

==[[Ghosts]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">Some may interpret Maria or Mary as ghosts. They do not express ghostly imagery, i.e. transparency, floating, walking through walls, etc. </div>

==[[Gore]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">Some dead bodies are in a gory state. Gore is produced while killing monsters (most of which are vaguely humanoid).

This is also true in "Born from a Wish".</div>

==[[Graphic Violence]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">The Player Character is capable of fighting monsters with various melee weapons and guns. These weapons always produce graphic blood spatters.

This is also true in "Born from a Wish".</div>

==[[Guns]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">Guns are used in combat by the PC and one boss, Eddie.

Guns also appear in "Born from a Wish".</div>

==[[Heights]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">The Player Character is required to jump down several seemingly bottomless pits.

This is also true in "Born from a Wish".</div>

==[[Incest]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">Angela is implied to have been raped and sexually abused by her father.</div>

==[[Insects]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">One enemy, 'Creepers', resemble large beetles, roughly the size of a foot. 

There is one instance where the Player Character's flashlight dies and when it is switched back on, the room is covered in Creepers.

Creepers also appear in "Born from a Wish".</div>

==[[Jump Scares]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">There are a handful of instances where monsters or otherwise disturbing sights appear without warning.</div>

==[[Mental Health Institutions]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">Brookhaven Hospital is a mental institution that must be explored to progress. The treatment of the patients was extremely abusive, as revealed through items and scenes throughout the level.</div>

==[[Murder]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">Eddie is revealed to have murdered someone prior to the game and is implied to have murdered others during the course of the game. 

Angela murdered her father prior to the game (albeit in self-defense). 

The Player Character is revealed to have murdered his wife.

Maria is murdered multiple times throughout the game.</div>

==[[Psychological Horror]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">This game is considered a staple of the psychological horror genre. Nearly every aspect of the game is meant to invoke this.

This is also true in "Born from a Wish".</div>

==[[Psychological Trauma]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">The Player Character has experienced trauma and has repressed memories.</div>

==[[Self Harm]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">One scene shows Angela holding a knife as if intending to self harm or commit suicide, although the Player Character dissuades her.</div>

==[[Sex]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">One of the early levels depicts what appears to be some of the monsters engaging in sex. It is implied to be rape.

Looking closely at the Abstract Daddy/Doorman monster will reveal that it is actually two people having sex on a bed.
</div>

==[[Sexual Assault]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">Angela is implied to have been sexually assaulted by her father. An early level of the game depicts a male-coded monster raping two female-coded monsters.</div>

==[[Sexualization/Objectification]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">Many of the monsters are feminine and draw from ideas of sexual objectification; player encounters a sexualized version of the PC’s wife.</div>

==[[Suicide]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">Angela is clearly suicidal and her final scene suggests that she finally commits suicide (albeit off-screen). 

After completing the Otherworld Brookhaven Hospital level, the player can go back to Neely's Bar and see a note written on the wall that says "If you ReaLly wAnt to sEE Mary, you shOUld just DiE. But You mIght be hEadiNg to A diffErent place than MARY, James." This can be avoided by not going into Neely's Bar.

This game has multiple endings that are unlocked based on variables in the player's gameplay. One possible ending results in the PC committing suicide by driving his car into the lake.

In "Born from a Wish", Maria briefly contemplates suicide. </div>

==[[Supernatural Evil]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">One possible interpretation of the town and its monsters is that they are supernatural in origin and nature.</div>

==[[Torture]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">Some of the treatments in Brookhaven Hospital qualify as torture.</div>

==[[Undead/Zombies]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">Some monsters may be interpreted as zombies or undead.</div>

==[[Unreality]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">
The character Maria is often implied during gameplay to possibly be a hallucination of the Player Character. Her dialogue can be vague and is meant to intentionally confuse the player as to her identity, whether she is Mary, Maria, or just a figment of James's imagination. This is sometimes resolved based on the ending, but it is never completely addressed.

The prison level is far bigger than it appears on the outside. Where you enter and where you end up are completely different; it is meant to confuse the player.

It is heavily implied that different characters see different things when facing monsters. For example, Eddie sees the people who mocked him, Angela sees her father, and James sees sexualized monsters. During the last meeting with Angela, the player learns she's been seeing fire all around her the entire time.

In "Born from a Wish", Maria meets and speaks with someone who has barricaded themselves inside a room. After completing the game's main quest, it is revealed that the room was empty all along and the voice was possibly Maria's hallucination.</div>

==[[Verbal Abuse]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">Some flashbacks reveal Mary as emotionally/verbally abusive to James while hospitalized.
</div>
==[[Victim Blaming]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">Angela specifically mentions that her mother said she 'deserved' to be sexually assaulted by her father.</div>

==[[Vomiting]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">When the player first meets Eddie in the Hotel level, he is shown vomiting in a toilet. Retching noises are heard in the room immediately before the player finds Eddie.

If the player chooses to look inside toilets found throughout the Otherworld, most of them will have some sort of vomit or blood inside them.</div>

==[[Weapons]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">The Player Character has a variety of weapons available for self-defense. This is also true in "Born from a Wish".

Eddie and Angela both have weapons in their possession at different points of the game. </div>


[[Category:Alcohol-free]]
[[Category:Animal Abuse-free]]
[[Category:Animal Death]]
[[Category:Aquatic Violence-free]]
[[Category:Bigoted Language-free]]
[[Category:Blood]]
[[Category:Body Horror]]
[[Category:Bones-free]]
[[Category:Brainwashing-free]]
[[Category:Cannibalism-free]]
[[Category:Claustrophobia]]
[[Category:Clowns-free]]
[[Category:Darkness]]
[[Category:Dead Bodies]]
[[Category:Death of Family/Friends]]
[[Category:Dehumanization]]
[[Category:Depiction of Disaster-free]]
[[Category:Depiction of War-free]]
[[Category:Disease]]
[[Category:Disruptive Home Life]]
[[Category:Drowning]]
[[Category:Electrocution-free]]
[[Category:Emotional Abuse]]
[[Category:Existential Despair]]
[[Category:Explosions-free]]
[[Category:Eye Horror/Eye Trauma-free]]
[[Category:Fire]]
[[Category:Forced Implantation-free]]
[[Category:Gender Dysphoria-free]]
[[Category:Ghosts]]
[[Category:Gore]]
[[Category:Graphic Violence]]
[[Category:Guns]]
[[Category:Heights]]
[[Category:Homophobia-free]]
[[Category:Incest]]
[[Category:Insects]]
[[Category:Jump Scares]]
[[Category:Kidnapping-free]]
[[Category:Medical Malpractice-free]]
[[Category:Mental Health Institutions]]
[[Category:Mind Control-free]]
[[Category:Murder]]
[[Category:Mutilation-free]]
[[Category:Needles-free]]
[[Category:Nudity-free]]
[[Category:Offensive Language-free]]
[[Category:Parental Abandonment-free]]
[[Category:Physical Abuse-free]]
[[Category:Psychological Horror]]
[[Category:Psychological Trauma]]
[[Category:Racism-free]]
[[Category:Rats/Rodents-free]]
[[Category:Reptiles-free]]
[[Category:Self Harm]]
[[Category:Sex Shaming-free]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Sexual Assault]]
[[Category:Sexual Harassment-free]]
[[Category:Sexualization/Objectification]]
[[Category:Sex Slavery-free]]
[[Category:Slavery-free]]
[[Category:Snakes-free]]
[[Category:Spiders-free]]
[[Category:Stalking-free]]
[[Category:Substance Abuse-free]]
[[Category:Suicide]]
[[Category:Supernatural Evil]]
[[Category:Torture]]
[[Category:Transphobia-free]]
[[Category:Undead/Zombies]]
[[Category:Unreality]]
[[Category:Verbal Abuse]]
[[Category:Victim Blaming]]
[[Category:Violence Against Children-free]]
[[Category:Vomiting]]
[[Category:Weapons]]
[[Category: Game]]
[[Category:Game S]]