Silent Hill 2

Silent Hill 2

Systems:

• Windows PC
• PlayStation 2
• PlayStation 3
• Xbox
• Xbox360
• Releases:
  • Original Release: 2001
  • HD Release: 2012

Publisher:

• Konami

Developer:

• Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo
• Creature Labs (PC)
• Hijinx Studios (HD)

ESRB Rating:

• Mature (M)
• Reasoning:
  • Blood and Gore
  • Violence

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.

Incomplete Tags for this Game

Avians

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

Eddie references killing a dog out of spite.

Blood

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".

Body Horror

All monsters all fall under this category; they are all twisted in some way. This is also true in "Born from a Wish".

Canines

In the joke UFO ending to this game it is revealed that a Shiba Inu dog has been controlling the town. In this ending the dog is not aggressive and will not attack.

Claustrophobia

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.

Darkness

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.

Dead Bodies

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".

Death of Family/Friends

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.

Dehumanization

Debatable. Some interpret the Player Character as having sexualized women to the point of dehumanization. The dehumanization is generally implied by events.

Disease

The Player Character's wife dies prior to the game due to an unspecified illness.

Disruptive Home Life

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.

Dolls

Beginning in the Hotel area, after getting the flashlight, there are mannequin enemies throughout the game that will attack the Player Character. They do not have heads, they are two mannequin bottoms stuck together.

Drowning

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.

Emotional Abuse

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.

Existential Despair

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.

Fire

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.

Ghosts

Some may interpret Maria or Mary as ghosts. They do not express ghostly imagery, i.e. transparency, floating, walking through walls, etc.

Gore

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".

Graphic Violence

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".

Guns

Guns are used in combat by the PC and one boss, Eddie. Guns also appear in "Born from a Wish".

Heights

The Player Character is required to jump down several seemingly bottomless pits. This is also true in "Born from a Wish".

Incest

Angela is implied to have been raped and sexually abused by her father.

Insects

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".

Jump Scares

There are a handful of instances where monsters or otherwise disturbing sights appear without warning.

Mental Health Institutions

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.

Murder

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.

Psychological Horror

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".

Psychological Trauma

The Player Character has experienced trauma and has repressed memories.

Self Harm

One scene shows Angela holding a knife as if intending to self harm or commit suicide, although the Player Character dissuades her.

Sex

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.

Sexual Assault

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.

Sexualization/Objectification

Many of the monsters are feminine and draw from ideas of sexual objectification; player encounters a sexualized version of the PC’s wife.

Suicide

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.

Supernatural Evil

One possible interpretation of the town and its monsters is that they are supernatural in origin and nature.

Torture

Some of the treatments in Brookhaven Hospital qualify as torture.

Undead/Zombies

Some monsters may be interpreted as zombies or undead.

Unreality

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.

Verbal Abuse

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

Victim Blaming

Angela specifically mentions that her mother said she 'deserved' to be sexually assaulted by her father.

Vomiting

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.

Weapons

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.

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