Credit to Google
Silent Hill 2 has remained a classic horror icon for many years since it was released in 2001. It is based on a separate side story of a man named James Sunderland, who undergoes a horrific journey in the town of Silent Hill, to discover the truth of how his dead wife sent him a letter to come back to their ‘special place.’
The game received critical acclaim, due to the amazing and disturbing storyline that the players experience on the journey of James Sunderland and its side characters. Silent Hill 2 has many other reasons why this game was so successful, but in my opinion, the game’s strongest point was its ambiguity with the characters’ backstories.
The game does an excellent job with not fully exploring the backgrounds of each of the characters that are revealed throughout the game. A small snippet of each character’s backstory is said, providing enough information for the player to have a little bit of understanding as to why they were sent to Silent Hill.
- James Sunderland — Trying to solve the mystery of how his dead wife was able to contact him.
- Angela Orosco — Searching for her mother, briefly mentions other family members with disgust.
- Maria — Wants to stick by James, looks like Jame’s dead wife, she has memories of James and his wife.
- Eddie Dombrowski — Was bullied in his past life.
- Laura — Briefly mentions that James’ wife was friends with her.
I love it when games don’t reveal the full backstory to the characters. Silent Hill decided to ‘show’ the backstory, by using the environment as a whole. For example, in one particular scene that is incredibly disturbing, is when James fights a boss known as ‘Abstract Daddy,’ a creature that is attempting to attack Angela. The room itself…is very dark. Angela is in a room with twenty — three holes, with pistons going in and out.
So…it’s your guess to figure out what that means. I will admit, I knew that Angela’s backstory was very sad, I just couldn’t figure out the real reason, until at the very end of the game. Angela is standing on a staircase that is on fire, with a picture of her father and brother next to her.
When I saw the details of the photo, I immediately felt my heart drop. It was enough information for me to realize that Angela’s childhood was extremely horrific, and from the implications of how Angela talked about her mother, I don’t think she really cared for her daughter during the torture she endured.
James also had his own mystery build up before the ending of the game, that was done very well while also being very creepy at the same time.
Credit to Google
James’ own story was revealed through another main character, Maria. James meets Maria while searching for his wife and is shocked with how much she resembles his wife. Together, they embark on a journey of horror, and Maria unfortunately ends up killed while trying to escape a creature known as ‘Pyramid Head.’
Maria then reappears to James again, inside of a prison. James grows confused and a little angry when he realizes that Maria is acting strange, citing memories that he once shared with his wife, before she died. She even says that James can stay with her if he wants, and that it doesn’t really matter why she is alive again, or why she exists.
This sequence is only proven through a short conversation between Maria and James, but it is very effective. Maria's short answers and her acting like his wife is so terrifying. Just like James, I was confused and a little scared, really wanting to know what the hell was actually going on. This scene definitely set the tone for the game, it gave me enough scares for me to realize that this game was going to be like a puzzle; and that it was up to James/the player to put all the pieces together to solve this creepy mystery.
I don’t want to elaborate any further about the great scenes that take place in the game, I suggest you try out the game, or you watch the entire sequel on YouTube if you’re not really a gamer. It’s like watching a film that remains ambiguous until the very end, but even when the story ends, you are left with more questions than answers.
That is what makes Silent Hill 2 so intriguing to me, and it is what makes this game the best horror game of all time! I heard about the remake coming out for Silent Hill 2 sometime this year. I hope it’s going to be just as amazing, and I hope they don’t remove the creepy moments that occur in the game; Silent Hill 2 is a unique figure in the horror genre, and it deserves to be seen in all its glory!
Thank you for reading!
Emy Quinn
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