Silent Hill 2

Hi again! Today I’m here to talk about one of my favorite games ever, Silent Hill 2 and how it tells its story. 

Introduction to Silent Hill
Silent Hill 2 is a game that is part of a survival horror game series “Silent Hill” published by Konami and was developed by Team Silent. (They made Silent hill 1-4, everything after that I don’t consider to be a real Silent Hill game, just some hot garbage that has Silent Hills name slapped on them, thank you Tomm Hulett) 

Story

James Sunderland gets a letter from his deceased wife calling James to meet her back at their beloved place, Silent Hill. In his journey he meets different people that Silent Hill attracted there. One of them being Maria, who strangely resembles his dead wife. With her he discovers Silent Hills dark secrets and the mystery behind his wife's death. 

Storytelling

Storytelling in Silent Hill is very subtle, the game is a shining example of “ show don’t tell” storytelling. Absolutely nothing is spoon fed to the player and it is your job to unravel the mystery that is James wife's death, the town in itself and the people James meets in his journey. Everything about the characters James meet and James himself can be seen through their manifested worlds, monsters and sounds. Silent Hills dark history and various incidents can be pieced together by inspecting different elements in the town, like pictures, books, magazines, statues etc. and slowly but surely you get Silent Hills disturbing history. which feels extremely rewarding because it was you who explored everything, it was you who wanted to unravel the towns mystery. A lot of things about the characters and the town itself is delivered through a lot of heavy waves of symbolism, as Silent hill games loove their cults and references to satanism. What’s also amazing about Silent Hill 2 storytelling is the fact that the game shapes the story's ending secretly just by how you naturally play James Sunderland and it doesn't take anything away from the game since every ending is a valid one (well maybe not the joke ones, like the dog ending. The song is a earworm tho!).

Absolutely everything in this game is carefully crafted to bring a certain emotion or a message to the player. From the heavy and crippling atmosphere to the tiniest sound effects in the background, absolutely nothing is left for a chance. Even the often criticized “bad voice acting” and “clanky controls” were a deliberate choices from the Team Silent.  

Conclusion

Silent Hill 2 is a masterpiece when it comes to storytelling in video games. That is why I didn’t want to spoil much of the story because it’s a game that I think everyone should experience.