When you hear the name Silent Hill, it is familiar to most, even if they haven’t played the games. Silent Hill brings a perfect blend of eeriness to a video game that no other game can. Silent Hill is known for its beautiful storytelling, atmosphere, design, and gameplay. This game explores concepts of mental health and suppressed trauma that are manifested into horrific creatures.
Silent Hill 2 (Credit: Konami)
Where does it start?
Our setting is Toluca Lake, which was populated by Native Americans in Maine, USA. The “place of the silent spirits” was what they called this location. They also heavily believed that this area was dominated by spirits. The natives had to leave when the Europeans arrived and the first version of Silent Hill was built. Making Silent Hill a continual reminder of its past and the fates of the indigenous people. A woman named Jennifer Carroll would become a significant religious figure in this community before it was formally named Silent Hill.
She was revered as a saint by a cult known as The Order. Jennifer would ultimately be put to death, due to political reasons. Her statue, which is located in Rosewood Park, is proof of this. The inscription read on said statue, “Victim of persecution by the Christians, Jennifer Carroll lived with pride and honor. What happened here shall never be forgotten.” This is significant because, following Jennifer’s passing, a plague struck the village, causing residents to flee as the illness killed off the remaining townsfolk. The town was renamed for this reason.
The town was last named Silent Hill by a prisoner colony that grew up next to Toluca Lake in the 19th century. They built a hospital and a prison at this time. Following that, a second illness that the residents had survived had spread throughout the community. Other incidents did occur, but they have no impact on the game. The town established a prison in 1862 to keep inmates during the Civil War, but it subsequently became a correctional facility. People started to go missing in the town of Silent Hill. In the 20th century, the prison closed down and a museum took its place, turning the town into a tourist site. Later found were mysterious symbols located in the mines, and reports of mysterious creatures spread through the area, which were likely the entities we see in the Silent Hill game.
Silent Hill 2 remake- image pulled from trailer
Return To Silent Hill
You play as the main character, James Sunderland, and his search for his deceased wife Mary. In the introduction to the game, James receives a letter from his wife, instructing him to meet her at their “Special Place” at the lakeside retreat in a small town named Silent Hill. Automatically we see this as a big red flag because James mentions that he still mourns his wife three years after she had died. When James arrives he notices that the town he once visited is much different than the last. The city seemed dead in a way, the only living things he meets are human-like creatures that are extremely violent. You follow James all over the town looking for something he has already lost.
Walking through the town, you’ll notice how rundown the buildings are, as if they haven’t been occupied in decades. The remake is much different than the original. It has many more places you can visit and explore, doubling the original 8 hours the gameplay had.
A Timeless Game
I was skeptical at first about this remake and a lot of the fanbase for this game were too. Silent Hill is a big contributor for horror games and many developers take inspiration from it. When Silent Hill was made it focused a lot on mental health issues and was way ahead of its time. Nonetheless the graphics and quality of this remake is phenomenal, and the new voice acting captured that emotion that was lacking in the original. The Silent Hill team did an amazing job on the remake and it’s a game that I would recommend horror fans to play and read more up on the lore.
