You Promised Youd Take Me There Again Someday but You Never Did

"This town... there's something wrong with it."

"In my restless dreams,
I see that town.
Silent Hill.
You promised you'd accept me in that location again anytime,
But you never did.
Well, I'thousand solitary there now...
In our 'special identify'...
Waiting for you..."

Silent Hill two ^note A afterwards port for the original Xbox has a subtitle, which differs between regions of release. Restless Dreams is the North American subtitle of the game; Inner Fears is the European subtitle, and Poem of the Last Moment is the Japanese subtitle is a survival horror video game released in 2001, and the second game in the Silent Loma franchise. Despite sharing in the town of Silent Colina as its setting, information technology is not a direct sequel to the beginning game (that wouldn't come until Silent Colina 3), but rather a Gaiden Game that nevertheless continues its unique take on Psychological Horror and and so some.

James Sunderland receives a letter from his wife, Mary, that begs him to meet her in their "special place" in Silent Hill, a resort town they visited together in one case on vacation.

He but has i modest problem with the letter: Mary has been dead for iii years.

James travels to Silent Hill, despite knowing for sure that his married woman has died, to find out who wrote the alphabetic character and why they sent it. He arrives to discover a seemingly-abandoned town shrouded in a perpetual fog — a far weep from the resort town he remembers. During his exploration of Silent Hill, James meets several people who may or may not take a connection to the letter: Angela, a disturbed runaway looking for her mother; Eddie, a mentally unbalanced young man with a weight problem; Laura, a young daughter who seems to know Mary and bears a grudge against James; and Maria, a stripper with a remarkable resemblance to Mary who begs James to protect her.

James eventually discovers that his journeying through Silent Hill has a very personal slant, as the boondocks forces him to face up his fears, vices, and guilt via a number of increasingly symbolic monsters, near notably Pyramid Head (a muscular butcher in a pyramid-shaped helmet who stalks James through the boondocks).

Often regarded every bit not only the apex of the Silent Hill series just a masterwork of horror video games, Silent Hill 2 is well-known for its dour atmosphere and intensely psychological and metaphorical storyline, alongside its much-improved gameplay compared to the original. The game also has Multiple Endings based on James' full general behavior throughout the story (rather than on specific choices at sure junctions).

---

Silent Colina ii offers upward these tropes; they're waiting for you:

• Abusive Parents: Angela'southward parents. Daddy was physically and sexually abusive; Mommy said she deserved it. The blood brother fifty-fifty joined in on the sexual abuse.
• Adult Fright:
  • A human being has been deeply changed by his wife's early expiry. The fact that James killed her is another Developed Fright: the fearfulness of failing a loved one and of selfishness. James's guilt is overwhelming, hence his penalty. Due to his wife'due south long sickness James is likewise sexually frustrated, and aroused and guilty enough almost it that the town creates a physical manifestation of his night impulses toward sexual violence.
  • This is James and Maria's reaction to Laura running off on her own in a town filled with danger; the entire hospital sequence exists because they wanted to protect her.
• Advancing Boss of Doom: Pyramid Head, during the escape from the infirmary basement.
• Conflicting Geometries: Silent Loma starts exhibiting this more and more every bit the game goes on. The prison provides a particularly memorable example, where it seems that ane of the hallways was somehow inverted so that it turns into a giant pit.
• Ambiguous Ending:
  • The Maria ending, which sees James refusing to take responsibility for killing Mary; accepting Maria as a substitute partner; and subtly threatening her when she so much every bit coughs. This ending hints that the cycle may repeat, starting with Maria dying (either from sickness or by James' hand)... but to what extent his journey repeats is unknown.
  • The Leave ending sees Laura walking off ahead of James. However, Laura was never actually fond of James, so it'due south possible that he doesn't adopt her in this ending (which is what Mary had wanted to do) and they're simply walking off together to James' car. It'due south also non articulate if they reconciled after James revealed to her that he killed Mary, which would understandably make Laura hesitant to be adopted past James.
  • The Rebirth ending, obtained through a New Game+. James tries to resurrect Mary with some sort of ritual, but the player doesn't encounter the results.
• Amnesiac Dissonance: One of the characters somewhen discovers something about themselves that they tried to deny. Which one? James. He suffocated Mary before her illness could kill her and repressed his memory of doing and then.
• And Now For Something Completely Different: Every bit i fan interpretator has noted, the other three Silent Colina games washed by Team Silent ^note Silent Hill, Silent Colina 3 and Silent Hill 4 all take a very strong "occultic" theme, with 1 and 3 specifically being about Silent Hill'due south connection to a local cult, which is the primary focus of the narrative for both games. In SH2, the cult and the occult go mere groundwork elements, with the narrative instead focusing on repression of memories and guilt. The afterwards Silent Hill: Homecoming was really the first game in the series where both of themes were primal to the plot.
• Another Side, Another Story: The "Built-in from a Wish" sub-scenario in the PS2's Greatest Hits version, the Xbox version, and the HD re-release, where you play as Maria just before she meets James out past Toluca Lake.
• Asshole Victim: Angela murdered her father and brother earlier coming to Silent Colina. Because the quondam had been sexually abusing and tormenting her all her life and the latter participating in it, there'southward ZERO pity or sympathy to be had.

• Apocalyptic Log: Early in the game, James finds a series of notes written by a dead human being, which chronicle his experiences with the monsters and tips on how to deal with them. Chillingly, the second-to-terminal notation says only "Run abroad." The last features several more repetitions of "Run away!"
• Artifact Mook:
  • A cross-game instance: Pyramid Caput is explicitly made from part of James' damaged psyche, but enemies with a like design and purpose appear in other games beyond the series to menace dissimilar characters:
    • Homecoming has the very similarly appearing Bogeyman, with just a few small blueprint differences between the two. In this case, Bogeyman is instead a manifestation of Alex's father's guilt.
    • As well, in Origins we take the Butcher, who is visually somewhat similar to ol' Pyramid but has different symbolism. Whereas Pyramid Head is about the guilt of James, the Butcher is either the cruelty and sacrifice of the Social club, or is some manifestation of Travis' psyche, perhaps fear and acrimony.
  • Inverted past The Abstruse Daddy, who is sprung from Angela's psyche. When information technology reappears as a Degraded Boss, Angela is nowhere to be found, only the histrion afterward finds that she has indeed been nearby.
• Awesome, but Impractical: The Swell Pocketknife, if yous can country a hit, does enormous impairment, and you'll feel every bit dreaded as its owner with it in your hands. The downside is the same equally the proficient reason Pyramid Head is and then slow. James will be dragging the weapon while walking and turning slower than usual, and has a long time before the swing tin can connect - just it works quite well on targets that are stunned on the ground.

• Ax-Crazy: Eddie, definitely. Existence bullied his whole life and made fun of for his weight almost certainly did him no favors, and by the fourth dimension James meets him for the last time, he openly states that he will kill everyone who makes fun of him.
• Back from the Dead: Maria, who is brought back more than in one case. This happens considering she technically isn't a existent person. She's a manifestation of the boondocks made to torment James with each death.
• Berserk Button:
  • Maria's is James' disruptive her with Mary, which is foreign, considering she does it occasionally. President Evil's plot guide, analyzing the "Born from a Wish" sub-scenario, suggests that Maria doesn't have any identity outside of "surrogate Mary" — and she realizes this. Information technology confuses and hurts her that her only purpose in life seems to exist to torture some distressing and lone dude that she's never met before by representing his expressionless wife. She can't non misfile herself with Mary, but it yet hurts her when she and others do.
  • Eddie takes this trope to the logical farthermost. After Eddie is found standing over a corpse with a gun in his hand, he explains in a Motive Bluster that he wouldn't ever listen to anyone making fun of him again or he would kill them. This causes James to question Eddie'southward sanity aloud, and Eddie immediately attacks James.
• BFS: The Cracking Pocketknife. Unusually, the game realistically portrays how impractical such a weapon would be in real life — James drags information technology equally he walks, and has to struggle to fifty-fifty lift it for a strike. Pyramid Head himself fifty-fifty drags information technology along slowly and takes a while to do the overhand swing.
• Bloodshot Ending: The Exit ending, where James gets through his guilt, leaves Silent Hill and (probably) adopts Laura, but Mary is even so dead and James (and Laura) must alive with this.
• Dominate Corridor:
  • The final hallway to Mary'southward room. As with near things, the fourth dimension y'all linger in this hall affects the ending. A similar hallway, this ane lined with newspaper murder headlines, precedes the Abstract Daddy.
  • Another takes you into the depths of the earth to find a psychotic Boil.
• Boring, but Practical: Your bones pistol may not be the flashiest weapon, only y'all'll detect plenty of ammo for it and it is very handy for the rank and file monsters in the game. It's also useful confronting well-nigh of the bosses because you lot move fairly fast with it and can chop-chop reposition yourself between shots, whereas the shotgun and rifle are deadening and have a lengthy filibuster before y'all tin can motion later each shot. If information technology's inadequate for a task, your shotgun tin can unremarkably handle the challenge. It helps that there are two combination safes in the game that provide yous with a heap of additional ammo. The combinations are not besides challenging to decipher with some persistence.
• Bottomless Magazines: Averted in the fight with Eddie, who has exactly six shots with a revolver before having to resort to pistol-whipping James. This is a bit of a call-back to the fight in the commencement game with Cybil, who also tosses her gun abroad after running out of bullets.

• Cast from Striking Points: The unlockable Hyper Spray will slowly damage James. Luckily information technology takes most three minutes of continuous spraying to impale him from full health.

• Key Theme: Guilt and penalty.
  • Pyramid Head is the best overt case of this, as he is a manifestation of James's guilt for killing Mary, and his desire to exist punished for what he's done.
  • Maria's unabridged grapheme is meant to invoke this. Her constant deaths are meant to hammer in the guilt to James fifty-fifty harder, and she even berates him in a way that is clearly meant to invoke feelings of guilt in James.
  • Angela feels that she deserves to be punished for the constant sexual and emotional abuse she suffered in her home life, fifty-fifty though she really doesn't.
  • Eddie desires not to exist punished, but to punish those who have bullied him his unabridged life. A lack of guilt for his deportment ends up leading him downward a night path where he becomes an unapologetic murderer.
  • Laura is the only character who is truly innocent in every sense of the word (even when she acts cruel or aroused), and therefore feels no guilt. To Laura, the town has no monsters at all, and she's complimentary to leave after she discovers the truth about what happened to Mary.
• Chainsaw Good: In a New Game+, you tin find a chainsaw in the forested area virtually the start of the game. It'south not great against Lying Figures and Creepers, Pyramid Head, or enemies that need to be taken out at range (such as Flesh Lips or the final dominate), merely with expert timing, information technology can shred basically anything else.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Subverted with Angela'due south knife, which James obtains after the cutscene in the Blue Creek Apartments. It does serve a role, namely that oftentimes looking at this item in the inventory and assuasive James' health to go low volition consequence in the "In Water" ending, in which James commits suicide. However, the pocketknife isn't used in the actual act (looking at information technology just implies suicidal tendencies) and it remains unused in your inventory forever.
  • In the Brookhaven infirmary, James finds a Dry Cell Bombardment. Later, in the Silent Hill Historical Gild, he has to apply information technology because his flashlight suddenly goes out after finding a cardinal.
• Covers Always Lie: The game has Angela Orosco on the cover, merely she'southward more of a side graphic symbol. James is the true star of the game.
• Crusading Widower: James being a particularly dark example; his single-minded fixation on the search for his dead married woman is a consequence of the fact that he killed her himself. In one ending, this crusade culminates in his suicide.
• Dead Human Writing: Mary's letter. James even lampshades this in the opening of the game. Information technology actually isn't the whole letter. The whole thing is revealed in the endings.
• Death Amnesia: Maria was killed past pyramid head just before the elevator. When James meets her once again in the prison, she claims they were just separated in that corridor.
• Degraded Boss: The Abstract Daddy reappears equally a reasonably piece of cake kill a couple of times subsequently its first advent equally a unsafe boss.
• Developers' Foresight: For whatever reason, the dev team decided to avoid a particular Unintentionally Unwinnable moment. If y'all somehow make it to the final dominate (who flies and is thus immune to melee) without any ammo, or run out of ammo during the fight, it will run a special script, rapidly take damage, and die anyways .
• Disgusting Public Toilet: 2, in fact!
  • The game begins in one, and information technology'due south surprisingly gorgeous with the music that plays as James prepares himself for the route ahead.
  • James sticks his mitt into one without even so much as rolling up his sleeve first. Silent Colina three even references this particular moment with the main character wondering who would practice something so disgusting.

• Driven to Madness:
  • Eddie goes mad along the game, having been so obsessed with the murder and assail he committed that he fifty-fifty tries to impale James afterwards in the game.
  • Presumably James is as well driven to madness in the Maria ending, where he decides to forget nearly Mary and live with Maria, who isn't real, existence merely a manifestation of his guilt.
• Driven to Suicide:
  • James came to Silent Hill with the intention of committing suicide, but only goes through with information technology in the In Water ending.
  • Implied with Angela, who is last seen walking up a called-for staircase, never to be seen over again.
• Drone of Dread: A large portion of the soundtrack is this, and it helps to enhance the feelings of dread and anxiety that the game excels at creating.
• Downer Ending: Both the In Water ending, where James is Driven to Suicide and the Maria ending, where James is presumably Driven to Madness.
• Dual Dominate: The final time Pyramid Head appears, James has to deal with two of them. Like always, they are invulnerable to anything you have bachelor, but if James avoids their attacks long plenty, they'll impale themselves on their own spears. It symbolizes that James has accepted his guilt and is ready to move on.
• Early on-Bird Cameo: Although he did not appear in person, Walter Sullivan was really first mentioned in the game 3 times (first in a mag article at the flat buildings, then as an respond to a question in the hospital and finally his grave at a cemetery displayed prominently next to headstones for all the game'south other major characters) earlier he made a physical appearance in Silent Loma iv.
• Earn Your Bad Ending: The "Rebirth" ending can just be obtained in New Game Plus, and involves collecting iv subconscious special items found throughout the game. The "Maria" ending can besides be tricky to get on a normal playthrough, peculiarly on the higher difficulties where she's apt to take heavy damage in certain sections, such as the Pyramid Head hunt.
• Earn Your Happy Catastrophe: The "Leave" ending requires a very specific play style that isn't necessarily obvious. To put information technology simply, you need to prove to the game that you take a burning determination to run into Mary again, and playing the game like a completionist tends to foreclose you from earning this ending.
• Eldritch Location: Well, obviously all of Silent Hill, just specifically for this game is the Hotel. It shifts dorsum and forth between being normal, dark, water damaged, burnt out, burnt out, night, AND water damaged, and some kind of metal skeleton of the building.
• Elevator Escape: Lucky for James. Not so much for Maria. In fact, the closing of the doors seems triggered to make James see the full grisly consequences of his cocky-preservation.
• Catastrophe by Ascending: Angela is last seen ascending a burning staircase to what is apparently a Self-Inflicted Hell.
• Escort Mission: James meets Maria at Rosewater Park and she accompanies him until partway through the hospital department, at which point she decides to rest for awhile. She rejoins him sometime later on, just in time to get summarily murdered by Pyramid Head. There is relatively little combat for most of the time they are together so the chances of her being hurt are fairly slight.
• Fan Disservice: Nice plumber'due south crack you got there, Eddie.
  • This is also invoked with the designs of the enemies. The Nurse monsters have exposed cleavage... With incredibly decayed skin, and a massive lump of flesh where their head should be.
• Fan Sequel: Silent Loma: Promise
• Fanservice: If you unlock the Dog ending (or just watch information technology on You lot Tube), the credits end with a shot of a vitrify, shirtless James and Maria in her underwear.

• Finishing Move: After knocking an enemy downward with gunfire, you tin can run up to them and stomp on them to kill them instantly. This can make the departure between killing an enemy with simply two-3 bullets, rather than 8-12 bullets.
• Foe Romance Subtext: Pyramid Head spends most of the game stalking James beyond the town, repeatedly kills the just other person interested in him, and interrupts his set on on some other monster twice to pursue James instead. Keep in mind that PH is combined manifestation of James' sexual frustration and desire to be punished for Mercy Killing his wife.
• Foreshadowing: Partway through the Labyrinth, James comes across a graveyard with graves for himself, Eddie, and Angela. Eddie always dies, Angela's fate is left cryptic, and James can die depending on the ending.
  • At the very first of the game, Angela warns James that the town has "something wrong with it", yet James seems to brush it off. When Angela reacts like she thinks James believes she's lying, he tells her that he believes her, simply realizes he rather doesn't care if it is or not. While on the one manus information technology shows his determination to detect Mary, information technology'south likewise a subtle hint that James is actually suicidal and isn't bothered with the thought of getting killed. Likewise foreshadows the "In H2o" catastrophe since acting dangerously will consequence in that ending, reinforcing James' attitude of not caring about danger anymore.
  • At the bowling alley, Laura frankly asks why Eddie doesn't merely confess to his crimes. Near the cease of the game, James has to confess to his crimes to the twin Pyramid Heads, which is the cardinal to him finally able to leave Silent Hill.

• Four Is Death: The fourth fourth dimension that James meets Eddie he dies, and the fourth time he meets Angela is the final time she's seen, though her fate is left cryptic.

• Game Mod: The community-driven Silent Colina 2: Enhanced Edition projection, which non just aims to fix many of the issues of the bilious 2002 PC port, but also features many mod enhancements (e.g. HD resolutions, improved FMVs, XInput/DualShock 4 controller support) while restoring missing and/or simplified PlayStation 2 features.
• Genius Loci: The boondocks itself is unsaid to be i, drawing off the experiences, memories, emotions, and fears that those who visit it have.
• Gratuitous Japanese: James inexplicably speaks Japanese during the Dog Ending cutscene. Notably, despite being a Japanese made game, it only has an English rails, making this ending the only part with whatever Japanese voice piece of work regardless of region.
• Guide Dang Information technology!: As noted to a higher place, Silent Hill two breaks the mold past being less intuitive about its endings than the previous and subsequent games, relying on diverse conditions dictated by the histrion'due south behavior over the course of the story. Some of them are foreshadowed slightly, but otherwise they're never clear as to why 1 happens over another.
  • "In Water" is probably the easiest catastrophe to get as information technology requires taking a lot of damage that the player is lax most healing quickly, checking Angela's knife at to the lowest degree once, checking out the periodical on height of Brookhaven Hospital, and listening to the tape and hallway conversations in the Hotel. Essentially, act suicidal and yous'll get this i.
  • "Leave" is also relatively easy, but generally requires the player to be adequately aware of its requirements to get it. The player needs to heal often whenever James gets injured, check Mary's photo and letter, and avoid getting too close to Maria while she is following you. Basically, act similar you want to alive and yet care about Mary to get this one.
  • "Maria" is considerably harder, equally it does require Violation of Mutual Sense in some means. Protect Maria at all costs, make sure to check upward on her whenever possible when she starts feeling poorly in Brookhaven, and otherwise stay by her, mind to her, and don't annoy her by pushing her out of the way when moving. More or less, the player has to essentially forget Mary and prioritize Maria over everything else. This ane is especially hard during the infamous Pyramid Head hunt in the basement of Otherworld Brookhaven.
  • "Rebirth" is difficult due to the fact that it'due south simply possible afterwards beating the game in one case. This 1 requires collecting 4 relics scattered throughout Silent Hill. Collecting all four overrides any other endings you're progressing through, but skillful luck finding them all...
• Hell Hotel: The Lakeview Hotel. Downplayed in that it's noticeably less monster-infested than the apartments, hospital, or historical gild/prison, and largely is just creepy and empty. Even the Other World version of it doesn't accept many monsters in your path, with only a handful of basic enemies between yous and the concluding bosses.
• Hellevator:
  • The lift that marks the stop of Toluca Prison house and the start of the Labyrinth. The doors shut past themselves, and it's a ride downwards at a reasonable speed that takes a full minute to exist completed.
  • During a long ride in the hospital elevator, James' radio picks up a macabre game show, complete with wacky host.
• Here Nosotros Go Again!: The "Maria" ending implies that Maria will finish up suffering the same fate as Mary. It is also speculated that James may accept to endure his journey through Silent Hill afresh, and that he cannot leave the boondocks until he gains true closure.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: Every actual fight with Pyramid Head is similar this, until the last one in which the two Pyramid Heads impale themselves. The just way to "win" is to avoid him long plenty to escape, though shooting him does slow him downward and reduce the amount of time you have to hold out earlier he goes away.
• Implacable Man: Pyramid Caput. No amount of harm tin damage him, and he oftentimes appears without a cutscene, providing an excellent source of Paranoia Fuel, peculiarly in the basement of the hospital, when yous realize oh God he'southward correct behind me. All you can do is run.
• In Proper noun Only: The game has naught at all to do with the outset game other than sharing a full general setting and the concept of a place reflecting elements of a person's psyche. The evil cult, nowadays in many other titles and usually central to their plots, is entirely absent here aside from some very vague references.
• Incurable Cough of Decease: Used in the "Maria" catastrophe to imply that Maria will endure the same fate as Mary. Also used in a cutscene in Brookhaven Hospital, where Maria volition take unspecified pills on her person and insist "[i]t'southward just a hangover."
• Inescapable Ambush: The first battle with the Pyramid Head. The door inexplicably closes behind James. He tries to open information technology, to no avail.
• Infinity -1 Sword: The piping barely gains this honor due to the limited melee weapons in the game. Expert damage and non too slow to utilise, with a decently powerful overhead swing. Admitting, the game'southward generosity with ammo tends to make using it less necessary.
• Infinity +i Sword: The chainsaw, which is a Bragging Rights Reward on any difficulty but Like shooting fish in a barrel, and available after talking to Angela in the cemetery at the beginning of the game.
• Ink-Suit Actor: James' advent is based off of his vocalism actor, Guy Cihi. Cihi also did the move capture for James.
• I Never Told You My Name: Maria calls James by proper name in spite of the fact that he never introduces himself. James never comments on this or responds to it in any style, and it's far from the simply knowledge she should not take and still does.
• Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence: At the beginning of the game when James showtime encounters a Shadow, Katz Street is blocked off by some police force tape, in comparing to Sanders Street where James turns around to investigate said shadow and the sinkhole past Vachss Road intersection. All three of these routes would lead to the seemingly ultimate destination, Rosewater Park. Instead of but going over or ducking under said police tape and getting things over with, James wanders off a side road to encounter the first monster - afterward which point, the police force tape gets cutting and allows passage.
• Karma Meter: Dissimilar the rest of the main Silent Hill series, the catastrophe is adamant past an invisible Karma Meter. And dissimilar about video games, it's not just "good" and "evil": staying at full health as much equally possible gives you lot "Exit" and "Maria" points. Glancing at Angela's knife periodically and not giving much of a damn near your wellness gives y'all "In Water" ending points. Examining Mary'south alphabetic character multiple times, peculiarly after the text vanishes, counts towards "Leave." Various documents and other items you tin can examine can give you points on all three meters.
• Law of Asymmetric Response:
  • "'Anyway?' What do you hateful, 'anyway'?!" Maria'south outburst is triggered by James's not "sound[ing] very happy to meet [her]" afterward she "was almost killed dorsum at that place."
  • When Eddie snaps, things rapidly become south afterwards he runs into James the last time.

    James: Eddie, take you gone nuts?

• Lethal Joke Weapon: The plank. Information technology's your starting weapon, and information technology'due south weaker than almost of the weapons in the game, but dissimilar the other normal melee weapon in the game (the Steel Pipe), you can actually motion while using information technology, letting James run circles effectually his enemies.
• Madness Mantra: The i typing into the carbon paper with the typewriter attempted "no one can end me", just was dropping unabridged words, and merely got a few repetitions out.
• Manslaughter Provocation:
  • Angela. Throughout the game, it is hinted at that she was sexually abused by her father. A newspaper article that James finds later more or less confirms that she killed him.
  • Eddie claims this.

    "Do you know what it does to you, James? When you're hated, picked on, spit on, only 'cause of the manner y'all look? After you've been laughed at your whole friggin' life?"

• Mercy Impale: James claims that Mary'south death was this; his overwhelming guilt after the fact is what sets the events of the game in motion. Whether or not he did it out of mercy is cryptic — James' admission and reasoning, and whether Mary accepts and forgives or hates him is different in each ending.
• Mental Monster: Such creatures include the leggy mannequins, and the membrane-bound lying figures, all having rather sexual designs. Near of them are manifestations of James's sexual frustration and increasing depravity ever since his wife Mary fell terminally ill, and the 2 Pyramid Heads originate from his guilt of murdering his married woman the week earlier and later Eddie in cocky-defense, existing for the sole purpose of fulfilling James'southward desire for karmic punishment because of said guilt. One time he realizes he doesn't need the Pyramid Head to punish him for his sins, they promptly skewer themselves on their own spears.
• Merging the Branches: The canonicity of the game's Multiple Endings is never confirmed by the developers. You lot may interpret James' choices and fate whichever way, for all are equally valid, and no single conclusion holds more than weight than the others. The only reference to James later in the series comes in Silent Colina 4, when Frank Sunderland mentions that his son left for Silent Hill and he hasn't seen him since. This doesn't really prove anything, though: even in the "Get out" ending there are plenty of reasons why James might have chosen non to return to his onetime life, ranging from lingering guilt over Mary'south expiry to perhaps being wanted for her murder (and, of course, the difficulty of legally adopting Laura equally a unmarried parent who recently euthanised their spouse).
• Metaphorically Truthful: James's belief that Mary died three years ago (which is eventually proven imitation) probable stems from a subconscious feeling that the idealized Mary who he loved, was effectively lost to him when she began to mentally and physically deteriorate from her disease. The implication is that Silent Colina latched on to this subconscious feeling and allowed him to believe that is what actually happened.
• Mood Whiplash: The Dog ending. A whole game'southward worth of unpleasant weirdness, followed past a cute domestic dog and a jaunty tune.
• More than Teeth than the Osmond Family: The nurses, though their constant twitching makes it difficult to run across. Conversely, the Otherworld nurses have simply a blank hint of a face.
• Multiple Endings: A series staple.
  • Get out: James forgives himself, makes peace with Mary, and leaves Silent Hill. Information technology's unsaid that he ends up adopting Laura like Mary wanted to in this ending.
  • In Water: Mary begs James to move on, just James tin can't milk shake the feelings of guilt. He kills himself past driving into Toluca Lake (along with a dead Mary, who was in the backseat the whole time) in social club to truly be with her again.
  • Maria: James turns to Maria to milk shake the guilt of killing Mary, simply every bit they leave Silent Hill together, Maria coughs awfully, implying that she has contracted the aforementioned affliction that killed Mary. James, taking an uncharacteristically dark tone, tells her, "Y'all ameliorate exercise something about that cough."
  • Rebirth: James turns to the occult to bring Mary back to life, gathering items institute throughout the game and taking her body to the church well-nigh the lake to resurrect her body. Nosotros practise not see the results, merely they're probably not pretty, given Silent Hill's track tape of "rebirth".
  • Canis familiaris: James breaks into a room in the hotel where he finds a Shiba Inu decision-making the entirety of Silent Loma. He starts speaking Japanese equally he realizes the dog was backside everything that happened to him, falls to his legs overcome with grief equally said Shiba Inu licks his face to cheer him up. Yes.
  • UFO: Another series staple. Harry from the first game (however looking like he did on the PS1) arrives at the hotel, and the 2 protagonists discuss their motives before James is abducted as well.
• Murderous Mannequin: Ane of the monsters. It's a pair of Mannequin legs fused together to give a warped visage of a female figure.
• At present I Lay Me Downward to Sleep: The music during the Rebirth ending credits is titled The Reverse Will. The vocal's lyrics is said poem, but information technology's Sdrawkcab Speech and has an echo.
• Nightmare Sequence:
  • The game shifts into this type of feel during and after exiting the hospital. The town becomes completely night and James is led to a "Historical Order". From there, James explores an hole-and-corner prison that devolves into complete Bizarrchitecture that takes him farther and farther surreptitious, with an impossibly long stairway and multiple deep, homo-made-looking holes that he must leap into. Towards the end he discovers Maria alive, who claims to have never been killed in the showtime identify. The nightmare seems to end afterward James gains a significant insight, and this places James back into the foggy town from before. Lampshaded by a door encountered in the beginning wing of the town which is unlocked during the same Nightmare Sequence and also has a relevant quote written side by side to it:

    The door that wakes in darkness, opening into nightmares.

  • Information technology shifts back to a Nightmare Sequence — albeit with less darkness and more water and rot — when James leaves room 312, after the revelation that he killed Mary.
• No-Gear Level: There's an lift, just it has a limited weight allowance and all items need to be deposited on a nearby shelf. This elevator leads to the employee'due south section of the hotel, initially vacant merely has enemies in the basement corridor. One time you return to the main department of the hotel, James has to run by a few new enemies that announced.
• Nonindicative Name: The rail "Theme of Laura" has nothing to do with Laura but rather it is the main theme of Silent Loma 2.
• No OSHA Compliance: Or at least, No Housing Code Compliance. James is able to cross between the ii apartment buildings by opening the fire escape on one of them to find that information technology's been torn down to make room for the other one next door, and so climbing through the window in the other apartment. Any developer who tried to tear down a fire escape on a multi-story apartment edifice to brand room for construction would exist either vetoed by housing authorities, or thrown in jail past them after existence constitute out. Then again, given that Silent Hill tends to brand merry beloved to geography, this may be justified as Malevolent Architecture.

• Notice This: Done very subtly. James volition plow his caput towards items that tin can be picked up. As a result, paying close attention to whether James is looking straight alee or tilting his head around can alert you to if there are items nearby.
• Nothing Is Scarier: At the start of the game, James spends the first 15 or so minutes walking down a fog-shrouded path along the edge of a cliff. At that place are no monsters or any obstacles of any sort, and barely any sounds other than your footsteps (and those mysterious footsteps coming from backside yous... or are they?)
• Non Quite the Right Thing:
  • Since Maria looks and sounds similar Mary, being protective and considerate towards her may seem like what you should exist doing. Unfortunately, she'due south a construct designed to distract James from his quest.
  • Playing the game like a completionist (exploring thoroughly, examining all objects, conserving your wellness items unless you're critically hurt) actually gets you ane of the darkest endings, as multiple examinable objects (Angela's knife, the diary on the roof, the dark message in Neely'due south Bar, and the audio record in the Alternate Hotel) massively increase your score towards getting the "In Water" catastrophe (just 2 out of 4 can give yous the ending, peculiarly if you lot play through the game at even fourscore% wellness).
• "Non So Dissimilar" Remark: Invoked past Eddie during his Motive Rant.

  Eddie: Don't go all holy on me, James. This town chosen you too. You and me are the same. We're not like other people.

• Oddball in the Series: Amidst the games adult by "Squad Silent" at least, this is the but game of the original 4 that puts the Myth Arc of the Lodge to the side and focuses more than on a personalized psychological horror story.
• Oh, Crap!: James takes seeing Pyramid Head raping a dead monster well-nigh besides as you'd think he would.

• Ominous Fog: Naturally. Early on the town is completely shrouded in fog, though it later goes away when the town goes completely dark. Information technology returns near the end of the game right before you go to the Lakeview Hotel.
• Ominous Salve Prompt: All of the salvage points count, since they're impossible to miss anywhere, but how about nine of them arranged in a brilliant red foursquare on the Hotel'south top floor, correct before the twin Pyramid Caput fight?
• Parental Incest: It's heavily implied that Angela was sexually driveling by her father.
• Telephone Telephone call from the Dead: The game begins with one of these from the protagonist's dead married woman, in the form of a letter. It'south revealed to be a Dead Homo Writing, because he had repressed the truthful retentivity of her manner of expiry.
• Psychological Torment Zone: The entire town of Silent Loma is this for those information technology targets. James is tormented past his guilt over the murder of his wife, Angela is constantly reminded of her sexual and emotional abuse at the hands of her parents to the point she considers (and maybe goes through with) suicide, and Eddie is unable to escape the fear and hate that come with years of being bullied. Laura is the only one not affected by it due to not having whatever sins at all.
• Quote Mine: Mary's letter. The letter in your inventory is only the start part of a much longer message, and was "chosen" by the town to mislead James into thinking Mary might still exist alive. At the end of the game, in the "Leave" and "Maria" endings, you go the total text of the letter, which makes it clear that she's still talking virtually what she sees in her dreams, and then goes into her final thoughts earlier she loses the ability to say anything else.
• The Reveal: The video tape reveals the truth behind the whole story: Mary is not in Silent Hill, and she did not die three years ago from her illness. She's only been expressionless for roughly a week... because James smothered her to expiry with a pillow. The alphabetic character from Mary in James'southward possession at the beginning of the game is a delusion conjured by James to cope with what he'd done, or conjured past the town to torment James.
• Recurring Dominate: You have to deal with Pyramid Head several times in a multifariousness of ways.
• Replacement Goldfish: Maria. Deconstructed in that she's a creation of the town manifested from James' want to meet his wife and subverted in that the "Maria" ending implies that she will autumn sick like Mary.
• Resources Management Gameplay: Downplayed compared to about other Survival Horror games. While resources are finite, the game is quite generous with them, specially if you lot explore around and make certain to apply your Finishing Move to relieve on ammo in combat. Throughout the game you can notice near 600 handgun bullets, 200 shotgun rounds, 70 rifle rounds, etc. On Normal difficulty, as long as you save ammo by using your Finishing Movement and don't waste product ammo by fighting anything on the streets (where they tin be hands evaded), you've more than enough bullets to kill everything you lot come up across 2 or three times over.
• Revolvers Are Just Better: Eddie certainly thinks so, simply he'south forced to resort to pistol-whipping subsequently half dozen shots. Maria too starts out with a rather beefy snub-nosed wheelgun in her scenario, simply discards information technology just before setting out to discover James.
• Retraux:
  • Harry'southward cameo in the UFO ending uses the blocky PS1-era graphics.
  • "Soundless Mountain 2", a 2D Super-Plain-featured fan de-make.
• Rule of Funny:
  • The pizza scene. Why is Eddie eating pizza in the middle of a monster-infested area? How was he able to obtain one when no ane'due south around to make it, nor anything to brand it with? If it wasn't a byproduct of the weirdness of Silent Hill, then it could but exist explained with this trope.
  • The Dog Catastrophe, which simply doesn't brand sense even within the context of the setting... which makes it that much funnier.
• Self-Inflicted Hell: The boondocks of Silent Hill itself, in this game more and so than the others in the series. Angela really doesn't deserve the torment she goes through, merely her belief that she deserves it brings information technology upon her anyway.
• Sheathe Your Sword: In your first encounter with Pyramid Head, yous win by avoiding him and not attacking until he goes away. You lot can also bulldoze him off if y'all shoot him enough times, which non merely slows him downwardly, but information technology makes the invisible counter become downward faster.
• Shout-Out:
  • In the Lakeview Hotel, if you examine the heater, James will find a note on the back of it that says: "I'chiliad Johnny, one hot guy." This may be a reference to the The Shining (Heeeeeere's Johnny!) where main character Jack Torrance forgets to adjust the force per unit area on the former banality room of The Overlook Hotel, causing it to catch on burn down. A affiche for The Shining can also be seen on a wall before James gets to town.
  • A character named Eddie dies in a freezer.
  • The infamous cupboard scene is homage to the as agonizing Blue Velvet.
  • James go dragged through the hospital via gurney. He'southward wearing an Olive M-65. His initials are JS. Sounds familiar?
  • The infamous Dog Ending is based on a memorable scene the Murder, She Wrote episode "It's a Canis familiaris's Life" that likewise features a dog using a security organisation command console to wreak mortiferous havoc (although the domestic dog in question was a beagle rather than a Shiba Inu).
• Sinister Scraping Sound: Pyramid Caput scrapes his behemothic blade along the ground.

• Sprint Meter: Not as a visible meter, but James runs a bit slower after running for a period of time, and noticeably stops to catch his breath if you finish running. Information technology's non a major gene due to the by and large boring enemies in the game, only managing the sequel's sprint meter is much more important due to the faster enemies and several sequences requiring extended running.
• Stairway to Heaven:
  • The game plays with this trope in the labyrinth's downward staircase "that leadeth thee to Purgatory."
  • Inverted with Angela'due south upward staircase to Hell.
  • Played directly after James has faced and dealt with his guilt.
• Story Difficulty Setting: The "Beginner" difficulty setting essentially disables the combat, assuasive players to, according to the manual, "enjoy the storyline, drama and puzzles of Silent Hill 2 without fighting". It doesn't remove monsters altogether, but it makes them so weak that fifty-fifty a single bash with the plank is plenty to kill ane.
• Stupidity Is the Only Option: During the boss fights confronting Pyramid Head, all your shots ping off his helmet. There'south no mode to aim downwards and hit, y'know, his unarmored, seemingly fully vulnerable trunk.
• Suddenly Harmful Harmless Object: The commencement Mannequin encountered reacts when James took the flashlight. They'll be frequently appearing afterwards.

• Sympathetic Murder Backstory: James smothered his wife to death. There are several different factors which drove him to do this, and some of them come up across as less than savory, simply the overall impression is that James is a desperate and despairing man doing what he feels is the right affair.
• Through the Eyes of Madness: The game heavily implies this trope. When a actor returns to the spot where they killed their kickoff monster after in the game, they'll find information technology surrounded by police tape. Most the end, the motel keeps shifting between bizarrchitecture and its normal state. The letter from Mary also counts; shortly after James'southward last meet with Eddie, the writing vanishes, then the stationery it was written on vanishes, so finally the envelope that contained the alphabetic character vanishes.
• Together in Expiry: Monster designer Masahiro Itō has confirmed (via Twitter) that Mary's dead body was in the backseat the whole time . This ways that, in the "In H2o" ending, James drives her into Toluca Lake with him, never to be separated again. (It can exist further inferred from Mary'due south presence in the automobile that to complete such a murder-suicide was actually James' initial motivation for returning to Silent Hill.) Notwithstanding, at that place'due south no direct evidence supporting her presence in the car in the game itself, with the catastrophe merely depicting the car sounds and James' internal dialogue over a black screen. Even so, that internal dialogue begins with "At present I empathise. The existent reason I came to this town," and ends with "Now... nosotros can exist together." Information technology should be noted that the graffiti in the Nighttime World version of Neely's Bar taunts him that he "might be heading to a different place than Mary" (i.e. hell, since he committed murder and, past that signal, has at to the lowest degree considered suicide).
• Tomato in the Mirror: Mary died anywhere from a few hours to a week earlier the game—from James smothering her with a pillow. James had forgotten he'd done this.

• Tulpa: According to some theories, the beingness of the character Maria can be explained by this concept equally an eroticized manifestation of James' deceased wife. She is briefly playable during the Born From A Wish segment included in the re-release, subtitled Restless Dreams—which subtitle itself is suggestive that she was literally conceived primarily from James' unconscious desires, specifically his repressed sexual desire apropos his late wife Mary during the progression of her disease. Maria too seems to share some of Mary's own memories apart from James (hence her knowledge almost and empathy for Laura), as well equally an occasional outburst of the inner dominatrix (James oft perceived Mary in her last years as a manipulative bully, bent on emasculating him). Although Maria physically resembles Mary, their personalities differ starkly; and throughout the game, Maria makes numerous attempts to delineate her individuality and differentiate herself from Mary before James, who is consistently unable to distinguish the ii.
• Turns Red: Inverted; most of the bosses actually get weaker as the battle progresses. Pyramid Head stops using his quicker, more dangerous swipe and starts exclusively using his boring, easily dodged overhead swing, once you kill one Flesh Lip the other is much easier to deal with by itself and the third i simply shows up once the first two are expressionless, Eddie's attacks become less aggressive and he starts trying to run away and hibernate as his health gets low, and Maria uses her butterfly attack less frequently as she starts getting depression on wellness, giving you more fourth dimension to pump bullets into her.
• Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: Specifically when the "Pull a fast one on or Treat" quiz show randomly plays on James's radio. Maria and James once more bear witness what a comedy duo they would make by their reactions at the end.
• Unexplained Recovery: Maria reappears in the prison after existence fatally impaled by Pyramid Head in the hospital basement with no explanation, apart from insisting she and James were "separated in that long hallway". This is non the final fourth dimension this happens, either.
• Unreliable Narrator: James repressed his memory almost what really happened with his wife. Near the end, when the actor starts to realize this, the letter of the alphabet James supposedly received becomes blank, and eventually disappears.
• Unusable Enemy Equipment:
  • Subverted with Pyramid Caput'south weapon, the Slap-up Pocketknife. After in the game, this weapon can be picked up in a room in the labyrinth.
  • Played direct with the spear the Great Knife is replaced with.
• Vague Striking Points:
  • The interruption menu has a dissimilar coloured filter depending on how much health there is.
  • Grapheme animations change based on remaining health.
  • The game only shows a large cross at the bottom-right corner when at low wellness. Otherwise health is shown on the inventory screen with a color shade in the top-left corner, and no indication if using a health item could crusade excess hit-points to exist lost.
• Victoria's Hole-and-corner Compartment: Maria keeps the three keys to a triple-locked door tucked into her short skirt, in her boots, and in her cleavage (in that order). While she'due south opening the door, James attempts to sneak a peek.
• Video Game Caring Potential: Very insidious subversion: Being especially caring and protective toward Maria is the wrong option, since she's a demonic creation designed to test how faithful James actually is to his quest for Mary.
• Violation of Mutual Sense: In the Historical Society, repeatedly: "The pigsty's nighttime and I can't see anything. Will you jump down?" If y'all don't choose "yes", you can't keep with the game.
• Vomit Discretion Shot: The cutscene introducing Eddie has him airsickness into a toilet. Copiously. The camera angles carefully foreclose the player from actually seeing him puke, though the sound of Eddie'southward spewing works well plenty on its own.
• Vorpal Pillow: James puts Mary out of her misery past smothering her with a pillow.
• Wham Episode: Everything from the end of the Labyrinth to the end of the game serves equally one long one. To wit: Eddie goes insane and James is forced to kill him, Maria dies again, Laura reveals Mary didn't die three years ago, Angela states her Wham Line below, and James finally remembers that he killed Mary.
• Wham Line:
  • When James finally reaches the Hotel, he speaks to Angela, finding her in a perpetually burning stairwell. What she says every bit she'due south leaving reveals a lot about her character, but as well that each person in Silent Hill experiences their own personal torment- for Angela, she believes that she deserves to burn in hell, so she sees fire everywhere.

    Angela : You lot see it, also? ...For me, it'southward always like this.

  • Eddie drops a massive ane in James' confrontation with him:

    Eddie: Don't get all holy on me, James! This town called yous, too!

  • Once more afterward reaching the Hotel, James meets Laura and discovers that Mary didn't die three years ago- she died, at the most, a week ago.
  • After leaving the Apartments, James encounters Laura, who drops this on him as she leaves:

    Laura: None of your business. You didn't love Mary anyway!

  • When James finally reaches the old room he stayed in at the Hotel, he finds a videotape and plays it. James then is forced to remember that he killed Mary anywhere from a week to a few hours ago, and he tells Laura this equally softly as he tin.

    James: I'm... deplorable. The Mary you know isn't here.

  • Depending on the ending you get, Maria may deliver one in the conversation before the Final Boss. The nearly obvious one is in the "Leave" ending where James sees "Mary" and calls out to her. She turns around, looks at him and...

    Maria: When volition you ever end making that mistake!

• Welcome to Hell: An incomplete "WELCOME!" sign hangs over Route 73.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In all just the "Leave" ending, Laura's fate is never revealed outside having to go dorsum to the orphanage with the knowledge that Mary is dead and James killed her.
• Womb Level: Players fight the Abstruse Daddy dominate in a room featuring fleshy, pulsating walls and pistons thrusting in and out of said walls. The flooring even squishes nether James' footsteps. The room supposedly represents Angela'southward uterus.
• World of Symbolism: Tons, especially in the enemy designs and also in the characters. Only well-nigh everything James sees is an insight into his personality and deepest fears.
• You Are Improve Than You Recollect Yous Are: The final conversation in the "Go out" catastrophe includes such a moment.

  James: The truth is... I hated you. I wanted you lot out of the way. I wanted my life back!
  Mary: If that were true... then why exercise y'all look so sad?

---

He who is not bold enough
to be stared at from beyond
the abyss is not assuming plenty
to stare into information technology himself

mckillopmarming.blogspot.com

Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/SilentHill2

Share this post