I finished the game for the first time some months ago (I got the bad ending which I actually liked, is this the first instance of a game going "the protagonist is dead and it's all on his head" played seriously?), but I did abstain myself from giving it a solid veredict untill I experienced at least another ending, just to be fair.

I've avoided spoilers for this game for literal years, something about the general vibes I got from the few glances I got from this game told me that it was worth it untill I could finally play it, and I was right.

I want to start with the obvious, I think that this game is beautiful. The thing with the fog hiding the city enough so that it can render properly (that gaming fun fact everyone knows) works so good in action, I think the misterious atmosphere is great, it feels oppresive but in a way a bit relaxing, and the illusion of a map of such size on a ps1 is impressive even if you know what's going on. I love the care in which the city was built, I surprised myself thinking "wow I whould actually like to spend a small vacation here, fog and monsters aside this looks like a pretty town", the details on the structures and shops and houses are very charming, and that adds to the uneasiness of them being fully abandoned.

I feel this way towards the Other World too, I am a fan of old horror movie sets, body horror and stuff. I truly believe that they are aesthetically pretty.

Oh and the cutscenes look very good for the time, very expresive and good looking faces.

The main thing of course, the meat of the game it's the horror. This is one of those pieces of media that you know were super influential to many that came after and when you experience it you get why. Just the starting premise, the anxiety of a father looking for his lost daughter alone is nerve wracking, and things keep piling on and on and on.

The oniric, almost hypnotic feel of it all, coupled with the fixed camera in some areas sell the experience as a horror tv show or movie perfectly.

And for a while that was it for me, I explored a bit, moved on with the story, the monsters stopped being scary and started being annoying mostly, I got the bad ending and I was ready to leave it as being a spooky gaming experience.

And then there on the screen on big golden letters it reads "New Fear".

I immediately started a new playthrough.

I think that not seeing the intro cutscene is intentional, being pitch black before Harry wakes up again at the very beggining. To me that alone made something click, the cyclical nature of the horrors and everything that Silent Hill represents, it's all a special neverending nightmare for every character involved, it was genius.

I explored more, I discovered more that the game has so many little secrets and references.

I started being more careful with enemies since the difficulty was up, I started rationing my ammom started being more careful on my routes, I started actually fearing the ringing of my radio, at one point I just turned off the light and walked through hallways solwly avoiding enemies prayind that they won't bump into me so I whouldn't have to make a run for it just yet. The real danger had set in for me and I loved it.

The more I discovered of the characters too, but especially Alessa, with the full context of Silent Hill being a manifestation of the horrible trauma that she cannot escape from, not even with death, and how said trauma swallows everyone else and her town, all thanks to the hands of the people that were supposed to protect her, a child, her mother and doctor. I feel bad for not being able to articulate this better, but the more you look into certain parts of the game with those lenses it makes some details hit you harder, that classroom with the single desk at the end of Nowhere hit especially hard for me...

Harry's involvement into this feels like a coincidense but something tells me that it was not, especially with what I saw getting the Good Ending the second time around, how much can you step into the physical manifestation of the psyche of a suffering person untill it merges with a part of you? This was what (can potentially) kill Cybil, what can it do to Harry or his daughter.

There's too much to talk about this game and a lot has already been said, I'll just leave it at that by the end of playthrough number 2 I was enchanted with it all.

Something sinister yet beautifull calls you to Silent Hill, and to me that's proof of the game acomplishing it's goal.

Eh what the hell, another playthrough won't hurt.