He who is not bold enough to be stared at from across the abyss is not bold enough to stare into it himself.
The best kind of horror media is one that you cannot simply turn off and feel safe from; instead, it seeps into your life and makes you reflect on yourself, as truly scary things can never be completely escaped.
Doubt, guilt, and trauma coalesce in our minds in a way that is often indescribable to others. A unique and impactful experience that incites trauma is something you cannot run from, you cannot hide from, and will manifest its ugly face in wholly unique ways to you and only you.
Silent Hill 2's characters all have solitary experiences that break them down as individuals. As you progress through the game as James, trying to grapple with his own intense, demonic guilt, we see the suffering of other characters in passing-by. Eddie and Angela do not exist to help or hinder James, not really. They are not villains nor are they heroes, they are not there to progress James' story. Instead, they and all the unfortunate souls who venture to Silent Hill experience guilt and trauma in their own way, one that we cannot truly understand without their direct perspectives. We may see them as crazy, unpredictable, or confusing characters that act strangely. In reality, they are no different from James, all victims of themselves. Angela says it best, at the end of the Lakeview Hotel. As the building seemingly burns, the room engulfed by flames, we see a small glimpse of another perspective's coping. "For me, it's always like this," she says.
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The powerful narrative and themes present in this game are complimented by a consistently great gameplay experience that takes the original Silent Hill's formula and more or less perfects it. The game rarely wavers in quality, a seamless experience blending from beginning to end, subtly weaving in the core messages through character interactions, notes, journals, enemy placements, and haunting sounds. Everything in Silent Hill 2 is intentional, each another facet of James's living nightmare.
Silent Hill is more than just a haunted town. It is a place that, under no circumstances, do you want to find yourself in, and yet for some it is unavoidable. It is where the depths of one's consciousness come to manifest themselves as a real-life hell, one that most do not make it out of. It may very well be the greatest challenge of one's life to survive the nightmare, but if you can, perhaps you can finally leave the town for good.
9.5/10
The best kind of horror media is one that you cannot simply turn off and feel safe from; instead, it seeps into your life and makes you reflect on yourself, as truly scary things can never be completely escaped.
Doubt, guilt, and trauma coalesce in our minds in a way that is often indescribable to others. A unique and impactful experience that incites trauma is something you cannot run from, you cannot hide from, and will manifest its ugly face in wholly unique ways to you and only you.
Silent Hill 2's characters all have solitary experiences that break them down as individuals. As you progress through the game as James, trying to grapple with his own intense, demonic guilt, we see the suffering of other characters in passing-by. Eddie and Angela do not exist to help or hinder James, not really. They are not villains nor are they heroes, they are not there to progress James' story. Instead, they and all the unfortunate souls who venture to Silent Hill experience guilt and trauma in their own way, one that we cannot truly understand without their direct perspectives. We may see them as crazy, unpredictable, or confusing characters that act strangely. In reality, they are no different from James, all victims of themselves. Angela says it best, at the end of the Lakeview Hotel. As the building seemingly burns, the room engulfed by flames, we see a small glimpse of another perspective's coping. "For me, it's always like this," she says.
________________________________________________________
The powerful narrative and themes present in this game are complimented by a consistently great gameplay experience that takes the original Silent Hill's formula and more or less perfects it. The game rarely wavers in quality, a seamless experience blending from beginning to end, subtly weaving in the core messages through character interactions, notes, journals, enemy placements, and haunting sounds. Everything in Silent Hill 2 is intentional, each another facet of James's living nightmare.
Silent Hill is more than just a haunted town. It is a place that, under no circumstances, do you want to find yourself in, and yet for some it is unavoidable. It is where the depths of one's consciousness come to manifest themselves as a real-life hell, one that most do not make it out of. It may very well be the greatest challenge of one's life to survive the nightmare, but if you can, perhaps you can finally leave the town for good.
9.5/10