Before opening my heart to the somber contemplative experience that is Silent Hill 2 I made a choice. I would not intake any relevant content or essays discussing SH2 before playing it. I reasoned that Silent Hill 2 was literally one of the best games ever made and ruining it with spoilers would hinder my experience. Its a philosophy that was founded on the game and something I kept up with very religiously which spread into almost all games I have on my backlog. Its funny thinking about it now after playing that even without playing it this wonderful wonderful game brought change to my life.

In my nightmares I saw that town after playing, Silent Hill. A jarring and oppressive fog hanging over its abandoned dilapidated streets, drawing lost souls to punish themselves for past wrongs. James Sunderland is one of those people. Opening on staring himself down in a mirror depressed and detached from reality. Looking at his face as if another person was watching him in the mirror. For the next ten hours you will feel confusion, empathy, frustration and finally a deep sadness following James as he fights for a faint hope that his late wife, Mary, may be alive somewhere in this broken town.

I spent a lot of time empathizing with James's journey. As a person who lost an important person in my life hearing his voice wake up and come alive again hearing any clues on Mary is heartbreaking. Seeing his depression over his past memories and his past actions is moving. The anger Mary shows in flashbacks I especially empathized with. People are not angels, and going through death can make the kindest souls you know violent bitter devils. I even empathized with James later revealed actions, in a way. When you watch a loved one die you realize what it takes to be there. Every day, struggling with knowing who this person was for you and what they are now. Trying every moment to give them hope in a hopeless situation. You live through their deterioration and fear and sadness. This next quote is a spoiler so skip over it if you'd like. But the line that Mary says in a flashback, "Please tell me it's going to be ok! Tell me I'm going to live!" brought me to tears.

And this experience doesn't get made without a damn good team. Akira Yamaoka creates one of the best soundtracks of all time layering the town in noisy uncomfortable grinding sounds and granting you somber melancholic tones throughout the experience. The sensation of going through Silent Hill is truly a terrifying experience that is somber and crunchy and oppressive and that doesn't happen without the inspired and ahead of its time soundtrack made by Yamaoka. Masahiro Ito's monsters are utterly gruesome, while there are few unique monsters in number each one is carefully created symbolizing various feelings James has manifested in macabre otherworldly creatures. And Masashi Tsuboyama builds a town that feels timeless and yet completely alien. The buildings of silent hill perfectly evoking that fear of being in a completely abandoned town fearing the unknown that is all around you.

What Silent Hill 2 brings out of you as a raw painful experience is worth your time. You will be afraid, you will feel pain, you will walk away satisfied. Because SH2 doesn't need to win with vibrant gameplay or gimmicks. All it needs to do is touch your heart and make you feel something. To the members of Team Silent who worked on this masterpiece. If you somehow read reviews on Backloggd and also read English. Thank you.

You made me happy.