The Silent Hill collection has been on the forefront of creepy survival horror storytelling for almost 30 years, and with the success of the 2024 Silent Hill 2 remake and the current launch of Silent Hill F, it felt like the appropriate time to look again at Konami’s psychological horror catalogue and see how every scarfest stacks.
Actually, the collection was not affected by unusual missteps in all places. There was definitely a time when issues had been downhill than Silent Hill. So you possibly can’t discover something like Silent Hill: Homecoming and Silent Hill: Here is a stunning, unforgettable mainline entry.
With all this in thoughts, there are videogameaddicted picks that showcase the very best entries within the Silent Hill collection, from transportable horrors to playable teasers.
9. Silent Hill: Origin
A quiet hill journey that matches in your denims pocket and nonetheless scares your pants? It is Silent Hill: Origins. The primary a part of 2007 was initially developed for the PlayStation Moveable and was later ported to the PlayStation 2.
With its story happening just a few years earlier than the unique Silent Hill, Silent Hill: Origins places you within the sneakers of Travis Grady, a truck driver who makes the fallacious flip into North America’s strangest mist-covered city, from which issues correctly carry their hair.
What makes Silent Hill stands out from the opposite installments within the collection. That is how we deal with the nightmare exploration of one other world in a sleepy little city. Not like most different silent hill video games the place you kick and scream in direction of the jagged edges of commercial nightmare territory while you’re most anticipating it, Silent Hill: Origins has full management to find out when and the place you need to transfer actuality by the usage of particular mirrors scattered round city.
On the one hand, this reduces silent hill: Origins’ capability to shock with concern, alternatively, creates a novel, eerie situation for puzzle solved.
Mixed with a horrifying guided ambiance similar to the precognitive sense of the unique sport, Silent Hill: PSP origins had been created for really terrifying prepare journeys.
8. Silent Hill 4: Room
The much-loved survival horror collection and director Tommy Wizzo’s notorious greatest movie in historical past, Silent Hill 4: That Room is not wild sufficient to go away like that, however it would not shake up the components fairly a bit. Ashfield’s new setting, particularly the trapped condominium of the principle character Henry Townsend – Silent Hill 4: To exploration of a claustrophobic novice in Towngen’s home and to succeed in a wall that has soaked into his secret wall, he alternates between extra conventional third-party fight to succeed in the key wall.
These otherworlds every function the size of small pockets which might be visually totally different, with their very own tales, from soiled, tiled water punishments to deserted hospitals full of a wide range of ominous dioramas. Because the story progresses, the condominium you come to steadily evolves from Protected Haven to Ghost Home.
The sudden swap later within the story is annoying with an annoying escort mission, however it has confirmed to be cut up amongst followers, however it’s undoubtedly unforgettable to the solid of really intrusive creatures, haunting the unique soundtrack of Yakiraka, and the individuality of the rotten condominium hub made in some of the tense silent hill adventures of maybe the shiniest silent hill adventures.
Silent Hill 4: Room additionally marked the fourth ultimate piece of the collection, and a crew of Japanese builders got here from Silent. The crew disbanded, and its members labored on Forbidden Siren and varied different horror video games inside The Evil, and subsequent improvement of the Silent Hill sport had fairly difficult outcomes, shifting into the fingers of Western builders.
7. Silent Hill: Smashed Reminiscences
However not all Western-made Silent Hills are unhealthy. The one entry within the collection rethinks the crushed recollections of Nintendo’s Wii, Silent Hill: British Developer Climax Studios, that includes the identical premise. However the plot unleashes in a complete new means, and the gameplay is dramatically reconstructed, shifting between first-person psychotherapy periods right into a extra typical over-shoulder exploration of Harry’s depressing journey by Silent Hill.
Shattered Reminiscences is a tough installment to rank within the Silent Hill collection. It’s because it’s totally different from different entries up till now. It utterly abandons the battle and as a substitute forces Harry to flee with an everyday chase sequence impressed by the instalment of the novel movie’s unstoppable antagonist. This exchanges the fog of earlier adventures for ice and snow fog, limiting the participant’s imaginative and prescient and creating an environment of terror in an fascinating new means. It additionally makes use of movement management to totally command the participant Harry’s flashlight beam and makes use of it extremely nice to totally command the collection’ signature radio static sound design signature radio type built-in audio system.
The crushed reminiscence will profile gamers throughout play, obtain solutions chosen throughout psychotherapy periods, make modifications to subsequent ranges and enemy designs, change how the story progresses, and in the end resolve which of the a number of endings you’ll attain. The mechanic has but to resurface within the subsequent silent hill tales, however up till Daybreak it seems to have been an enormous inspiration from it given an analogous mixture of psychotherapy periods and thrasher-style horror.
In the meantime, Shattered Reminiscence Author/Designer Sam Barlow (who can also be engaged on Silent Hill: Origins) has since achieved appreciable success as his extremely acclaimed developer of interactive fiction, Lies, and Immortality. All three contain fixing the thriller by sifting by an assortment of out-of-sequence video clips, within the sense that they’re shattered types of reminiscence.
6. Silent Hill f
It took 13 years for the brand new mainline silent hill sport to emerge from the fog, however Silent Hill F lastly arrived in 2025 in a brand new Japanese setting. This unfolds in subsequent playthroughs, with a rigorous give attention to melee-based fight to additional spotlight the difficult, persuasive story that continues to fulfill, and extra gun-centered assaults from the earlier Hill 2 Rem.
To be truthful, the deliberately uninteresting really feel of the Silent Hill F’s fight system might not go well with everybody’s tastes. With its reliance on mild and intense assaults, dodges, counters, and cautious administration of well being, stamina and sanity, its monster mashing appears to be impressed by the sluggish, heavy fight of the Darkish Souls collection, however fortunately minus the difficulties of punishment. Nonetheless, whereas your controller is probably not liable to being destroyed by a bit after dying repeatedly to the identical boss, your lead pipe or clover is definitely as a result of stimulating, fragile nature of Silent Hill F’s destructible weapon.
Nonetheless, the story of Silent Hill F is likely one of the most fascinating tales in all the collection, so if you happen to can settle for an unpleasant fight battle or just pressure your self to endure, there’s a nice reward for persistence. The psychological results of highschool Shimajima’s home abuse and bullying are really brave to research, and the monsters she meets, whether or not the world round her is a mystical shrine in a dream, or whether or not the world round her is a mystical shrine in a dream.
I feel Silent Hill Sport, which does not actually function the city of Silent Hill, is type of a Resident Evil sport with no Resident Evil, however Silent Hill F has efficiently confirmed you could pull the collection out of Small City within the US, however it might probably’t take away the psychological horror of spinniling from the Silent Hill Sport.
5. Pt
In the end, PT, a proof of idea fairly than a full-fledged silent hill sport, stands for playable teaser – this standalone slice of psychological struggling has piqued the appetites of Silent Hills video games, who’ve sadly by no means seen the sunshine of day. Quietly casting the shadows as a free obtain for PlayStation 4, within the announcement that grabbed extra headlines at GamesCom 2014, it shortly shot social media and Reddit threads within the storm as greater than one million gamers collectively set it as much as uncover essentially the most enigmatic puzzles.
Set in a single loop L-shaped hall inside a suburban household residence, PT was in a position to ship horror in each micro and macro methods. Subtly rearrange the decorations to make you are feeling uneasy in a single loop, to not be stunned over your shoulder with a murderous ghost named Lisa, and to cease the sunshine once more and never sleep. Identical to the condominium part of Silent Hill 4: The Room, PT additionally broke from the standard third-person perspective of the Silent Hill Sequence, presenting its fears in a extra closure-phobic first-person view, making them much more rapid. It was compact, inexplicable and completely horrifying.
What provides to the mystique of PT is that it’s actually tough to truly play at this level. After cancelling a seemingly intense cut up between Silent Hills and Kojima Productions’ Konami in 2015, PT was faraway from the PlayStation retailer, making it unimaginable to reinstall even if you’re related to your PSN account. There are some questionable PC-based workarounds to get again entry, however the one solution to play PT at this time is to play fanmade remakes such because the PlayStation 4 console already put in or the spectacular trustworthy recreation of Media Molecule’s dream. Or maybe by breaking into the identical warehouse the place the Ark of the Covenant is hidden on the fringe of the misplaced ark.
Nonetheless, by way of its legacy, PT has turn out to be some of the influential horror video games launched in current reminiscence. The layer of concern has unleashed gamers working within the PT loop setting and exploring the artist’s mansion settings. That is to not say that they faux to be numerous PTs that proceed to be flooded to at the present time. Not unhealthy for the playable teaser of the Silent Hill sport that by no means occurred.
4. Silent Hill 3
The flicker of storytelling in Silent Hill 2 has turn out to be a tough act to observe. And we shortly get to that cause, however Silent Hill 3 has as a substitute set a slight distance from its groundbreaking predecessor by inserting itself as a direct sequel to the unique Silent Hill. The third sport in Silent Hill Saga will delve into fascinating new particulars in regards to the Apocalypse cult from the unique sport, and current an almost totally new lineup of nightmare creatures.
However the greatest start line from its two predecessors is the truth that its protagonist just isn’t a depressing 30-year-old man, however a tough teenage lady. A obscure surname that’s left over for story spoiler causes, Heather has come as a breath of recent air from the mist, and has confirmed to be some of the written and most related leads within the collection’ historical past. Till the discharge of Silent Hill F, she was the one playable feminine lead within the mainline entry (except Maria counts within the director’s minimize of Silent Hill 2).
Silent Hill 3 was criticised for not having a gameplay innovation and a bit like the primary two video games when it was launched, however contemplating the collection of sub-silent hill video games launched within the aftermath of Silent Hill 4, it might probably stay true to the feel and appear of maybe the 2 most revered entries within the Silent Hill collection.
3. Silent Hill 2 Remake
Not like the crushed recollections that utterly overhauled the construction and dramatically altered the unique Silent Hill plot, the 2024 remake of Silent Hill 2 retains the unique PlayStation 2 story, characters and ambiance, however the newest viewers updates every part with glorious visuals, anxiety-provoking audio designs, permitting for extra clear gamers to maneuver and stock moor jinging.
The Bloober crew of builders is nothing new to the horror style or the method of redesigning horror video games, and has beforehand created and remade their very own eerie tales within the type of layers of concern and observer. The Silent Hill 2 remake is the largest victory ever, dramatically enhancing the unique’s uneasy and claustrophobic vibe, increasing the small city setting, absorbing it utterly and doubtlessly for followers.
Importantly, nearly all of the modernizations created right here have made the overwhelmingly shocking setting of Silent Hill 2 much more immersed. Quantity mist feels thicker and extra oppressive than ever. The brand new ranges of particulars utilized to the dwelling you shuffle typically make them look infinitely dank and miserable, if not completely disgusting. The usage of mild is especially wonderful, and being pressured to discover each inch of Toruca’s jail space with restricted bursts of lighting because of a failed circuit breaker makes it some of the determined and terrifying sequences the collection has ever seen. Or you possibly can’t really see it. As a result of a lot of that concern shortly plunges into blackness.
Add some glorious voice performing and a scary soundscape from Yamaoka. This lets you doubt your individual sanity. The easiest way to go to SilentHill 2 remake is likely one of the most terrifying induction locations within the historical past of survival horror.
2. silent hill
Taking a flash of Stephen King’s Splash, David Lynch’s sprint, Francis Bacon and filtering all of it by the Japanese cultural lens of the developer crew, there is a twisted, really terrifying journey by the unique Silent Hill. Away from the standard campy B-movie type standard in ’90s survival horror, Silent Hill has plunged you right into a depth of beforehand invisible psychological misery, specializing in the ambiance that’s appropriately intrusive in favor of the horror of low-cost jumps, establishing the tone of the collection, which is extremely extremely uncomfortable at its greatest.
Not like earlier survival horror video games like Resident Evil and Parasite Eve, Silent Hill, which relied on pre-rendered backgrounds, defeated the tendencies by placing you in a totally rendered setting in 3D. Surprisingly, this meant that the collection’ signature darkness and oppressive mists really bolded the unique PlayStation from the necessity to cover the slight draw distance and ugly graphical pop-ins that plagued the unique PlayStation, turning the system’s {hardware} limitations into a strong instrument of concern that continues to be fixed in earlier collection.
Out of your first step as Harry Mason enters a creepy little city and searches for his misplaced daughter, Silent Hill assaults you with nothing that basically makes you are feeling uneasy. This endless sense of hysteria was additional strengthened by the creative atmospheric flourishing, as you had extra urgently and hissed while you arrived close to the invisible mess of polygons that you simply had upset.
Silent Hill has reached a terrifying new commonplace for slowburn survival horror. The impression may be felt within the media, Alan Wake 2, and extra within the subsequent few many years.
1. Silent Hill 2
The unique Silent Hill might have established a collection of overwhelmingly darkish atmospheres and intrusive grownup themes, however Silent Hill 2 in 2001 accomplished it. A completely absorbed and emotionally drained examination of unhappiness and guilt, Silent Hill 2 not too long ago positioned us within the function of widow James Sunderland and positioned us on a tortured tour by his personal non-public hell.
Whereas the unique Silent Hill primarily centered on the corrupt spiritual practices of native cults and the way it modified the fact of the city ceaselessly, Silent Hill 2 offers with themes that had been extra delicate and extremely taboo, not less than within the gaming world. Sexual abuse, suicide, and self-harm are all explored as Sunderland encounters different survivors trapped in a misty lakeside city, and every of the traumas faces much more twisted creatures they seem in. Whereas the 2001 Grand Theft Auto 3 could also be extensively thought-about the primary correct online game for adults, the Silent Hill 2 undoubtedly punched Rockstar’s Opus a month in the past.
Silent Hill 2 launched some of the iconic antagonists within the collection’ historical past, if not a normal survival horror. Few enemies are scary shit-like enemies just like the pyramid’s head. There may be an intimidating, unstoppable, painful torment that strikes Sunderland at a number of phases all through the story, doing issues which might be indescribable to the model. It drags half an enormous pair of scissors ominously, rusting with an angled cranium, so simply taking a look at it requires a tetanus shot.
From its tragic narrative to a scarcity of provocative symbolism and genuine horror, Silent Hill 2 stays the benchmark for bone cooling within the collection, making it an apparent selection for the primary slot on this listing.
And now we have it: the 9 greatest video games within the Silent Hill collection. Did your favourite make our listing? Please let me know what you forgot within the feedback.
Tristan Ogilvie is a video producer for the videogameaddicted Evaluations crew primarily based in Sydney, Australia. He has over 18 years of expertise overlaying video video games. When he would not have a controller in his hand, Tristan performs guitar, takes photographs, and watches cricket.