Konami
Silent Hill 2

"In my restless dreams,
I see that town.
Silent Hill.
You promised you'd take me
there again someday.
But you never did.

Well I'm alone there now...
In our 'special place'...
Waiting for you". ^*

And with these words begins the ordeal of James Sunderfield, a long and painful journey, a downward spiral filled with horror, guilt, but also atonement and redemption. James arrives at Silent Hill after receiving a letter sent to him by his late wife (after a long and debilitating illness) urging him to meet her in their "special place." Initially driven more by curiosity than anything else, he will soon realize that something in the town is amiss: the city seems abandoned and in decay, everything is perpetually covered in a thick fog that barely allows a glimpse of what seem to be movements of strange figures in the distance..

During his journey, James discovers he is not the only one subject to the town's morbid call; he meets a girl, Angela, who was abused by her father; Eddie, a young obese man with homicidal tendencies; a little girl named Laura, and especially Maria, a woman who eerily resembles his wife Mary.. During his pilgrimage, James finds that the city wasn't as deserted as it initially seemed: strange deformed creatures pop out from every corner; a particular monster (pyramid head), with a gigantic pyramid on his head and armed with a conspicuous cleaver, constantly pursues him, even killing Maria multiple times in front of his eyes (only for the girl to suddenly reappear in perfect health and seemingly unaware of her previous death).

Moreover, James will occasionally find himself catapulted into an alternate dimension of the city, even darker than the previous, where reality increasingly blends with his own personal nightmares. The adventure concludes at the hotel, the site of his honeymoon, where the terrible truth comes to light: James killed his wife, unable to bear her long agony any longer.

Let's first talk about the great skill with which the developers can recreate a distressing atmosphere that relies, mind you, not on sudden scares, but on a continuous keeping of tension that is much more difficult to achieve and maintain; it's not so much what you see that frightens you, but what you don't see or can only infer. Much credit for this definitely goes to the sound: the monsters' wheezes, the invisible footsteps, or the moans that can be heard mix with a fitting noise-style soundtrack and the result is impressive, I challenge anyone to play in the dark with headphones and not be disturbed! Additionally, the programmers' stroke of genius: as in every episode of the series, the protagonist finds himself in possession of a seemingly broken portable radio, which starts to crackle when monsters are nearby, ensuring the effect here too!

Add to this a sick design, hallucinogenic and delirious, which would fit perfectly in a Lynch or Cronenberg film (the developers cite being inspired by the movie "Jacob's Ladder"), the sense of solitude, decay, anxiety, and oppression are rendered masterfully, again thanks to a meticulous attention to detail; almost always arriving when the worst things have already happened and allowing our mind to wander and reconstruct the most frightening scenarios. Also, the effect of the fog is excellent, introduced in the first title of the series because the PS1 couldn't handle too wide a horizon, this artifice proved to be one of the series' strengths, it provides to underscore the protagonist's sense of isolation and disorientation and gives the impression of being suspended in some dimension outside of space and time.

But let's move on to the really interesting point of analysis: the psychological one! Because behind what seems to be the usual monster-filled survival horror (in "Resident Evil" the zombies, here the town is infested by a mysterious cult) there is actually a metaphor for a journey of introspection almost like Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" (don't lynch me please!). Indeed, the town of Silent Hill with its monstrous creatures is nothing but the representation of what torments man, the city digs into the subconscious and confronts you with your deepest and most hidden fears.

Indeed, Laura, the child, wanders freely around the city without seeing any monsters, this happens because she is still a pure and innocent spirit; Angela (who feels guilty believing she seduced her father) and Eddie, however, will not be able to face themselves and will succumb: the first decides to commit suicide; the second, in a now uncontrollable delirium, turns against James ending up getting the worst of it. But let's talk about the protagonist. The physical deterioration of his wife led to growing frustration in James, even sexually: and then here's Maria, identical in physique to his wife but characteristically the opposite, a lapdance dancer, sensual and seductive. With her, the relationship will be a tormented mix of attraction and repulsion, often James finds himself in the situation of seeing Maria but being unable to reach her, a symbol of his unfulfilled sexuality.

Pyramid Head, on the other hand, represents James's sense of guilt (in fact it is taken from a painting seen by the protagonist depicting an executioner), it is seen several times raping other monsters (female mannequins made up of only two pairs of legs; here too the references are evident), and it also forces him to repeatedly relive the experience of murder by killing Maria in front of his eyes. Other monsters can always be traced back to James's subconscious, especially related to Mary's hospitalization (and how can we not mention the nurses, also now, like the hospital, a recurring element of the series) and the sexual aspect. The same goes for the environment: the protagonist fears his future without a wife and in the alternate dimension, places are always projected towards it: a future made of squalor and solitude (the places are all decaying, abandoned: objects are covered with cloths, iron rusts, colors such as gray dominate, etc.).

Depending on the player's behavior, various endings are available (and once again the care taken is incredible: the endings don't depend on a single action; for example if you want the suicidal ending you have to pay little attention to your health, look often at photos and memories of the deceased wife, and so on just as if you no longer want to live) and change depending on whether or not James has been able to face and atone for his guilt. In one ending, after seeing his wife forgive him one last time, James leaves the city with Laura. In another, knowing the truth, he drowns in the lake; this ending is actually less negative than it seems: James has atoned for and accepted his sin, his path is concluded and he now aims only for peace and to reunite with his wife in the afterlife.

The far more negative and disturbing endings are others: in one, unable to face the truth, he repudiates his wife and decides to leave with Maria, but the girl will cough heavily at the end, suggesting that the tragedy is destined to repeat itself. In another, he decides to try to resurrect his wife through a dark ritual; although the game ends with James heading to the ritual site and does not show us its conclusion, anyone who's read works like "Pet Cimitery" can well imagine the disastrous consequences such an act can lead to...

_{*when James discovers the truth about his wife's death, the letter becomes blank, showing that it was his sense of guilt that called him}