A sign of good horror isn't how often it gets you spooked by jump scares, but by how often it gets you spooked by absolutely nothing. Silent Hill is the master of the latter.
The most insidious thing about the creature designs is the emphasis on legs. Most of the monsters have long, slender, feminine legs as a prominent feature. The mannequins are nothing but legs. The Hangers are lumps of flesh with legs dangling from the ceiling, trying to strangle James. The lying figures scuttle around with their long legs when knocked down. We later learn that the last thing James saw of Mary were her kicking, struggling legs. This means that every monster encounter in the game is the town's way of reminding James of his guilt, and never letting him rest.
@@BigBoss-sm9xj I hope to christ this happens. Andi hope that team silent considers doing at least one more game. I'd prefer it to be more personal, like sh2 personally, but even if they did something like the room I'm sure itd be amazing
Lisa bleed scene is still so incredibly astounding to me even after all these years... the part when the first drip of blood runs into her eye and her eye's reaction is still one of the most realistic looking cgi scenes I've ever seen. Seriously, I sound crazy but it is simply incredible... it looks so REAL!
And almost always you see James from above, like if he was insignificant, small and weak, while Pyramid Head is almost always shown from the floor; impressive, mighty, someone you should fear. And all that works on you unconsciously.
I saw some of these weird, unsettling overhead angles in some videos, but all I could think of was a person desperately bending their neck around, to keep watching the player character. To keep an eye on them, to observe. It was kinda unnerving.
there's something that happens to my heart whenever I hear silent hill 2 music, it's so fucking weird - but SH2 is an absolute masterpiece that we'll never see anything like again.
Nothing has ever affected me as much as this game, and I'm almost mad at it for that, because it was my first horror game experience, and set the bar impossibly high for me. My young naive thought was, "Holy shit! THIS is what I want to be playing forever! There have to be endless titles like it!" I have yet to find anything can got to me the way it did, even in the sequels. Silent Hill 3 came very close, but not the same way SH2 did. This was so fun to watch and I love hearing people talk about this game: I could talk about it for hours.
It's not quite the same, but have you tried Amnesia: The Dark Descent? I wound up finding Daniel, the other characters, the atmosphere and setting, etc., almost as fascinating as Silent Hill 2, and the game gave me a very similar feeling.
Penumbra Black Plague, Silent Hill 4, Fatal Frame, Fatal Frame 2. If you shat your pants playing Silent Hill, you will shit your pants playing Fatal Frame x4.
First time I played it I was 17 and I cried A LOT at the end of the game, reading Mary's letter in the In Water ending. I felt empty, sad, shocked, unsettled... And those feelings kept with me at least a week. My friends n highschool asked me what happened to me, and I couldn't believe that a videogame had left such a hole in my heart... Well, 17 years later I can still feel those things just watching your video. What a deep game. What a script! One of the finest videogames ever (In my top three with Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and the first Bioshock)
I think the most powerful scene I've witnessed in a game that had me legitimately in shock was I think Gears of War 2 when you're trying to help one of the characters find his wife. You finally find her and in the game it shows this vibrant colorful scene of the character & his wife running to and embracing each other...Then reality sets in and his wife is wasted away and dying and he is holding her. She was in a locust slave work camp...Very powerful scene.
I'm a bit younger than you but I did play it first when I was 17, as well. I'd say the game had a huge influence on my personality forming. Sometimes I wonder how differently would I be if I had never played SH2. It's such a bizarre feeling.
Yes. Absolutely. I was 23 and this was the first time I played a game and truly understood the difference between the hero and the protagonist. I was in shock. I remember I stopped working in the middle of the day to argue with myself. At one point I said out loud, “I am the god-damned hero! How the fuck did this happen to me?”
@@itinerantmercenary6988 I remember my brother saying: "So... I'm the bad guy?" With absolute disbelief in his eyes. We talked about it for months (and years!) I still talk about the depth and tough topics in this game (like the physical and mental abuse, the repression of feelings, rape, bulling and of course, murder). I think is the most adult game ever made.
I played Silent Hill 2 for the first time in my life this year, and you sir, are talkign out of your ass. But I get your point. It doesn't have QTEs, Cover Based Shooting or Micro Transaction, so it's really outdated.
Silent Hill 1-3 were all what you can call perfect storms. I loved how what inspired the "lying figure" was just a co-worker coming in Team Silents office with his hands in his jackets pockets and listening to a walkman. That the design works so well in context of the game was pretty much pure coincidence. I imagine Team Silent was a studio in which every member was so in synch with the project, that they just unconciously did stuff that worked. That's the beauty of small teams
StubenhockerElite I feel like Silent Hill 4 gets more hate than it deserves. It's definitely the weakest of the Team Silent games, but it still has an excellent story and the atmosphere is extremely unique. It captured the whole "trapped in a dream" feeling perfectly, and I loved how all the characters seemed dazed and really out of it, like characters in a dream. Yes, the gameplay was often tedious and repetitive, yes Henry wasn't that interesting of a character, but Walter Sullivan's story was fascinating and the atmosphere was on par with the other games (minus those god damned burping nurses). I've never since played a game that was able to make it feel like I could physically feel how dense, putrid and heavy the air was as it was in that game. At times it felt like I could almost smell it, it was so thick. It really made up for having to deal with leading Eileen's slow ass around and having to play through the same levels twice with invincible Walter following you throughout the latter half. Also the soundtrack is one of Yamaoka's best.
@@Insanabiliter_In_Linea It also has one of my favorite enemy designs in all the games. The creepy as fuck baby headed long armed fuck that POINTS AT YOU WHEN YOU ARE FAR AWAY. The pointing holy fucking shit. Not to mention they are big and loud as fuck when they walk.
@Yeah Toast Shy-Guy Could you elaborate on the meaning? I feel like it must have been more of a cultural thing, with Japan being a rather conservative society, but I honestly have no idea. I always just found it really funny, especially when you kill them at the top of the stairs in a few areas and they burp every time they fall down a step.
I just wanted to let you know, my husband and I absolutely adore SH2 and we watch this video a lot, especially on long car drives and increasingly so during October. Your passion for the game really shines through and I think that's why we can't get enough of it! We had a six hour long drive recently and we kept going back and forth on what we wanted to listen to, and always ended up back on your channel but especially this video. We would pause it and discuss it, unpause, pause, discuss... Anyway, keep doing what you do!
I will never forget the sadness delivered from Lisas death, the sobbing girl pounding on the door just after her transformation. A girl who's terror is just as clear as yours and her being left alone in the room, unable to be helped; she's just so helpless. And unable to find peace.
The original cast did a better job than the HD remaster. Troy B is amazing. But his James was just too macho. The awkwardness of the original gave him character, and it was just amazing in the more emotional moments
@@Antinomi-Oh I kinda liked it at some points of the story. Especially when meeting Laura when she's staring at the blade. When he is consoling her (poorly) you can tell he's borderline suicidal. Troy did really good "faking" brovado as James would be doing since he is very suicidal. But yeah some parts are just absolutely butchered. In an alternate reality. Troy was genuinely given better things to work with than that God forsaken "remaster".
That film gave me nightmares. I made the biggest mistake by watching it on my laptop in the dark around 1am. I thought I would "decipher" the movie. lol, it deciphered me...
Agreed, he isn’t really trying to sound heroic or anything, just normal. Which really isn’t what James turns out to be, but I still find him to be a good person in the end.
Ikr, he sounds EXACTLY as a man would sound in a similar situation. Devoidness of emotion is a sign of depression, which I'm sure James suffers from after what happened. Most of the time he sounds weak, pathetic, broken and it is absolutely perfect for the game's story and the whole atmosphere... I also felt a ton of empathy and compassion for his character _because_ of the voice and voice acting. So idk who and why would think that there's something wrong with VA in this game
Li Tobler I played the game when it first came out and it’s a bit jarring. It does a wonderful job of conveying how damaged everyone is in Silent Hill, but most games shot for a different feel, if you get my meaning. Most were shooting for a real sounding convo, whereas this... doesn’t. Perfect example is the Angela cemetery scene. My first thought was “What is wrong with these people?” And that right there was the moment my brain was set on fire.
I bought SH2 when it first came out (2001). I rushed through about half of the game, barely paying attention while surround by people during the day. It seemed interesting, but I sold it off shortly after. In 2008 I came across it again while in a local game store. I bought the game for a second time. I took it home and started playing it in the middle of the night, by myself with no distractions. I played every night, in the dark, alone for a few hours for about a week straight. When it was all done, I knew instantly I had just witnessed a masterpiece. Like any true work of art it is not perfect, however even the imperfections add to its beauty. I believe this game needs to be played just as you would read a classic novel. Alone, silent and fully immersed.
Regarding the town being a sentient force, this is perhaps the only survival horror game of the kind in which the puzzle-like sequential unlocking of doors makes sense without it just being a video game mechanic. One could argue that the town purposefully blocks its own doors in a way which makes the character have to progress in a specific order to push the story along. It's a trial for the character. This sort of thing doesn't fly as well in Resident Evil. You have to suspend your disbelief when wreckage is blocking the streets in just the right way to turn them into a puzzle, or when every single locking mechanism is some sort of art piece which requires riddles and strange artifacts to open.
I know what you mean. Remember the part in Resident Evil 2 when you have to push two statues around in order to get the jewel inside a bigger statue, and it took place in a police station? A puzzle like that may provide a challenge for the player, but at some point, you just have to wonder, why the heck is something that looks like it belongs in an Indiana Jones movie in a survival horror game about zombies?!
This is an interesting take. And I agree, the specific misdirection and puzzle-like nature is given more validity when the town itself is almost an entity.
I don't know how many times I have watched this video essay already, but every year or so I get the craving to watch it again. This style just scratches a certain itch, and I love how you present Silent Hill to a non SH player. Thanks to you I started watching playthroughs of the games, and became engrossed with the symbolism of the first three games. It also convinced me to subscribe and watch your videos ever since!
Arlo Steiner The reason why they're created in the first place is because the devs wanted to reward people who go out of their ways to search every nook and cranny to find every secrets in the game.
You really nailed what I love about the character designs in this game. They were so real and flawed and human compared to the stylized characters in other games I was playing at the time. The contrast itself scared me. I felt like they could actually interact with me somehow. Which is probably why I ended up having a lot of nightmares about them when I was younger and was trying so hard to get through this game... god, fucking terrifying.
@@BlindBosnianThat line blows my mind. What a scary town. Showing everyone their own personal Hell and somehow James wandered into hers for a bit when she decided to finally give up.
Watching this after the Silent Hill 2 remake announcement and it just makes me that much more excited to play this masterpiece all over again. Thank you for making such amazing and captivating videos! I have always appreciated and adored the amount of research, detail and love you put into every video. Thank you for everything ♥
it is the greatest game I ever played when I was 10 years old in 1999. It had a huge impact on my life to the point that I moved out of Texas (where I grew up) and moved to Alaska because I love winter, cold, and the atmosphere of Silent Hill. No other game has had such an impact on my life that it made me move 4,000 miles across the USA, to move to a state I had no friends or family and was completely "throwing my hat in the ring", for a new adventure in life in Alaska!
This game is very special because it's intriguing. It's not hard to kill the enemies because that's not what this game is trying to do. It's more about the environment, the emotional 1st hand experience, and for the viewer to really feel the mental connection with the game itself.
I fell asleep watching a playthrough of the game, and dreamt the ending happened to me in first person,ceith my girlfriend reading the letter at the end. How's that for a "mental connection"? Lol
I'm just mad that Konami is not releasing the good first 4 Silent Hill games on like Steam or something. It's really infuriating. Like.... There are tons of people who want to play this.
WFoong98 The PC port of SH2 is pretty good with the fan patches that were released. Making it just as good if not better than the PS2 release. And for the PC ports of 3 & 4, they work fine as well (without the patches).
GrayFoxxGaming Just gowatch Digital Foundary retrospect of SH2, PS2 ver despite inferior light cone and some hardware limitations make up for all other departments such as sound.
WFoong98 I don't know what you're trying to prove here. I'm already aware of Silent Hill 2's good sound design. That shouldn't stop me from playing the PC ver. With patches that make it just as good as the original.
koosa583622 They dont need source code to re release the games on new platforms. Bluepoint doesn't use them and Tom Hueltt only wanted them so he could make huge changes to the games. So instead he just used beta codes of the game and wasn't even competent enough to fix all the bugs or have a stable frame rate. But at least he got his new voices and 2D controls. Oh yippie. :(
Silent Hill 2 is my favorite game of all time. Seeing people talk about it always makes me happy. Great video, man. I hope to see more videos on the other Silent Hill games. Also, the Dog ending is canon.
Anyone who wants to play this in 2020, I highly recommend playing the Silent Hill 2: Enhanced version which is everything the 2012 HD Collection SHOULD have been.
Thanks for the recomendation, never played It and the lack of PS2 and the original (critiziced) version for PC were a NOPE for me. I'll play It as the enhanced version, It seems one of the few games that become art and it has an amazing story.
Thanks for making this. I've spent a large chunk of my life obsessed with Silent Hill and I think you did it justice here. I used to spend lots of my time on the Silent Hill Heaven forums and listened to the SH OSTs almost exclusively. Everyone who likes horror should play these games, though, like you said, its getting more and more difficult as time goes on.
Once again, absolutely fantastic. I hadn't realized Ito was working on Silent Hills and that makes me even more disappointed. Maybe once Death Stranding is out and Playstation is satisfied, Kojima can call up Del Toro and Ito, having already worked extensively with Norman Reedus, and they can revive it under a different name. They'd have to start from scratch most likely, but they'd already have an engine thanks to Death Stranding, and I hope we can see what these incredible creative minds would've made.
+Jamieprov While I haven't played any Silent Hill or horror games before, the fact that Silent Hills interested me shows just how SILENT HILLS, unlike the more recent games in the series, would have actually brought in a new audience to the series. It's really sad what happened to Silent Hills; it could have been a real work of art (not some LOOK AT HOW CINEMATIC WE ARE "art", but rather actual art). It could have even been the video game equilevant of Batman Begins (a reboot that restores a certain franchise to glory while also bringing it to whole new heights).
Jamieprov Del Toro said he wont try to make a video game ever again. The last two times he tried not only did the games get cancelled but the developer was shut down both times too. He considers himself bad luck now lol.
Thanatos388 He did however also say that he would follow Kojima anywhere and work with him on anything, whether he wants to make a game or a movie or whatever. So we're not completely in the shitter, i guess
Every year I come back to this video essay. This has always at least for me been my favorite, the way it's put together and themes have always been interesting to watch and re-watch. Thanks super eyepatch wolf.
i played silent hill 2 when i was 12 years old, it kind of shocked me, i was a child but i couldn't expect anything of what happened and mostly i didn't know that loving relationships could hide dark truths, it kind of showed me life at an early age, i felt so glad i played it and nowadays just listening to the soundtrack gives me goosebumps, probably the character that scares me the most is Maria, i can't still explain why, it's beautiful and painful, like the things that scar our psyche the most
Why You Should Play Silent Hill 2? Because it's the greatest survival horror game ever made! Actually, I take that back. It's not a game, it's art!! Fun fact: Most people probably don't remember this, but SH2 was initially NOT well recieved upon release because it was so radically different from SH1. But, as a late bloomer most people recognised it as a masteriece about a year or so later..
Mod's Guide to Everything sort of, survival horror means limited ammo, health etc. but In bioshock you can melee as much as you want and the game is more action oriented. Still horror but wouldn’t fall under the category of survival horror
Its only when you realise that the letter never existed and marys dead body is on the back seat of car that James rode into town with that you finally understand what James had gone through prior
Dean Spence Is there any context on the whole "Mary is in the backseat of James' car the whole time" thing? I've heard it before and I love the idea but I don't know where everyone gets it from or if there's any truth to it.
Kyle Hanson Apparently it was confirmed via twitter from the director. It makes sense when you consider that Mary has only been dead for a few days and James wanted to end in life with her in the couples special place
@@neilhillis9858 She is not there, but is true that the director confirmed that information. Some people think that the director only plays along with some fandom theories, because he does so constantly on twitter. When you play with noclip, the car is empty inside, which proves that it had not been thought before or that they simply want to leave it as a probable theory
Whenever I am having a bad day, and have read my favorite books to feel a little better, I love to watch a long play of silent hill 2 as it's calming to me. It's a game that doesn't discount that dark abyss we all feel but embraces it and speaks to all of us that: "Hey, we've all been there." Good games know what story to portray to get a lesson across, but great games make you experience that lesson or even it's feeling.
+crimsonshadow42 Should I try to download a Silent Hill 2 rom for my Laptop's PS2 emulator to play on Halloween? It would be my first experience with the horror genre side of games.
Well I'm not sure if I'm the best person to answer this, but I'm not sure if you will be able to get the same feeling from the PC, as I played it on PS2 myself. Silent Hill 2 would definitely be a great first experience with horror games though, so if you have nothing to lose you should give it a try.
+crimsonshadow42 actually after trying it out, don't think it will be a good idea as it has an issue running the cutscenes (framerate drops to around 10-20 fps during FMVs). I think this is because I am using a laptop rather than a computer. I have a feeling a ps1 emulator to play Silent Hill 1 would be better.
Damn, that Lisa head bleeding scene is my favorite. It's a really good example of how creepy and perfect the symbolism of Silent Hill 2 embodied. My other favorite scenes were those involving Angela Orosco.
Late to reply, but Nancy from A Nightmare on Elm Street is a pretty strong character. She's a fighter, stands up to her parents and their bullshit, is clever as hell, and pretty damn brave to try and tackle Freddy head on. She's pretty bad ass and deserves a lot more credit than just being a potential victim who was lucky to survive. She took action when it came to her survival. She's a great character.
The scene with Angela and the burning stairs. That makes you realize the struggles and hell the others are going through. The messages in silent hill are powerful.
SH2 was the absolute best game I ever played, & I've been trying to recapture that incredibleness ever since. They just don't make masterpieces like this anymore tho :(
well said. exactly what I had thought in my mind! I'm looking for a game similar to give you those nostalgia feeling silent hill 2 have. A masterpiece indeed. No game like it and the music is awesome too!
oh year I reas somewhere the same silent hill 2 team are getting back together to make a new silent hill game exclusively for the PlayStation 5! SO FREAKING EXCITED! JOY! the same director, music composer, and art director are back for a new silent hill game!
@@jilligain3409 TRUE STORY. LOOK AT THIS. IT COMING EXCLUSIVE FOR PS5. AND PS5 IS COMING THIS 2020 HOLIDAY RELEASE. HERE IS THE LINK : www.google.com/amp/s/www.inverse.com/gaming/silent-hill-ps5-leaks-reboot-kojima/amp
I had always assumed that James's stuttering, inaccurate attacks could also (at least in part) be explained by his subconscious desire to die. Like part of him is hoping that if he takes forever to ready his weapon, something will get him first and then he can end everything without actually having to kill himself.
This game is seriously better then most people realize. It has such wonderfully eerie depth. So much so that there is huge debate on monsters, characters, and plot. This game is the reason I love horror as much as I do and I can only hope one day something just as masterfully made comes along.
I honestly don't think there should ever be another Silent Hill, not unless the original team or fans who understood the ins and outs of the classic 3 Silent Hill titles were put on the development of said title. However at this point, with the flagrant disrespect to their own franchise(s), Konami would only ruin it.
I mean PT was proof that a different team could have made another masterpiece, and if I am honest PT is far more scary than any other silent hill game.
@@deadrock1678 All I saw was a jumpscare fest. None of the dread and nuance of the of the original 3, not sure why that game was even called silent hill tbh. Its clear as day he should’ve worked on his own IP
I love Silent Hill 2 , definitely one of the best games I have ever played and also probs the most serious and depressing I don't know how this game does what it does so brilliantly and so subtly at the same time , there are so many things it executes perfectly that can only be conveyed in the format of a videogame You don't get that nowadays.. How can you just sit there and eat PIZZA??
This is the 3rd Super Eyepatch Wolf video I've watched. I found this channel by reading different things about Rick and Morty's "on a cob" bit. I'm not sure what click took me here, but I'm very happy that it did. I was just saying, I need a teacher, I feel like I'm turning into a mushroom. I was ambiguous, I didn't specify what sort of teacher I might actually need. I've learned more about horror theory, why we get scared, why I sometimes find something to be beautiful, intriguing and deeply disturbing all at the same time, and been reintroduced to Junji Ito, someone I wasn't exposed to enough to know just how much I was missing. I don't know if you read comments, especially from old videos, but if so, I'm happy I found your channel. You're a very good teacher, You speak clearly and knowledgeably with no condescension or imposing your views. Doesn't hurt that your voice is actually pleasant and not for nothing, you have a lovely brogue. I'm looking forward to watching more of your videos.
One of the things I love most about James is how realistic of a character he is. He did a horrific thing and he did it for selfish reasons. But he also did it for good reasons and I'd say that what he did was (ultimately) best for everyone involved, at least consequentially speaking.
I'm an aspiring game designer, but I specifically enjoy creating environments. I've spent so much time just wandering through the worlds of certain video games because the environment IS a character of its own in the strongest games. I love the uniqueness of the entirety of the town of Silent Hill because it looks like a real place where people used to be, but just... disappeared... That's my opinion as an game environment designer.
There is a plug-in for blender called XNALara that allows (somehow) for models to be taken from games and many of the locations in silent hill 2 have been extracted and can be looked at as a whole in a way not available in the game -- Hillside Apartments for instance.
PewDiePie, Smosh, Jackscepticeye upload a new video *I sleep* "This is how you don't play Silent Hill 2" was uploaded *Real shit* Super Eyepatch Wolf uploads a Silent Hill 2 video. *Ascended*
James is my favorite horror protagonist. He’s flawed, but also empathetic and soft spoken. Each of the main 3 endings represents a different stage of grief. Leave being acceptance, In Water being depression, and Maria being Denial,
God thank you for talking about the first pyramid head scare. I actually dont hear it talked about too often, but that bit is stuck in my brain and scares me every time
Recently found a physical copy of Silent Hill 2 for only $100, even came with Born from a Wish, can’t wait to experience it the way it was meant to be experienced
4:50 Significant Character Traits: Chris is an aggressive fighter who immediately took advantage of any opportunity that her assailant (Jason) gave her. Laurie Strode is selfless, she puts the life of the child she’s babysitting before her own without a second thought. Nancy is clever/resourceful, she figures out she can pull Freddy from her dreams into reality and rigs her house Home Alone-style to try and kill him. I haven’t seen The Texas Chainsaw Massacre :/
After randomly watching your video because it got recommended to me out of nowhere, I couldn't stop thinking of Silent Hill 2 even though I hadn't even played it yet. The way you present this game as a phenomenal art piece stayed engraved in my mind and for some reason I just couldn't stop wondering why this game meant so much for so many people. I ended up caving in, got a ps2 emulator and played it and I never looked back. While the game really shows its age through outdated graphics, gameplay and voice acting, the pure idea of Silent Hill 2 touched me like no other game did. The themes, imagery and storylines all fit perfectly with one another to create a master class of storytelling unique to this game. It's now been six months since I've played Silent Hill 2 and yet I keep thinking about the flaming staircase scene, about the videotape scene. Angela, Eddie, Laura, Maria and especially James all live in my head rent free because of the lesson you can learn from their stories of trauma and guilt. I have to thank you for this video, for convincing me to give this game a try. Now I just wish I can find people to talk about this game with.
I love how the game has divisive readings even among staff. The creator of Pyramid Head once said that he didn't like that the character had been interpreted so heavily as being James Sunderland's lust or uncontrolled sex drive, but later said that he DID create and write the character when he was "having trouble getting dates" and feeling very lonely and bitter, so there was a very real chance that reading was also correct, if not intended.
The tank controls are optional. I wish someone would mention this in a video about this game. 2D controls are so much better and more akin to modern gaming.
About the first Pyramidhead encounter: in my opinion, some easter eggs in games have a same feel to them. They appear out of nowhere and are so out of place, it becomes creepy. More games should use this technique instead of jumpscares.
Alíen Isolation creates a lot of feelings like this game with the environments giving off a history and personality with beautiful and atmospheric locations with the main threat feeling like this impossible danger that you almost can’t escape and becomes more and more aggressive in its pursuit of you. Learning more about it as you travel through this giant yet claustrophobic ship in the areas you don’t want.
Although I think SH3 is the better overall game all aspects considered, I do believe SH2 has one of, if not the greatest, stories in any game. When it comes to the voice acting, there's a certain aspect that I think a lot of directors and audiences take for granted: the relatability of non-professional voices. What I mean is that when you encounter regular people in real life, they will not always have great sounding voices, they will not have perfect cadence when speaking, they won't precisely convey their feelings and emotions. For example, the recast voices in the HD Collection made everyone sound like actors acting, while the voices in the original version sounded like regular average people you would come across in your everyday life (and that made them feel all the more real to me).
I think the weird voice acting helps in creating the idea of silent hill being different for every one. Like the awkward way of speaking disorientation or comments and replies of characters makes an atmosphere of confusion.. ( it was an immersion for me .. Don't know what other felt and i totally respect your opinion :) )
Thank you SEW for this video. Back when I first saw this video, silent hill 2's themes really resonated with me, but I couldn't play it due to not having the right hardware. But right at this moment(August 5 2024, 2:03 am), I have the right equipment and the time to play SH2(atleast one playthrough). This video is also one of my favourite videos on all of YT. You made me care about horror games like SH2 Thank you, from the bottom of my heart :)
Your voice is so soothing and calming I really love how you told the story of silent hill from your own unique way you are very inspiring. I'm linking all the stories I've pieced together so far. Silent hill game of thrones final fantasy 7 and love Croft.
When you mentioned about James' health, that's esp. true after he's running or fighting, and then he's starts catching his breath. It's terrifying when that animation comes at the worse of times when monsters come out of the wood works and begin ganging up on you. I keep yelling, "run man, run!!!"
Dude, GREAT video! That scene with Lisa in SH1 truly broke my heart, more then any other parts or scenes of the first game. SH2 was amazing and between the many deaths of Mary/Maria, and the "twist" ... wow.. totally blew my mind. I also agree that scenes from SH really pushed boundaries & didn't shy away from horrorific images, scenes, and situations. I LOVED that about the series so much! Great vid, very well done!
I’ve always liked the idea of Silent Hill being like a better and more sinister version of Jigsaw. That it draws in people who are being crushed under the weight of their demons and forces the person to literally face them or be torn asunder. Having the town acting like a crucible rather than a grave and the location a dualistic nature of benevolence and malice is what I find so fascinating about the location.
Horror without emotion is just a jump scare Horror intertwined with emotion is pure depression that you can only learn from, setting aside all your expectation and focusing on making you face difficult things in your life you’d otherwise try to avoid for the longest time.
Loved this video. You did a great job taking the game apart in a respectful manner. It would be cool to see your thoughts on the new Silent Hill 2 remake - especially your thoughts to the revamp of the combat system. But cheers. Great video!
A sign of good horror isn't how often it gets you spooked by jump scares, but by how often it gets you spooked by absolutely nothing. Silent Hill is the master of the latter.
Underrated comment
well said
I know its late but I absolutely agree, most indie horror games rely on cheap jump scares, it becomes more predictable and cliché.
Jump scares are not horror.
jumpscares are the cheapest and lest meaningful way of getting someone scared
The most insidious thing about the creature designs is the emphasis on legs. Most of the monsters have long, slender, feminine legs as a prominent feature. The mannequins are nothing but legs. The Hangers are lumps of flesh with legs dangling from the ceiling, trying to strangle James. The lying figures scuttle around with their long legs when knocked down. We later learn that the last thing James saw of Mary were her kicking, struggling legs. This means that every monster encounter in the game is the town's way of reminding James of his guilt, and never letting him rest.
RazorBeak damn.....
Jesus christ, great catch man
F**k....
Wait a minute....a lot of the monsters in SH3 were phallic shaped.....oh no.
I have also heard it was actually to show his sexual thoughts or something since the death of his wife but I like your take on it more
"You don't win fights in Silent Hill, you survive them."
Doesn't apply to sh2 tbh.
That`s a line that i think defines or should definine survival horror (and frankly, horror in general).
Outer Fun that is true. Silent Hill 1 mostly fills that position...
You don't fart in Silent Hill, you shart.
definitely in silent hill 3 since most weapons in the game do nothing and the ones that do have little ammo.
"The future of Silent Hill remains to be seen"
*look at calendar*
March 28, 2019
*single tear drop*
26 march 2020 a year later and nothing happened
@@n3djmo damn. Beat me to this comment by 42 minutes.
@@kristofb5013 good luck next year lol
Actually there's being rumors about sony buying slient hill and two slient hill games being in development
@@BigBoss-sm9xj I hope to christ this happens. Andi hope that team silent considers doing at least one more game. I'd prefer it to be more personal, like sh2 personally, but even if they did something like the room I'm sure itd be amazing
Lisa bleed scene is still so incredibly astounding to me even after all these years... the part when the first drip of blood runs into her eye and her eye's reaction is still one of the most realistic looking cgi scenes I've ever seen. Seriously, I sound crazy but it is simply incredible... it looks so REAL!
It doesn't, its just ylur nostalgia talking
It doesn't look realistic, but it's still very powerful.
CGI is outdated now, but it was pretty good for 1999
If that's so, why are there so many likes for OP's comment, yet not so much for your responses? Just a thought.
@@BrokeBech likes don't define objective reality
@@BrokeBech because people idly like comments and never read replies / like replies
thats why
Or, for some of us:
Why You Should Replay Silent Hill 2 For the 27th Time
Tony, is that you?
@@KnozD Maria are you still alive i must find out will you take me there to our special place.
Only 27?
I hear you, bro.
true
if silent hill is possibly a conscious being than the camera angles can be considered silent hill eyes watching your every move
That is brilliant
And almost always you see James from above, like if he was insignificant, small and weak, while Pyramid Head is almost always shown from the floor; impressive, mighty, someone you should fear. And all that works on you unconsciously.
Makes sense, the town is almost a character in and of itself
I saw some of these weird, unsettling overhead angles in some videos, but all I could think of was a person desperately bending their neck around, to keep watching the player character. To keep an eye on them, to observe. It was kinda unnerving.
Divine Settles THE HILLS HAVE EYES
there's something that happens to my heart whenever I hear silent hill 2 music, it's so fucking weird - but SH2 is an absolute masterpiece that we'll never see anything like again.
I can relate.
To me it's a feeling of loss, dread and the fear of the unknown.
never played it,
but there's something soothing and depressingly beautifull about it...
Hearts will ache and eyes shall leak.
@The Vest guy Blogger More power to you!
The chords evoke a groovy feeling yet lonely and sorrow tone
Nothing has ever affected me as much as this game, and I'm almost mad at it for that, because it was my first horror game experience, and set the bar impossibly high for me. My young naive thought was, "Holy shit! THIS is what I want to be playing forever! There have to be endless titles like it!" I have yet to find anything can got to me the way it did, even in the sequels. Silent Hill 3 came very close, but not the same way SH2 did. This was so fun to watch and I love hearing people talk about this game: I could talk about it for hours.
It's not quite the same, but have you tried Amnesia: The Dark Descent? I wound up finding Daniel, the other characters, the atmosphere and setting, etc., almost as fascinating as Silent Hill 2, and the game gave me a very similar feeling.
PoisonxTea Amnesia was meh
Penumbra Black Plague, Silent Hill 4, Fatal Frame, Fatal Frame 2.
If you shat your pants playing Silent Hill, you will shit your pants playing Fatal Frame x4.
lost in vivo
Same...🌹
First time I played it I was 17 and I cried A LOT at the end of the game, reading Mary's letter in the In Water ending. I felt empty, sad, shocked, unsettled... And those feelings kept with me at least a week. My friends n highschool asked me what happened to me, and I couldn't believe that a videogame had left such a hole in my heart... Well, 17 years later I can still feel those things just watching your video. What a deep game. What a script! One of the finest videogames ever (In my top three with Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and the first Bioshock)
I think the most powerful scene I've witnessed in a game that had me legitimately in shock was I think Gears of War 2 when you're trying to help one of the characters find his wife. You finally find her and in the game it shows this vibrant colorful scene of the character & his wife running to and embracing each other...Then reality sets in and his wife is wasted away and dying and he is holding her. She was in a locust slave work camp...Very powerful scene.
IvyHilts similar story as you Ivy, SH2 cane about in my life when I was going thru a lot- and it’s emotional power and narrative has stayed with me.
I'm a bit younger than you but I did play it first when I was 17, as well. I'd say the game had a huge influence on my personality forming. Sometimes I wonder how differently would I be if I had never played SH2. It's such a bizarre feeling.
Yes. Absolutely. I was 23 and this was the first time I played a game and truly understood the difference between the hero and the protagonist. I was in shock. I remember I stopped working in the middle of the day to argue with myself. At one point I said out loud, “I am the god-damned hero! How the fuck did this happen to me?”
@@itinerantmercenary6988 I remember my brother saying: "So... I'm the bad guy?" With absolute disbelief in his eyes. We talked about it for months (and years!) I still talk about the depth and tough topics in this game (like the physical and mental abuse, the repression of feelings, rape, bulling and of course, murder). I think is the most adult game ever made.
silent hill 2 is one of the greatest games ever made.
No it's a game you played as a youngster and have nostalgia towards. Silent hill 2 is out dated trash now.
I played Silent Hill 2 for the first time in my life this year, and you sir, are talkign out of your ass.
But I get your point. It doesn't have QTEs, Cover Based Shooting or Micro Transaction, so it's really outdated.
And I only just played ocarina of time last week... it's out dated trash kek.
***** But I've only played it recently.
*****
And Zelda has nothing to do with this.
Silent Hill 1-3 were all what you can call perfect storms. I loved how what inspired the "lying figure" was just a co-worker coming in Team Silents office with his hands in his jackets pockets and listening to a walkman. That the design works so well in context of the game was pretty much pure coincidence. I imagine Team Silent was a studio in which every member was so in synch with the project, that they just unconciously did stuff that worked. That's the beauty of small teams
StubenhockerElite I feel like Silent Hill 4 gets more hate than it deserves. It's definitely the weakest of the Team Silent games, but it still has an excellent story and the atmosphere is extremely unique. It captured the whole "trapped in a dream" feeling perfectly, and I loved how all the characters seemed dazed and really out of it, like characters in a dream. Yes, the gameplay was often tedious and repetitive, yes Henry wasn't that interesting of a character, but Walter Sullivan's story was fascinating and the atmosphere was on par with the other games (minus those god damned burping nurses). I've never since played a game that was able to make it feel like I could physically feel how dense, putrid and heavy the air was as it was in that game. At times it felt like I could almost smell it, it was so thick. It really made up for having to deal with leading Eileen's slow ass around and having to play through the same levels twice with invincible Walter following you throughout the latter half. Also the soundtrack is one of Yamaoka's best.
Kyle Hanson - Sir, you just perfectly portray my thoughts about the Silent Hill 4. You nailed it.
@@Insanabiliter_In_Linea It also has one of my favorite enemy designs in all the games. The creepy as fuck baby headed long armed fuck that POINTS AT YOU WHEN YOU ARE FAR AWAY. The pointing holy fucking shit. Not to mention they are big and loud as fuck when they walk.
@@sharp7j the hauntings that happened while in the apartment were horrifying as well, and that horror still holds up even today.
@Yeah Toast Shy-Guy Could you elaborate on the meaning? I feel like it must have been more of a cultural thing, with Japan being a rather conservative society, but I honestly have no idea. I always just found it really funny, especially when you kill them at the top of the stairs in a few areas and they burp every time they fall down a step.
That Lisa scene gave me instant full body goosebumps the first time you showed it
"I feel like this sketch of James represents him well"
*sketch looks like a hellish ghoul suffering through damnation*
Well, yeah, that's exactly what James is.
I just wanted to let you know, my husband and I absolutely adore SH2 and we watch this video a lot, especially on long car drives and increasingly so during October. Your passion for the game really shines through and I think that's why we can't get enough of it! We had a six hour long drive recently and we kept going back and forth on what we wanted to listen to, and always ended up back on your channel but especially this video. We would pause it and discuss it, unpause, pause, discuss... Anyway, keep doing what you do!
You two sound like a lovely couple!
You sir, have magnificent taste.
wow, didn't expect to see you here
Thanks dood, your junji Ito vid was class btw.
Oh my! Well... likewise! :)
+RagnarRox I didn't expect to see you here haha! it's awesome to see you both in the same comment
RagnarRox
?!?Right!?!
I will never forget the sadness delivered from Lisas death, the sobbing girl pounding on the door just after her transformation. A girl who's terror is just as clear as yours and her being left alone in the room, unable to be helped; she's just so helpless. And unable to find peace.
I think if I went to Silent Hill, there would be a lot of panchinko monsters sprawling around there. Oh the horror.
i remember it got cancelled, there was an arcade game awhile back though.
If Silent Hill ever comes back, they must make a monster based on pachinko machines :P
MystoganZero That's every Silent Hill fan' fear
every konami players fear
Mine would just be full of Xenomorphs and emotional abuse monsters
The original cast did a better job than the HD remaster.
Troy B is amazing. But his James was just too macho. The awkwardness of the original gave him character, and it was just amazing in the more emotional moments
The first time I ran out of breath in the remaster I almost poo'd my pants. Switched back to the OG voices then.
Yeah, I agree. I'm a big fan of Troy, but that voice just wasn't right.
@@Antinomi-Oh I kinda liked it at some points of the story. Especially when meeting Laura when she's staring at the blade. When he is consoling her (poorly) you can tell he's borderline suicidal. Troy did really good "faking" brovado as James would be doing since he is very suicidal. But yeah some parts are just absolutely butchered. In an alternate reality. Troy was genuinely given better things to work with than that God forsaken "remaster".
If you love Silent Hill, watch the movie that inspired it: 1990's "Jacob's Ladder".
That movie was boring I guessed the ending 30 minutes in🙄
@@889Pammov The point is the atmosphere not the plot.
who said this? where? come to think of it makes sense.
There is no way to watch it again.. I've been close to commite suicide after watching it, too depressive movie.
That film gave me nightmares. I made the biggest mistake by watching it on my laptop in the dark around 1am. I thought I would "decipher" the movie. lol, it deciphered me...
I think the guy playing James is pretty good. "Aren't you Maria" sounds truly confused and a bit sad..
Agreed, he isn’t really trying to sound heroic or anything, just normal.
Which really isn’t what James turns out to be, but I still find him to be a good person in the end.
Guy playing James: also MGS' Otacons.
That's bc the guy who plays James is a great actor. I've spoken to him a few times too, really great dude
Ikr, he sounds EXACTLY as a man would sound in a similar situation. Devoidness of emotion is a sign of depression, which I'm sure James suffers from after what happened. Most of the time he sounds weak, pathetic, broken and it is absolutely perfect for the game's story and the whole atmosphere... I also felt a ton of empathy and compassion for his character _because_ of the voice and voice acting. So idk who and why would think that there's something wrong with VA in this game
Li Tobler I played the game when it first came out and it’s a bit jarring. It does a wonderful job of conveying how damaged everyone is in Silent Hill, but most games shot for a different feel, if you get my meaning. Most were shooting for a real sounding convo, whereas this... doesn’t. Perfect example is the Angela cemetery scene. My first thought was “What is wrong with these people?” And that right there was the moment my brain was set on fire.
I bought SH2 when it first came out (2001). I rushed through about half of the game, barely paying attention while surround by people during the day. It seemed interesting, but I sold it off shortly after. In 2008 I came across it again while in a local game store. I bought the game for a second time. I took it home and started playing it in the middle of the night, by myself with no distractions. I played every night, in the dark, alone for a few hours for about a week straight. When it was all done, I knew instantly I had just witnessed a masterpiece. Like any true work of art it is not perfect, however even the imperfections add to its beauty. I believe this game needs to be played just as you would read a classic novel. Alone, silent and fully immersed.
Regarding the town being a sentient force, this is perhaps the only survival horror game of the kind in which the puzzle-like sequential unlocking of doors makes sense without it just being a video game mechanic. One could argue that the town purposefully blocks its own doors in a way which makes the character have to progress in a specific order to push the story along. It's a trial for the character.
This sort of thing doesn't fly as well in Resident Evil. You have to suspend your disbelief when wreckage is blocking the streets in just the right way to turn them into a puzzle, or when every single locking mechanism is some sort of art piece which requires riddles and strange artifacts to open.
I know what you mean. Remember the part in Resident Evil 2 when you have to push two statues around in order to get the jewel inside a bigger statue, and it took place in a police station? A puzzle like that may provide a challenge for the player, but at some point, you just have to wonder, why the heck is something that looks like it belongs in an Indiana Jones movie in a survival horror game about zombies?!
This is an interesting take. And I agree, the specific misdirection and puzzle-like nature is given more validity when the town itself is almost an entity.
James Sunderland has so many layers to his character, he might as well be an onion.
James is shrek theory coinfirmed
A goddamn onion
a goddamn O N I O N
I don't know how many times I have watched this video essay already, but every year or so I get the craving to watch it again. This style just scratches a certain itch, and I love how you present Silent Hill to a non SH player. Thanks to you I started watching playthroughs of the games, and became engrossed with the symbolism of the first three games. It also convinced me to subscribe and watch your videos ever since!
I remember wanting to play Silent Hill 2 to understand the glory that is the Dog Ending
SH3 alien ending s pretty good too
Those gag endings always kind of undercut the tone of the games they were fun but would have preferred without
Arlo Steiner The reason why they're created in the first place is because the devs wanted to reward people who go out of their ways to search every nook and cranny to find every secrets in the game.
Dog ending is the only true ending
@@WFoong98 lol Harry and alien makes James their servant is so funny.
You really nailed what I love about the character designs in this game. They were so real and flawed and human compared to the stylized characters in other games I was playing at the time. The contrast itself scared me. I felt like they could actually interact with me somehow. Which is probably why I ended up having a lot of nightmares about them when I was younger and was trying so hard to get through this game... god, fucking terrifying.
Lisa's death was so sad just like Angela's staircase scene.
"You see it,too? For me,it's always like this..."
God that line hit hard
Cybil is also death in canon :(
@@BlindBosnianThat line blows my mind. What a scary town. Showing everyone their own personal Hell and somehow James wandered into hers for a bit when she decided to finally give up.
Watching this after the Silent Hill 2 remake announcement and it just makes me that much more excited to play this masterpiece all over again. Thank you for making such amazing and captivating videos! I have always appreciated and adored the amount of research, detail and love you put into every video. Thank you for everything ♥
I absolutely would not have any hope that Konami could come remotely close to doing SH2 justice now
What are you excited about? They already ruined James in the trailer.
@@TheUltimateBastichhahahaha how wrong all the haters were. The remake is fucking excellent.
it is the greatest game I ever played when I was 10 years old in 1999. It had a huge impact on my life to the point that I moved out of Texas (where I grew up) and moved to Alaska because I love winter, cold, and the atmosphere of Silent Hill. No other game has had such an impact on my life that it made me move 4,000 miles across the USA, to move to a state I had no friends or family and was completely "throwing my hat in the ring", for a new adventure in life in Alaska!
This game is very special because it's intriguing. It's not hard to kill the enemies because that's not what this game is trying to do. It's more about the environment, the emotional 1st hand experience, and for the viewer to really feel the mental connection with the game itself.
I fell asleep watching a playthrough of the game, and dreamt the ending happened to me in first person,ceith my girlfriend reading the letter at the end.
How's that for a "mental connection"? Lol
@@nignamedmutt7270the game is definitely somewhat relaxing when walking through the fog
I'm just mad that Konami is not releasing the good first 4 Silent Hill games on like Steam or something. It's really infuriating.
Like.... There are tons of people who want to play this.
dude, the any versions of SH2 that is not the og Ps2 one is inferior. So just emulate it, besides Team Silent is long gone and Konami is a shit.
WFoong98 The PC port of SH2 is pretty good with the fan patches that were released. Making it just as good if not better than the PS2 release. And for the PC ports of 3 & 4, they work fine as well (without the patches).
GrayFoxxGaming Just gowatch Digital Foundary retrospect of SH2, PS2 ver despite inferior light cone and some hardware limitations make up for all other departments such as sound.
WFoong98 I don't know what you're trying to prove here. I'm already aware of Silent Hill 2's good sound design.
That shouldn't stop me from playing the PC ver. With patches that make it just as good as the original.
koosa583622 They dont need source code to re release the games on new platforms. Bluepoint doesn't use them and Tom Hueltt only wanted them so he could make huge changes to the games. So instead he just used beta codes of the game and wasn't even competent enough to fix all the bugs or have a stable frame rate. But at least he got his new voices and 2D controls. Oh yippie. :(
Silent Hill 2 is my favorite game of all time. Seeing people talk about it always makes me happy. Great video, man. I hope to see more videos on the other Silent Hill games.
Also, the Dog ending is canon.
LOL 😂😂😂
Anyone who wants to play this in 2020, I highly recommend playing the Silent Hill 2: Enhanced version which is everything the 2012 HD Collection SHOULD have been.
Yeah I played it a couple of weeks ago it's a great game. It's a must play before you die imo.
Thanks for the recomendation, never played It and the lack of PS2 and the original (critiziced) version for PC were a NOPE for me.
I'll play It as the enhanced version, It seems one of the few games that become art and it has an amazing story.
I'm thinking about buying the HD -version for my PS3. Is that a total no-go?
@@Meelsen Do not buy that version. It's just awful.
@@BabyArms why? I played it, not sure how it differs? Other than some texture downgrades and some atmosphere issues.
This game was storytelling at its finest.
Thanks for making this. I've spent a large chunk of my life obsessed with Silent Hill and I think you did it justice here. I used to spend lots of my time on the Silent Hill Heaven forums and listened to the SH OSTs almost exclusively. Everyone who likes horror should play these games, though, like you said, its getting more and more difficult as time goes on.
Once again, absolutely fantastic. I hadn't realized Ito was working on Silent Hills and that makes me even more disappointed. Maybe once Death Stranding is out and Playstation is satisfied, Kojima can call up Del Toro and Ito, having already worked extensively with Norman Reedus, and they can revive it under a different name. They'd have to start from scratch most likely, but they'd already have an engine thanks to Death Stranding, and I hope we can see what these incredible creative minds would've made.
+Jamieprov
While I haven't played any Silent Hill or horror games before, the fact that Silent Hills interested me shows just how SILENT HILLS, unlike the more recent games in the series, would have actually brought in a new audience to the series. It's really sad what happened to Silent Hills; it could have been a real work of art (not some LOOK AT HOW CINEMATIC WE ARE "art", but rather actual art). It could have even been the video game equilevant of Batman Begins (a reboot that restores a certain franchise to glory while also bringing it to whole new heights).
Jamieprov Del Toro said he wont try to make a video game ever again. The last two times he tried not only did the games get cancelled but the developer was shut down both times too. He considers himself bad luck now lol.
Thanatos388
Heard about that.
It's sad but true.
Thanatos388 Fuck.
Thanatos388 He did however also say that he would follow Kojima anywhere and work with him on anything, whether he wants to make a game or a movie or whatever. So we're not completely in the shitter, i guess
I enjoy your voice, pleases me on a spiritual level.
camjoziboy
Right?? :3
Every year I come back to this video essay. This has always at least for me been my favorite, the way it's put together and themes have always been interesting to watch and re-watch. Thanks super eyepatch wolf.
i played silent hill 2 when i was 12 years old, it kind of shocked me, i was a child but i couldn't expect anything of what happened and mostly i didn't know that loving relationships could hide dark truths, it kind of showed me life at an early age, i felt so glad i played it and nowadays just listening to the soundtrack gives me goosebumps, probably the character that scares me the most is Maria, i can't still explain why, it's beautiful and painful, like the things that scar our psyche the most
Why You Should Play Silent Hill 2?
Because it's the greatest survival horror game ever made! Actually, I take that back. It's not a game, it's art!!
Fun fact: Most people probably don't remember this, but SH2 was initially NOT well recieved upon release because it was so radically different from SH1. But, as a late bloomer most people recognised it as a masteriece about a year or so later..
Neptune Purple-Heart yes Fortnite and BO4 are PURE Art 😂
I don't know, do you count Bioshock as survival horror?
Mod's Guide to Everything sort of, survival horror means limited ammo, health etc. but In bioshock you can melee as much as you want and the game is more action oriented. Still horror but wouldn’t fall under the category of survival horror
@@newacc6065 yeah thats fair.
A masterpiece
why you should play Silent Hill: music.
GunRunner
The soundtrack is beautiful.
Its only when you realise that the letter never existed and marys dead body is on the back seat of car that James rode into town with that you finally understand what James had gone through prior
Dean Spence Is there any context on the whole "Mary is in the backseat of James' car the whole time" thing? I've heard it before and I love the idea but I don't know where everyone gets it from or if there's any truth to it.
Kyle Hanson Apparently it was confirmed via twitter from the director. It makes sense when you consider that Mary has only been dead for a few days and James wanted to end in life with her in the couples special place
She's in the trunk if you play with noclip
@@neilhillis9858 noclip?
@@neilhillis9858 She is not there, but is true that the director confirmed that information. Some people think that the director only plays along with some fandom theories, because he does so constantly on twitter. When you play with noclip, the car is empty inside, which proves that it had not been thought before or that they simply want to leave it as a probable theory
Your channel is infinitely re-watchable. Thank you for all you've made.
this town is full of monsters,how can you sit there and eat pizza?
tbh that's most of us as adults now sitting there eating pizza as the world corrupts around us.
My favourite thing to quote from silent hill.
Dante moment
@Slavoid ꙮ ꙮ ꙮ I think Dante could definitely afford to stand around eating pizza.
@@HiBuddyyyyyy without a doubt
Whenever I am having a bad day, and have read my favorite books to feel a little better, I love to watch a long play of silent hill 2 as it's calming to me. It's a game that doesn't discount that dark abyss we all feel but embraces it and speaks to all of us that: "Hey, we've all been there." Good games know what story to portray to get a lesson across, but great games make you experience that lesson or even it's feeling.
You and Kaptain Kristain are the best new YTbers to come out. Hit after hit man.
+crimsonshadow42
Should I try to download a Silent Hill 2 rom for my Laptop's PS2 emulator to play on Halloween? It would be my first experience with the horror genre side of games.
Well I'm not sure if I'm the best person to answer this, but I'm not sure if you will be able to get the same feeling from the PC, as I played it on PS2 myself. Silent Hill 2 would definitely be a great first experience with horror games though, so if you have nothing to lose you should give it a try.
I have access to a controller I can plug in, so I will likely get a similar experience hopefully.
+crimsonshadow42
actually after trying it out, don't think it will be a good idea as it has an issue running the cutscenes (framerate drops to around 10-20 fps during FMVs).
I think this is because I am using a laptop rather than a computer. I have a feeling a ps1 emulator to play Silent Hill 1 would be better.
Go for it man.
"A protagonist who is endearing but unreliable"...a great description of him loll
Damn, that Lisa head bleeding scene is my favorite.
It's a really good example of how creepy and perfect the symbolism of Silent Hill 2 embodied.
My other favorite scenes were those involving Angela Orosco.
Late to reply, but Nancy from A Nightmare on Elm Street is a pretty strong character. She's a fighter, stands up to her parents and their bullshit, is clever as hell, and pretty damn brave to try and tackle Freddy head on. She's pretty bad ass and deserves a lot more credit than just being a potential victim who was lucky to survive. She took action when it came to her survival. She's a great character.
The scene with Angela and the burning stairs. That makes you realize the struggles and hell the others are going through. The messages in silent hill are powerful.
This was so intelligent and interesting just like the game
SH2 was the absolute best game I ever played, & I've been trying to recapture that incredibleness ever since. They just don't make masterpieces like this anymore tho :(
well said. exactly what I had thought in my mind! I'm looking for a game similar to give you those nostalgia feeling silent hill 2 have. A masterpiece indeed. No game like it and the music is awesome too!
oh year I reas somewhere the same silent hill 2 team are getting back together to make a new silent hill game exclusively for the PlayStation 5! SO FREAKING EXCITED! JOY! the same director, music composer, and art director are back for a new silent hill game!
Oh lord PLEASE let it be true!
@@jilligain3409 TRUE STORY. LOOK AT THIS. IT COMING EXCLUSIVE FOR PS5. AND PS5 IS COMING THIS 2020 HOLIDAY RELEASE. HERE IS THE LINK : www.google.com/amp/s/www.inverse.com/gaming/silent-hill-ps5-leaks-reboot-kojima/amp
Masterpieces? Rdr2 god of war 4 don’t ring a bell
I had always assumed that James's stuttering, inaccurate attacks could also (at least in part) be explained by his subconscious desire to die. Like part of him is hoping that if he takes forever to ready his weapon, something will get him first and then he can end everything without actually having to kill himself.
This game is seriously better then most people realize. It has such wonderfully eerie depth. So much so that there is huge debate on monsters, characters, and plot. This game is the reason I love horror as much as I do and I can only hope one day something just as masterfully made comes along.
I honestly don't think there should ever be another Silent Hill, not unless the original team or fans who understood the ins and outs of the classic 3 Silent Hill titles were put on the development of said title. However at this point, with the flagrant disrespect to their own franchise(s), Konami would only ruin it.
Silent Hill 4 was good
I mean PT was proof that a different team could have made another masterpiece, and if I am honest PT is far more scary than any other silent hill game.
@@deadrock1678 All I saw was a jumpscare fest. None of the dread and nuance of the of the original 3, not sure why that game was even called silent hill tbh. Its clear as day he should’ve worked on his own IP
I love Silent Hill 2 , definitely one of the best games I have ever played and also probs the most serious and depressing
I don't know how this game does what it does so brilliantly and so subtly at the same time , there are so many things it executes perfectly that can only be conveyed in the format of a videogame
You don't get that nowadays..
How can you just sit there and eat PIZZA??
I honestly subscribed because of your horror videos
gosh i got so goosebumps all over when that scene and music kicked in at 1:43... i will always love Silent hill...
Good news! The Remake is great and you should play it!!
Yep. I hate paying full price for a game but this one is worthy every cent
... just keep lying to yourself laddies ...
@@Rumms-Bumms69 and what was bad?
@@Rumms-Bumms69 you sound like a reddit mod with a fedora. *ladies
I ask you two an honest question and I want an honest answer: have you EVER played the original? And I mean through and through and through.
You're content is fucking amazing. Keep up the great work man.
3:28
It's Harry Mason. Townshend is the surname of the main character of SH4.
Almost at 50K subs. Congratulations on all the support, you deserve every bit of it. Great video as always, looking forward to the next one!
This is the 3rd Super Eyepatch Wolf video I've watched. I found this channel by reading different things about Rick and Morty's "on a cob" bit. I'm not sure what click took me here, but I'm very happy that it did. I was just saying, I need a teacher, I feel like I'm turning into a mushroom. I was ambiguous, I didn't specify what sort of teacher I might actually need. I've learned more about horror theory, why we get scared, why I sometimes find something to be beautiful, intriguing and deeply disturbing all at the same time, and been reintroduced to Junji Ito, someone I wasn't exposed to enough to know just how much I was missing. I don't know if you read comments, especially from old videos, but if so, I'm happy I found your channel. You're a very good teacher, You speak clearly and knowledgeably with no condescension or imposing your views. Doesn't hurt that your voice is actually pleasant and not for nothing, you have a lovely brogue. I'm looking forward to watching more of your videos.
One of the things I love most about James is how realistic of a character he is. He did a horrific thing and he did it for selfish reasons. But he also did it for good reasons and I'd say that what he did was (ultimately) best for everyone involved, at least consequentially speaking.
HIT THE LEVER!!!
I'm an aspiring game designer, but I specifically enjoy creating environments. I've spent so much time just wandering through the worlds of certain video games because the environment IS a character of its own in the strongest games.
I love the uniqueness of the entirety of the town of Silent Hill because it looks like a real place where people used to be, but just... disappeared...
That's my opinion as an game environment designer.
There is a plug-in for blender called XNALara that allows (somehow) for models to be taken from games and many of the locations in silent hill 2 have been extracted and can be looked at as a whole in a way not available in the game -- Hillside Apartments for instance.
I dont even remember when or why i subscribed to u, but u make good ass vids
Look hard enough and you can find a lot of good ass vids on the Internet
PewDiePie, Smosh, Jackscepticeye upload a new video
*I sleep*
"This is how you don't play Silent Hill 2" was uploaded
*Real shit*
Super Eyepatch Wolf uploads a Silent Hill 2 video.
*Ascended*
The OST for Silent Hill is fantastic. I still find myself listening to it every once in a while.
James is my favorite horror protagonist. He’s flawed, but also empathetic and soft spoken. Each of the main 3 endings represents a different stage of grief. Leave being acceptance, In Water being depression, and Maria being Denial,
Yet and the only silent hill protagonist that shouldn't be forgiven by anyone because of his actions of his past
oh my god! yessss i love all your videos. best youtuber of all time.LEGEND!
This is what i call a
Q U A L I T Y V I D E O
viaxon6
!!Very much agreed!!
Jesus, this video got me right in the feels!
Andrew Cruz
???Right???
Man I love this to bits bruh. I know I'm just one of the millions saying it. But your doing incredible. All the vids are fun and beautifully edited.
God thank you for talking about the first pyramid head scare. I actually dont hear it talked about too often, but that bit is stuck in my brain and scares me every time
Recently found a physical copy of Silent Hill 2 for only $100, even came with Born from a Wish, can’t wait to experience it the way it was meant to be experienced
4:50 Significant Character Traits:
Chris is an aggressive fighter who immediately took advantage of any opportunity that her assailant (Jason) gave her.
Laurie Strode is selfless, she puts the life of the child she’s babysitting before her own without a second thought.
Nancy is clever/resourceful, she figures out she can pull Freddy from her dreams into reality and rigs her house Home Alone-style to try and kill him.
I haven’t seen The Texas Chainsaw Massacre :/
New video = Good day
Damn, and I thought my life was shit with little to look forward to.
TeleBlur
!!Always!!
I keep coming back to this video, just as I keep coming back to that town. My favorite series hands down 😀
After randomly watching your video because it got recommended to me out of nowhere, I couldn't stop thinking of Silent Hill 2 even though I hadn't even played it yet. The way you present this game as a phenomenal art piece stayed engraved in my mind and for some reason I just couldn't stop wondering why this game meant so much for so many people. I ended up caving in, got a ps2 emulator and played it and I never looked back. While the game really shows its age through outdated graphics, gameplay and voice acting, the pure idea of Silent Hill 2 touched me like no other game did. The themes, imagery and storylines all fit perfectly with one another to create a master class of storytelling unique to this game. It's now been six months since I've played Silent Hill 2 and yet I keep thinking about the flaming staircase scene, about the videotape scene. Angela, Eddie, Laura, Maria and especially James all live in my head rent free because of the lesson you can learn from their stories of trauma and guilt. I have to thank you for this video, for convincing me to give this game a try. Now I just wish I can find people to talk about this game with.
I love how the game has divisive readings even among staff. The creator of Pyramid Head once said that he didn't like that the character had been interpreted so heavily as being James Sunderland's lust or uncontrolled sex drive, but later said that he DID create and write the character when he was "having trouble getting dates" and feeling very lonely and bitter, so there was a very real chance that reading was also correct, if not intended.
The tank controls are optional. I wish someone would mention this in a video about this game. 2D controls are so much better and more akin to modern gaming.
They're okay until you have to switch screens or turn a corner
About the first Pyramidhead encounter: in my opinion, some easter eggs in games have a same feel to them. They appear out of nowhere and are so out of place, it becomes creepy. More games should use this technique instead of jumpscares.
How can i express my love for you super eyepatch wolf?
im so happy you are showing recognition for this amazing video game (franchise)
Alíen Isolation creates a lot of feelings like this game with the environments giving off a history and personality with beautiful and atmospheric locations with the main threat feeling like this impossible danger that you almost can’t escape and becomes more and more aggressive in its pursuit of you. Learning more about it as you travel through this giant yet claustrophobic ship in the areas you don’t want.
#FucKonami
It's Konami's fault that Kirby is sad! (I'm referring to your profile pic)
Fuck konami indeed
@@OkamiBlaze_O no shit😂
Remake captures everything. Incredible.
At long last, I finally was able to play this masterpiece.
Although I think SH3 is the better overall game all aspects considered, I do believe SH2 has one of, if not the greatest, stories in any game.
When it comes to the voice acting, there's a certain aspect that I think a lot of directors and audiences take for granted: the relatability of non-professional voices. What I mean is that when you encounter regular people in real life, they will not always have great sounding voices, they will not have perfect cadence when speaking, they won't precisely convey their feelings and emotions. For example, the recast voices in the HD Collection made everyone sound like actors acting, while the voices in the original version sounded like regular average people you would come across in your everyday life (and that made them feel all the more real to me).
Real =/= good. The stilted, awkward delivery works in a game like SH2 where everyone is a little bit off and insane.
Weird, I think the 3rd it's the worst of the 4, but I agree with you with all the rest!
Thank you finally someone understands
I think the weird voice acting helps in creating the idea of silent hill being different for every one. Like the awkward way of speaking disorientation or comments and replies of characters makes an atmosphere of confusion.. ( it was an immersion for me .. Don't know what other felt and i totally respect your opinion :) )
I like the stilted weird VA, it gave it that surreal david lynch/twin peaks dream sequence feel, which I think was an intentional nod?
Thank you SEW for this video. Back when I first saw this video, silent hill 2's themes really resonated with me, but I couldn't play it due to not having the right hardware. But right at this moment(August 5 2024, 2:03 am), I have the right equipment and the time to play SH2(atleast one playthrough).
This video is also one of my favourite videos on all of YT. You made me care about horror games like SH2
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart :)
Your voice is so soothing and calming I really love how you told the story of silent hill from your own unique way you are very inspiring. I'm linking all the stories I've pieced together so far. Silent hill game of thrones final fantasy 7 and love Croft.
When you mentioned about James' health, that's esp. true after he's running or fighting, and then he's starts catching his breath. It's terrifying when that animation comes at the worse of times when monsters come out of the wood works and begin ganging up on you. I keep yelling, "run man, run!!!"
When the best part of Theme of Laura dropped right at the moment you finished "Silent Hill two", I got chills.
Okay, you got me convinced. Imma play now
Well 3 years later.. did you like it?
@@torir-pj9vl it's my favorite game lol
"Another satisfied customer"
Dude, GREAT video! That scene with Lisa in SH1 truly broke my heart, more then any other parts or scenes of the first game.
SH2 was amazing and between the many deaths of Mary/Maria, and the "twist" ... wow.. totally blew my mind.
I also agree that scenes from SH really pushed boundaries & didn't shy away from horrorific images, scenes, and situations. I LOVED that about the series so much!
Great vid, very well done!
That scene with Lisa always tugs at my heart. The song gets me emotional every time.
I’ve always liked the idea of Silent Hill being like a better and more sinister version of Jigsaw. That it draws in people who are being crushed under the weight of their demons and forces the person to literally face them or be torn asunder. Having the town acting like a crucible rather than a grave and the location a dualistic nature of benevolence and malice is what I find so fascinating about the location.
A friend of mine once described Silent Hill 2 as "scrotum-clenchingly terrifying." I've never heard a better summary.
Horror without emotion is just a jump scare
Horror intertwined with emotion is pure depression that you can only learn from, setting aside all your expectation and focusing on making you face difficult things in your life you’d otherwise try to avoid for the longest time.
Loved this video. You did a great job taking the game apart in a respectful manner. It would be cool to see your thoughts on the new Silent Hill 2 remake - especially your thoughts to the revamp of the combat system.
But cheers. Great video!
Your description of these nuances are fantastic! Id say exemplary work that needs to be applauded!