The Secret Terror of Silent Hill 2 | Save Room

[@Dukkyjames200]

So I need to say this for people who don’t understand. It’s not the town that is punishing James, Silent Hill is not sentient, James feels the need to punish HIMSELF. That is why he is seeing the stuff that he does in the game. I don’t know how people don’t get that.

[@harrymasononvacation]

THIS. THIS EXACTLY. It drives me up the wall when people say the "Town punishes sinners". It's such a blatant misreading of SH2 and it has sadly become a widely held belief that people use as a metric to judge other SH games.

[@Dualshockers]

Thanks for the comment! However, I think it’s a bit dangerous to say any one thing is ever clearly about x, y, or z. To do that here would be a disservice to Silent Hill’s complex narrative - and how we interpret art in general. The good thing about analysis of a text, especially one as rich as silent hill 2, is that there will always be multiple ways any one person will interpret it; and I certainly wouldn’t fault anyone for having a different read. I like the close read of James manifesting the horrors of the town unto himself! There’s good evidence for it and it’s clear punishment for past sins is something the team wanted to foreground and explore. But the question of how these external forces are in play is undoubtedly an open-ended one left for the player. If there’s any universal truth about SH2, it’s that objectivity just isn’t one of them.

[@TheEvilBread]

That’s debatable. There is a power at work with the town causing the manifestations for James, Angela and Eddie. It’s feeding off the characters. This power has a level of sentiency at play as it’s leaving messages directly “…but you may be heading to a different place than Mary, James.” The same way that Heather is directly confronted in SH3’s haunted manor, for example.

[@harrymasononvacation]

@@TheEvilBread The projections in the town are from the character's psyche in some way. In Silent Hill 1, it is Alessa's nightmares. In Silent Hill 2, it's James's guilt. In Silent Hill 3, it is Heather's fears. In Silent Hill 4, it is a dream world of Walter's subconscious. Every game after that has been a bit unclear, but that's to be expected.

[@TheEvilBread]

@@harrymasononvacation oh yeah of course, that’s unquestionable. Since the events of the first game whatever power there is has been corrupted, I always took it that it can be parasitic in nature. Drawing in and feeding off damaged people. We only see a few examples of this in SH2 but there may be countless more we don’t know of, the place has a reputation for missing persons.

[@DavidLucian]

The reason why Silent Hill 2 it became a classic is because eventually people began to see how unique, eerie, melancholic and authentic the game's atmosphere it really is, and took the time to enjoy its deeply thoughtful narrative and symbolism. To this day it’s by far one of, if not the most mature examination of grief, sexual trauma, suicide, and morality all combined. It’s an intelligent game that does not hold anyone’s hand and comes at the player with utmost confidence in itself. It’s fantastic stuff. The rest of the original 4 are great in their own right and have their own well written stories, but they don’t hold the same emotional weight to them. I think SH2’s maturity by comparison is something that a lot of people are drawn to. ☯️🤷🏻‍♂️✌️

[@DarlingMissDarling]

Angela was supposed to be a teenager? I had no idea... I honestly thought she was being portrayed as a 30-something!

[@Dualshockers]

Isn't that crazy? Canonically she's supposed to be 19 - and I def didn't pick up on that initially either!

[@blumiu2426]

Given all the characters were handled primarily by one guy, I think her life aged her in appearance. Also, some people do just look older than they should while others younger. It's not a common portrayal in videogames, but they aim for realism over aesthetic. Everyone is actually young. James and Mary are mid-20s.

[@aadipie]

It’s to show how her sexual abuse and trauma has aged her appearance so much despite how young she is

[@dorjjodvobatkhuu6457]

Ironically she is voiced by a 40 plus woman

[@meimei8718]

Thanks for the video

[@TallTapper]

i agree

[@blumiu2426]

I can't tell anymore if it's a serious consideration or meme that "trauma" is used now so heavily, especially with Silent Hill. Ascension made it plenty obvious how much a catch-phrase it's turned into by selling it as content.

[@melrosenomercy6951]

I hate that that’s what it turning to instead of making a original silent hill game because whoever trauma trope was heavy in hs2 and tastefully made but now they are shoehorning it in every new silent hill game

[@MacyP]

“It’s trauma”