One Game Six Endings, Let’s Discover It!

“Killing a person ain’t no big deal. Just put the gun to their head… Pow!” Eddie- Silent Hill 2. I chose this quote because it represents the way that SH2 characters are thinking. And that’s why they are all of them in the doomed city of Silent Hill.

Today I will talk to you about Silent Hill 2. It is a game that you can play in Playstation 2, but if you do not have it no worries 😉, you can download an emulator (I will link this at the end of my blog) and play it on your laptop. Silent Hill 2 is a famous horror game occurring in the city called “Silent Hill”.

In this game, the main character James Sunderland is traveling to the city Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his dead wife. The letter claimed that he had promised her to bring her to Silent Hill again but he never did. She wrote to him that she was there waiting for him. Trying to find his wife in the hotel where they spent their honeymoon in Silent hill, James meets four weird people on his way. However, the city doesn’t seem to be normal.

In this game review I will discuss three main points from this game which are: the story, the game play and the replay value.

• The story and game play:

The game starts with James arriving in the city of Silent hill. He finds that all  the roads which are leading to the inside of the city were closed for an unknown reason. He will have to walk to get to the hotel and find his wife, Mary.

He has to go through Toluca Lake. That way leads him to a cemetery where he meets Laura. Laura is next to a grave. She is shy, hesitant and a confused person. She says that she came to Silent Hill to find her “ Mama”. She advises James to leave as soon as he can because that city is doomed. James leaves that place and he gets to the center of Silent Hill. It is really complicated for him to go wherever he wants because the city is a complete mess. 

At this time, James discovers the first enemy in the city. The “Lying Figure” which represents his wife while she was sick and always staying in the bed.

You will be discovering through the game how Mary died and at the end you will be able to understand the whole story and why all of those people are in Silent Hill. Until now, we know that Mary died from an illness three years ago. That illness destroyed all of her beauty. James didn’t like her as he used to do before.

She was always weak and sleeping, vomiting, swearing in James. It used to hurt him a lot. And that is represented by the “ Lying Figure” who is vomiting g acid on James whenever he passes next to them.

Later on, James goes through a motel in order to go to the other side of the city. There, he meets one of his biggest fears for the first time: The “Pyramid Head”. Although there is no real confrontation.

In one of the motel rooms, James meets Eddie. He is a guy who is afraid of everything going on around him and he ignores why he is in the city of Silent Hill.

He doesn’t give a good impression to James  the first time they meet. He doesn’t seem to be a normal person. He is complexed from being obese. He is eating a lot and throwing up.

After going to the other side of the city, James meets a child. Her name is Laura.

 

She gives James a letter from his defunct wife. The letter shows that it was written just a few days ago while  Mary died three years ago. He starts to ask Laura many questions about the way she got that letter and what she is doing in that dangerous area full of monsters. The only information he can get from Laura is that she doesn’t see any monster and it is safe to go around. She also adds that he doesn’t love his wife and that she knows everything. She runs away! 

In order to go to Toluca Lake Hotel, James has to pass through the lake and go from Silent Hill hospital. The hospital is the only way that can lead him to the hotel because all the ways are barricaded.

While he is going Through Toluca Lake, he meets one woman who looks like his wife, but her hair and clothes are the only difference.

That woman’s name is Maria. Such a coincidence! She starts to tease James and then she asks him to let her stay with him and protect her against those monsters. He hesitates and then decides to let her stay with him. She reminds him of his dead wife that he hopes he will find in the hotel. 

Both of them, James and Maria, have a very long way to go in the huge Silent Hill hospital.

They meet dangerous enemies over there. The nurses:

 

The nurses move in an awkward manner, their legs carrying them in a shaky and crooked fashion, making them out to be a slow opponent; yet they are surprisingly fast on the attack. They are likely manifested by James's mind, combining his anxieties surrounding his wife's terminal illness and the sexual deprivation that came with it.

In the hospital, the Pyramid Head reappears. And he kills Maria many times in front of James eyes. They meet later on and James asks her about her death scenes but she has no idea of what he is talking about.

The last time Pyramid Head meets them he kills Maria for real. It is the last time that James will see her.

Right after that, James finds the exit leading to the other side of the lake.

He finds the hotel where his wife is waiting for him. And of course he doesn’t get to the room where she is waiting for him easily. New monsters appear and try to kill him and bully him. After a hard time, he finally gets into the room. 

James doesn’t find his wife but he finds a tape that plays automatically after he gets into the room. The surprise that will make you understand the whole events which happen in the game is that tape. It shows that Mary did not die due to her illness but it is James who made an end to her life! He suffocated her with a pillow.

He also finds  a note with an address that Mary wrote asking him to come there.

Once he goes to that place, he finds Mary and she asks him the reason why he killed her. James barely expresses himself and says that he wanted to end  her suffering and that he couldn’t see her suffering anymore. He triggers her anger - she tells him that he always dreamed of a wife like Maria and that’s why he wanted to get rid of her and go to look for another woman.

And she metamorphoses into a big monster (Big Boss).

After defeating Mary, the game ends!

The monsters that are in the game all represent the fear and sadness of James. In his deep subconscious, he doesn’t believe that he killed his wife. He is convincing himself that she died due to her illness and it was not his fault. The monsters also represent his fears and mixed emotions. Finally, all the people he sin Silent Hill committed a crime and they have been sent there to get what they deserve - just like him.

• The replay value:

I would definitely replay the game many times. It made me curious to know about the six other endings.

The player gets a different ending depending on the way he plays and also the choices he makes during the game. I am going to give more details and the requirements to get each ending below.

1. Leave:           

Requirement: To receive this ending James must act like he wants to survive. Keeping stamina healthy, not doing suicidal things, and acting like he wants to find Mary by going in the correct directions. This ending is the easiest to achieve and if you just play through without aiming for a certain ending, this is the one you're most likely to get. Do the following and you should get this ending.

-Recover your stamina (health) as soon as it drops. Try to keep green stamina throughout the whole game 

-After meeting Maria in Rosewater Park do not head east and do not make Maria tell James which direction the Hotel lies 

-Listen to the entire sick in bed conversation of Mary in the last long corridor before the last boss fight

-Do everything that is recommended to avoid the Maria Ending

Avoid the Leave Ending:

-When your health drops, don't be too quick to heal and don't worry too much when you have red status

      

2. Maria:            

Requirement: You will receive this ending if James shows a lot of comfort with Maria and spends a lot of time with her, thus making James think of her as a new Mary. Do the following to get this ending:

-Immediately go where Maria tells you to go. Do not go the opposite direction or make her tell you twice

-Make sure Maria suffers none or very little damage

-Spend a long time with Maria before leaving her in room S3 3F of Brookhaven Hospital

-After you leave Maria in room S3, return and check on her often

-After leaving Maria's cell in the Labyrinth try to re-enter the room (the white door, not down the stairs)

-At the last long corridor before the Final Boss after the Pyramid Head Duo, don't listen to the entire conversation and quickly run forward and go through the door at the end of the hallway

Avoid the Maria Ending:

-Hit Maria with the wooden plank a few times but do not kill her

-In the Inventory, examine the Photo of Mary and the Letter from Mary

-After you meet Maria in Rosewater Park run as fast as you can to room S3 on 3F in Brookhaven Hospital

      

3. In Water:         

Requirement: In order to receive this ending, James must act in a suicidal manner. So if you are careless and keep your health low and do other things that might give James an idea of killing himself you should get this ending. If you wish to get this ending, do the following:

-Examine Angela's Knife in your Inventory

-Read the Diary on the Hospital Rooftop

-See the message to James on the wall in Neely's Bar, Dark South Vale

-After viewing the videotape, go down to the Reading Room on 2F of the Nightmare Hotel (Lake View Hotel) and listen to the recorded conversation with the headphones on the desk

-Listen to the entire last corridor conversation of Mary sick in bed before the last boss fight

-Go through the game with red health status often

Avoid the In Water Ending:

-Do not let your health get to red status at all or too often, and use health items immediately when this happens

-Never examine Angela's Knife

      

4. Rebirth:          

Requirement: In order to receive the Rebirth Ending, you must beat the game at least once. Start a new game and there will be four extra items that you will have to collect (not including Chainsaw, Hyper Spray, Dog Key, and Blue Gem). Collect the following four secret items so you have them in your inventory when you beat the game:

-White Chrism - Blue Creek Apartments, Room 105 1F

-book: Lost Memories - In newspaper stand at the Texxon Gas Station

-Obsidian Goblet - Silent Hill Historical Society Museum in the smashed display case in the second room

-book: Crimson Ceremony - Behind the headphones on the bookshelf in the Reading Room on 2F, after you view the videotape, Nightmare Hotel 

      

5. Dog:              

Requirement: To get this ending, you must receive the three normal endings, Leave, In Water, and Maria, or just receive the Rebirth Ending in a replay game. Once you have these endings in the same save file, load it and start a new game. When exiting Rosewater Park for the first time, just head straight and you will enter an open yard just west of Jack's Inn. Inside is a Dog House with a Dog Key inside. Get the key and use it to enter the Observation Room on 3F of the Nightmare (Lake View) Hotel, after viewing the videotape in Room 312. The game will end there and the ending will start. Enjoy it and feel free to laugh as it's a joke ending.  

      

6. UFO (the most complicated one):

Requirement: Greatest Hits Version only. After you've beaten both scenarios (with James and Maria), you can pick up the Blue Gem in the Restroom at the beginning of the game in the main scenario. It is by the furthest stall from James. Once you have it you must use it in the following three places to receive the UFO Ending:

-Nightmare Hospital in the Garden 1F, after you've beaten the Hangers Boss

-Right in front of the boat on the Labyrinth dock of Toluca Lake, after you've beaten the Eddie Boss

-Room 312 3F Lake View Hotel, near the window by the TV, before you watch the videotape

Once you use the Blue Gem at these three places, the game will end and the ending will start to play. This is another joke ending so don't take it seriously.  

Silent Hill 2 is the best game I have played so far. Certainly it is a little bit old but it is a masterpiece! I invite you to play the game and if you are more interested you can also read about the psychoanalysis of the game and characters. 

I hope you liked my post. See you soon in a new post! XOXO 😘