Silent Hill 2 has little in common with its predecessor. It also contains the first threads of The Order and cult mythology, however, that become a crutch for the series' more familiar horror waffling. The first game deserves mention and credit for introducing the titular town and the initial interpretation of it, as well as the beginnings of the psychological shocks and peeling back of the psyche. Along with the excellent Shattered Memories, the second game is far superior to its silent siblings. But, as I look through the list of releases, I realise that it's Silent Hill 2 that is the real interlude. I think of Homecoming, along with Downpour (another numberless title), as an interlude from the core of the series. The previous games admittedly had combat that could generously be described as thematically appropriate in its awkwardness, but it's never a particularly good sign when a survival horror game falls back on fighting rather than frightening. It came into the world from the creative womb of a new development team (Double Helix), and a marketing push that emphasised the new combat system. The reliance on loose threads from the original and an eventual reversion to the muddled and mystical mean that it's not the best place to start.Īs for Homecoming, it's the equivalent of a direct to DVD release at the tail-end of a once venerated series. It is, in part, a direct sequel and concluding part to the story of the first game, although it does feature a new protagonist and passages of play that are self-contained viginettes as unnerving as could be desired. However, rather than being a character-driven psychodrama, like Silent Hill 2, or a work of weird fiction, Silent Hill 3 is restricted in its storytelling by the mythology of the series. The third game starts well, fracturing an ordinary day at a shopping mall to leave fragments and splinters that burrow and squirm under the skin. Unfortunately, neither homecoming or Silent Hill 3 are likely to convince a newcomer to the series that it deserves its lofty place in the horror pantheon. There's an occasional cheaper sale, usually unboxed, but the third game is far easier to find at a decent price, and the fifth title in the main series, Silent Hill: Homecoming, is available on Steam. With no digital download available through legal channels, the physical copies available are usually being flogged on the Amazon Marketplace or ebay for £40+. It's easy to forget that Silent Hill 2 is available on PC, if you ever knew to begin with. The first time I came to this place, this special place, I didn't have the courage to remain there alone. Maybe the only way to tell you is to go back there and to write everything down in a letter. There's a place that I sometimes go to but I rarely talk about it.
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