In my restless dreams,
I see that town.
Silent Hill.
Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill..
Why so much praise ? What did this game do that made it stand out from other survival horror games ?
This review of the PS2 game will contain minor spoiler of the game mechanics, part of the introduction and details on the process of individuation.
In the list of successful license sequel for its time Silent Hill does not look bad, next to Resident Evil 2, Fallout 2, Half Life 2, Portal 2? Diablo 2 or Metal Gear Solid 2. Fans of the first opus are eager to know what Team Silent is up to. The bet is won, a new story independent from the first part is created, a new protagonist, a new message while staying on the same bases, the same city, the same atmosphere whether visual or sound and the same gameplay.
Fans are thrilled, and newcomers are blown away, the video game is evolving so fast it seems absurd.
It's not about slaughtering hords of enemies to achieve mission objectives or saving the world. In Silent Hill, it's about understanding what's going on, why are we here? How did we get here? When are we ? Who are they?
As many questions that arise in the player's mind as curiosity about the game and its world.
And that's the pinnacle, the game is playing us.
Everything is before our eyes, but we only see what we want to see.
It is by becoming aware of our truth that we are able to see beyond the "normal" in its etymological sense.
Video games are the most emotional medium, which makes them very appropriate for horror stories, and Team Silent understood this. In order to create what will become their magnum opus, the team simply took inspiration from the best of the best elsewhere on the globe.
They don't hide their inspirations from Adrian Lyne's Jacob's Ladder, a cult work of American horror cinema, or from the other side of the Iron Curtain with Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Works that are as outstanding in their media innovations as in their undeniable and immeasurable generational impact.
This is the genius of the Silent Team, we still have to define it. As Lucretius said ex nihilo nihil fit - nothing can come from nothing, which can be simplified to " blending ". Genius is knowing how to mix what exists and transform it into an original and independent object.
Silent Hill 2 is therefore a masterpiece on the one hand because its creators are geniuses who had fun shaping their creation to the smallest detail, but this is only one surface of the game. The scenario is written, it only remains to adapt it to the medium.
The game will have strong points from its reception to the press as its immersive atmosphere, the power of the Playstation 2 allows the game to have a unique identity in time and this is one of the reasons why the HD collection will be a disaster.
We arrive in Silent Hill welcomed by a heavy mist that plays a major role in the immersion of the player we do not know what is in front of us, we are blind we feel observed, the camera seems so confined. The music is melodious in contrast to the distressing sound effects. But we are only prey to our imagination at that moment, nothing explicitly passes before our eyes.
Until the first encounter with a monster, a monster in the first sense of the word, something that is indescribable and incomprehensible to us, but in which we detect a small part of humanity. And never before has the gaming experience reached such a level, the video game has succeeded in doing what no other medium has been able to do: to make everyone agree at least once, at that moment everyone is terrified.
The game unconsciously guides us all towards the same goal and thus surpasses the cinema in its staging. It is a choice of the player to arrive there in this choice, it was subjected to tensions attacking the primary senses being the sight and the hearing which provokes an almost synaesthetic sensation to the players.
However, although the game inherits more and more over the years a masterpiece status, it also suffers paradoxically from aging control. The result of the evolution of the gameplay which certainly improves the playability but participates in the obsolescence of older games.
Besides, many people at the time did not manage to finish the game or enjoy an optimal experience as you progress in the game. It's because of this demarcation from the standards of the time and the lack of accessibility to guides like we have today.
It is this distinction of a style more narrative and philosophical than action that differentiates it from its national and survival horror opponent : Resident Evil.
The latter has found an audience in its shooter gameplay, its inventory management, its claustrophobic but immense level design and its replayability on a larger scale.
This difference is what makes Silent Hill 2 more like a work of art than any Resident Evil.
A work of art is by definition the result of an artist's creation intended to produce in other individuals, a particular state of sensitivity.
In the context of video games, we will focus on two people collaborating together with respective teams: the game designer and the composer,
Who elevates art to a common creation.
So we have broken down the different aspects of Silent Hill 2 that make it a good game but what makes it unique in its medium and unanimously praised by gamers. It is its philosophy and the study of the psyche of the protagonist James Sunderland, hints of the final plot twist are right in front of us from the introduction. James looks at himself in a mirror, he doesn't look at what others see in him but what is inside him, in a way he is making a topography of himself.
Indeed James will undergo a process of individualization of his psyche during the entire game in order to overcome the denial of a post-traumatic disorder (individualization is simply a conflict between unconscious realities and conscious perceptions as for example the passage to adulthood of a teenager) and this is where the game plays the player. It controls the distinction between our conscious, preconscious and unconscious forms so that the player feels what James feels.
And that's when the final revelation comes as much as a shock to James as it does to the person who has been controlling his every move for the past few hours.
The game distills symbolism into the simple action of descending (one of many examples of symbolism), the protagonist only descends into the town of Silent Hill before his redemption to symbolize his descent into hell for his sins or illustrate James' sinking into the evil.
To conclude, Silent Hill 2 is a work of almost infinite potential for interpretation and symbolism that has generated interest that has never been so great in its medium before. 20 years later it is still playable and relevant in its narrative.
Despite this, a remake will arrive in 2023 to give the new generation a chance to live the ultimate survival horror experience on the latest console with updated controls and graphics. In the way that it was inspired by other cult works to build its universe, Silent Hill 2 is now inspiring a generation of people in its turn.
This brought Konami into the ranks of the great video game companies where games like the Metal Gear Solid license, Castlevania, Silent Hill or Suikoden II have influenced an unimaginable amount of gamers around the world. It was as if Konami had redefined for the world what a video game was.
I see that town.
Silent Hill.
Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill..
Why so much praise ? What did this game do that made it stand out from other survival horror games ?
This review of the PS2 game will contain minor spoiler of the game mechanics, part of the introduction and details on the process of individuation.
In the list of successful license sequel for its time Silent Hill does not look bad, next to Resident Evil 2, Fallout 2, Half Life 2, Portal 2? Diablo 2 or Metal Gear Solid 2. Fans of the first opus are eager to know what Team Silent is up to. The bet is won, a new story independent from the first part is created, a new protagonist, a new message while staying on the same bases, the same city, the same atmosphere whether visual or sound and the same gameplay.
Fans are thrilled, and newcomers are blown away, the video game is evolving so fast it seems absurd.
It's not about slaughtering hords of enemies to achieve mission objectives or saving the world. In Silent Hill, it's about understanding what's going on, why are we here? How did we get here? When are we ? Who are they?
As many questions that arise in the player's mind as curiosity about the game and its world.
And that's the pinnacle, the game is playing us.
Everything is before our eyes, but we only see what we want to see.
It is by becoming aware of our truth that we are able to see beyond the "normal" in its etymological sense.
Video games are the most emotional medium, which makes them very appropriate for horror stories, and Team Silent understood this. In order to create what will become their magnum opus, the team simply took inspiration from the best of the best elsewhere on the globe.
They don't hide their inspirations from Adrian Lyne's Jacob's Ladder, a cult work of American horror cinema, or from the other side of the Iron Curtain with Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Works that are as outstanding in their media innovations as in their undeniable and immeasurable generational impact.
This is the genius of the Silent Team, we still have to define it. As Lucretius said ex nihilo nihil fit - nothing can come from nothing, which can be simplified to " blending ". Genius is knowing how to mix what exists and transform it into an original and independent object.
Silent Hill 2 is therefore a masterpiece on the one hand because its creators are geniuses who had fun shaping their creation to the smallest detail, but this is only one surface of the game. The scenario is written, it only remains to adapt it to the medium.
The game will have strong points from its reception to the press as its immersive atmosphere, the power of the Playstation 2 allows the game to have a unique identity in time and this is one of the reasons why the HD collection will be a disaster.
We arrive in Silent Hill welcomed by a heavy mist that plays a major role in the immersion of the player we do not know what is in front of us, we are blind we feel observed, the camera seems so confined. The music is melodious in contrast to the distressing sound effects. But we are only prey to our imagination at that moment, nothing explicitly passes before our eyes.
Until the first encounter with a monster, a monster in the first sense of the word, something that is indescribable and incomprehensible to us, but in which we detect a small part of humanity. And never before has the gaming experience reached such a level, the video game has succeeded in doing what no other medium has been able to do: to make everyone agree at least once, at that moment everyone is terrified.
The game unconsciously guides us all towards the same goal and thus surpasses the cinema in its staging. It is a choice of the player to arrive there in this choice, it was subjected to tensions attacking the primary senses being the sight and the hearing which provokes an almost synaesthetic sensation to the players.
However, although the game inherits more and more over the years a masterpiece status, it also suffers paradoxically from aging control. The result of the evolution of the gameplay which certainly improves the playability but participates in the obsolescence of older games.
Besides, many people at the time did not manage to finish the game or enjoy an optimal experience as you progress in the game. It's because of this demarcation from the standards of the time and the lack of accessibility to guides like we have today.
It is this distinction of a style more narrative and philosophical than action that differentiates it from its national and survival horror opponent : Resident Evil.
The latter has found an audience in its shooter gameplay, its inventory management, its claustrophobic but immense level design and its replayability on a larger scale.
This difference is what makes Silent Hill 2 more like a work of art than any Resident Evil.
A work of art is by definition the result of an artist's creation intended to produce in other individuals, a particular state of sensitivity.
In the context of video games, we will focus on two people collaborating together with respective teams: the game designer and the composer,
Who elevates art to a common creation.
So we have broken down the different aspects of Silent Hill 2 that make it a good game but what makes it unique in its medium and unanimously praised by gamers. It is its philosophy and the study of the psyche of the protagonist James Sunderland, hints of the final plot twist are right in front of us from the introduction. James looks at himself in a mirror, he doesn't look at what others see in him but what is inside him, in a way he is making a topography of himself.
Indeed James will undergo a process of individualization of his psyche during the entire game in order to overcome the denial of a post-traumatic disorder (individualization is simply a conflict between unconscious realities and conscious perceptions as for example the passage to adulthood of a teenager) and this is where the game plays the player. It controls the distinction between our conscious, preconscious and unconscious forms so that the player feels what James feels.
And that's when the final revelation comes as much as a shock to James as it does to the person who has been controlling his every move for the past few hours.
The game distills symbolism into the simple action of descending (one of many examples of symbolism), the protagonist only descends into the town of Silent Hill before his redemption to symbolize his descent into hell for his sins or illustrate James' sinking into the evil.
To conclude, Silent Hill 2 is a work of almost infinite potential for interpretation and symbolism that has generated interest that has never been so great in its medium before. 20 years later it is still playable and relevant in its narrative.
Despite this, a remake will arrive in 2023 to give the new generation a chance to live the ultimate survival horror experience on the latest console with updated controls and graphics. In the way that it was inspired by other cult works to build its universe, Silent Hill 2 is now inspiring a generation of people in its turn.
This brought Konami into the ranks of the great video game companies where games like the Metal Gear Solid license, Castlevania, Silent Hill or Suikoden II have influenced an unimaginable amount of gamers around the world. It was as if Konami had redefined for the world what a video game was.