Game of all time for 22 years which makes me question if I’m able to engage in any criticism of it at all without having to say ‘yeah but’. Coming back after a decade of not actually playing it but delving into thinkpieces and technical quips and atmosphere and what have you, I’m still surprised how immersed I ended up being. I’ve always hated the assumption that James’ suffering boils down to him just being a horny dude, and I’m happy to see the game agrees with me. Silent Hill 2 presents its traumatised cast with such maturity, respect and empathy which you hardly see in contemporary gaming. It chooses a perfect ground between visceral exploitation horror versus vagueness – painting the worst possible nightmare these characters must have endured inside your head and proving your assumptions correct through blood and guts, the endless dark abyss and Baconesque's monster design. It saddens me that I have experienced this game for the first time when I was quite young; characters like Angela hit so much harder the older I get.

Game’s great and to this date still a visual delight when it comes to facial expressions and the cinematic, almost playful use of camera during gameplay as well as within cutscenes. There’s still so many things I still haven’t discovered on my own like the UFO or Dog ending. Maybe it’s time for that now.