Best Silent Hill games ranked by how terrifying they are

❘ Published: 2024-10-07T14:10:42

Konami/Dexerto

The Silent Hill series has long been held as the shining example of atmospheric horror, with a near-mythical blend of memorable characters and engrossing storytelling.

Since the first game debuted in 1999, Silent Hill has spawned more than a dozen games, a series of comic books, and two movies, with a third supposedly on the way.

All of that is a testament to its masterful use of psychological horror. With the remake of the second title now out in the wild, we thought this would be a good time to rank the main series games (plus P.T.) by how scared they will leave you over the Halloween season.

Silent Hill: Downpour

Downpour was widely seen as an attempt to return to the formula that had previously worked so well after the PS3 years had left the series in the doldrums. To start with the good, the game offered some memorable, more open areas that encouraged exploration and felt interesting to inhabit, with a hint of the atmosphere that Silent Hill games need.

Unfortunately, that’s essentially where the positives stopped, as Downpour simply couldn’t deliver many of the gameplay elements that it promised. Combat was clunky and dull, enemy design was similarly uninspiring, and many complained about a lack of optimization, causing lag spikes and massive frame rate drops during critical moments.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

Perhaps because it also came out on the Nintendo Wii, Shattered Memories is one of the more significant departures from the tried-and-true formula that the rest of the series offers. The main mechanic that sets it apart was a series of questions that the player has to answer, with the responses they give affecting how the next portion of the Shattered Memories plays out.

This was a genuinely impressive piece of game design, but it all falls apart a bit when the actual game isn’t particularly fun to play. There isn’t anything expressly wrong about what the developer did here but on the other side of that is an overall experience that doesn’t make you want to come back for more. It’s also positively tame when compared to its immediate peers, offering little in the way of terror throughout.

Silent Hill 4: The Room

Silent Hill 4 attempted to take the series in a new direction, resulting in an entry that was as divisive as it was forgettable. Gone was the focus on progressing past puzzles, shifting the attention to more intense action sequences and combat that didn’t serve the game’s overall goal well.

The biggest misstep here was moving the setting away from the titular location, which in turn lost the lightning in a bottle that the first games managed to capture. Silent Hill 4 is not a bad game by any stretch of the imagination, but it doesn’t meaningfully represent the tenets of the series or bring enough scares to warrant a move further up this list.

Silent Hill: Homecoming

Homecoming marked the first time a Western developer made a Silent Hill game, and they did an admirable job recreating the work of their Japanese counterparts. There were some noticeable differences, most notably the dialed-up violence and the ability to fully control the camera. Still, the series remained recognizable and enjoyable enough, even for those who had become jaded by it as a whole.

Homecoming is also defined by the annoying dichotomy between what it feels like to play and the emotions, or lack thereof, that it manages to elicit from the player. The combat and general movement actually feel rather good. Still, they rarely capture the intangible fear and overall feeling of dread that define the very best Silent Hill games from the past.

Silent Hill: Origins

Serving as a prequel to the first game, Silent Hill: Origins puts players in the shoes of trucker Travis Grady, yet another character who is haunted by a troubled past that manifests as increasingly disturbing nightmares. Unfortunately, it didn’t manage to reach the same level as the game it’s connected to, but it remains an admirable and enjoyable entry nonetheless.

The real strength of Origins is its story, driving straight to difficult recurring themes from the series, including childhood trauma, ritualistic cults and, unsurprisingly, death. Add to that the reappearance of iconic figures like Alessa Gillespie and her mother and it quickly becomes a rewarding and frightening experience to play through overall. The combat sections are the weakest, often feeling like an aside in a game that otherwise plays out like an interactive movie.

Silent Hill 3

Though it didn’t manage to reach the heady heights of its immediate predecessor, Silent Hill 3 is still a highly accomplished genre entry. Heather (Cheryl) Mason serves as one of the series’ more memorable protagonists, and her crushing story of reincarnation permeates several entries, underlining just how grim and unpleasant the world-building in Silent Hill can be.

It was also the first title in the series to really graduate to a new level, graphically speaking. Silent Hill 2 pushed the PS1 to its limits, but this entry did the same to the next generation of consoles and the difference was palpable. The visual fidelity also had the knock-on effect of making every jump scare or enemy encounter that bit more bruising, which only helped the overall tapestry when playing it.

Though some criticized the lack of gameplay advancements made here, there’s a lot to be said for successfully continuing a winning formula.

P.T.

Oh, what might have been. When P.T. dropped onto the PlayStation 4, players didn’t know what to make of it beyond it being a mysterious demo for an as-yet-unannounced game. The gameplay almost entirely consisted of walking down a repeating set of corridors within a house, as things changed with each subsequent journey around the building.

After completing the entirety of the demo, players received a confirmation that it was a first look at Silent Hills, a new game for Hideo Kojima and director Guillermo Del Toro that would eventually go on to be canceled. Despite the very brief nature of our interaction with the game, it defines everything that Silent Hill is supposed to be, ramping up the tension and offering disturbing set-piece moments that players continue to talk about to this day.

Silent Hill

The first game in the series laid an incredibly solid foundation, kicking the story off and setting the scene for all that would come later. One thing to note early is that it is finally showing its age a little. That said, at the time of its initial release, nothing came close to equalling its ability to impart relentless unease on the player.

In spite of the limitations placed on it by the archaic hardware, the well-designed environment does a marvelous job of dialing up the tension and creating an atmosphere that feels as oppressive today as it did 25 years ago. It introduces the eponymous town and those who met their ends there, laying out a story formula that feels just as fresh today. The focus on problem-solving over action is also a nice change of pace and fits the overall goal of the game better than any other in the series.

Silent Hill 2

The greatest game in Silent Hill history took the formula laid out in the first installment and perfected it. The premise sees protagonist James Sunderland travel to the town of Silent Hill after he receives a letter from his dead wife, and things only get creepier from there.

The true strengths of this beloved sequel are remarkably subtle. It takes place on a journey that feels as personal to the player as it does to Sunderland himself. The creatures that stalk the darkness are genuinely unsettling, and the uncomfortable feeling that defines Silent Hill 2 is a remarkable lesson in less is more game design. With the remake now out in the wild, it’s well worth revisiting this all-time great horror release.

If Silent Hill doesn’t satisfy the need for scares in the spookiest month of the year, we’ve picked out the scariest movies Netflix has to offer. If none of those appeal, we’ve also got the full lowdown on the best horror movies ever made for a guaranteed fright night.